Playing with the Waterpillar

We got the Waterpillar back out tonight. Landon was really excited about it, but once it was out, he was pretty hesitant. Daddy ran him through the water a few times, and Landon thought that was a ton of fun. It didn't take him too long to warm up to the spray.

Farewell, Olympics

Landon's going to miss the Olympics. Several times this week he's told us, "I need to watch the 'Lympics." His favorite has been volleyball. He'll find one of his own balls, throw it around, and say, "I playing volleyball!" He likes the swimming, too. He and I watched part of the closing ceremony tonight, and he was fascinated by the giant drums in the air.

Mmm, Sweet Corn!

This evening, we traveled to a nearby town for their sweet corn festival. It reminded me of when I was a kid, and every summer we'd go to our town's sweet corn festival. But I remember that there were always lots of bees there. Thankfully, I saw no bees tonight.


Yum, sweet corn!


Landon watches the band Echoing Angels while eating kettle corn.

We were actually on our way to get ice cream, but he had his heart set on popcorn, and how do you say no to a kid this cute?

Echoing Angels performed on the stage sponsored by our local Christian radio station. (They've provided a lot of entertainment for us this summer. They're the same station that put on the Backyard Bounce we went to at a local park last month.)

The Basketball Pool Becomes a Stage

Landon's pool was his stage, and his shovel a very fine guitar.

(Lyrics: Indescribable, uncontainable, you placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name)

8/19

In the Garden

We've been getting ripe roma tomatoes for a week or two now. Landon loves to point at the green ones and say, "Green tomato!" But yesterday he asked if one was a pear. Silly kid.

Photo taken 8/19.

Good, cheap fun

Landon found an old squirt bottle lying around today, so he picked it up and said, "That yours?"

I said, "Yeah, it's mine, but I don't use it."

To which he replied, "That mine?" So I cleaned it out and filled it up with water for him to squirt. This entertained him for a looong time.

It's a good outdoor summer activity, but it would make a good rainy day activity too. Landon found the bottle while I was cleaning the bathroom, so for a long while, he stood in the shower and squirted it around. (Of course, the shower floor will get wet, so please be careful your child doesn't slip.)

Summer Art Night

On Wednesday, I hosted a Summer Art Night for the kids at church. We did four different projects, and I focused on messy projects that the kids probably wouldn't be allowed to do inside during the middle of winter.

This event was designed for toddlers on up. A few of the kids there are heading into sixth grade next week, so we really had a wide age span. But the great thing about these projects is that they're focused on the process, not the product, so all the kids were able to get into them and enjoy them.

Here's what we did:

1) I mixed bubble solution with food coloring. The kids blew the colored bubbles toward their paper with bubble wands. Some bubbles landed on the paper and left big colored circles on the paper; others popped in the air and rained down splashes of color onto the paper.

2) The kids rubber-banded sponges to the bottom of their feet. They stepped on trays of paint, then walked on paper to create a stamped design.

3) The kids drew pictures on the shiny side of freezer paper with washable markers. Then, they hung them on the clothesline and misted them with a spray bottle of water. Depending how much you spray, the ink can either bead up or drip down the paper.

4) We hung sheets on the clothesline and got them good and wet with the hose. Then, the kids got to use a variety of brushes (bristle brushes, sponge brushes, and sponge rollers) to paint on the sheets with washable tempera paints. (Supposedly, you can spray the sheets back down and start over when you're done, but we didn't try that, because it was time to eat a snack and head home.)

I didn't get as many pictures of Landon as I would have liked, because I was busy coordinating the much larger than I'd expected crowd, but here are the ones I did take.

Giveaway!

Head over to The Soft Landing Blog for a chance to win a silicone number ice cube tray. It would be great way to make your toddler's drinks just a little more exciting!

Wild man Landon at the fair!

Well, it turns out that Landon's a crazy man when it comes to carnival rides. He had a blast! We started off pretty easy, riding the carousel, train, and big slide with Mommy or Daddy. Then he spotted the kiddie rollercoaster, and he really wanted to ride it. However, parents can't ride that one, and the only thing that holds the kids in place is a chain. We just didn't trust him to stay seated by himself, so we said no. Instead, we did the spinning bears, the flying elephants, and the fun house.

Next on the list was the race cars. We had purchased Landon a bracelet, so he could do unlimited rides, and they let a parent ride with little kids without purchasing another bracelet. However, the race car operator was going to charge Tony three tickets in order to ride with Landon. This one looked safer than the roller coaster, so we let Landon try it on his own. He did GREAT, and he had a blast on it.

After that, we started rethinking our decision not to let him ride the rollercoaster. Fortunately, we ran into some people from church, and their older son agreed to sit with Landon on the ride. That made us feel a lot more comfortable, and I'm so glad that Landon got to ride it, because he really did love it. (I think Mason liked it too; he had Landon sit by him on the train ride after that.)

We did a few more rides, stopped by the petting zoo, ate too much fried food, and headed home! I didn't use to care too much about the fair, but it's a lot more fun with a delighted two-year-old. He had so much fun that I wish we could take him more than once a year. (But on the other hand, if we went more often, I think we'd be broke!)

Popsicles

We've been getting a lot of use out of our popsicle molds lately. We've made yogurt pops with plain yogurt and just a splash of apple juice and watermelon pops with pureed watermelon (these are also good mixed with applesauce, which we've done in the past). Have any other popsicle recipes? Please feel free to share!

(P.S. No one recognized the Friends reference in the last post? It's from "Joey and Janice's Day 'o Fun!" Ring any bells for anyone?)