Reid's Favorite Summertime Activities

I am not quite sure where half of the summer has gone.  This is the time of year, every year, where I start to get a little depressed and mentally begin counting down the days until I have to go back to school, despite how hard I try not to.  Don't get me wrong...I am extremely grateful for the time off (believe me...there would be no teachers without summer break!!) and fun I get to have with Reid.  But it seems like just when we get into a good routine, it's time to go back.

But let's focus on the fun stuff we've been doing this summer!  Back at the beginning of the summer, we went to our favorite place to eat sushi/sashimi...Umeko, which just happens to be located next to our favorite Asian market.  I make my list of Chinese, Japanese, and Thai condiments and ingredients that are way cheaper there, and we make a trip there every couple of months.  The day we went, we happened upon an Asian festival.  I think I may have been even more enthralled than Reid was (and he was pretty entertained, whether it was watching the show or the crowd).  There was an amazing strong man who stacked chairs as he climbed, then unstacked on his descent.

 The Chinese acrobats were spectacular and build many human towers.

 They did many amazing fast-paced stunts, too.  I caught this one with my phone:

 It was too bad we missed most of it, but when I got home I looked it up and they do this each year.  Plus, there's an Asian festival in Plano in the Fall.  I'll be marking that delicious activity on my calendar!

Reid has really grown up a lot since turning three.  I am so proud of the little person he's becoming!  He no longer terrorizes Dixie, and I think she's realized he's trying to be friends with her because she definitely tolerates him more and doesn't run away immediately.  On several occasions, he's seen her lying on a toy car.  In his mind, he thinks she wants to play with his cars, so he has brought her bunches of his cars and/or toys so "Dixie play!"

He also insists on brushing her nearly every day.  I really think it's just because he likes that he can give her treats at the end.  If she doesn't eat them (which is rare), he will pick them up and chase her, saying, "Here, Dixie.  Eat treats!!"

One day we had a cool front come through, so we skipped the gym and opted for a walk instead.  I let him have powdered donuts for the first time and he very carefully put them in the bottom of the stroller to eat when we arrived at our destination.  Definitely a fan...he wolfed them down in about 5 seconds!  Notice the powder?

I also wanted to try out my new camera lens on our walk, so we took lots of pictures.  Check out this action shot--see the blurry rock on the left?

He's gotten into a bad habit of curling up his mouth whenever he says, "Cheese!" but that's the only way I can get him to look at the camera.  We'll have to work on that...

I started saying silly stuff so he would laugh.  It was semi productive!  I love the new lens because it blurs out whatever's in the background that you're not focusing on.

Another summer favorite has been stuffed animals.  One day, he decided to put all of the ones he could reach into his bed.  (And this will be the last picture of his crib set...we have since gotten the cutest transportation comforter and sheet set!) Hmmm...where's Reid?

There he is!  He still automatically sticks that thumb in his mouth when T (his lovey) comes out.  Thankfully, that's only at nighttime and nap time.

The biggest news of the summer?  (Drum roll, please...)  Someone is totally potty trained!!  Here's his first day in big boy undies.  Notice the "cheese" mouth again.  He has been pee pee trained since March, but it was just that darn #2.  Little did I know that we just needed some good motivation.  I bought a treasure box and ordered Wingo and DJ (from Cars 1) plus some Hot Wheels.  Once I opened the Amazon package and he saw what I put in the treasure box, he went #2 on the potty FOUR times that same day just to get the car prizes!  I quickly had to switch to marshmallows/jellybeans/M&Ms because he would sit there forever and make himself go just to get a treat.  So we're still in that stage (deucing out a pebble just so he can eat a marshmallow), but I'll take it!

We also have to try out the restrooms anywhere we go lately.  He saw this one at Hemispheres (thankfully, very clean!) and another day, he picked out a car at Target and we immediately had to go find the restroom so he could have the car before we even put it in the treasure box!

He's not a huge fan of crafts or coloring, but I'm really wanting him to get more practice with those since it's such good hand-eye coordination and fine motor practice.  We tried out the safety scissors one day when he wanted to make a crown.  But this kid would rather play cars or watch a movie.

Another favorite would have to be hiking.  This kid loves his trails!  We went to our favorite hiking place over in Plano.  It's hard to believe this nature preserve is in the middle of the city.

We have also had lots of fun playing with friends from our playgroup.  The twins had a "par-tee" on Saturday.  Susan had gotten adorable little golf bags and labeled one for each child.  Reid putted for a little while, enjoyed a delicious cupcake (made by our own Holli!), but his favorite thing?  Riding in the golf cart, of course.  I'm mad because I accidentally deleted the wrong picture off of my phone (the cute one, of course), so this was the only other one I took. 

We also had a swim playdate last week at Kate's house.  Reid was the only one who didn't want a popsicle...or pizza...  But he had a blast swimming around.  He even wanted to jump off of the "mountain" (a rock waterfall) like the big boys.  Um, no.

We are trying to fit in all the fun we can for the last few weeks of freedom.  I love being at home with Reid, and I'm pretty sure Jason likes nice meals each night and a less stressed wife.  We've even started eating meals as a family, which is virtually impossible during the school year (but I'm going to find some way to do it!!).

Galveston, part 2

Uncle Matt had to leave Monday evening so he could go back to work on Tuesday.  So the boys requested mini golf Tuesday morning before hitting the beach.  Reid hadn't ever held a real golf club before, but he watched Jason and the boys and had a nice little stance...for about two seconds.

First golf lesson from Daddy

But what Reid really enjoyed was climbing all around on the rocks and "bridges," or crawling under the tunnels.  He also loved putting the golf balls in the holes...by hand rather than golf club.  Alex loved that he was "the winner" because in his book, the one who finished first won.  Ben was slow and steady, carefully aiming at the holes and calculating swings.  It was fun to watch the boys' different approaches.

We took Reid for a snow cone one day.  He was very excited about it and picked "green" as his flavor (with that color, it was sour apple or dill pickle, so I opted for sour apple).  But when it came out, he wasn't so sure... He also didn't really even want to try mine or Jason's after that.  The next time we went to the snow cone stand, we got snow cones and Jason went in the quickie mart to get Reid an ice cream.  Everyone was happy.

Back to the beach for some more fun in the sand and waves.  Alex and Ben have been around beaches most of their lives.  They played with the sand, they boogie boarded, they floated the waves, they built sand castles and other things, they played with various beach and car toys.  Reid, on the other hand, quickly decided he wanted to "Wash hands! Wash hands!" about every five seconds or so.  He enjoyed finding "shellos" (shells)...but only wanted to touch/collect them after instructing you to wash it off first.  And how dare you if you tried to touch his shellos..."MY shellos!!!" 

Crazy man!

Thursday came too soon.  It was our last full day at the beach.  Everyone was tired, but happy to play.  The boys drove cars on sand roads, Grumpy built sand castles, and we girls supervised from the nice, shaded tent.  Reid wanted to do bubbles, so Jason obliged.  This kid chased bubbles in the wind for a good thirty minutes and had a blast.

Jason and I left during nap time one day to go drive around.  We drove along the sea wall and went to a big shell place I remembered from high school to get Reid a crab t-shirt (he wore it yesterday and loved it!).  We checked out a couple of restaurants we'd have gone to if they had been closer.  We drove past some of the historical houses.  We checked out the Strand to see what it was like these days.  It was fun just walking around, looking at odd t-shirts, and checking out the gulf side of the island on our drive back.

Laura, Ben, and Alex headed back to Katy on Thursday afternoon so that Friday wouldn't be so crazy with everyone trying to pack up at once.  We were sad to not share the last night with them there, but it did give Reid some one on one time with Grammy and Grumpy.  He made up plenty of his own craziness, like steam rolling Daddy and laughing hysterically, or playing his own version of hide and seek in the closet.  It consisted of him hiding in the closet, then yelling any combination of "Daddy/Grammy/Grumpy/Mommy!" until someone came to "discover" him.  Quite entertaining.

Jason and I got to take a quiet, moon-lit walk on the beach that evening.  I nearly stepped on the last jellyfish we saw, and we caught a couple of hermit crabs.  It was such a fun week, but finally the last day arrived.  After packing up the cars and saying goodbye to Grammy and Grumpy, it was time to begin our long voyage home.  But not until Reid got to ride the ferry.  He was convinced we'd find "Finn Missile" (Finn McMissile from Cars 2) on the big boat and looked for him the entire time.  We figured the view would be what he was most interested in, but in true kid fashion, it was the little things...like hanging on the hand rail.

We did get to see a few dolphins, but Reid was looking the wrong way every time.  He still enjoyed watching the seagulls being fed off of the back.

And he liked that he could see out the window himself when we went upstairs for a potty break.

It was slightly windy ;)

We made it home safely late that afternoon with our own little pirate/Mexican man.  He came back a few shades darker and enjoyed wearing the joke glasses we got on the Strand.  What a fun trip and how great it was to see family, but most of all, what wonderful memories we made!  Thank you, Grammy and Grumpy, for bringing us all together.  I think Reid's first beach trip was quite the success.