He woke up at 6:30, but Carly got him back to sleep. He was up again after 7:30. He had some french toast for breakfast, then played with the dominoes with Colin. Chuck came over and played with them. August talked to Chuck about beach rules. He was thinking of the beaches in Israel where the lifeguards tell kids where to swim. Kayla and Thatcher came up.
I took a shower. When I came out, August told me “Opa called me ‘Shorty’.” When I asked how August responded he said “I knocked down his tower.” This was a complaint he mentioned multiple times, and also to Carly and Cherie. But Chuck never said that. He simply built a tower taller than August, and August interpreted that as teasing him.
Everyone else was getting ready for a trip to the beach. August wanted to wear his swimsuit. It was still a bit damp so Carly put it in the dryer. August then joked “Put me in the dryer…I’m like 99 percent water on the inside…and blood cells.” He then helped Chuck and Kayla and Thatcher play Candy Land. August would draw the cards for each of them and hand them a card.
They all walked down to the beach at 9:45. Played a little up where the fort is, then went down to the beach. Carly went out on the stand-up kayak. Thatcher held onto a geoduck and Chuck and Jeff tried to dig it up. Thatcher let go when someone else dug up a shrimp. They also found crabs. They made a dam on a little stream and the dam disappeared when the tide came in. And crows got into some of the food, eating the peanuts.
I worked, having a phone call with a woman from MPAC, and returned a call from my mom to discuss Sunday.
They were back about 12:30. He was with cherie for awhile. Not sure where they were. He spotted Thatcher and Vivian with Starbursts they had gotten in the truck and he wanted one. I found the honey treat that my mom had bought him at Bear Foods in Chelan when he was asleep and broke that up for him. He had a piece of it now and was happy enough to then eat nutty noodles for lunch. Cherie and Chuck put the Wild Kratts on the TV and they watched two epsisodes. Chuck and Cherie had already left, and we were leaving next. August then spotted Thatcher with M and Ms. Thatcher was nice enough to give him some, solving that problem. We were getting in the car and the bathroom freed up, so Carly took him in to the bathroom. Kayla was saying goodbye to us from the window as we left, and asking where we were going. We left before 3 and got to Chris and Tami’s just past 4.
Looked around the house, and August headed to the back bedroom with the toys in it with Tami. They were back there by themselves for 10 minutes or so, then Tami came out. We were all heading out on the deck and Chris realized August was missing. He then went down and played with August for a good 10 or 15 minutes. They played with a construction truck and lift, and a set of boxes of different sizes. Chris was impressed with how quickly August caught on to how they worked.
Cassie and company arrived at 4:35. Then Derek and company. August came out with a little Hungry Hippos game. August wanted to play the Slice Fractions 2 game, which he had spotted on his iPad and is new. We played a little together. Apparently not about fractions, but is good problem solving. Thatcher came over and they played on the hanging bed out on the deck together. It was really cool to hear them discussing their problem solving and working through several levels. Don and Theresa showed up, and friends Claire and her husband, who used to be an English/Philosophy teacher at Columbia Basin Community College. Did a lot of discussing of Palestine and my work and travel plans with people. Chris and Tami are heading to Spain and Germany soon.
I looked at the big Audubon book, finding the page that was open at the Beinecke Library when we were at Yale. August found the binoculars and we used them. They came in handy when a big ship went by, that was supposedly a carrier support/work ship. Spotted small subs on the side.
Jeff and I were discussing travel and I mentioned Kazakhstan and he mentioned Borat. Jeff said that people had thought he was from a made-up country. He then asked Derek if he’d seen the movie, and Derek thought he was from a fictional company. Later, Jeff, Derek, and I were trading puns in the same spot. Not the most literary of discussion spots.
Derek did most of the cooking for the fish tacos. But lots of food overall. August was disappointed by the watermelon salad. He took bites on his fork over to Tami at the sink to wash them off. She didn’t understand at first and threw his first piece away. He persisted. But it had a dressing on it that changed the flavor of the watermelon. For desert there was a wonderful rhubarb dish. August had gone back to playing with Thatcher and didn’t have any, but the kids had had popsicles.
Soon before we left, someone was picking the kids up by the feet. Colin saw this, and I saw him flop down on the couch on his back and stick his feet up into the air. His way of asking to be picked up.
We left a bit after 8. August fell asleep promptly in the car by 8:15. At the house Carly bonked his head taking him out of the car, but he went right back to sleep.
Sock hands:
Playing with Uncle Chris:
Ship:
