Mommy Rises To The Occasion

Kyle was out of town this week, and I had to deal with some of the typical "dad" stuff.  For starters, Molly dropped another "present" on the doorstep - a dead mouse.  What a pleasure to dispose of that!  But the real fun happened on Tuesday evening.  We had a break in the crazy, rainy weather for the week, so we headed outside with Graham's new favorite toy - the squirt bottle.  He loves to squirt "big dead bugs", leaves, mommy, really anything.  And he gets VERY frustrated when he's out of ammunition (amooo ni ni ton)

Well, I happened to see something swimming along in the pool.  And it was this little guy below.  Graham has not yet seen a real frog up close, so I couldn't pass up this opportunity. 

Frog In The Pool

Frog - CAUGHT!  In the pool net

Little boy waiting for his first frog

(can't figure out why blogspot is turning this pictures sideways - they're not sideways on my computer.)

The Great Escape

The Hunt - Where did he go?!

And just like that, the little boy is back to the squirt bottle.  The whole thing lasted about 3 minutes total.

Oceana Air Show 2010

Graham has a thing for planes.  I mean - he REALLY has a thing for planes.  LOVES them!  The Oceana Air Show was last weekend, and Saturday the Blue Angels flew over our house in formation.  Definitely one of the coolest things ever!  So, we decided we had to take Graham.  Jeep was one of the major sponsors, and he also has a thing for red jeeps (like his DD's jeep!).  So, the welcome at the entrance from a gigantic red jeep was quite the "hello" for Graham. 

This is a simulation of planes dropping bombs and the smoke a bomb leaves.

And, of course, flags.....it can't get better - flags and planes!

The ear plugs. 

Walking onto a plane for a tour!

The Blue Angels - we actually missed their performance because it was smack dab in the middle of Graham's nap.

One of Graham's favorite parts of the day - he wanted "more, more, more"!  A helicopter dropped 5 parachuters from the sky, and they descended with flags.  The last guy had the American Flag, and the entire crowd sang the national anthem.  It doesn't get more patriotic than that!  Very cool moment. 

The missiles (bombs?) at Oceana on the way out...

Cousins - Evie and Lila

Graham's cousins were in town last weekend visiting, so the kids got to visit together.  Graham LOVED being with Evie and Lila! 

Allie's Second Birthday

Graham's friend Allie celebrated her second birthday last weekend, and WHAT A PARTY!!!  There was a giant cardboard house the kids could draw on and crawl through, yummy food (pizza, Chick Fil A, animal crackers, goldfish, cupcakes - Graham sampled it ALL), a fun playground, and best of all - Elmo came to the party, too!  We don't let Graham watch much TV, but when he does we do allow Sesame Street and Blues Clues.  Well, the first time he saw Elmo on Sesame Street....it was love at first sight.  And it was no different with "Big Elmo".  Graham refused to do anything but follow Elmo around the yard.  I think he hugged Elmo no less than 22 times.  Touched his feet, gave him gifts of sticks and grass, kissed Elmo.  He was Elmo's shadow.  (We made sure he didn't monopolize too much since Big Elmo was really for Allie!!)

How creative is this - the party favor was a real goldfish!  Just like Dorothy on Sesame Street!  Unbeknownst to Kyle, the fish was named Dorothy.  He introduced the fish to Graham as Philip.  A post for another day - Philip has graduated from the bowl and now lives in a lovely fish tank in the middle of my kitchen.  He is only living in my kitchen temporarily. (I have not agreed to give up any real estate on my countertops permanently.)

Ice Cream Dates!

One of our "special treats" for Graham this summer has been going to our local ice cream store.  Let me say, they make the yummiest ice cream!  They make their ice cream every day, so they only have three flavors: (very helpful for the decision-making impaired!) chocolate, vanilla, and the flavor of the day.  Graham graduated from the cup to the cone a couple weeks ago.  (And finished his ice cream by giving himself a "vanilla shampoo" once he was done.  Hilarious!)

The Zoo

We went to the zoo with our friends Stephanie and Will the other day, and the turkeys were wandering about!  Graham tried to chase them, and the turkeys, being rather used to human interaction, chased him right back!  And - the fountains were a MUST!