He slept until just past 7. They got up a little later, then me. I came down as Carly was dragging the now painted swingset back onto the lawn. I helped pick up the plastic, and Carly found a spot where paint had leaked to the patio. August looked at it and said “Shmuel won’t be happy about that.” Carly started scrubbing it and August climbed on her back. I tried to distract him as she did it, then went inside with him and he wanted to look at the forecast. We then did Drops, which was fine for awhile. But he kept wanting to jump categories and do things like the ‘Jail’ category. When I said we needed to agree on a category he refused and got really upset when I turned the phone off: “Mama! Mama!” She came in and spent some time with him.
Carly wanted to go back outside and asked August to open his Zinnie store. He said he would when it was sunny, saying he had closed at 10:30, but would open again at 10:57. He went reluctantly, but went out with her and opened his shop.
He came in and said “We picked two carrots! I ate the carrots and I ate the greens, too!” He wanted to play Toca Robot Lab, but then wanted a different Toca app and I downloaded the free Toca Monster Kitchen. I went up to take a shower. When I came down he was eating popcorn and had been watching Planet Earth, although I don’t think he watched much. I asked Carly which came first, and it was the popcorn. He then played some Toca Blocks while we were getting ready to leave.
We left before 10:30. On the way down we finished reading Fortunately, the Milk. He had me skip some in the middle, sowe might go back and revisit it. I think I found the book funnier than him.
He was totally fine on the way down, until we got to the gate. Carly had to pay, and it was taking a few minutes. He had a meltdown while I kept him away from her so she could do that. But, now we have a year-long pass to the national parks and plan to make good use of it.
We first drove over to the bell caves – ancient limestone quarries. We started out there at noon. Stopped at the bathroom and got walking. August was really into the map and the different colored paths (wheelchair path and not). When we approached the caves I was carrying him and he said “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can we go in there?” He was very intrigued as we walked around the caves, but also kind of scared, and wanted to be carried the whole time. Got him to stand and admire one of the caves for a minute, then to walk up some stairs on his own.
Back outside we continued walking around the bell caves area. He liked the area, but admitted that he was a bit scared and kept wanting to be carried. He also really liked the arrow markers that showed us which way to go. We stopped at a bench for a snack and ate some of our sandwiches, then got walking again. And he helped take some photos along the way. We were back to the bathrooms at 1:15. We ate an orange and he played with the buckets covering posts they were installing.
We then got in the car and drove to the parking lot at the south end of the park. We first went in the Sidian burial cave. August quite liked that as well, but wanted to be held the entire time. Then when they were walking out and I was still in the cave he was concerned that I come out as well. He didn’t want to leave me behind.
We then walked the half kilometer trail out to the remains of St. Anne’s church. August did some walking now. He liked standing on some rocks and being taller than us. We found a good chunk of limestone and had fun breaking it apart. He had a stick he called his wizard stick, then was using it as a walking stick. But after he fell a couple times walking down a hill he abandoned it. Along the way a park ranger over on the road yelled over to us to remind us the park closed at 3. It was getting close to 2:30.
We got out to the church and stayed there for a few minutes, then headed back. August spotted his stick on the way back and at first decided he wanted to take it home. But as we got to the parking lot he told Carly she could drop it. He was quite worried about how much time we had left and kept asking.
We briefly looked at the caves by the gift shop area but they were closed. We stopped at the bathrooms and he went in with me. We then went in the gift shop and I bought the three guide things they had in English: Birds of Israel, Bird Migration, and Reptiles and Amphibians.
We left at 2:50. He played iPad games, then we finished reading Magic Treehouse #32 (the Ice Wizard one). We got home at 4:10. He nursed, then ate two spinach pancakes that Carly cooked for him. He then asked for one more and I cooked one for him. Played some Wizard School, then we did Drops. He said “I think I chang-ed my mind.” He wanted a fourth pancake.
They then Skyped with Cherie and Chuck. She played the harmonium (old one) for him. And he played played piano for them: Yankee Doodle, the Arabic song, his arpeggios. He had a nice competition with Cherie, first typing big numbers, then small numbers: “Mine is bigger than yours!” “I don’t know, but it’s somewhere in negatives!” She was talking to him about his new bed on the floor, and asked when he’d sleep on his own. He said “Actually, I’ll never do that.”
After the Skype call he and I read more of The Sisters. He and I then Skyped with my parents. He hung up on them a couple times. They were leaving later in the day to head to Lake Stevens, and will be back Monday. August hung up on them a couple times. He really wanted to Skype with Vivian but she wasn’t online today. He was doing some big typing things with my parents though.
Carly then took him upstairs. He said he didn’t like the caves but thought the park was pretty cool. I asked if it was because the caves were kind of scary. He slouched his head and said”Yeah”. I told him to dream about caves and he said “caves and scary dreams.” He was asleep about 7:40.
Bell caves:
Burial cave:
Being taller than us:
Limestone:
The church and path:
Reading the bird guide:
