He woke up about 7:20. Carly went in with him, then was reading Captain Underpants to him. I heard a lot of laughing. They came out and Carly went outside. He wanted his light up shoes on and I helped him get those on. He said he was going to wear them all day, but he was disappointed when he couldn’t see the lights, especially in the bright sun. He went outside with Carly for awhile.
Inside he played with the space shuttle parts and I told him about how they built the space station and how the shuttle had a robotic arm. He was then the space station himself, with a robotic arm, and he had me explain what each part of him was, then had me doing different experiments in the science ‘arm’ (literally). I grew a flower and cactus and we talked about what they need to grow. Also made space s’mores.
He went back outside with Carly after putting his light up shoes back on. they played with the big sand toys and I went for a walk towards the south end of the property. I came back as they were looking for our sand toys. I switched with Carly and went with him to play in the sand some more. He was singing the jingo joe song again and I got it on video. He also switched the words, saying “running out of tooshies…”
We went inside to actually change him into clothes, as he was playing in the sand with his pajamas. He was then out on the porch with Paul. The door opened and I heard “And when the seeds fall they go in the dirt and they grow…” Paul said that August had blown dandelion seeds and said “See you next year!” So we have to come back next year.
Couldn’t find his Crocs, and Carly found them for me. I’d (and August had) forgotten that he’d put them in the drawer last night before going to sleep. Grampa said that he wanted to show him a lava rock, so August got on his Crocs and said “Let’s go on a hunt for rocks that used to be lava!” We went and looked at it and August felt how heavy it was. He wanted more lava rocks, but none were to be found. He settle for studying a sprinkler head in depth. He was hungry so went inside and asked for a “Gramma bar”. Had one of those, then ate more of the berry granola. He decided to leave the rest of it for tomorrow morning. He brought up the “Robo Zinnie, defender of the multiverse!’ thing. He had me making a movie about him, but I think that was later in the car.
On the floor, he made a map of Washington out of the puzzle pieces with Gramma and Paul. She explained the parts of Washington that he’s been to and our trip, then they were adding on Canada. She then said “I need to change my clothes (before we leave).” He asked “Why, did you change in there?” I can’t quite remember why that made sense at the time. He then told her about Rebecca squeezing him in the s’mores shirt. I had put it on him today as we were going to do s’mores this evening.
We went out to the sand toys again. He played in the sand and had me play the teasing game. He had Emmitt, Leonard, and Juyeok teasing him. Back inside, he said “Oh no, dada leaved.” He then had a debate with Carly about ‘leaved’ versus ‘left’. He said “But still, enshmugedorflug.”
We got driving after 11. We went down to the Desert Cultural Center. He liked the little fake stream in the rocks. We paid and went in and then to the outside portion. August was a little grumpy at first, saying “No fun, no fun, no fun.” But then there were binocular things and he liked those, and then we got out on the trails. He got more and more into it. There was one pithouse though that was closed with a sign saying it was unstable. He then was not happy with me going into the other pithouse, pulling my hand to get me out. We smelled the sage and looked at the poison ivy. When we looped around and saw the poison ivy again we ended up talking about how animals like deer can eat plants that we can’t, with thistles, etc. So for the entire rest of the way he had “deer power” and was looking for plants for him to eat. When Carly pointed out a bug on a plant he had just ‘eaten’, he spit it out.
Back at the building we looked at the animals, seeing some snakes, including the rattlesnake. He told me “If you ever hear a rattlesnake could you please not get close so you don’t get bitten?” The three of us then went in and, after I took him to the bathroom, watched the 17 minute movie they were showing. He had some questions during it, and snacked on one of the new bars I’d gotten (but he didn’t like them) and Cheerios. We went back outside and looked at some of the exhibits about animals. Everyone was then ready to go and I bought a mug before we left.
We headed up the valley and went to Okanagan Falls Provincial Park but it is just a campground, so we went to nearby Kenyon Park on the south shore of the lake. We went to a picnic table for lunch. I realized we hadn’t really packed for August. And we needed s’mores stuff and batteries for mom’s camera anyway, so August and I went to the grocery store that was right next to us. He was helpful with the shopping, although temporarily distracted by the candy. He spotted the batteries on his own. Paul showed up as well. August picked out the marshmallows and graham crackers. We also found the coconut kind of the protein granola bars, with the frosting stuff on the bottom, that he liked in Israel.
We went back to the park. August had some carrot and banana, and took the carrot with him as he and Carly went over to see the water play area. They then went down to the diggers area of the playground. I stayed and ate lunch. Mom went for a walk out on the point and ended up talking to. Guy for awhile. On the way back she stopped and talked to Carly. August also played on the play structure and went down the slide.
Back at the table he was eating a bar, but kept saying words he wasn’t supposed to say. So Carly took the bar from him. When she did it broke in half. He was sore about it: “Never break my bar again.” When she would tell him he shouldn’t break the rules he would replay “Well just pull gently.”
We then drove over to Tickelberry’s for ice cream. I had told mom and dad that they could go ahead and drive ahead. August was very upset about this: both because he felt like they had left us and because he wanted to get there first. He was upset in the car, then at the shop he first screamed when we walked in the door. We took him outside to calm down, then went back in. When he saw them though he started running towards them, telling them to “Stop!” But then he was okay and we got down to choosing ice cream. He and Carly chose to share a scoop of bubble gum on a cone. I got a small two scoops of their special cinnamon and earl grey. We went and ate outside. August wanted to try everyone else’s and walked up to dad and looked up at him with big eyes and said “Share!” After he was done, he pretended to play chess with my parents.
We headed out, not very hungry for dinner, so we decided to get hot dogs at the store and take them back to the cabin. We stopped at the grocery store at Osoyoos again and got hot dogs and asparagus.
Drove back to the cabin, and pretty soon dad got the grill going and did the hot dogs and asparagus on it. August ate a couple pieces of asparagus, some carrot before it, a little broccoli, and some hot dog. There was something sticky he wanted to clean up, so he was something like the Robo Zinnie Vacuum 2000 and got a wet paper towel and wiped it, then went around the cabin for quite awhile cleaning things.
It was now time for the fire. Dad got it started and August went out and helped carry small pieces of wood. He and I sat watching the fire and he asked “How does the wood do that? Is it magic?” We talked about the chemical reaction of fire and what it needs.
Now time for s’mores. He roasted the first marshmallow (dad had gone and whittle a couple sticks), then had a s’more. He was pretty sticky, so Carly took him in and washed him. Back outside he roasted an
other marshmallow and ate it off his stick. Stressful for us, but he managed to do it and not get his hands sticky at all. After the third he said “I ate it all up!” Then immediately had a sad face and asked “When can I have another one?” I agreed to a fourth, and he said “Let’s put it on…If I say so, I men so.”
August then spent quite awhile burning a marshmallow stick and another stick dad had. He was having a little difficulty keeping the sticks in the fire pit, so I watched him closely. I went and got Smokey as we talked about fire safety. He held Smokey in his lap for awhile while he burned the stick. He was then Grampa’s assistant, helping put out the fire. That went on for quite awhile too, stirring water into the ashes and coals. I went inside when I was cold and he was out with my parents for a few more minutes, coming in at 9:05.
We got him ready for bed. He was singing the “Coposetic doo doo bomb” song. He said he learned it from Omriki and that they once had to sit separate during story time because they were saying it. May have been on Omri’s birthday. he went out and said good night to everyone, calling them Zinnie. I said good night and left them after 9:30. He was asleep by 9:45.