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He was up at 9:20. Greeted by the kids. He came out to nurse, but went straight to the car track instead. He had Life cereal and soy milk for breakfast. I took a shower. They played with the cars on the track, and Cassie got out another long track that they made start at the sliding door. She was then dealing with the lack of internet, as it wasn’t working at all. They would reset something over the phone, then it went out again. Later, a guy came by and did something and it was working better for the rest of the day.

August remembered the wireless headphones, so he listened to those a bit from my phone. They had gotten out the pink plastic Jeep. Colin soon had trouble sharing that. August had an English muffin, then went back to playing with the cars.

Cassie left to go to the store. Vivian found August’s hand-cranked fan and asked, “Where did you get this fan, August?’ He replied, “In Korea. I choose-ed it in a shop.”

Carly and I took the kids out to the garage. August tried out the three-wheeled scooter, but declared it “should be for 5-year olds.” I pushed August around in the pink Jeep. Vivian fell on her scooter and scraped her chin (adding to the scratches she got from falling in the blackberry bushes while riding a bike at the island). She had been wearing  helmet and knee and elbow pads. August said “She should have a neck protector.”

Someone mentioned popsicles, so we went in and they each had one. August was happy because “I got the only pink one.” The mail came, so they went across with Carly to get it. There were a couple packages in there.

Back inside, they ate together and Vivian explained decomposition to them and told Colin he would die too. August told them about the time he got the mail: “Once at Ruby and Cedar’s house, there was tons and tons of mail and I threw it on the porch.”

Cassie was back at 12:50.I helped bring in groceries and Carly put them away while Cassie took Colin upstairs. Vivian and August played in the toy area. The guy from Frontier came about the internet. I then went in to work. I heard an exchange between Colin and August that went:

Colin: “Hi, Ryan!”

August: “I’m not Ryan!”

And repeated until August was yelling it. Also, there was a music box. Colin had it, and Vivian wanted it. August added “And I love music boxes!”

We then all went to Target. Had also thought of the park out west of there, but we were running late. Colin fell asleep, so Cassie stayed in the car. Vivian had a 20 dollar gift card, and 10 dollars cash, and she volunteered to share it all with Colin and August. Very nice of her, although I didn’t see it ending too well.

Inside, I went to find the luggage and Carly looked with them. Vivian found a Mickey Mouse Pez dispenser, and August wanted the exact same thing and got upset when we couldn’t find one. I took them to the candy aisle, then across the store after we talked to a sales associate. No luck. Back in the toy area, Carly remembered that Vivian wasn’t supposed to get candy. Vivian agreed to return it. They then looked at toys. About the first thing Vivian found was some Nom Noms thing that looked like a snow cone. But apparently wasn’t edible at all. August insisted on the same thing. I found a Star Wars Lego droid for 7 dollars, but August wasn’t swayed.

We then drove a bit to the north, to Big Pines Park, which wasn’t much more than a baseball field. They sat on the grass and had a snack and I looked around, finding a not-too-exciting path to the south. We left without them playing, although they might have spent sometime in the dry creek bed.

At the house Vivian and August did their Nom Nom things. Kind of an archeological thing, which was kind of fun, but hardly worth the 9 dollars. Carly made them grilled cheese and artichoke, and we cut the sandwiches in triangles. They watched a show while they ate.

I took Colin and August out to the swings. August took the cash register, and Colin took a big blue car. Vivian and Carly came out as well. Carly and I kicked a blue ball around. Colin was stealing the ball and throwing it on the parking area. He called Carly ‘Ata’, which I don’t think he’s done. Vivian had me take down a swing and put up her trapeze instead. August called it “poopy” and she got upset. She came back out and we kicked the ball around, sort of playing games. August picked it up once, said “Zap you!” and put it back down.

We went in at 8:30 for ice cream, which they ate on the back porch. Then it was bath time. Carly did the tea game with them. Colin stole the tea infuser when it was his turn and ran out and wouldn’t return it. August was most upset, then Colin was upset when we took it back. I washed August’s hair, which went really well, as he was still talking and playing with Vivian most of the time.

But then Colin and Vivian came running in with their vitamins. I thought we were prepared for this one, as I got his gumi vitamins. But theirs ppeared to have sugar on the outside, so he didn’t like his. He got really upset, and wouldn’t fall asleep with Carly. I went in with him and she took a break. He finally calmed down enough to talk about it, and we talked about getting a substitute, like when Ms. Marion got him honey when he got hurt. We went out but couldn’t find anything, but then Jeff came down and said he could have their vitamins. He was happy with just one. He then went to sleep at 10:20.

Carly was up first, then I got up at 5:35. She woke him up a few minutes later. Took awhile. He didn’t say much, but when she went to brush his hair he said “You can brush my hair on the airplane, if you want.” As we waited for the Lyft to arrive he put on his car vest. He then talked about “Those tiny microscopic hooks”. The velcro.

The Lyft drivers always go to 10th, so it took a little work to get him to find us on 9th, but then we were off. A nice smooth trip after that, especially once I took some Tylenol and my headache went away. Did realize that I forgot my tea stuff (infuser and tea) and the rest of the bag of Canadian coffee at the house.

August sat calmly between us in the taxi. Got dropped off,  tagged our checked bags and released them into the wild, and had a quick trip through security. I was excited to have time at the SubPop store, although not enough. Spent five minutes when I could happily waste a couple hours. I bought me a rainbow SubPop shirt, and August chose pink. Had fun remembering the old SubPop store by the Moore and listening to the Dinosaur Jr. they had on. Only now did I rememberi wanted to visit the KEXP studios. But we never really had time to hang out in Seattle anyway. So next summer. It’s already on the list.

August started to get antsy while waiting at the bagel place. We headed to the N gates, so didn’t see the butt sculptures, as Jeff called them, as they are to the South. But have seen them before. Got to our gate and had our sandwiches. I went and got us drinks at Starbucks. We then went to our gate. August and I went and saw our plane, a 737.

We had a delay waiting to takeoff, but didn’t make us late. He enjoyed takeoff, played a little iPad, then fell asleep. Slept about two hours and awoke at 11:40. Carly sat in the middle and I had caught up on typing, then watched The Last Jedi. I hadn’t realized how long it was and thought I was going to miss the end. I finished a couple minutes before landing though, which felt like a real accomplishment. Of mixed minds on it overall, but enjoyed it and it was better than the prequels. That’s my bar for the franchise. I know it is a low bar, but as long as they stay above it I won’t be uspet. Still need to see the two standalones.

He was sitting on her sweatshirt and she pulled it out from under him. It stretched, and August exclaimed, “Its a geoduck!” On the iPad he played a couple of his new games – one about insects, and a reading one.

We landed at 4:10. He asked, “What country are we in?” A couple minutes later he said, “We’re still taxi-ing.” Deplaned, got the stroller, got the luggage, and then I took him to the bathroom. The slowest part, as the nearest was closed. While Carly went to the bathroom, he spotted two circles on the floor. He said that when you stood on them you could see through things, namely walls. We did that, and he had Carly stand on it before we left.

Jeff picked us up and August was excited to recognize him. In the car he ate from the veggie and hummus thing Carly had bought as we walked through the airport. He said, “Mama, I loved the hummus you buyer!” Looking out the window he said, “I invented a car that drives itself…” We talked about his cars for several minutes. He built it and released it into the wild, then would point it out on the road. He then said that his cars went around, killing animals for people to eat. He also sang a song that went “Bunch of little musicians, screaming into a microphone…” And he played more of the Teach Monster reading app and read some sentences. Then, we played the first chapter of the Nancy Drew mystery/coding app. He really liked it and we’ll need to buy the full thing.

We got to the house and were greeted by the kids and Cassie. We went upstairs and Vivian showed me her Little Passports map and package and I helped her find Japan on the map. We saw Colin’s room, and took a set of tools downstairs. They played in the living room with the tools and the big box of Duplo-sort of things.

Played around the house, shared a hoopla hoop, then headed out to the swings. Vivian and August danced together on the picnic table (Vivian told me how she had helped paint it). It was now dusk, and they had fun finding fireflies. Carly and I took them all for a walk across the parking lot and out on the spit.

Back at the house, Jeff got out the sparklers. August liked them, but wouldn’t hold them. He wanted Carly to do it, but even then just wanted her to drop them so he could watch them lying on the rocks.

Back inside he and Colin played with the car track. August would crank them up for Colin to release around the track. Vivian showed August the superhero towel he could use while he was here. Then they played around on the beds. August wrapped himself up in his coat and Carly’s sweaters. And Vivian wore one of her sweatshirts.

They went up around 11 (also affected from the time change, having just flown from Seattle themselves). Carly and I cleared the room of bugs, mainly mosquitoes. Carly got a firefly though and August wasn’t happy bout that one: “Why’s we kill that nice firefly?”

Carly tried to put him to sleep, but no luck. I went in with him at 11:30. I set up the world clock on his ipad for the night light. He sat and looked at it for several minutes: “Could I watch the clock for eight hours please? Maybe I could sleep here. And when I wanted to watch the clocks I could.” He watched it and I sang “Beautiful”, “Drifting”, and “It was Never the Same”. He asked questions about the map on the world clock and our flight. Carly came in and he was asleep about midnight.

He came down about 7:30. Cuddled with Carly, then sat up and started singing “And a one and a two and a three and a four and a five…” Carly told him about our schedule for tomorrow. Carly was packing and he seemed a bit stressed about packing and upset. I got him playing with the big marble track and we built the first big track out of it while she kept packing. Carly thought she had everything fit in, then realized there was a bunch more downstairs and we’d need to check a second bag.

He had a veggie burger for breakfast. Ate some but spit out a bite at the hint of green pepper. I went and took a shower. I was about to step in when he came up and was loudly asking for his iPad. I helped him find it, then took my shower. When I came down he was finding fossils in the TinyBop Earth app. He was then upstairs building on his own in the playroom for several minutes. Called me in, and had me build a house while he delivered the blocks.

Downstairs we cooked some mushrooms for him and he ate a few. He went back to playing on the iPad. He asked me “What’s circumstances mean?” Never figured out where he had heard the word, as he wouldn’t give me a straight answer: “It was with poopy and butt…Poopy and butt is my famous art teachers.” We declared it the word of the day and I ws able to use it several times.

We put the big marble kit away (and Carly had done a ton of cleaning so that the house would be clean when Derek and family got home) and we left at 11:40.

We walked north and around to an entrance to Carkeek Park. A nice walk down, although without the cousins around he seemed to do less walking on his own. When we got down to the main part of the park we chose to go to the beach first. There we walked over towards the stream and sat on a log facing the Sound and had a snack. We walked over to the stream and he wanted a granola bar. Carly wanted him in the stream with her so she said he could have some after he got in the stream. He was chanting “Stream then bar, stream then bar.”

We had seen a big freight train as we walked down, carrying something that looked like coal or asphalt heading north. He was amazed how long it was, and I joked how we were going to stand there watching until it was done, and acted out us still being there as it got dark and Carly calling us crazy and telling us we had to go. Then, down on the log we saw an Amtrak train go by. As we walked back he stopped on the bridge overlooking the tracks and asked when another train would go by. I think he really wanted to see one from that angle. Waited a couple minutes, but none were coming so we walked on up.

We went up to the concrete salmon playground. He asked “Can I just watch the other kids?” I lay down in the shade, facing the water. Carly sat on a bench and read. He sat on my stomach and watched the kids playing behind me. He did that for quite awhile, and would lean down and whisper in my ear “I’ll tell you a secret…everyone is poopy.” It lasted until he was then saying stuff loud and wouldn’t stop, so we got going. We left at 1:30.

They went to the bathroom, then we started on the trails up to where we had entered with Derek last year, at 117th. He fell. Luckily no red (he screams “Is there any red?”) but still upset. We stopped and they sat on a log. Then when I was carrying him I tickled one of his palms. He said “You haven’t done that in awhile.” But I learned from him that the ticklish feeling on his palms doesn’t go away right when I stop tickling him. He said it still tickled after a few seconds, and told me “Ticklish palms last awhile.”

We got back to the house at 2:20. They were home. August went up to Thatcher’s room with him, then they all ended up in the playroom. They built a big huge pile of stuff. Andrea was with them, but I went up for a minute and saw them hide in the big pile when a monster was coming. Very cute to then see Kayla stand up and make laser noises at it and say the monster was gone.

Then they were out front, finding first rocks that they wanted to break to look for crystals, then rocks that they said were gold. August asked Carly if they were the sort of gold you could trade for money. Carly told him that they were the kind of gold that you could keep and admire. He liked this answer, then repeated it to Thatcher. Kayla was naked and playing in the sandbox cum pool.

Andrea convinced them to go play in the backyard. The shovel went with them. August came inside, hungry, and Derek was about done with veggies and heated Glecy’s pasta. He ate some at the table, with mushrooms added, then we all went outside for dinner. He and Thatcher were having problems saying potty words, so I took August in for a timeout.

I watched them out front as they dug for more gold, then created a stream running next to the driveway. He explained ‘decade’ to Thatcher. Earlier, when they were talking about breaking rocks, August said “There are different ways that things can be strong, you know.” A truck backed down the driveway. The backing sound did its job as August really noticed it and wanted to get out of the way. It was a package delivery for Andrea. I started to take it in to her, but then gave it to Thatcher and August and they took it up to her. Very excited.

They played in the playroom a bit more. August ended up having problems and called me an ‘idiot’. Clearly getting tired, and I switched with Carly. They helped clean up, then August had the option of a bath with the other two kids. He looked at the amount of space available in the tub and chose a bath on his own. Carly bathed him in the other bathtub. We said our goodbyes as we wouldn’t see them in the morning, and he was asleep at 9:10.

He was up right at 8, so I was able to see him before I left at 8:20.

He requested eggs and bacon, but then didn’t eat it when she made it. They got their first taxi at 10 and went to Stephanie’s house. They played inside and he tried sour cherries and a muffin. Cedar, who is two, was being very cuddly and bringing things to Carly. August and Carly had talked about going for a walk, and he asked “Are we going to go for that walk now?” so Stephanie, Ruby, and Cedar went with them for a rock.

They walked to the grocery store/cafe close to them, where we’ve been before. They got tomato carrot bisque and he ate a lot of that, then a fancy banana peanut butter popsicle covered with chocolate and thai iced tea ice cream.

Stephanie said that something was ‘hyperbole’ and August recognized the word but said he didn’t remember what it meant. He then declared “The word of the day should be hyperbole.”

They walked to the little park near her house and played there, then walked back to the house.

August and Carly left and walked to Salmon Bay Park. They sat on a bench and he was happy people watching. There was a day camp group and he noticed that there was one kid that wasn’t paying attention to the counselors. And when the group started to leave he was concerned that that one boy would get left behind. A counselor noticed and got the boy. He then played in sandbox for a long time. He played with another boy, who was about the same age. They pretended the sand was an ice cream shop and that the red bucket was the stomach. They’d eat the ice cream and then dump it in the stomach.

They next went to Grumpy D’s coffee shop. He played with some sort of connector toy things at the table. He had a sparkling water juice. Tried it and said he liked it, but didn’t drink much.

They took a second taxi back, then Glecy came and brought dinner: a pasta dish with goat cheese, basil, sun dried tomatoes, and garbanzo beans. He ate that, and some of her ramen and broccoli.

He played with Glecy for a long time, building things with the blocks upstairs. He had Scrabble out with Carly and had her guessing which letters were turned over. And they played with a marble track set, but he wanted her to put it together. They watered plants together and he ate blueberries. He’d also eaten a carrot during the day.

Earlier in the day Stephanie had sent a photo showing her two kids napping. So about 8:30 August asked “What’s Ruby doing?” And expected to be able to know.

Meanwhile, I drove up to Dee and Grant’s, getting there right at 9. Visited with them and my parents and Paul. When it was clear that Peter was going to be awhile I had some coffee. I gave them the hamsa as a gift. And they gave me the chips from yesterday to take with me.

Peter showed up, with his two kids and Stephanie in the car.. We arrived at the cabin and ate chips and made popcorn with za’atar. We started talking out back, then Stacey showed up a bit later. We did a good job discussing the book. 

Micah and Kasiah were already out in the water. I went swimming and Micah and Peter were in the kayaks. Stephanie jumped off the dock, then she and Kasiah were on the floaties. Peter went up to see about the food and I went on the kayak.

We went up and ate burgers, then Breysse had fudgesicles for us. We sang “Happy Birthday” for him as it was his birthday. Discussed peoples’ summer travels. 

Kasiah needed to get to work at the childcare at the church by 6:30, so we got going about 5, dropping her off about 6. Peter and I talked and ended up downstairs, looking at books. Christine got home, and we all headed over to Taqueria Guaymas. It had been replaced with another Mexican restaurant, Bandidos. Suspicious at first, as there weren’t any cars in the parking lot. We went in and found it was under new owners, etc. Kind of sad for Peter and family as they’ve been going here 15 years and knew the staff.

We ordered (I got a shrimp dish) and Micah researched what happened to the old restaurant. He had some good research skills and talked about evaluating his sources. Turns out the owner had been charged with using tax-evasion software: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/owner-of-tacos-guaymas-restaurants-charged-with-felony-theft/ and https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-files-56m-criminal-tax-theft-case-against-owner-tacos-guaymas

The food was really good, probably better than before. We got an order of churros for dessert. We got an order of tacos for Kasiah and dropped them off to her at the church, then went back to the house. 

He drove me home and I got there right at 9. We did our summer selfie together, then I went in the house and upstairs right as Carly was starting to put August to sleep. He told me “We taked-ed two taxis. Because we don’t have a car for two days. One was cool and the other was super cold.” I said goodnight and he was ready to go to sleep and fell asleep quickly.

I watched Wimbledon and then the World Cup. I stayed in the room so Glecy could sleep until Carly got up. Glecy was already getting up when we came out. August was up at 8:15, and we had some of the jack fruit and coconut dessert that Glecy made. August played Gro Recycling and GroForest with Thatcher. And Glecy did Vivian’s hair. August walked over to Cherie at one point and asked her for a hug. I took a shower. When I came out, all the kids got honey treats from Glecy.

Derek and Andrea and the older kids had left for a walk. We got ready to go and were ready about 10:30. August had started working on a Lego helicopter set with Jeff and was having a lot of fun, so we waited until it was close to finished. August then agreed to leave. As we picked up the last of the stuff, he said “What about my little backamapack?…that was in the closet?” And ran in to check for it. Cherie picked him up outside, and asked if he’d be nice to Vivian and Thatcher at their houses. He took some time, then said  “No”.

We left right at 11. I gave him the peach-flavored Pororo drink that Glecy had given to me for him. He rememebered Pororo, then a minute later said, “I remember Korea!” We tried Piano Maestro, which he’s been requesting i play for a couple days, but you need internet to make the background music work. We realized there was a toll on the Tacoma Narrows going eastbound, so we took the route through Olympia.

He played the TinyBop Nature app. We stopped at a Shell station for gas. I took him in to find the bathroom and he suddenly threw up as I held him. All over the floor and my feet. I took him out and Carly went in to try to clean up, but the woman was already mopping. Waited for the bathroom fro a few minutes as there was only one. A woman was also waiting, and asked if my wife wanted to by any jewelry. Gave up after five minutes and drove across the street to Albertsons. Used and cleaned up in their bathrooms, then we got salsa and wine for the party.

We talked about snacks in the car, and he said of Cheerios “Well that’s for when I count to a million.” He had some apple and the rest of those rabbit cookie things (which had been the quiet cookies). He said “Cookies is always eaten in a line.” I didn’t know what that meant, but Carly said it was from that tablet game he plays with Cherie. He was then singing the Twilight Sad song from his playlist for the first time “We danced to save them all, we tried to save them all…”

We arrived at 2:40. Before my parents. Dee showed him the gel candle he had liked last summer. He got some on his fingers and it was hard to wash off. He said “Let’s watch some baseball.” He went around playfully hitting Darrin, Grant, and Cailen with drink coasters. Dee or Mom asked him how long he will grow his hair. He responded, “Years and months.” Dee dropped some popcorn, and he was a vacuum cleaning it up.

My parents were there at 3:10. August told them, “Come watch baseball.” When he was lying on the floor and someone joked about stepping on him he said, “I’m not a rug, I’m a person.” Darrin and Grant went to get pizza, which was 50% off since Darrin works at Boeing. August played chess with Carly and dad and then Paul. Mom and Dad had brought a box of toys for him. He kissed Carly on the arm and said “I was giving you a slobbery kiss.” He wanted to teach Dee chess, and he played with the fan with Cailen, describing all the speeds to her. Also, he doesn’t like fans to oscillate, so always stopped it from doing that.

He played with the puzzle piece building blocks with Carly and she said it was a good stress relief activity. He replied, “But then you get more stressed when it falls apart…”

Pizza arrived and we dished up and went and ate out in the yard. He was using his potty words and I told him to stop, and he said, “Okay, but that rhymed.” As we sat outside eating, a leaf fell on grant and he said “that stupid leaf”. August said, “Uh-oh, someone said stupid.” And thought Grant should have a timeout. Everyone thought that was pretty funny.

He played some Gro Recycling, then Dee brought out the anniversary cake for my parents’ 50th. He was really excited by that. He had some cake, then shared some with Carly, then was touching the frosting. Eventually he was entranced, using the extr frosting to coat his hands. He called it his “creation”, then when I asked him what it was on video he said, “art…frosting art.”

Carly got the squirt guns and they watered the bushes. August made sure to spray towards the roots of the bushes. When I was in the house once he just came walking past me and continued on to the bathroom without saying anything to me. I did go with him, and he liked the decorations in the bathroom. We were looking at the stars and hearts. He said, “You know when stars line up in a picture? I think the horse is a constellation.”

Dee brought the cake in, and a minute later my dad caught him walking in and finding it and getting some more frosting: “I spotted it!” He did some  Legos on the floor with Carly, then Cailen and Darrin left. We left at 7. He said, “Bye bye everyone. Bye uncle Paul.” And gave high fives. We did family photos and Carly said she’d pick him up. He said, “That makes me cuter. The higher I am, the cuter I am.”

While we were driving he sang more of his “Open the mailbox, open the mailbox, throw the ball” song. He was getting sleepy and watched some Sarah and Duck. We stopped at QFC to get some food for the next couple days and for my book group meeting (popcorn for the za’ater, hard cider from Chelan).

We got to the house and he first went in Thatcher’s room. In the playroom we played with the cash register and worked on counting change. He had the stuffed rattlesnake and asked “What happens if you tease a rattlesnake?”

Downstairs he had some Cheerios and milk. I then got him ready for bed. We looked at the hand-me-down Thatcher clothes a bit and decided they should do all of it tomorrow. We put the sheets on the bed (we were staying in the guest room/office this time, not Kayla’s room), then I sang him 4 songs. He wanted Carly for going to sleep. On the way down he was talking to all the photos hanging in the stairwell, saying, “Hey Kayla. Hey Aunt Andrea, hey Thatcher on a truck…”

They went back up at 10:20 and he was soon asleep.

Hauling the floaty:

I finished reading In the Skin of a Lion in the morning. August slept until 8:40. Colin spent much of the morning chanting my name. Derek made tons of crepes for breakfast, which were a big hit, especially with cinnamon and sugar. And August had one with chocolate syrup (his idea).

We were all getting ready to go on a morning walk. He was worried about not being ready on time. But we were. He’s continued on a line of his odd humor: “Penis, defender of the penisverse…nursings, defender of the nursingverse.” Which all started with “Zinniebot, defender of the multiverse.” He sled me to go on the walk without brushing my teeth. He jumped on the couch and said “recharge me, please.” He talked to Carly and she recharged him.

We got walking, most everyone, about 10:15. We walked south on the eastern trail. He did fine at first. They were doing red light, green light down the road. Andrea said “Let’s see who can stop the fastest” and when she said “Green light” he took a step, then froze.

As we walked along the trail though he had more of a mixed bag. We saw some deer and looked at things along the way. Did some leading with Thatcher, but was getting upset that Vivian and Thatcher were leading and ahead of him.

On the way back, he was doing math with Andrea. She asked something like 20+20 and he said “I think we need a calculator!” He was getting upset about being slower again and someone said they were older than him. He said, “I’m19,000 years old.” But then he complained ‘I can’t actually change myself.”

We were back at 11:20. He had a small rock and wanted to take it down to the vice. Sounded like a game he’d played before down there. We got permission from Andrea and went in. He banged the rock on the vice and it would cast magic: “Everyone in the world is a rabbit… Chair… Water… Sock…” He continued it upstairs.

I lay down for a bit to let allergies pass. Not too bad, but the most I’ve felt since being here. When I came out Cherie was giving the kids the splat balls that look like poop. They ended up playing in the bathroom with the door closed, which was fine by us as it kept the noise down: “I pooped on the wall!” “Poop on you!”

Glecy arrived right at 12. People had lunch and there was a lot of craziness, then they all went to the beach at 2 and I stayed and worked. Derek came back to start dinner and said he thought they were staying longer. I walked down, but met them in the parking lot by the beach. August had dragged the floaty thing all the way from the beach, and refused help the entire way, even pulling it over a log. Glecy said he had spent about 70% of his time on the beach digging and making paths for the water. Carly tried the paddle board again, and Kayla floated on the floaty.

I carried him back and he noticed my new wireless headphones. He listened to them and was excited. He liked New Order’s “Shake It Up”: “So good!” And he was excited about wireless headphones. He then sang a “wireless headphones, wireless headphones” song.

He tried playing Chutes and Ladders with Cherie, Thatcher, and Vivian but got upset when he was losing, so I took him for a break. He went back with Cherie when they were done and he was rolling the dice for her while she moved. Carly and I then played with him and we did a couple hands of cribbage, then he got out the Sequence box and wanted us to try and play it. There was no board though, which he would have gotten upset about, but dinner was ready so he got distracted.

Derek had cooked the geoducks they had caught. He breaded parts of them, and did the rest in pancake things. Cherie had made lasagna.

August told me he needed attention and I agreed to play Magnus Kingdom with him. He got some chips and said “This is my snack when I pay Magnus Kingdom, okay?” He was then with a bunch of the kids and Derek, who was doing magic with a ball. August and Vivian were then sitting on the back of the couch, and she was flopping backwards onto the couch. Colin copied her and bounced on the couch and did a flip off it, backwards. Which might have been okay, but then his head hit the coffee table. Glecy jumped up and grabbed him.

Andrea had made a berry pie, so we all had some pie and ice cream. I was going to wait, but since August was having some I decided to have some as well. By the time I was finished scooping mine up, he was done. So I let him share some of mine as well. Colin then wanted some attention and we played with the poop ball together.

We were all going down to the spit to do s’mores. Andrea’s parents had brought wood and her dad, Kim, had a fire going. We got walking, with Vivian, and then realized that none of us had told Cassie and Jeff that we were taking Vivian, so I ran back and told them.

At the beach, everyone realized we didn’t have any marshmallow sticks. I messaged Levi and Sarah and it turned out they had three, but by then Kim had come back with long sticks. Which were necessary as he’d built a huge fire that would have taken a long time to burn down to coals.

While we waited, we had sat on a log and thrown rocks in the water. August leaned on Cassie for quite awhile. I pointed out Mt. Rainier and suggested we go there next year. He said he wanted to climb to the top.

Someone roasted a marshmallow for August and he had a s’more. I roasted one marshmallow, people freaked out about burnt marshmallows being unhealthy, and I made it through a family photo before leaving to head back to the house at 7:45.

I read in the bedroom and heard deer out the window. Two young bucks. Glecy had been asleep when I got back but was now up, and I pointed them out to her. Everyone got back at 8:35. Not sure what they did after I left.

August requested playing on her tablet with Cherie. He argued “It’s my last chance…” He was then driving her crazy by repeatedly asking “Why?”

I took him in for his shower. Let him play for a few minutes (he made a barrier of things along the edge of the tub) then I washed his hair. I started drying his hair with the hair dryer, then Carly moved him to the bedroom and finished it.

He did lots of good nights to people, but especially Cherie. I left them at 9:40 but he wasn’t ready for sleep. I went in and read 3 chapters of Two Dogs in a Trenchcoat, which I hadn’t read any of before. We came out t 10:05. Vivian and Colin were still out so he got to stay out while Carly finished getting ready for bed. He ws asleep at 10:20.

I finished reading Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist in the morning and did some work and typing.

He was up at 7:40. Came out, then went back in with Carly for awhile. He came out, and perched on the back of the couch next to Cherie. I went and took a shower. Derek made eggs and he had that and some toast for breakfast. He’s been having a lot of math discussions with Thatcher: from discussions of googleplex and infinity to Thatcher asking addition problems and then them debating the right answer until they figure it out.

He played with the robot, and we all planned a visit to Steve and Claremay in Centralia, the details of the negotiations underscoring the complexity of  negotiating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I moved August’s car seat into Cherie’s car, between Vivian and Colin. Carly and I felt like cave divers in Thailand getting into the back of the car, and Cassie and Jeff drove/navigated. August played some Monster Physics and Crazy Gears on his iPad.

We got to the house in Centralia at 12:10. Ran in and to the licorice candies. But August didn’t eat any. He’s already tired of them. Downstairs he found peppermint candies but I put them up on the shelf, leading to a couple timeouts when he couldn’t handle that. I had told him he needed to wait until after lunch.

He settled down and played with Colin in the toy room. He and Thatcher then made a laser shooter out of Duplos, and emerged and were shooting it around the house. They had some lunch. We had made fake chicken burgers and Claremay had made applesauce, which August called “Candy applesauce”. Thatcher said, “I said the F word.” But it was “Oh my gosh” that he had said, so he meant the G word. Thatcher and August had some more math conversations today.

We then went back downstairs and were playing there when one of the kids spotted a big insect on the sliding door, outside. Thatcher ran around to the other side. We figured out it was the a banded alder borer beetle https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Banded-Alder-Borer-Beetle. They are attracted to fresh paint, and the house was just painted last week. We went outside after that one flew off and realized there were others. Saw about six total.

August ended up in the play area again with Jeff and Colin. He made the train track and sang “I need a train, so I’m making train tracks.” Colin was baking cookies and dinner and sharing those, but then was playing with 4 metal cars. August was pretending to wash them with a nozzle but Colin didn’t want to share them.

Near the end we went outside to see the beetle that thatcher had caught. He and Vivian named it ZZ as they had been calling it a zebra bug. We started cleaning up the play room, but then August had to use the bathroom, then had a timeout. He was then upset when he didn’t really get to clean up.

We went outside and they let ZZ go, watching the insect fly away. Vivian really wanted to walk the paths close to Chuck and Cherie’s old house (we had driven by the house on the way in – looks the same, except for the RV spot growing over with weeds). Cassie agreed. Colin fell asleep before we got there, so Jeff stayed with him.

The rest of us walked down, stopping to get a few blackberries. We got down to the pond and they threw some rocks in. August couldn’t handle just one at a time and got upset. On the way back up we saw a lot more of the blackberry bushes and had a lot of blackberries.

Colin woke up as we left at 3:45. We tried to keep things quiet so he might fall back to sleep, but he didn’t. I gave August the iPad to do some art. And Carly was doing quiet cookies with the other two to keep them quiet.

Carly passed forward the fry things and Cheerios to August. He did a good job of sharing them Vivian. And tried with Colin. He handed back the Cheerios and said “Colin is not responding to Cheerios.” Colin was getting more upset as we got close. I calmed him for awhile by putting my hand up by him. He was pulling my finger and I would make animal noises. August asked “When we get home can we say potty words in Oma’s closet?” We were back by 5:15.

He went downstairs to do art with Andrea and the other kids and they watched some show. They came up and he started to melt down. Carly took him in and he fell asleep at 7. Carly and Chuck went to play tennis. I got ready for bed and was falling asleep next to him when he woke up at 8:30. He just popped up, as if from a nap. Went out and they were watching the Curious George movie. He was instantly hooked, and said it was funny. They had made some popcorn earlier (Carly had done it before she left) and he ate some now.

We took him in about 10 and they read some of the Hilde book. He was repeating “Cardboard, glasses, and cranky.”  And said those were cat names. He was asleep at 10:50.

He was up at 7:30. Derek made pancakes for breakfast, then he played iPad with Thatcher and the other kids: Slice Fractions and Dragonbox Numbers. He FINALLY went to the bathroom at 8:30. It had been 13 hours.

I took a shower, and everyone started getting ready for the beach. He screamed to get down from bunk bed once. I heard him screaming in our bedroom at one point and was about to go in when I realized Carly was putting sunscreen on him. I decided to stay out of that. He found a rock in the pocket of his swimsuit. He was then doing magic with it, rotating it in circles and going “Zap!” When he was done doing magic with it later he threw it on the ground. He was then with Cherie in their room. I heard him ask “What’s that?” I heard her responding “It’s a Sanskrit symbol…” They were then discussing the right to a lawyer writ of habeas corpus. I don’t know how that came up.

We left at 9:50. He sang “Open the door, get on the floor…” He had me carry him and he whispered it to me in my ear.

We got to the beach and helped haul the stuff and paddle boards down to the beach below the wood fort. It was close to low tide. The kids headed down the beach, looking for animals, and I went with them this time. We spent close to two hours on the beach. August and I made dams and canals for the draining water. Carly floated in a floaty, then tried a paddle board. Andrea brought down a chair and was reading Simplicity Parenting, which I’m reading on the iPad.

We stopped for a snack at 11:45. Right at low tide. Hank had shown up and he and Cherie had gone over on the other side of the spit where Brad, Tristan, Chuck, and Derek were digging for geoducks. I told the story about the one time I remember digging for clams when I was a kid and the weather was awful. I finished with something like “I wondered why we weren’t at the playground.” August told me “You shouldn’t have gone to the playground, cuz the playground isn’t likely to have clams.”

Andrea had little snack mix bags for the kids. August picked the M and Ms out of his, and shared with Colin and Kayla when there were issues over colors.

We slowly got headed out to see how the clam hunting was going. We hauled stuff up to the truck, and spent some time at the swings. I then carried August across the outlet stream and along the spit. August told me of something he had been thinking, and said “You know what? Sometimes I think of things just in my head.” August asked about oysters, and we talked about pearls. I said something about how pearls are valuable and used for jewelry, and August then outlined, on his own, the whole process of people finding the pearls, selling them to stores, being made into jewelry, and people buying them to wear.

We got over there about 12:45. He saw someone laying on the ground, arm in the ground. August asked “Are they burying that person?” We watched the process for a few minutes until they called it a day, then we headed back.

At the house, Colin played with August’s robot. He started a game where he handed me the robot, then he went and lay on the edge of the rug and I released the robot and it rolled towards his head. I was surprised when August wanted a fake chicken burger for lunch. He ate a chunk of Carly’s, then part of one she made for him. He and Thatcher went in to Cherie’s room and played on her tablet with her. I went in and did some reading and rested.

When I came out, he was playing Jenga with Brad and Tristan. He did a few rounds, pulling out blocks. When it started to get shaky he declared “I’m going to stop playing.” Brad and Tristan kept playing, and as it got bigger he said “Oh, that’s so impressive.” There was a big potty word discussion between the kids and Cherie until that was ended.

Carly, Cassie, and I then took our three and Thatcher to the playground. We all piled into Cherie’s car, and the kids got to not have their seatbelts on. As we walked to the playground he held Cassie’s hand. Went on the swings first, and when I was pushing him he said “I’m getting an underdog, Tia Cassie.” When he wanted to slow down he said he had to “Defeat the momentum”.

Brad and Tristan left, stopping by to say bye to us. August told Cassie all about germs and bacteria and included “Because I’m a scientist.” He said “I have a DNA changer. Right now I have boy DNA now I have girl DNA.” Carly tried to get him to ask Cassie about RNA or something. Instead he said “Remember in Israel you told me to ask uncle Jeff about his guns?” Carly joked about how we don’t like guns, but Jeff can have them. He asked “Does that mean he’ll say nah nah nah nah I have guns and you don’t.” And “I won’t do any thing with the guns…I’ll just leave her and we’ll ship them on airplanes. Wait, can you ship guns on airplanes?”

He then got into a big investigation over how many swings the playground had. He declared that things like shaky bridges he would also count as swings. He went and declared the rope ladder and a chain thing swings. He decided there were 7 in total.

Cassie went and asked about opening hours of the pool. She and Vivian went to play ping pong. August and Thatcher played together for a long time, sitting first on the bench swing together and talking, then moving to the tire swing. August got sad when Thatcher said he had written on the tire swing and August wanted to do the same thing. But it turned out Thatcher was kidding. It was something someone else clearly older had written.

We all went in and they played checkers and with the pool table. On the walk to the car, August made up “Diaper miper…a game where you shoot diapers at trees.”

We were back at 5:10. The three oldest kids played with the Jenga pieces. They were knocking down towers and I showed them how to use Jenga pieces as dominoes.

Dinner was fish and a great dish from Derek. The secret that Chuck was going to make milkshakes leaked out, and the kids got hyper. Carly took them downstairs and they played games downstairs for a few minutes. He had some difficulty letting Thatcher and Vivian being in control of red light, green light, or some such game.

They came back up when Chuck had finished making their chocolate milkshakes, and they all loved that. There was some general craziness and the possibility of more red light, green light. And Colin started calling me ‘Ryan’ for the first time, and not ‘John’ or ‘August’.

Just after 7 we took the kids all down to the water. It was high tide, so we got to see it all the way up to the seawall. We went over by the tire swing, and they found a bucket and filled it with stuff for the crabs they found. I was able to sit and do some reading. A couple of bigger kids came and were jumping off the tree with the rope swing. Jeff tried it and almost crashed into the tree. Vivian and Thatcher both climbed up and thought about it, but couldn’t quite make the jump. Very brave of them to even consider it.

August had some troubles on the way back, including yelling in my ear right after he promised not to. No surprise when he fell asleep soon after we got back, by 9:20.

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: 

I heard crying and bonking at 4am or so. Both Carly and I thought it was Vivian bonking her head, but it turned out it was Colin bonking his head on the floor and being upset about the dinosaur toy. He had woken up because his diaper leaked. It had interrupted my odd dreams about someone ruining their car by overheating it and about mom being on TV.

I got up at 5:40, but not early enough. Cassie and Colin were up as I was making coffee. I listened to the long songs issue of Ball of Wax and read a few stories in the short story collection Stephanie loaned to Carly. I’m also making decent progress on In the Skin of a Lion, which I need to finish by next Monday.

The other kids slowly got up, and August was last, a bit past 7:30. General chaos after that, although not too bad. August was quiet and there was a lot of coloring going on. Colin and August pulled each other around by the jump rope.

I took a shower and they were playing on the bunk beds. August ran out to Cherie and said “Poopie!” Cherie said he could just ask for a hug “Instead of saying ‘poop’!?”

He played with a matchbox car and Colin came and asked for it. August shared it with him and Colin said “Thanks!” They then shared it back and forth for a couple minutes.

We played chess using the wooden chess set on the shelves. We had white win. He was then upset about Colin getting a chip. August hadn’t really had breakfast yet and had to eat something healthy first.

As we got ready to go for a walk we were in the bedroom. I took the robot from Spenser out of the backpack. He showed it to Vivian and Colin and said “Yeah! Spenser made it!” He hadn’t understood that the robot that Spenser said he was making, and would give to him when he was finished, was different than the toy robot he had given August. In fact, at the end of the day with Spenser August had thought he had to give the robot back to him so he could keep working on it.

August wanted to wear his tennis shoes so I got them out of the car and attached the crocs to the backpack. We got walking at 10:15. Derek drove the truck down as they were taking their boats. We went to the second beach entrance. The water was low, but a bit higher than the first time. So when Vivian and Colin tromped across the stream to the spit it was trickier for me to carry him across.

We ended up at the swings again with me giving him underdogs. He chose ‘mechanical’ as the word of the day. Colin went on the swing next to him. August then lay on the swing and played with the gravel below him. Each rock was an underdog.

We walked out on the west beach. Most of the kids ended up walking down the beach with Carly. Derek was out on his stand-up kayak fishing. Chuck’s friend Paul and his wife Marie came over in their boat. I talked to Paul for awhile and the cases he and Chuck worked on. He told me his version of the jackhammer story, where they settled a dispute between their clients by playing a round of golf to determine who would pay for the jackhammer (Chuck won on the 19th hole) and then spending 4 hours breaking up concrete themselves.

I then sat and read a story form Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist. The group came walking back along the beach. August, Vivian, and Thatcher were talking about what foods they would and would not eat.

Thatcher and August worked on the fort, finding wood and playing by themselves for awhile, then we worked our way back to the house. We had nutty noodles for lunch, then August and Carly played chess with Vivian and Thatcher. That went quite well. I went to rest and work, and they moved on to dominoes. Paul and Marie had come back to the house, and when I came out I saw someone else I didn’t recognize. Quite a full house. It quieted down and I finished up an email and came out to find Hank about to leave. Hadn’t even realized that he was here too.

August sat with Cherie and they played a game on her tablet. Lots of talk about achievements. He ended up using some word with her, ‘poop’ I think, and had a consequence. He said “Sometimes it just comes right out of my mouth.” He got really sad. Cherie taught him to say “Puppies!” instead, which seemed to work a bit.

Carly and I took him on a walk after 4. We took the stroller and walked to the right, doing the loop around the community center. We took a look at the pool. Carly said it was no Ramallah. tried the TV there, but no channels. Outside Carly pointed out a curvy tree and they talked about what trees need and why it may have grown like that. When they discussed sunshine August said “so maybe the computer inside it…” We walked back the west side and were back at 5.

We had a debate over ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’. Jeff was doing Legos with the kids but August wasn’t interested. Derek had made a curry for dinner. August gave it his seal of approval. Andrea taught August and Kayla “Zip a dee doo daw” as a replacement for ‘potty’. He then had a long discussion about nursing and how bodies develop with Cherie, sitting in the chair next to her. She thought he said “you da bomb” to her, but I’m pretty sure he was chanting “doo doo bom”. Carly, Thatcher, and August played with the dominoes again. General chaos for awhile. August had me work on the sphere thing and I got to 94.

We headed to the pool after 7. I walked, giving me some time to listen to some music. He was with Opa, doing tricks with the noodles and floating with them. Jeff asked Chuck to take the dinosaur, and August called Chuck “dinosaur parent”. He had August totally floating with a noodle under his arms and one under his feet. I got in for awhile. August asked “Where is that dinosaur I was babysitting?” He was also putting the noodles and dinosaur on “the spaceship” – that is, sliding them through the slot into the big pool.

We were back about 8:30. We had left first, with Carly and August driving and me walking back the long way. She gave him a bath and she took a shower. He was watching Puffin Rock, then the other kids watched with him. Then the kids (minus Kayla) were running around look for “Sho sho”. No idea what that was about. Oma offered them videos. They chose something with called Pokoyo but August got really upset about it. He wanted Wild Kratts instead.

Carly tried to put him to sleep but he couldn’t let it go. I watched an episode of Magic School Bus with him. About butterflies. Left them again at 9:45. I thought he had fallen asleep, but at 10:15 he was still crying. He ws saying something like “only way to live” and “I can’t live”. And that he’d never get to watch a video with Oma. I went in and sang some songs (“It’s Okay” and a couple others) while he was next to Carly and he fell asleep just after 10:20.