Dad is totally the fun parent at our house

Mason was so excited that it finally snowed! He could hardly wait to get outside and play in it, which was a drastic change in attitude from this time last year. Alan contributed to the excitement by providing a sledding opportunity at a little park by our house. Not being such a snow-friendly mom, I was grateful for his effort to pick a park with relatively small hills and absolutely no trees for this first tubing trip; Mason is half mine after all, so he's genetically predisposed to run into things when he shouldn't.

After breakfast, we headed outside to shovel the snow. While we were outside, our neighbor across the street and her kids came out to tackle the same chore. She has a plow on their 4-wheeler, so we borrowed her two older children while she plowed the driveway. EmmaLee was a great help with the snowman building (I haven't done it in 20-some-odd years), but even with her help the head was a little small and had some trouble staying on. Carter helped Alan shovel for most of the time, but also took time to teach Mason how to eat snow. EmmaLee had fun initiating a snowball fight with Alan.

Post-shoveling, EmmaLee had to go to school but Carter went to the park with us. Wouldn't you know, even with the new inner tube, Mason's favorite thing was to roll down the hills himself. He just wasn't such a huge fan of having snow on his face, and would periodically stop and ask me or his dad to clean him off. When Mason started asking for a drink, we headed home and Mason got one of his first piggy back rides from Dad; his initial protest of "I don't see any piggies!" was pretty funny, but it only took him a second to figure out what was happening.

The first snow of the year brought back a couple of things for me: first is my favorite thing about winter. We love to throw snowballs for Rio and Samson almost as much as they like to eat them. The catch is they often lose the snowball in the snow and will track back to Alan and stare him down as if they don't believe he really threw it. The second thing is the simple joy involved in a snowstorm when you're a little kid. Mason didn't have to worry about things like extended commute times, driver safety, and how much ibuprofen is required to alleviate an after-shoveling backache. All he had to do was sit back and enjoy being a kid, and it was so fun to be caught up in that for a little while. Also, now every time I ask him to put on his coat, he asks if we're building a snowman. I think he liked that part.

Thanks for letting us borrow your kids, Melissa! You guys are great neighbors and I look forward to many more snowstorms with you guys. It isn't the same as us three ladies tackling as many driveways as our shovels will handle, but it's still fun!

More Nights of Lights

Heather and I took the kiddos, plus her nephew, to see Zoo Lights last week. As you can tell from the overbearing number of pictures, everywhere we looked was a fantastic creation. I definitely recommend it! It wasn't too cold if we kept moving or paused at the heating spots. We tried deep fried s'mores--it wasn't even on a dare-- and decided they aren't our fave. They cool off too fast and don't have enough graham cracker-y-ness. It was almost like paying $2.00 for a greasy candy bar. Mason wasn't a fan and stuck to the usual mess--a churro. I'm not sure what it is about this boy and cinnamon-sugar, but there is a definite love affair there.

The kids each got a little light up spin toy that may very well be the best $6 I have ever spent. The only problem was when they would let the lights flash in the backseat on the way home, because I totally thought I was being pulled over.

Mason kept wanting to go back and see the monkeys (I maintain it takes one to know one). He was so sweet being upset they were sleeping in the trees. He wanted them to "go down and sleep in their beds."

Overall, Mason swore he had so much fun that he wants to do it again, and that is what counts! Although, I think next year he will be way too big for the stroller and we'll have to find another way to bundle up.

"Wow!.... Can I Watch a Movie Now?"

In an effort to engage Mason in the Halloween season a little bit, we first took him to the pumpkin patch and then yesterday, tried to get his help carving the pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. He was so excited he even voluntarily left Grandma's house and the park to do this.

But when we got home, he couldn't have cared less. He posed for a picture with the pre-carved pumpkins and insisted I wash the smallest one that we weren't planning on carving. Then he climbed down from his chair, took off his shoes and socks, and went upstairs. When he came down, he had also removed his shirt. We were thinking he wanted to help scoop the stuff out, but we were wrong. He watched Alan carved one eye out of the first pumpkin and then asked if he could watch a movie. *sigh*

Alan: "You will PARTICIPATE in these family activities!"

Of course, Alan was joking and Mason was already off to "play toys". It was a fun way for mom and dad to spend some quality time together, though. It was the first time I've ever carved pumpkins. We used to paint them when I was younger, but I have no recollection of actually carving any. Scooping the inside out was kind of gross, but not as big of a mess as I thought. Alan followed the lines very well (probably better than I drew them--they are very basic, though), and even took pictures for me after dark when I was at work.

"I At Camping!"

We went back up to Whitney Reservoir this last weekend for some more family time. Alan's younger brother, Paul, was back in town and brought his girlfriend, Leah, home with him. Our idea of a good time is camping and four-wheeling, so we went back to the same little spot where we spent four days in July.

Unfortunately for Mason, the mud puddle he so loved to splash in was gone; the only rock-throwing opportunities were when we wheeled down to the "blue water". He was skeptical of doing much with the reservoir because he is worried about deer pee in the water. Instead, we spent a lot of time shuttling him back and forth to the creek for his rock throwing. The snow we found last time was also mostly gone, so his pleas to throw more snow at Grandpa went unheeded until Grandpa himself took Mason up to get some. They brought back a cooler full of snow and proceeded to throw it at all members of the camp, with Leah being Mason's favorite target. Mason's other form of entertainment for the trip were the three large holes dug by his uncles that he loved to get his dump truck stuck in and "crunching on the logs" (breaking up wood for our fire).

Sunday night we all huddled around the fire because it was so very cold. Mason's favorite story to tell that night was how the fire was going up into the sky, where it would crash into the moon and cry. It was total nonsense that we found entertaining because he was so insistent it was true. Overnight was very, very cold and although we had plenty of blankets, Mason had a hard time snuggling down into the covers. I think he was warm enough, but there wasn't much sleep to be had for mom and dad.

On Monday, Alan took me to shoot a .22 for the first time. There is a picture in the slideshow of the homemade target (paper plate with uneven circles drawn on it) with five bullet holes. Apparently, I shot quite well and Alan encouraged me to keep the paper plate for bragging rights. The 3-5 shots I took landed just shy of the center, in the middle circle. He said that would be sufficiently "center mass". After the shooting lesson, we got to take a long ATV ride that was a lot of fun. I felt it was successful because I managed to avoid rolling it when I took a turn too fast. I was not quite successful enough to avoid killing it in the creek because I was in too high of a gear; my feet and shins got relatively soaked and I quickly learned not to attempt that in fourth gear again.

Monday night and Tuesday were much warmer than the previous day. We enjoyed playing card and dice games in camp, eating way too much food, and taking turns on the ATVs. Overnight on Monday night, we got to listen to a large herd of sheep bleating nearby. The next morning, they were herded right past our camp down to the reservoir and we picked up a visitor: one of the sheepdogs was just a puppy and she apparently wanted to go home with us. She wasn't the biggest fan of Rio and Samson (I think their welcome was a little too eager for her liking), but she hung around with us all day while we packed up. When it was nearly time to go home, Paul loaded her on a 4-wheeler and took her down to the area where the sheep were staying; she reappeared shortly after he had dropped her off.

In the end, we all went home a little dirtier, a little sunburned and a little tired. Mason barely made it out of the campsite before he crashed out in his car seat. We're hoping to attempt at least one more of these outings before the summer is officially over, but we'll have to see.

Whitney Reservoir continued, in stereo

I warned y'all in my first post about this trip that I took an obscene number of pictures, so I copied Carolee's idea and made them into a slide show. I hope you like it!

The third and fourth days were spent in much the same manner as the first two. We took rides on the 4-wheelers, ate a lot of good food, and spent much time gathering rocks to be chucked in water, and then chucking those rocks. Alan spent a little time teaching me to shoot a BB gun (I'm actually not too bad of a shot. Not great, but not bad, either). We made targets out of paper plates and shot for chores. I reached the circle just out from the center and earned "Diaper Duty". That was already my job to begin with, so I see it as nothing lost. At least I didn't have to gut a fish! That just sounds gross! We worked our way to a well-shaken soda can, but I didn't actually hit that. I guess I have a goal for next time. My big goal this time was to not hurt myself on a 4-wheeler, and I was successful. I even popped a wheelie when we were loading the ATVs onto a trailer; it was kinda scary and kind of fun!

Anyway, on to Mason because he is so much cuter than the adults. He would climb on the ATVs and politely ask for someone (usually "Paumpa") to take him "on the 4-wheeders, please". He helped reel in a fish for the first time, and promptly asked to squeeze it. The poor fish pooped all over Alan's hand in protest. Mason also loved making sandwiches (s'mores) and just generally being allowed to run free, dig in the dirt, and throw stuff. He dragged Grandma on walks up and down the hillsides through the bluebells and down to the lake and back. He cleared all the rocks out of our campsite. He protested bedtime until the moment he hit his pillow (or got on a 4-wheeler or landed on Grandma's shoulder).

On our third day there, we took a trip up to where there was still snow on the ground and let Mason experience sledding. It wasn't quite as big of a hit as throwing snow at Paumpa, but hey, what could possibly be so fun? Afterwards, the grandparents took Mason for a ride so Mom and Dad could enjoy a ride up over the ridge to the top of the mountain. The view was beautiful and the break was appreciated!

The fourth day was more of the same as well. The boys fished, and then Alan and I packed up while Alan's parents went for one last ride (that sounded way too death-defying for me. I'm an off-roading wuss). We had some lunch and finished packing up and then we were out of there. Mason didn't want to go; he told us he wanted to live there. Samson started whining in dismay when he realized his kennel was packed in the truck and we had to lift both the dogs in because they wanted to stay. If it wouldn't have been for the desperate desire to take a shower, I'm not sure we would have returned back to reality! I think this camping trip (at least one, maybe more) will become a summer tradition now that we know Mason fares so well and loves it so much. And have you ever seen such a very dirty boy?!