In the morning August was focused on the vacuum cleaner. It was up in the kitchen, and he used it to vacuum Carly and the inside of the fridge.
Around 10:30 Cassie, Derek, Andrea, Carly, and I loaded up two cars and drove east about 40 minutes to a spot Derek had found on the Skookumchuck River. We played along the river for a couple hours. August enjoyed wading into the river, but since he is still learning temperature words and he only knows ‘hot’, he was using ‘hot’ instead of cold to describe the water. He also threw a lot of rocks into the river, shot the squirt gun with Carly, and petted Eddy – even grooming her coat a bit, pulling bits of plants out of her fur.
After we left, our car load headed back to the house. There, August figured out how to stand on the steps and turn the lights to the stairway on and off. He also played his fake yelling game with Cherie.
About 5 Carly, Cassie, and I took the three kids to Dairy Dan’s in Chehalis for ice cream. Carly and Cassie got huge chocolate cones, and Vivian’s kid’s swirl cone was surprisingly big. Of course, August got to eat parts of both Carly and Vivian’s cones. And Vivian decided to start eating her cone before first finishing the ice cream above it. We sat at a basic picnic table behind the restaurant. Vivian and August had an amazing amount of fun with the landscaping rocks and pipes next to the wall of the building.
The fun continued back at the house as they played in the garage and August made a game of throwing Thatcher’s helmet in the garbage.
My parents called, saying they had made it to town. So we drove down to the Lakeview Motel where they are staying. August was thrilled to see them and his excitement continued when we drove to Burgerville and my mom could hold him. We ordered, then all walked to Riverside Park.
We first ate at a picnic table. He went pretty crazy for my raspberry milkshake. There was a water tap and August continued to call the water ‘hot’. We went over to the playground, where he would shove rocks in his shoes and then immediately get upset by it. He also sat next to Carly in the gravel and imitated her as she swept her legs through it. He also pushed rocks between his toes, trying to get them to stay.
We ended our park time with a short walk down to the river, where my mom provided him with rocks to throw, then said goodbye after we walked back to our cars at Burgerville.
New words to day included ‘toe’ (referring to Colin’s toe), ‘heavy’ (when picking up rocks at the river), ‘cracker’ (wanting crackers in the car), and ‘bottle’ (referring both to bottles of water at the house and pictures of beer bottles on a box).
Morning:
At the river:
Back at the house:
Trip to Dairy Dan’s:
Trip to Dairy Dan’s:
