Category: Uncategorized

He was up at 8. He went out with Carly for a few minutes, then came in and asked me to read Shivers. Back out in the living room Andrea and Kayla were talking about different names for people. August said “Call me supernova.” Kayla said “Maybe Pretzel! Call me Jellybean.” August joined them as they tried to spell Jellybean with the letter board. We then read Shivers then he had pancakes for breakfast. He asked “Is two times a number always even?”

I took a shower. When I was done I heard him in the hallway with Carly. He didn’t like the idea of going on a trail, which is what the others were planning, and he made a good plan of playing at the rope swing while they went on a trail. A lot of silliness in the living room, and he cuddled with me and said he was a slug. Made up a little song:

Sleepy slug, sleepy slug

Sleeping in my arms

Sleepy slug, sleepy hug

Won’t come to any harm

Sleepy slug, sleepy slug

Wait, why am I holding you?

Sleepy slug, sleepy slug

Splat, now you’re a pile of goo.

Cherie told us that Thatcher kept trying to get August to take a truck and August was repeatedly saying “No. Those are Colin’s trucks. He doesn’t want me to take them.”

We got walking at 9:55. Downstairs he told us “I hate strollers. Let’s just recycle it.” Carly and I were shocked. He walked the whole way down with Vivian and Thatcher. They played down by the stream for a long time. I had put August’s long shorts on, and they were completely soaked. He was fine with it.

We walked back and I had some lunch. He had some wheat thins and cereal at some point. The kids then played and played in their play house area behind the couch. Hank and Judith showed up. Talked To them about Sabeel and Israel and August did some math with Hank. Cassie, Chuck, and Colin went to Shelton to get coconut milk for the curry.

August came and borrowed my camera. He and Thatcher were collecting clues He took photos of everyone in the room, including Judith who was doing yoga. He asked Judith questions: “Where’d you get your earrings and what’s your address? Your pretend address.” Judith replied “Three doors down from the North Pole.” He and Thatcher then had a document open and were typing ‘clues’. Cherie got them chanting “Oh my master” for some reason. I got August to eat a strawberry and then they were playing the tea game with Carly.

As we talked about going to the pool they talked more about the Golden watch mystery. They started by interrogating Derek. He pointed the finger at me, then I cast doubt on his reliability, and he was trying to get them suspicious of Cassie and Cherie. We had decided there were two stores, a candy store and a jewelry store, both of which had been robbed. August decided they were called the “Duckmark and Other Duckmark” stores.

We drove down to the pool at 3:05. Carly and I have both noticed all the waving, and everyone we passed as we drove the short distance waved at us. I went in the pool with them and got to see August in his new swim vest. It works quite well. He had a swim noodle with a hole in it that he rode like a horse. He could blow air in the front of it and spray water out behind him. I stayed in 20 or 30 minutes, then got out and read Saeed. They stayed in for a long time. He ended up wearing Colin’s swim goggles (and now wants his own) and then even went in the hot tub. Yesterday he said “I will NEVER go in a hot tub in my ENTIRE LIFE.” It was a little cool as hot tubs go, but still very impressive that he got in. They were estimating that it was 103 or 104 degrees.

We got back to the house at 5:15. He explored in the garage with Vivian and Cassie for a few minutes. He ended up using a squirt gun as a sword. I went down, and he was a guard. We played some scenarios where he was guarding the gate to a city, and he was tricking me and imprisoning me using the gated area.

We went inside and they played in the play house area. He ended up with two items, a red plastic bowling ball that he called his “magic ball” and an old Amazon Echo thing that he called his “survival tools.” They were everything he needed to survive, as they were magic, I think.

They went back downstairs, and when dinner (the curry, plus a stir fry that Hank and Judith made) was ready I sent Colin down to call “Dinner.” We all ate, then they were playing with the back of the couch. August discovered that the head cushions are attached at the top and can flip back. The other kids got involved and were flipping them back and forth until Cherie decided it wasn’t good for the couch.

It had gotten rather hyper, but then there were several minutes of quiet and he and Kayla, then Colin as well, played in the dark hallway. They were sitting down, playing with the circuit set. He and Kayla had been rather rude to Colin a bit earlier, with Kayla saying that he was always grumpy and upset, and August saying “That’s why I don’t like Colin anymore.” They were getting along now though. Thatcher and Vivian joined them.

As we got ready to head down to have s’mores, Colin saw me carrying my hat and he ran up and wanted me to put it on his head. He had been wearing Chuck’s hats earlier. August did not like this, and got upset about it, wanting him to give my hat back. We got them going out the door and I got my hat back and all was well.

Derek and Andrea had driven down to the fire area and gotten it going. The rest of us walked down, and as we walked past the tide pond and out onto the spit we saw two otters in the water. They climbed up on the dock and started rolling around on the warm dock. It was a mother and a baby. We watched them for several minutes.

As we got walking again a car drove past us very, very slowly. August suddenly took off running. Didn’t understand it at first, but then he stopped and said he had run faster than a car. He was pretty proud about that one.

They got to work roasting marshmallows. August had two or three s’mores and a few other marshmallows. He told Carly he’d be able to stop when the other kids stopped. I joked that the way to keep him from eating too many was for the rest of us to all eat more, and ran down to get another marshmallow. I think I had three s’mores. When they were done they headed down to the beach. August and Vivian had each bought one of the big water squirters. After the other kids went over to the pond side to explore, August came up and was playing with the fire, putting one of the marshmallow roasting sticks in. He was then pulling up dead grass and other things and throwing it in, and pushed the wood around a little. When it came time to get going he and I made a few trips down to the water to fill up the sprayers, then he used them on the fire to put it out.

While we were eating marshmallows, August came up to us and asked “What makes a marshmallow a marshmallow?” What made it funny was the deadpan tone of his punchline: “Its name.” This comes from the Craig of the Creek lines that we’ve been trading back and forth: “We can find out what’s under the creek!” “It’s mud. It’s more mud, JD.”

We went back to the house. He skipped a bath but Carly helped Cassie’s kids, and washed August’s face and had him brush his teeth. August wanted to play cards with me, and he and Vivian were on a team and played go fish with me. They also had English muffins. I served his on an upside down bowl, as the plates were all dirty. They also had some almonds and macadamia nuts.

In the bed, just after 9, he played with the stopwatch on his iPad, and ‘cumulative’ was a word of the day. Think it was around 9:40 when I left them.

Walking with the older cousins:

Down by the tidal stream:

Math with Hank:

The tea game:

Chuck and Colin in the pool:

Wearing goggles in the pool:

Otter and baby:

Marshmallow roasting:

Spraying out the fire:

He was up at 7:45. I had been up, but came back in the room to watch something. August ignored me this time and went out to find Carly. He came back in a minute later for his hummingbird. He had Rice Crispies and milk for breakfast. I sat next to him as he ate and he said “You’d be thousands of years old right now if you were from a caveman.” I got him seconds. He was then looking for his hummingbird. Couldn’t find it, but it showed up somehow.

Carly was teaching him about circumference. Got out the rulers from my parents at some point. The other kids all wanted them so he and Carly took them into the bedroom. At some point Colin wanted to play hide and seek with Cassie. When August started to follow Cassie, Colin got really upset and chased August, which caused August to get upset. Carly took him into the bedroom. When talking about holding him, ‘restrain’ was a word of the day, as was ‘infrastructure’ a while later when he was trying to watch something on Netflix and it wasn’t working and we talked about internet infrastructure for the island.

He watched Craig of the Creek. It was the episode with the water fight at the creek, and a character says “What an aggressively sweet thing to say.” August chuckled and said “Ha. Aggressively.”

After a couple of those he wanted to go downstairs with the other kids. He just watched from the landing for awhile. Carly went down with him. He pushed Derek when he asked him to move something And Carly brought him upstairs. He was then drawing circles with her and said “All circles have 360 degrees, big or small.” He also drew different lengths of lines to show us different lengths. He then invented ‘tigonometry’ – the study of squares and had new names for sine, etc.

Chuck made milkshakes for all the kids and they loved those. He asked me “What’s ‘stickler’?” A word from Craig of the Creek. We then read Shivers book two on the couch, with most of the other kids listening. I read 3 chapters. He then wasn’t interested in the video the others were watching. That would happen a couple times during the day. We went in the bedroom instead. Did some scientific calculator and synth. Then a Brother game with a girl that could sense things.

We went out and he had some mixed cereal with milk, then we read chapter 4 of Shivers

Carly and Thatcher played cards and discussed school. August said his least favorite part was morning meeting. His favorite: “Choice time and recess time. Cuz you know what I do? Watch. I walk around and just watch…it’s my super favorite part…almost never playing…I’ve got a super time lapse…” When I asked if he wanted to play cards with me he replied “I’m card gamed out.”

When we said we were going to get ready for the pool August was ready to go; he instantly stripped off his clothes. When I got his swim shirt on he said “Comfortable shirt…it’s super satisfying to rub on.”

He then came up with a change to how math works: “Since ‘plus zero’ doesn’t do anything I made it so ten plus zero is a hundred…another way of saying times ten…it makes sense!” Outside, he asked me “What’s a sticker?” Being funny. When I tried to explain that it is something that sticks to something else he said “But everything’s possible: it’s possible to take it off, and it’s possible to not take it off!” And he laughed at that. He’s been joking with the ‘everything’s possible’ line for a little now. I heard him saying something to Thatcher along those lines earlier.

I walked down to the clubhouse. I left at 3:35 and they drove by a few minutes later. I worked in the clubhouse, researching Palestinian women leaders, and they went swimming. August spent his time in the pool. Carly was able to go in the hot tub for a while. It was raining, and they got out when it was raining hard.

We drove back, and Carly took the circuit set inside. The other kids saw it and August wanted to do it. He was a little unsure about sharing it, but I talked to all of them about how we were going to make one of the patterns, and they would have to give up the pieces that were needed, and I assured him I’d make sure Kayla didn’t lose any pieces. They did a great job together, with Thatcher, Vivian, and him making the battery charger. I figured out a bit a later that they had one piece backwards so they weren’t actually charging it, but after I fixed that they took more turns cranking it.

Carly had made mac and cheese for dinner, along with broccoli and there was a salad. We all ate, eating plenty. Then there were big discussions about dessert. August had asked me for a treat, so I was planning to give him one of the things from the egg hunts, but it turned out there was ice cream and cones. August first insisted on a bowl, telling Cherie “That’s the way I prefer.” I then suggested he put the cone on top, and he really liked that idea: “Ice cream and a cone separate.” Which Vivian and Colin then repeated, not really knowing what they were asking for, I think. For flavor he chose rocky road over vanilla. He had asked my opinion and I said I would go with vanilla if I was having ice cream. He went with rocky road and later told me he had made the correct decision as it had marshmallow in it.

I found him playing with a car on the floor later. He was saying “We winned, we winned-ed” clearly trying to find the correct word. I said “won” and he said “oh yeah” then practiced that: “We won.” He then switched to “losed” and practiced “We lost” instead. The first time he’s seemed to care about getting those correct.

The others were talking about going for a walk, and when I asked if he wanted to go he surprised us by saying yes. We got ready to go, and as we waited outside the front of the house he and Thatcher were daring each other to do funny walks and runs and the such. We were walking at 6:50.

He took the stroller down. They went down on the beach, and I sat on a bench overlooking it. They ended up roaming over to the tidal pool. Chuck and Colin had gone over to the rope swing area, then had an otter run in front of them, down to the water. They sort of followed it as it swam all the way over to the tidal area. I came down after them. The otter casually went up the tidal stream, going on shore a couple times, and was looking for food right in front of all of us and the other moms that were there with 5 kids and a big dog. The dog, named ‘Ettu’ (sounded like ‘Et tu, Brute?’) dove at the otter in the water once. The otter swam down the stream a little, but then turned around and continued on into the tidal pool. The kids did a great job of keeping a distance. They followed it out, walking out on the sand spit into the pool. In total we watched it for a good 15 or 20 minutes.

On the way back he asked me to pick him up, rather for a hug, and I ended up carrying him the whole way back. He asked when we were doing s’mores (tomorrow) and then we spent the whole walk talking about s’mores and his favorite parts. He concluded that “My first favorite part of making s’mores is eating them. My second favorite part is collecting wood.” He also talked about liking putting the sticks in the fire and putting it out with water, and how he likes burnt marshmallows. I told him we’d definitely plan to camp, etc. with my parents next summer as he clearly missed it.

Back at the house I got out the big bag of almonds. He, Thatcher, and Vivian all ended up eating a bunch. He was singing “Do the JP” and doing some dance moves from Craig of the Creek. He was joking with Cassie about being his mama. When she suggested hugging her, he at first refused, but then went up to her and gave her a couple of his signature arm hugs—the most he’s ever hugged her. He was afraid of her tickling him, and they talked about not liking getting tickled, so they made a pact not to tickle each other. ‘Pact’ was another new word.

Cherie and him and then Colin discussed their superpowers and were getting pretty hyper. Colin had the best line though: “My power is naked man!” When we got back from our walk he had greeted us from the deck, naked. August and Thatcher ate some apple slices, then Chuck cut some more.

I gave him a bath, which was nice and quick. August Sang to 20, then “decimal point, decimal point, negative seventy and you…”

In on the bed he did Khan Academy with Carly. Vivian came in and they all worked on subtraction with negative numbers together. Vivian left at 9:05, but came back after flossing. Carly was drawing a number line, and they were doing more Khan Academy. Cassie came and got Vivian after 9:30. I helped get August in bed and I left them for a while. Carly sung to him, and he was still awake when I came back in at 10, saying “Dada?” That was the last I heard from him though and he was asleep a few minutes later.

Drawing lengths:

Playing with magnet blocks:

Detector noises:

Bragging with Thatcher:

Circuit set 1:

Circuit set 2 and Colin:

Funny walks with Thatcher:

Story time with Oma:

Chuck and Colin and the otter:

The otter:

Their superpowers:

He got up once and almost left the room before Carly caught his attention. He said “Mama!” and jumped back in bed with her rather like he did with me yesterday. I was up before 6, but then went back in the bedroom to do Arabic, upload videos, and watch Too Old to Die Young. August sat up before 7 and saw me and came all the way across the beds to me. He initially lay down on the pillows, then curled up right against me. He eventually curled up on the bed, but was asleep on my headphones.

We went out and I read for a bit. He got up at 7:30. Everyone except Thatcher was up. He took a few minutes with Carly, then had me hold him for a couple minutes. I took a shower and I think he had a crepe. Thatcher was up and the other kids all went down to play foosball. August went in the bedroom and watched Craig of the Creek instead. He watched two episodes, and Vivian joined him for the second episode. He turned it off after that, and they went downstairs to play. He was back a bit later though and watched more.

Carly got him out to eat a crepe for breakfast, then he was downstairs playing. He saw me block Colin in the hallway, and Colin went into a karate stance. Half-jokingly and half-seriously, I think, August said “He’s not your children!” He was then downstairs playing with Thatcher. There was talk of going to the beach soon, and when Thatcher said that to August he said “It’s too early!”

We got going and walked down to the beach. Vivian pushed August in his stroller. We stopped at the climbing tree for a couple minutes, then made it to the swings. August and Kayla went on the swings, and Vivian and Thatcher headed down to the beach. Carly went with them. Colin realized he had the wrong trucks, and Cassie had to head back to the house with him to get the correct ones.

We were there for awhile, with August swinging on his stomach, and talking about the currency value of the rocks, then headed over to the rope swing area. They went down looking for crabs first, and I sat and read my book. They then came up and were taking turns on the rope swing. August wouldn’t take a turn when Chuck was pushing, but he went on a couple times when Carly was pushing. One time on the swing he had a nice chant that went on for quite awhile: “When humans die, they turn into zombies, when zombies die…” There was about 10 things in a row, then it went back to humans.

The other kids headed down to the beach again, and August observed “I think they got swinged out…When do you think Thatcher will get crabbed out?” He excitedly got off and ran over to Derek when Derek was counting for Kayla to do something and accused him of skipping a number. They were then talking about something and ended up discussing an octopus s a measure of time. Back on the swing he said “I love this. We should never leave here… maybe two hours more.”

As we left at 11:25 and walked back to the stroller he told me about the “Candy flower…you take out the nutratoobs, that’s where the nectar comes out, and you suck out the nectar…” Colin wanted to ride in his stroller, so they switched, and Cassie pushed him back and Vivian pushed the Colin.

We ate pisole for lunch, then he went in the bedroom and watched Craig of the Creek. We were in the middle of a Brother game where he was drawing the map of where Brother had to go to get his iPad back when Thatcher knocked and asked if he wanted to play video games. Andrea had said they could. So we went down and played Minecraft. Thatcher wanted survival mode, which I said wasn’t a possibility. August agreed: “I will NEVER do survival mode in my ENTIRE life.” Vivian wasn’t ready for it either, as the first time they saw a zombie in the creative mode she went running upstairs until I reminded them they couldn’t get hurt. Colin was also there. All was fine, them all playing together, until August and Vivian were talking about getting the character stuck again and Thatcher didn’t like the idea. Carly had just come down, and Andrea was talking to Thatcher, and they implemented turns. They each had a turn, then it was over.

We then all got ready to go to the pool. As we did so, August told me that “The first even number counting by threes is six.” And he listed several other multiples of 3 that were even numbers. He was then counting by 30s to 600.

Before we were able to go though we had a moment where he got upset about not being able to climb on the railing to spit over the edge. It took a few minutes, but the solution/compromise was that he had to be spotted by one of us to do it. We got to the pool after 2:30.

I went and worked in the clubhouse, and they had a great time in the pool. I heard him yelling a couple times, but it was all in fun. They were in the water for over an hour.

We drove home, taking Vivian in our car. It had started to rain, lightly. August hadn’t noticed it raining in the pool, but now watched it making the hood of the car wet. Soon after we got home they had an early dinner. It was just after 4:30. I tried to resist eating dinner so early, knowing I’d get hungry again, but sat with them and drank some wine. Eventually got hungry though, so gave in. Cherie had spent a long time making the nutty noodles.

Someone suggested watching something on the big screen, so I got August’s iPad hooked up to the big TV. They watched a few episodes of some short show that Vivian liked, then switched to the Magic School Bus. Eventually Netflix stopped loading new episodes. Cherie handed out her presents from Mexico to all the kids. They each got two shirts and a hummingbird thing. Then she did “Going on a bear hunt” with them. August really liked that one, but then skipped out on the song she did after that.

Instead he had us go in the bedroom and play Brother games. There was one where a snake granted wishes, but the wishes always had a catch to them when granted. Then there was the usual finding of a baby dragon caught in a trap. That didn’t last long.

We went back out, and several of the kids ended up with Cherie in her room. They watched more Magic School Bus in there. They also had cookies at some point. In our room, Vivian told August she didn’t have to take a bath today. He had just washed his hair yesterday, so I said he didn’t have to have a bath either. About 10 minutes later I heard Cassie talking to her about taking a bath, so apparently that hadn’t already been decided.

We got his teeth brush, and he sort of knocked on the wall and asked “Is this made of wood?” When I said it was he replied “Really? I hate wood. I like steel.” And looking outside he said “Yep, it’s raining. Definitely not the part I was looking for.”

With the lights out he leaned against me and did a bunch of math on his calculator. He had figured out a cool pattern in that, I think, he realized that if 1/9 = .11111111 if he kept moving the decimal point on the one, making it smaller, that the answer had more zeroes in it before the ones. There was another interesting one he’d found as well. Then, we discovered together that some fractions ending with 5s make interesting repeating patterns, like 1/135 and 1/35. He spent quite a while dividing up pies and peaches and other things into smaller and smaller fractions, telling me what fraction I would get, and then also what decimal number that translated to.

I left him and Carly about 8:50.

On the climbing tree:

Being pushed in the stroller by Vivian:

Rope swing 1:

Rope swing 2:

Discussing candy flowers:

Going on a bear hunt:

Bedtime math:

He was up at 7:45. He was about to open the door and go out but then saw me and gave an excited “Oh!” He jumped on the bed with me and curled up next to me for a couple minutes, then headed out to join the craziness. I had been up since a little after 6. Lot of Arabic and listening to audiobook and having tea, but went back in the bedroom for some quiet and to rest a bit. August came back in and got the Xbox controller. He said “It’s a search drone remote control.”

Kayla discovered nail polish somewhere and got some on the floor. I took a shower. There was lots of foosball and video games. He needed to go to the bathroom and we went to the back bathroom. I commented on the sink and how it has a picture of flowers in the actual sink. He said he has a sink with chemicals and wires in it.

Thatcher was playing Minecraft on the Xbox downstairs and August wanted me to go down and see it. We went down, and Thatcher had stopped playing. We turned on Minecraft and started figuring it out. Thatcher came back and started playing too. It first was in survival mode, but then I got them into adventure mode, and then just builder mode. Thatcher kept talking about killing everything they saw, and I was trying to convince them that that wasn’t the point of the game, and that you couldn’t get hurt in builder mode. August didn’t believe me though, saying “Thatcher said…I believe everything he says.” Also, it is really hard to teach a 5 and 7 year old how to do something when a.) they have an attention span of 3 seconds and b.) they think they know everything already. I did figure out how to create new blocks, but when I handed the controller back to them they couldn’t do it. They explored for a while longer, but that is as far as we got.

I got them to turn it off after a 6 minute timer, then I got him soup and dried mango, But I don’t think he ate much. They were then in the living room, throwing stuffed animals around and doing somersaults and the like and repeating “I dare you to do this.” A generally new phrase for August, at least to say, although we’ve read that Double Dare book dozens of times.

Eventually, everyone went to the beach. Carly and August drove. I worked a bit longer, then walked down. The adults were sitting up above, and the three kids were walking down along the water, exploring. I didn’t really feel like sitting anyway and was listening to my audiobook, so I walked back for August’s new sun hat. When I got back to the beach though they were coming back up.

We were all back about 1:45. He played with Thatcher. They went downstairs, and when I went down Derek and Thatcher were playing foosball. August sat with an Xbox controller, watching them, and said he was playing a video game.

He and I went up in the room and did a Brother game. He wanted to show me something from Craig of the Creek, so we watched that and it is the one where they worship a dog and find a toy in the mud. We played that, but the creature was real. It turned out that everyone thought August was upset, but we had just been playing.

Carly came and got us when Chuck arrived with Cassie, Vivian, and Colin. Cousin camp was now in full swing. When August stopped to go to the bathroom he asked me “Can you wipe for me? I’m kind of in a hurry here?”

We all headed to the beach at 3:40. I caught up after making tea, and Cassie caught up with Colin after she convinced him to come; he was busy playing with the cars. They were in the tidal stream area at first and August was wading with Vivian and Thatcher. They then headed around to the rope swing, wading through the muddy area along the way.

Cherie found sand dollars for him. He said “I talked to the government.” Sand dollars are worth a dollar for real now. He almost handed them to Cassie, then said “Oh.” He said he could tell them apart based on their shorts and watches. They took turns on the swing, and Carly got him on for his first turn on it. Eventually, we headed back, getting here at 5:15. Carly had headed back before to get tea. As we walked back she was walking the other way, to the beach, and kept going to enjoy her tea and do some reading. Cassie pointed out that August wouldn’t have let her go off like that last year.

We went into the room, and he wanted to play with his iPad. We discussed the wi-fi password, and he asked what a ‘cottage’ is. That was the word of the day. He wanted Minecraft on his iPad, but it is 7 dollars, or $6.99, as he kept reminding me (not 7 dollars). I bought him a blocks building app that was 2 dollars instead, but he didn’t really like it. We re-downloaded We Aaargh Pirates though and he played a little of that. He told me a joke he said he made up: “Which side of a cow makes the milk? The udder side.”

Out in the living room he called Cassie “mama”. Not clear if he’s actually mixing them up, or if he’s joking about it so he can do his tests. He ate a good amount of pisole and avocado and chips and milk for dinner, then Carly got home. A lot of craziness after that, with all the kids running around and pretending the house was filling up with something. Think they all went for a walk too, and Carly went with. I was in the room, working.

Carly gave him a bath and washed his hair. He had his lollipop in the bedroom so the other kids couldn’t see. We started a Brother game, but then Vivian etc. asked to play. He was in their room for awhile with Cherie, and I think he watched Colin’s bath. Vivian then read to him from her iPad. That was very cool. Cassie said she basically puts Colin to sleep sometimes. While she was reading August kept disappearing in the crack between the mattresses, but he kept listening. I then brushed his teeth, and left him and Carly at 9:10.

Minecraft 1:

Minecraft 2:

On the beach:

Cousin camp on the beach 1:

Walking on the rocks:

Cousin camp 2:

Cousin camp on the beach 3:

August on the rope swing:

Cousin camp craziness craziness:

Vivian reading to August:

He slept all the way until 8:35. Derek and I were in the play room watching the Women’s World Cup match. He came and climbed on my lap and started talking about the game. And he talked about how he had kicked a soccer ball and it had bounced between the sides of the field ten times before launching into space.

Carly came and gave him a hug, then at half time he went and was talking to Andrea and Thather and Colin. For the second half the kids and Andrea were in there much of the time, then disappeared. Right after the game finished (with the US winning 2-0), August came next told me“Dada. We’re packing up for cousin camp. You should not be watching TV right now.”

He and Kayla and Thatcher had been doing lots of playing. Thatcher gave him a green marble, which he called a magic marble. They were playing in Thatcher’s room and August came out with a cockroach. He told Carly “It’s real. But it’s not alive.” It was fake, but they kept bringing out more to “freak out” Carly. Thatcher claimed he had “752” insects. Yesterday, August had said “You say that a lot” to Thatcher, as he uses the number 750 or thereabouts a lot. Thatcher found a glow stick that we got going. They started to argue about whose turn it was and Thatcher said to Kayla “You’re arguing.” To which Kayla responded, “Oh, I’m sorry.” As they went downstairs August said “Turn that glow stick off so it doesn’t waste chemical reaction gasses.”

They came back up after a while. Thatcher was poking a snake out of through his door, which amused Kayla but not August so much. Then August got upset when Thatcher got something else out said he wasn’t going to share it. Carly took him in the bedroom and got him calmed down with math.

We got all packed up and left at 11:40. Before we drove off Carly went back for his magic marble. He reminded us to lock our doors, something he does every time now.

Carly drove and he watched Craig of the Creek. We got to an SCCA House near REI (south of where my parents stayed) and Carly met Brenda there. She’ll be having a procedure done on a spot on her face. They walked over to a restaurant and had Thai food and visited.

I drove August and myself over to the Seattle Center, parking in the north lot. We walked across the bridge to the Seattle Center and I started reminiscing about all the concerts and events I’ve seen there. We saw the fountain by the opera hall, then the real fountain. He wanted food, so we went to the Armory née Center House. We went to Mod Pizza. He climbed on a railing while I waited in line. We got a Hawaiian pizza with pineapple on half. I gave them the name ‘August’ for when the pizza was ready and told August he had to listen for his name. When they called it and I went up to get it, the guy said to me “Enjoy your pizza, August.” Felt odd.

August didn’t eat much at all, and I folded up the last 3/8ths of the pizza in a paper plate and took it with us. We then went over to the middle of the floor where there were some plexiglass cage things. It was a big battle bot thing going on, and we saw the end of a match of small robots in the small one, then two battles in the large one, then another small battle. They were pretty exciting, with robots being shoved in pits and sparks and parts flying everywhere.

He needed to use the bathroom, so we went and did that (where we took kids all the time to use the bathroom when we had Boys and Girls Club field trips to the center). We then went looking for the new playground. We went over towards the science center and found the little animal sculpture garden, including a little pig with wings. I told him about volunteering at the Pacific Arts Center. Didn’t point out the science center, as we didn’t have time to go today. We then walked up and found the new playground where the amusement rides used to be. He wasn’t too excited about it, but we played with some musical sculptures for a few minutes.

From there we walked past the center fountain again and I took a photo of him in front of that. From there we walked up to the KEXP building. Not much to do there when you only have a few minutes, and it is a little disappointing: the Prince wall was impressive, and there is a nice coffee shop, but the little vinyl store wasn’t something I cared about, and they only had a little KEXP merchandise to buy. Probably much cooler if you take a tour, of if you see a live performance. But we were two days early for that.

As we walked out and headed to the car we saw through the windows where you can see their massive collection of vinyl and CDs. We then stopped at the August Wilson tribute thing, which had been designed by Mindy Cameron. I took a photo of August in it. We were in a hurry though, so I didn’t tell him about who it was until later in the day when Carly said something about it.

We got back to the car and headed back to pick up Carly. Brenda chatted with us at the car for a few minutes and we got August to tell her a few things about what we had done.

Carly drove, and we headed south. Stopped to get gas, then stopped at the Safeway in Gig Harbor, like last year. I got the beers and some tea. As we were walking August said “Why make up stuff if life is so interesting?” Which I think is from Craig of the Creek. As we walked around he read out price tags in cents. As in 2099 cents for something that was $20.99.

We kept going. August basically watched Craig of the Creek the whole way, repeating over and over the episode where they worship a dog for awhile. It rather blatantly satirizes religious belief. I studied a lot of Arabic.

When we got to the island it took quite awhile to get into the community through the gate. Levi wasn’t answering, then Cherie was driving down to let us in, but then when she didn’t see our car she drove back. We were still sitting their, waiting. August started the big ‘Hartstene Pointe’ sign. He read “For safety…only one vehicle at a time.” He and I got out to stretch our feet while we waited, and then walked through the gate when Cherie came back and then hopped back in the car.

We got to the house and unpacked. We saw the new stairs that had been installed to link the downstairs room to the rest of the house. A nice idea, but they cut a window in the side of the stairs going down and also didn’t put a door at the end of the hallway, meaning that Derek and Andrea’s room is open to the rest of the house, which is kind of odd. The kids all played foosball with Chuck, then everyone else went on a walk. August did not want to leave the house. August found the ball maze thing and we played with that a little.

Cherie had made pull-pork sandwiches and corn soup. August loved the corn soup and ate a bunch of it. Everyone got back from the walk. I had a headache and lay down for awhile. I tried watching the new season of Stranger Things, but the internet is really slow. I got through the season 2 recap, then August got upset about something downstairs. Carly brought him in. Thatcher was doing reading time now, and August wanted to go back down. I never heard the details. He calmed down though eventually and they did more playing time.

At 8:30 everyone headed to bed time. He played with the xbox remote and we did a little Brother and Bar game time, where the remote controlled interstellar drones that would get destroyed (or not) in stars and black holes. He asked if a rocket could go to another universe, and I talked about how that is impossible traveling in three dimensions. So we talked about using black holes as portals and also talked about wormholes. ‘Wormholes’ was a word of the day. Carly and I rearranged the furniture and beds, and he was asleep sometime after 9:30.

Playing in Thatcher’s room:

Glow stick:

Battle bots 1:

Battle bots 2:

Musical sculpture:

Running through Seattle Center:

Foosball:

August came down just after 8. Derek had made Dutch babies for breakfast, but August was having so much fun playing with Thatcher and Kayla that it was quite awhile before he ate anything. Carly was holding August, so Andrea picked up Thatcher, who was wearing the same pajamas. They played with Mousetrap a lot.

I took a shower. When I came out they had made a fort and Andrea was the monster. August didn’t like it when Thatcher was a monster. Andrea and Thatcher went to read. Carly made a new fort. August and Kayla wanted me to be the monster but I got them to play by themselves for a while. Downstairs, he finally had breakfast. I joked that it wasn’t a real Dutch baby. August said “that would be violent.”

I went to the store to get beverages for the party later. When I told August I was leaving he came over and gave me a hug. At the store I filled up a little cart with beers and sodas and others, and a few things for the house. I also remembered the garlic sauce back in Chelan, and was able to call my parents before they left Chelan and ask them to bring it.

When I got back they were playing shark. I took over as the shark. The kids were tigers and I was trying to get them on the shore of their island. Kayla was the mama tiger and the other were cubs.

They then went Downstairs and outside. Got Him dressed first. Not sure what they were doing out there, although at one point August came and got a bug container and they had a worm.

Andrea made grilled cheese for lunch and they had apple slices and carrots. She ran off for an appointment. While they ate, Cassie, Vivian, and Colin called through FaceTime. They talked and yelled. They showed them Mousetrap. Then they all ended up upstairs, Carly with my iPad and still FaceTimeing. I took over holding for awhile, then when Derek called for a clean up we hung up and all cleaned up August handled clean up even better today.

There was a lot more playing with Mousetrap, and we listened to the new Underworld.

Then we got going to the party at Devona’s house. We got there about 3:40. Wendy and Sean and Sue were already there, as were Devona’s kids and Bonnie’s dad and son, Chris. Sue had gone over to visit Les and his family last week and she told me about them and how she broke her wrist using a pogo stick there.

When I introduced August to people he asked “Uncle Paul?” He was then checking his watch as they were supposed to be there at 4. They were a little late but he was happy when they were there. Krystal showed up with her kids: Adam who is 11 or 12 and Patience, who is 4. August had been watching Craig of the Creek, but put it away after she got there. Patience sort of followed August around for a bit, then they started playing.

When food was ready we mainly ate with them at the dining room table. Adam told me all about a show called Mystery at the Museum and his favorite episodes (particularly the Dover Demon). Patience had a favorite joke of the day: “What do you call a jellycopter? A jellycopter!”

Carly kept busy with the kids while I got to visit with people. They played cat monsters and played with the circuit set. Patience wanted to get married, so Carly officiated and August went along with it. Almost didn’t happen when Patience said he couldn’t chew on his watch, but he said it was something he does. She gave in. And near the end they were taking turns spinning each other in the easy chair. I took the kids out to see the pond at one point. There are a couple of baby ducks. Later, I walked up to see the top of the hill with my parents and Paul. And I took the kids out on the big yard below the house. August wasn’t wearing his shoes, so he had me run around following Patience. August also really liked watching Chuck throw the beanbags in the horseshoes-like game. At one point one of the kids said “This house smells like watermelon. And plastic.”

The big news was tht Devona and Bonnie are married—and have been for a couple years. Bonnie also directed me down to the boxes and boxes of family stuff. I wish I could go ahead and start scanning it all, but I had left the scanners in Chelan. Next year. Sue and I discussed genealogy. She said there is a village of Burslem in England near Stoke-on-Trent that she thinks Gramp’s grandparents’ family was from. Also, she and Devona think that Sarah Weller may be related to the actor/professor Peter Weller.

We got going around 8:30 and August fell asleep at 8:45. When we got to Derek and Andrea’s house Carly was able to carry him up and he stayed asleep. I got really allergic. I had felt it coming on during the party, but it really hit back at the house. I took a shower and lay on the couch to recover.

Twinsies:

Being tigers:

Spider for Vivian and Colin:

Niman reunion 1:

Niman reunion 2 – circuits:

Niman reunion 3 – wedding:

Niman reunion 4 – kitties:

Niman reunion 5 – spinning:

We saw Kayla and Thatcher first, then August was up t 7:45. He called “Dada” but was very calm about it, which was a bit surprising. I went up and picked him up. He saw Thatcher and asked of his big floppy pajamas “Is that their towel or their pajamas?” Interesting how he used ‘their’ although he knew it was Thatcher. I took him downstairs and I was again surprised when he kept holding on to me and didn’t want to instantly go to Carly. He had me hold him for about 5 minutes, then took several more minutes to wake up next to Carly on the couch.

Derek made crepes for breakfast. We ate those, then Thatcher was playing with a couple of little drones he has. August tried one, and when he flew it a second time it hit his head and wrapped in his hair. I thought he would get really upset, but he handled it really well and let me get it out; luckily, I didn’t have to use scissors. He then had the idea of going out on the porch and controlling it through the screen door, and that was how they piloted them for the rest of the day.

The kids headed upstairs on their own. At one point he yelled “Dada!” When I went up and asked what he needed he said “I was just making sure you were here.” They were then trying to convince Derek and Andrea to let them take apart the keyboard that isn’t working. I took a shower. A bit later Carly told him she was going to leave soon to go see Becky. He ran into the play room and said “I have good news and bad news: The bad news is that my Mama is leaving in thirty minutes but the good news is we’ll see her at the beach.”

They were all in the play area. I went in to take over for Carly so she could get ready to go. Thatcher had some kit where they could build a robot and August wanted to build “The grandpa bot!” They decided it was too complicated for now. They ended up back downstairs and played more with the drone, until the battery ran out. August wanted to watch Craig of the Creek. We made sure it was okay and he watched on the couch, with Kayla and Thatcher on either side of him. After two he turned it off and said “Done. I watched 22 minutes of Craig of the Creek.”

They went Back up to the play area. They made a big fort and Andrea was a monster. August got the ukulele and said “This is my weapon to battle the monsters.” Andrea had been a kissing monster and got August once. He handled it well, but then a couple minutes later went up to her and calmly asked “Aunt Andrea? Could you not kiss me?” A bit later he said he was the guard of the fort, but when Andrea came up he instantly switched sides, telling her “they’re over there!” And telling her “Thatcher and Kayla taste better. I have really dirty underwear.”

And when I had first come up Andrea had been at the other end of the room. I started doing Arabic on Duolingo at the other end. August asked what I was doing, then he said that I was doing Arabic and Andrea was doing French. We were also both using Duolingo.

Downstairs Andrea made pasta and made a veggie and fruit tray for lunch. They ate, all sitting at the tall table by the windows.

We then got going to the beach as there was a low tide at 1:30. I packed up all our sweatshirts, etc. but didn’t need them as it was quite nice. Andrea drove down; August used the vest. We lucked out on a parking spot and headed down to the beach. August was a little unsure about walking on the seaweed and rocks at first, but got into it and was eventually wading through the tidal pools and turning over rocks. We saw a couple trains go by, which I was more impressed by than August. We saw plenty of crabs and anemones and the end of a clam or something that disappeared when we touched it. We worked our way north to a big bunch of rocks. There, August discovered a big purple sea star.

Carly showed up. She had had a nice visit with Becky by the building next to Meridian Playfield (where the nuns used to be). Becky got a brain injury in a snowmobile accident and had an appointment there.

We continued looking around for another 20 minutes or so. Then Kayla needed to go to the bathroom and Andrea started to take her. August decided he was ready to go, so we all started walking back. Across the bridge we saw Derek wiping sand off his feet with a sock. He offered to let us share; I said that was sockward. Derek and I had started the Dad jokes earlier.

Back at the house I did some work and August and Thatcher went upstairs. Carly went upstairs after a while. Kayla and Andrea did errands. Carly got ready to go see Stephanie and so I went up. Thatcher and August were being kittens. I was the wolf and chasing them occasionally. It was clear they were getting tired of that, so Derek called for clean up. It was a big job. During it, August asked if Derek had ever said “yuck” when the milk was dry. He was referring to a nursing story that Cherie had told us.

Downstairs, they played with the drones again. They were also closing the glass door, and one time when Thatcher went to open it August was leaning against it and his finger got pinched between it and the screen door. He handled it well at first, although he was crying, and had me take him upstairs to the bedroom. But then he was melting down a bit and kicking at me. Eventually calmed down and wasn’t really bad, but it was still a lot for something that didn’t leave a mark.

Andrea and Kayla got back. Kayla was asleep and slept on the couch for a long time. Andrea bought the board game Mousetrap and Thatcher and August started setting it up.

Dinner was ready and Kayla had woken up and we all ate. Yakisoba noodles with carrots and broccoli. For music Andrea suggested I put something on. We listened to some of the new Ocean Blue and then Andrew Bird, as “Nonanimal” had been stuck in my head since the beach (it mentions anemones). Derek than put on Oliver Riot.

We then played Mousetrap. Technically, I was the one playing, but August did all the rolling for me. They just played a simplified version at first. Derek baked chocolate chip cookies from frozen dough and when those were ready we each had one.

Then up to bath time. Carly gave August his bath. He had a few inches of bubble bath, I think. He hadn’t wanted to join the other two in their bath. Derek read the kids three stories. August wasn’t sure he wanted to join at first, but did. We got August in bed and I left them at 8:35. Carly was reading Captain Underpants. He was scared by the flashing light of the smoke detector. Carly explained what it was, but he had to have the lamp on before he fell asleep.

Drone 1:

Drone 2:

Drone 3:

Inedible kids:

Carkeek beach 1:

Carkeek beach 2:

Carkeek beach 3:

Carkeek beach 4:

Mousetrap 1:

Mousetrap 2:

I was up nice and early, studying arabic and reading some Raymond Carver. I was then out on the couch typing when Claremay woke up. She brought me coffee on a tray while I was working, which was the nicest thing ever. Claremay and I talked; she told me about a Christian woman she knew who had spent 3 months in Hebron, helping escort Palestinian children to school and back. Cherie and Chuck showed up about 8 and Carly was up. August got up at 8:12.

There was an egg and potato dish and fruit and other things for breakfast. August was focusing on his muscles. I took a shower, and then August spent some time downstairs with Chuck as he was watching golf. He showed August the poker chips and August found the robot. As I continued to work in the living room, he started a long game of controlling Cherie as a robot. It was really making him work on ‘left’ and ‘right’ as he told her which way to go. Carly then took her place, and he was controlling her outside. He kept coming and saying it was my turn, but then he would get distracted and I never was the robot. While he was controlling them he would give them upgrades so they would have more abilities and be able to follow more commands. He had a plastic baseball bat that he used for the upgrades: “This is my level upgrade bat.”

Cherie went with us and I drove us up to the outlets. We stopped at Carter’s and got socks and underwear for August. He played hide and seek with us through the store. We then went over to Eddie Bauer and Crly looked for a new sweatshirt, but no luck. We went to the motor home and hung out there for awhile. August was now the robot, and was getting hyper. More working on left and right, with his watch a reminder for ‘right’ and the bracelet for ‘left’. Later, he would take off the bracelet: “Besides, if this (the watch) is right, then this must be left.” He also had fun using the buttons to put the steps of the motor home up and down.

We left there at 1:30 and headed back to Claremay’s. There, Cherie asked if he wanted to play the tablet game in the living room. August didn’t understand her, but got the gist of it: To Cherie “I have no idea what you’re saying, but okay.” For lunch we had ribs and corn and salad a baked pineapple. And spanish rice. It was another feast. August didn’t eat much, but wanted to play with the robot instead. He cooperated though when we asked him to play with it outside. He also was saying “Banana cream pie paradox,” which is from a Captain Underpants book.

He has been fascinated with the swinging fishing sculpture that Chuck had bought in Germany and played with it several times. He was starting to get hyper, and as we got ready to leave was saying things like “A bat with five wings: a pentabat…a decarat: a rat with ten legs.” As we walked out to the car he sang “I really am careful now about the slivers…I walk on the bricks…I’m going to replace the ground with steel.” We left at 3:30.

August watched several episodes of Craig of the Creek. After each he would check how much time was left on our drive and marvel at how time was passing quickly (it was 11 minutes for each episode). We stopped at REI at 5:10. Carly headed ahead to look for a sweatshirt, and I took him to look for a hat for him. He cooperated well enough, and he ended up with a pink/purple waterproof sun hat. The blue version was out when he realized it had a truck on the front of it. He saw the play area, which looks like a tree, and said “That’s the first tree planted on a rug.” He wanted to watch me play in it, but had no desire to do so himself.

He said he was hungry, and we went and found Carly. We then headed downstairs to look for a snack, but not before he ran back and forth on the bridge part a few times. Downstairs he then did some climbing on the fake rocks. In the snack area he first wanted the gummy candy things, but when I pointed out a cookie and cream protein bar he went for that. Carly suggested I buy stuff while she took him up to the bathroom. At first he opposed it, wanting to eat right away, but then agreed to the plan.

Met up with them outside, and he started eating it. In the car he complained about it leaving chocolate on his hands and said he hadn’t liked it. Used a wet wipe on his hands, and I think he admitted it was actually delicious.

He watched one Craig of the Creek. I explained what ‘sufficient’ meant, so that was a word of the day. We got to the house before 6:30. They were gone visiting Andrea’s family for the 4th. We looked at some artwork in the kitchen. August asked “Why do they have them up? Maybe to encourage Kayla to eat carrots, bananas, asparagus, and cucumbers.” We then looked at some robot drawing pictures and he figured out which were from Thatcher and which were from Kayla.

Carly went to the store and he and I read the first 12 chapters of The 39-Story Treehouse. Carly got back and we baked a frozen Hawaiian pizza. He then watched one Craig of the Creek (the tag one). He got a little upset about having to get ready for bed after that, but did okay. We brushed his teeth, and I read the last chapter of the Treehouse book. I left them at 9:40. Don’t think it took too long for him to fall asleep.

Controlling Oma like a robot:https://youtu.be/Ydg9VN2TlXg

Calculator math with Oma:https://youtu.be/3TxmlOzWG0s

Him being a robot:https://youtu.be/ly86KhA4D04

He was up after 7:30. Yelled as we weren’t downstairs. I went in, but then Carly went in. He was up though and came and sat in the green chair next to me. We petted Iris and I picked her up for a minute. The car show ended and August saw the clock change to 8:00. Then a show on Atlantis came on. At first he thought that Plato was a god, then decided that “Plato was named after Poseidon.”

He had his usual smiley face breakfast for the last time, and in the bathroom he told me, “I’ve been talking to the government and 4 shekels always exactly equals a dollar.” It rained pretty well, and August watched from the back porch. His rain collector was working quiet well and he told Mom she should always leave it there so she could tell when it was raining.

Carly measured him and he’s 43 inches tall. That’s two inches too tall for the car seat. So we left that in Chelan and he’ll just use the vest. We might try to buy a booster seat instead at some point, but maybe it will wait until next summer.

As we packed and got ready to go, Mom helped him put away the circuit set. We said our goodbyes (and to Paul before he left for work) but we’ll be seeing them in a few days. We did our photos out front like always. August had funny making funny faces. And we were driving at 9:33.

Carly drove the whole way. August was pretty excited, and was really singing at the beginning. He was first singing a “Bee betix, Jaguar genetics” line over and over, changing the tune. Then he had a full chant/song that went (with him repeating the ‘I’m not in the mood line’ before each line):

“I’m not in the mood
To play with you
To get a timeout
To get a penalty
To get locked up
To get locked up in the living room…”

We readThe 78 Story Treehouse. One of the chapters is called “Cowduggery”, so I taught him the word ‘skullduggery’.

We stopped in Cle Elum at Boone’s Cafe, which was a great find. We ordered a marionberry scone, which August sat at a table and ate most of and I got a metal coffee cup that says ‘Get Lost’ for only 8 dollars. And the walls were decorated with old doors and window frames.

We kept going. August watched some Inspector Gadget and discovered he could both open and close the window with his foot. I think that makes him like Paul’s car a little more. He also talked about how the whole mechanism works, and when I asked him to describe what he thought the pieces looked like, he surprised me by describing a rod with teeth in it, then a gear that is turned by the handle that moves it up and down. That’s as good as my understanding of it, and I’ve actually seen the inside of a door before. He also described how an electric one would have a motor to turn the gear instead. And earlier, when watching the show with Dad, he seemed to know at least what a carburetor is. (Yesterday, he also knew about how a rock had fallen on their car, because mom or dad had shown him the photo of the broken car in the garage.)

We finished reading The 78 Story Treehouse and then watched the first episode of Craig of the Creek. I finished reading Vanished along the way. Traffic had looked fine until sometime after Cle Elum, then it started to get bad with multiple accidents in Tacoma. Google Maps kept having us get off the highways earlier and earlier, and we eventually got off at 164, and took 167 down and took backroads to Olympia. We at least were moving most of the way, hitting bumper to bumper just a couple times for a few minutes.

I asked him if any of his other teeth were feeling loose, and he said yes, and at first thought it was one of his top teeth. It is only slightly wiggly, and can only be wiggled with his teeth, not hand. But then he realized it was the bottom right tooth that was loose. He remembered which was his left and right from when I told him about the gas tank arrows.

We stopped for gas by the airport before getting to the motor home at 3:30. Chuck was still out golfing. August saw Cherie’s weights and asked about them. They were 5lbs each, and he told her she should measure in kilograms instead. She gave him a bracelet she got him in Mexico and he wore it the rest of the day. She also gave him a little from figure. Later, when we were in the car, I think, Carly said something about it and he totally gave her an “Okay” and kept talking about what he wanted to talk about.

Chuck got back, and I went to the clubhouse to work for an hour. Mostly done with the family unification entry. While I was gone they had all basically just chatted, August included. Right before I got back he started playing with his calculator apps.

We got over to Claremay’s at 5:35. He remembered the house, telling us about two kinds of jellybeans, and also getting a sliver. The sliver was two years ago. When we went to the backyard he said it was “super familiar” and he remembered all the rocks. He started running around the deck and Chuck or Cherie said something about it being cute. He started being even cuter, and asked “Is this cute running? Like baby running?”

I was getting allergic out back so went in but was fine the rest of the day. We had pot roast that Cherie had made, along with cabbage and salad. August asked where Steve was, and they had a good conversation about how he had died and what had happened to him. August asked where he body was, and he asked “Did he say ‘Oh darn’ when he died?” August took it all in stride and we continued after dinner. August ate a ton. He hadn’t eaten much on the way over, although he had that scone. But then at the motor home he had eaten his sandwich and also a bunch of almonds. Now, he had serving after serving of pot roast and milk. He kept on talking about how big his muscles were getting (earlier at the motor home he had been lifting the weights and showing off his muscles).

Claremay took August up to see the toys. It was cool that August went with her and didn’t insist on us coming along. He came back with a robot toy that he played with for the next couple hours. Claremay also made snickerdoodles, so August had a cookie and robot to play with; I don’t think it could get much better for him.

When he went to the bathroom he told me bout how he has August clones locked in his lab in case he needs them. It is really secure, and to get in requires things like “DNA test, blood test, eye, hair…a very angry duck, a reinforced celery door.” Influenced by the Treehouse books.

Chuck and Cherie left, and August and I played with the robot downstairs while Carly talked to Claremay. August had us doing Brother stories on and off since dinner. August had had two cookies and wanted a third and entered into negotiations with Carly about having grapes first. He had some, and got about a third of a cookie.

In the playroom/guest room we looked at all the photos and Carly and I discussed the levels of cousins and I figured it out better (once removed and all that) so that all the other kids are August’s second cousins. August had us do the Brother game where he meets a girl who can drink acid. He also told me “I make movies where the bad guys always win and the good guys always lose.”

Carly came in and we got him ready for bed. We skipped a bath. I left them about 9:15. August got up and went to the bathroom one more time at 9:30, then I heard it get quiet about 9:50.

I studied a little Arabic and started watching the first episode of Good Omens.

Hauling stuff to the car:

Bee betix jaguar genetics song:

I want to go song:

Getting strong in the motor home:

Robot toy:

Robot toy 2:

He slept all the way until 8:50. He came out on the couch with me. I was watching the Nurburgring 24, and after a minute he told me, “You know the spike cars tht I make? You have to make sure they don’t go on race tracks…” They would be faster and start fires. He tires made of titanium, and “that’s why they have tectonic stabilizers on them.”

We went upstairs at 9:20 to get him his usual breakfast. He had Grampa check to see if the cards on solitaire were back to normal (they had Canadian flags on them yesterday for Canada Day). They were, then he watched Grampa play as he ate and sang a song about solitaire.

Downstairs for a brother game. Met Free, a girl who could freeze things. He was then stranded on an island. Looking for Bs on trees to get to a maze. Then another after a path that was .99km, thrn looking for apples, glasses of water, and beds to get through that one. There was a timer and he made it to the portal home just in time.

We went upstairs. Realized that both the Artisan Bread was closed today and the Miller Car Museum. So there went my plans for the day. We went downstairs again, and mainly ended up with me being his horse and a lot of laughter. Carly headed to the store for quiche ingredients. August watched Gumball – the one where they break time (where he got his freezing time ideas) and another one. Mom hid eggs, and the mention of them reminded August of his treats. He ate one, then went outside on an egg hunt. Mom could only remember where 5 of them were, but then August found the fifth one before the rest of us.

For lunch he ate the rest of his sandwich from yesterday and a small pickle. He talked to Gramma about leaving tomorrow and told her that she will always get a hug when he’s leaving. He went to the bathroom and asked “What’s jet lag?” We discussed timezones and how they work and how many there are. Mom and Dad went to get wood at Ann and Randy’s place. I stayed with August. Carly was late getting back as the store was really busy and the line long. August and I watched MaoMao: Hero of the Pure Heart andThe 65 Story Treehouse. Carly got back, and by the time I finished eating some lunch they got back with the wood and I helped them unload the wood in back.

We rested for a few minutes, then I accompanied them on the next trip to pick up another load of wood. We filled the trailer, then talked to Ann and Randy and a couple of their friends for a few minutes. Storms were rolling in, and they were starting to see lightning across the Columbia. A few drops were starting to fall as we headed back to town. We got back at 2:35.

The rain wasn’t hitting town yet though and we were able to unload. August had me fill a bucket with water and said it was an “old-fashioned rain sensor.” Totally his idea. We talked about weaknesses of it and when I asked he said “evaporation.” We also talked about how it could overfill.

We finished unloading wood. August stood on the fence of the deck, resting his head on the railing, watching us most of the time. He kept asking, over and over, “Grampa, why do you have so much wood.” Eventually, when we tried to answer he’d say, “Yeah, I know. Lots of potential energy.”

We went inside and finished readingThe 65 Story Treehouse. He wouldn’t help Carly shuck the corn. We were listening to the thunder and I think he was afraid of it raining. We started reading The 78-Story Treehouse instead. I went up and worked for over two hours. Soon after I was out it started pouring. I looked out the window and across at all of them on the porch as they, especially August, enjoyed the rain.

After they went in they did some taking apart. He had some corn and strawberries. He gave mom two kisses and one hug when they were talking about it. They Skyped with Cherie. They stayed in the bathroom while skyping so the cats could eat. He didn’t want to talk about it for some reason, and wouldn’t let Carly tell Cherie about it, and wasn’t happy when she tried to tell me later.

I came in at 6:40. Carly had completed the quiches earlier, while we were getting wood. They turned out really well, and we also had asparagus. We were finishing up dinner, and he got upset at the end. Carly took him down right away, and he was able to explain that he had been bored. Back upstairs he watched some cartoons. He learned a joke and asked me, “When did the kid go to th dentist?…tooth-thirty.” He watched two episodes of Vampirina. In the second they needed super-strong sunscreen to go to the beach.

My parents, Paul, and I left before 7:30 to get one more load of wood. We filled it up and brought it back, but didn’t unload it tonight.

I gave him a bath. He started a nice running joke: “How do you open a pine cone?…sledgehammer it.” He listed a lot of things, and the answer was always “sledgehammer it.”

He watched two shows with Dad: an Expedition Unknown Panama shipwreck show and a Full Custom car show. “What do you mean ‘goods’? Like treats?” So that was a good word of the day.

Out in the kitchen he saw both Cindy and Iris when they got their treat. Cindy was then up in the corner by the desk and he was able to get really close to her and she didn’t run away and instead she just sniffed him. He had a nice good night, getting hugs from both of them, and we went downstairs. Carly suggested he say goodnight to Paul and he ran across to his room to say it.

I left them about 9:40 and went out and straightened the upstairs of the garage and brought all of our stuff in. Chatted with my parents for a bit, and bought and downloaded the first season of Craig of the Creek so August would have something new for the drive tomorrow.

Another egg hunt gun:

Checking the rain bucket:

Watching the downpour from the porch:

Close to Cindy and silly math: