Thursday: Peter, Micah, and Kasiah

August was up early. I was getting up around 6:30 and August say up, rubbing his eyes. He was clearly awake so I grabbed him and quietly got us upstairs, sliced a couple pieces of banana bread, and went outside. 

Peter came up a few minutes later and we made coffee. He then headed to Wapato Point to pick up Kasiah. 

While he was gone other people started waking up. I took a shower then went for a walk with August while Carly showered. August chose our path and we ended up by the dam for the first time. As we looked at the dam and river,near the entrance to the sewage treatment plant, the meter reader stopped and talked to us. 

We then headed home through the baseball fields. 

August played with Kasiah a bit and at 9 we headed to the Fox and Quail for breakfast. We are outside. We took turns with August. The food was good, and August liked both the egg wrap and the French toast/goat cheese/blackberry jam sandwich. 

We came home and hung out on the deck until they left around 1. August had gone to sleep for a nap but woke up just in time to see them off. 

There was a lot of playing in water to occur in the afternoon. August thought it was hilarious to see Carly jumping through the sprinkler. And I took him into the garage and he stood in the sink while he played in the water. 

We also went (driving – the heat is coming) into town. We parked at Safeway and walked one direction to the UPS store, then back the other to the post office. We then went to Safeway to buy ingredients for dinner. 

Carly and I made two quiche for dinner, while my mom helped by watching August. So he had quiche for dinner as well as peach and corn. The quiche was his favorite. 

For our evening walk we let August choose directions to start with. We ended up across the highway. He wanted to keep going up the hill, but that wasn’t an option. He chose towards the football field instead. So we walked there, sat on the bleachers for a minute, then headed home, walking along the highway. 

August was getting really tired and ready to go to sleep. But Carly took him in for a bath when we got home. Since he now likes playing in the bath this worked out well. He took a long bath then went pretty straight to sleep. 

Sitting in the morning:

Our morning walk, pointing to the apple: 

Breakfast at the Fox and Quail:


Playing with Kasiah:  

Eating quiche and corn: 

Playing in the sprinklers: 



And in the garage sink: 


Evening walk: 

Wednesday: Peter and Micah

My friend Peter and his son Micah came to visit today. 

In the morning, August and Carly went for a walk and then played in the yard. Then, while Carly took a shower I took him for a quick walk up the hill and back. 

Peter and Micah showed up a bit past 12:30. We hung out at the house for a little while then drove into town. We parked by Bear Fooods and walked over to the Lakeview Drive-in to get a snack; Carly got bubble gum ice cream and I got fries. August started to warm up to Micah. By the end of the day he would be calling him ‘Cah Cah’. August really wanted to try a French fry and kept crawling under the table to try to get old ones until Peter threw them to the birds. 

We walked back to Bear Foods and all got popcorn. We also bought some more Larabars as car treats for August. 

We drove back home and I think Carly took him for another walk while I hung out with Peter and Micah took a nap. 

We all (including my parents) walked to Marcela’s Mexican restaurant in town for dinner. August has figured out restaurants and we have a pretty good system down: he will sit in the high chair for awhile and have a snack, then we will walk him around (in this case Carly took him across to the church yard to nurse) until the food comes, then he is really excited to see the food and eats with us. In this case, he was the first one to start eating and also finished last. He ate a ton. He loved the rice and beans, the shrimp, the avocado, and just about anything else he tried. I don’t think he really rejected anything, except perhaps the mushroom from my dish. 

We came home and all sat out on the deck until it was dark. August was full of energy and the center of attention: running around the deck, holding up little rocks, pointing to people’s knees, beeping noses, shoveling dirt, looking through his legs, etc. 

He fell asleep a little before 9 and the rest of us stayed out on the porch until it was time for us to head to bed as well. 

 










Tuesday: Local Myth Pizza

We didn’t use a car today, but still did a lot of exploring. 

In the morning I took August on a quick August walk while the banana bread was baking. I let him choose which direction to take at each intersection or alley. We ended up walking down some streets and alleys he hadn’t seen before heading down to the river and baseball fields. Each time he would choose a direction he would point confidently and giggle. 

We all then walked into town for lunch at Local Myth Pizza. August liked rocking the high chair, then went out to the park with Carly until pizza arrived. Paul was working, and August was excited to see him. When he came back in he kept saying ‘Pau’. He did really well as we are pizza and enjoyed the pizza himself. We ran into Ken, who used to work with my dad at the Forest Service. 

We walked around Riverfront Park and headed home. For this entire walk he was carrying his blue shovel. He was falling asleep as we got home, so we hurried the last block. 

He took an 80 minute nap, after which we played around the yard until dinner. 

After dinner we went on our evening walk. August carried his shovel and chose some of our route. We walked down through Riverwalk Park and then back home through downtown. 

He’s really been into touching people’s noses and having them say beep. But when my mom said ‘honk’ instead, he corrected her, saying ‘beep’. This continued through the day. 









Monday: Blue Berry Hills and a haircut

A very eventful day. 

In the morning he played with a loaf of bread (in the bag) and learned how a sponge works (he got very good at saying ‘squeeze’ as he squeezed out the water) and I took him on a quick walk (11 out of 11 dogs barked at us this time). 

We then all went up to Blueberry Hills for brunch. He really liked all the stuff in the restaurant, particularly the lights on the ceiling. He got to eat our tortilla scramble, but totally rejected every part of our blueberry blintz. He also got to play around outside and stomp in the puddles. 

We came home and he took a nice long nap. In the afternoon we drove to the city park. He played with Carly around the playground while I walked across the street and got my hair cut. We then all walked down to the water. He played in it for a few minutes, but then wanted to be held by Carly. There was a mother duck with 7 ducklings, and we got to watch them the entire time we were there. I guess he had been saying ‘duck’ a ton while I was getting my haircut. 

We ate dinner around the table, then took the high chair out on the porch and my dad gave August a little haircut. Didn’t take much off, but it isn’t starting to get in his eyes anymore. 

For our evening walk we walked up the hill and all the way to the graveyard. August met another friendly cat, and spotted a toy horse in a yard. And then got to see a real horse. 

Bread: 

Sponge: 

Blueberry Hills: 


City park: 



Back home: 

Haircut time: 

Nose beeping:




Evening walk: 

Sunday: Echo Ridge for Father’s Day

In the morning August spent some time being mesmerized by the fan. We also had fun taking off his clothes and playing in the wading pool. After his nap he pulled some of my old paperback books off a shelf and was carrying them around the house. 

We took two cars and drove up to Echo Ridge. We hiked a little over 5 miles. August has been crossing his fingers lately, and I got proof of that. When we were done hiking, we put on his shoes and let him play around. He had fun with the pine needles and making Paul pick up our water bottles when August threw them over a log. While we were there, Richard Ullhorn (who worked with my mom at the newspaper) and his friend Bob rode by on their bikes. We visited with them for a few minutes before heading out. 

The three of us stopped by Safeway again, then headed home for dinner. While my dad grilled the burgers, I took August for a short walk and 10 of the 12 dogs we saw barked at us. We all ate out on the deck, August in his high chair. August loved the baked beans and figured out how to eat watermelon by the slice without biting the rind. 

Carly have him a bath today. He was hesitant at first, but had fun playing in the bath and didn’t want to get out. 














Friday: Beebe Springs Wildlife Area

Wow. August slept 13 and a half hours, until close to 11. 

I had made banana bread in the morning, so after he ate banana bread, grapes, and some cherries for a meal (brunch, I guess) we finally made it out of the house. We took two cars down to Beebe Springs Wildlife Area. 

By the time we got down there it was 3 hours after he woke up and he soon fell asleep. Rather surprising given the circumstances. We walked around, seeing the new pond they made. Walking back we found the path turned to a stream thanks to the beaver pond. We waded through and kept going. As we walked through the north end of the park (which we hadn’t done before), August woke up. 

We went to a little beach area and went wading. August had fun throwing mud and rocks – particularly at Carly’s legs. 

My parents and Paul left before us to go to the store. We left a bit later. We first stopped at Walmart to get sun screens to put in the windows of the car to keep the sun out of August’s face in the car seat. We then went downtown and made a stop at Bear Foods to buy tea and then at Safeway to get salad stuff. 

We went home and had salmon and salad for dinner. August ate salmon, asparagus, and artichoke. 

He stayed awake until 9:30. Late in the evening he had fun playing in the pool outside. He was dumping water out of the cups and bottles and much of it was going down his front. He was very soaked by the time he was done. 

He is saying ‘Paul’ now. And he got to pet Celeste and touch her nose when my dad held her. 

Waking up enough to see a stream: 


Throwing mud and growling: 


He has practiced with one of these tins back in Korea: 


Peek-a-boo using his water: 




Asking for help: 

Watching the fan: 


Thursday: walk to the city park

Still working on August’s jet lag. Carly was up with him until he fell asleep at 1:30. She stayed up even later chatting with Glecy in Barcelona. 

So I had a few hours in the morning to myself. I went for a walk by myself and listened to some podcasts. 

The woke up a little before 10 and Skyped with Cassie. In the morning my mom and I took August on a little walk around the neighborhood. He also discovered the little shovel (but big for him) that is used for the fireplace and played with that a lot through the day. 

My mom and I also walked up to the Habitat for Humanity store to drop off some bags. We came back with some random toys and a few books for August. 

August took one long (one hour 45 minutes) nap. 

After his nap Mom, Carly, and I took August for a walk into town while Dad worked on the boat. We first stopped to look at the new chamber of commerce, which is really impressive. August enjoyed exploring the video and walked around with a brochure. 

From there we walked to the city park. He played at the playground, then in the puddles from a sprinkler. We walked down to see the beach area and August was upset we wouldn’t let him get in the water. 

We went back up the hill where we sat at a picnic table and he ate and nursed. While eating he would drop a lid on the grass and I would tickle him. One time he threw the kid and took a dive off my lap. Luckily, I kind of caught him and it wasn’t a big crash. He played in the puddles again and nursed then we walked back through town. 

We stopped at the grocery stores and managed to get ripe bananas at Safeway for banana bread. 

We then went to the farmers market. Carly bought a couple bags of cherries. August and I listened to the musician – a guy playing keyboard and singing – and August enjoyed putting two dollar bills in his tip jar. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t keep going after the two bills. The musician was playing a slow cover of “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins as we left. 

We got home and had meatballs, asparagus, and rice for dinner. August sat in the high chair at the table with us for the first time and ate a lot. 

After dinner we managed to keep him awake until close to 9:30. The last 40 minutes or so were a walkabout I did with him outside. He kept wanting to go outside the yard again but I didn’t have shoes on. He likes his walks. We explored the garage and played in the water again. 


Walk around the neighborhood: 

Long hair: 

Walk through town: 

Getting photo bombed while wearing his new Reading Rainbow shirt:


Bear statue: 

Back home: 






Momentarily upset: 

Back to playing: 

Wednesday: 25 Mile Creek

It was a fun first full day in Chelan. He has so many things to explore and play with here. 

The big thing this morning was the blow up pool. 

Sprinklers were also big. He got a little wet with me in the sprinkler here in the yard after playing in his pool. Later, out at 25 Mile Creek, he and Carly got even wetter. Finally, he went through the sprinkler with me at the Alpenhorn. 

Anyway, after his nap, all of us, Paul included, drove out to 25 Mile Creek State Park. He got to see a bunch of butterfly, went wading in the water, threw a bunch of rocks in the lake and the creek, saw some ducks, played in a faucet, and we walked around the park and out on the piers. 

We were there until about 5, then stopped at the Alpenhorn drive-in our the way back to town. We got dinner and milkshakes, and mom commenced spoiling August by feeding him marshmallow milkshake. August practiced walking up and down a small ramp area, and we met a 6 or 7 year old boy who thought August’s dinosaur shirt was weird because the dinosaur wasn’t realistic. He kept looking at the shirt and going ‘Huh?’ I asked if he knew a lot about dinosaurs, and he said he was almost a dinosaur scientist. 

We drove back to town, and we went to Safeway for a few things. August was getting tired and starting to get impatient. When we got home he and Carly both fell asleep for a couple hours. 

He woke up at 9:45 and is still awake. I’ve been up since 6:30 so am going to bed. Carly at least slept in with him and took that two hour nap. Still, we will want to nudge him towards a normal schedule. 

 

Wading pool: 

Playing with Grampa’s tools: 

High chair: 

Doing pretty well on the drive to 25 Mile Creek: 

25 Mile Creek: 




Alpenhorn Drive-In: 

Evening: 

Tuesday: from Centralia to Chelan

Augudt woke up after a couple hours and was awake until a little after 2am. Carly was up with him, and Chuck and Cherie were up with them for awhile. I slept until I heard him crying at 2 and took over August duty, only to have him fall asleep after about 5 minutes. So I stayed up for awhile, drinking my tea, reading, and writing email. 

August and Carly finally woke up at 10. We ate, packed, and I did a walkabout the house and yard with August before Cherie got home. She returned around noon with the keys to Glecy’s apartment (which had been left in Chuck’s car) and played with August out in the driveway. 

We drove first to the Tacoma Mall. August had fallen asleep, so Carly stayed with him while I went in to the T-Mobile store and activated our phones. I went back out to find them both asleep. I went back in to the Apple Store to see about getting my phone battery changed, but they didn’t have an appointment until 4. I went back out and they were now awake. We went back to the Apple Store so Carly could try out the laptops, then Carly changed August and we headed out. 

We stopped twice more on the drive. Once along highway 18 so she could nurse him and at Arby’s in Wenatchee for dinner. He fell asleep after leaving Wenatchee and slept until Chelan. 

He woke up slowly in Chelan, but perked up when he saw toys. He played in the living room then we all went out to see the wonderful new deck. Dad had left a pile of sand for him to play in, and August was soon scooping sand into a bucket. 

He went surprisingly strong until sometime after 10 before falling asleep. 

I have set up my Apple Watch and we set up our beds and everything. A lot of settling in to do. 

August seemed to know and say the word ‘grass’, which surprised me as we haven’t seen much grass in Seoul. Carly and my mom were also surprised to hear him reciting the last word of each line of “Old King Cole”, which he has been doing for a week or two when we read the book. 

Some unhappy times in the car seat today, but overall he did really well. Much, much better than we feared. Don’t think we will have to limit our driving. 

 

Awake at 2am: 

Skyping with Tia: