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The yard. Fake grass, a patio, a play house, a bench swing, and a slide. And one of the trees. The lights are the kitchen:

Back towards the gate and the seesaw (and August) and the other tree, with the living room windows:

First floor. From the entryway:

The kitchen, with the door out to the patio:

From the dining room back towards the entry way. Small under-the-stairs bathroom around the corner where the suitcases are:

The small bathroom: 

Living room from the bathroom: 

The stairs (from the top): 

Landing on the second floor. Folds out into a bed:

Covered deck with washing machine. You actually go down a few steps to it:

Bathroom 1. Bottom pulls out with a second bed:

Bedroom 2: 

Bedroom 3. That’s a full size bed:

Bathroom: 

From bedroom 2 out to the landing, with the door to the patio on the right, and the bathroom straight across: 

He was first up at 5:40, with my alarm. Carly was already up today so I went and got her. She came in and he fell back to sleep, but walked back out to us a little before 6:10. Nursed for a few minutes, then quietly sat on the floor for a few, looking up at the fan. He walked over to me, then went and sat with Carly. He then got up and said “Back to sleep, please.” He ate a little of Carly’s sandwich, then they went into the bedroom.

Back out at 6:45. Colin out soon after and did laps around him. August was supposed to ask me to read a book but didn’t. August was doing a bunch of sneezing and wanted a tissue and allergy medicine, so he helped me break it up and put it in his water. I wondered allowed how many boxes of tissues we would need in our house in Israeli and he said “Thousands.” He dropped his water bottle, and we joked that he had broken the medicine in it and then the water. I said it had made the water dry, so he drank it and said it tasted dry and said “I like dry water. Just dry water.”

He and Colin then spent a long time playing with the coins, using them in the cash register and putting them in a dump truck. August, knowing Colin sometimes doesn’t like to share, was very cautious at first with taking coins from Colin’s stash but gradually realized Colin was happy with playing together. Cassie went and got a few more coins for them. Vivian got up, and had a backpack, so the other kids wanted backpacks – the first conflict of the day. August put away all the coins though before he got going. They ended up all watching a video (after jockeying for position in front of the computer), and I went and took a shower.

When I came out they had all gone outside to the swings. They were talking about what we were doing today and August said “Anytime I go to a new playground I don’t want to get off swings.” I went in and worked on the blog, then on making sandwiches for our trip. Vivian and August were playing on the porch, filling a dump truck and dumping the water. Vivian was doing the latter ‘job’, then she left and August said “The best part is dumping.” And “Can I dump it out and make the porch wet and get dirt and make it all muddy?”

Vivian came back, and they played together upstairs for quite awhile in Jeff and Cassie’s room. That went nice and smoothly until 11:15 when they came down and Vivian got some sort of drinking straw-making kit or something. I took August away for some alone time and he ended up nursing.

We all got ready to go, and left at 12:30. I was driving the red car with Cherie and August and Vivian, while Chuck drove their car with Carly and Cassie and Colin. Took close to exactly an hour to make it up there. The kids did pretty well. During one of the cuter moments they were talking about getting sick. August said “I don’t want any trees getting sick. I love the trees.” And (talking to Vivi) “I don’t want you to get sick. I love you.”

We arrived at 1:30. Straight to the playground, with clouds threatening rain. Then Chuck walked down and found that the beach was closed due to e. coli. So we played on the playground a lot. They got in line and went down a slide several times. August called out from the swings to Carly: “Hi Carly, hi mommy.” Then to Cassie and Colin: “Come over mama, come over Colin.” Went over to the play structure and down the slide, then back to the swings, trying to drink the rain. To someone, Chuck, I think, August was talking in a silly voice that kind of sounded like his swirly voice, but I couldn’t make out any words. August said “That’s my mixed up voice with other talking voices in it.” And then he randomly asked “Can I have colorful marshmallows?”

It started to rain and we retreated to a picnic table under a tree. Eventually the kids joined us and Carly went over and got a couple of orders of french fries for everyone to share. We ate those, then they did some more playing. Cassie and I then took the three kids back over to the snack counter and got them red, white, and blue popsicles. Carly was reading so I let her be and the rest of us wandered down towards the lake with our popsicles. August and I shared his. Close to the bridge, Colin fell and got a pretty big scrape on his knee. We hung out at the bridge over the dam, seeing some ducks and watching the water foaming below.

Turned around and headed back. Chuck and Cherie continued on with Colin, but Cassie and I ended up with Vivian and August at a volleyball court with sand. The two kids drew in the sand and played around. Carly came and found us after awhile. Cassie and Vivian headed back first, then Carly was making grass rings for August. He said “If it tickles I will take off and throw it down.”

We left the sand area, then played at the playground for awhile longer. I sat and read while they were up on the play structure. Later in the car Cherie would ask what the best part was and August said “Turning the wheel” which was up there. They took the kids to the bathroom. I heard Vivian and August running around in there and a lot of Vivian going “Boo!” Finally, August and I talked to a guy who had a third wheel trailer on his bike like the one I got from Peter. We then all left a little after 4:10.

Pretty smooth ride back, in part because Cherie did a good job of introducing new games when they started to get into a conflict. Over something, I don’t know what, Vivian told him “Don’t think about it.” August replied “I’m thinking about it.” Then “I’m always thinking about it.” And finally “You can’t stop me from thinking about it.” They played a lot of I spy, and when we passed a nursery he was confused as he thought it was a place for nursing. They also did a lot of pretending that the car was full of candy and other things and eating them, and then finally they (mainly Cherie and Vivian) were making a story about a beautiful princess. Oh, and when Cherie said something like “Sparkles always make people feel better” August was confused and asked “Why?” When asked what makes him sad, he said “Mama leaving.” I can’t remember what he said makes him feel better – think there was something he preferred to sparkles or whatever it was.

Anyway, we stopped for gas in Stroudsburg, and were back to the house at 5:15. He played with the little broom and asked Carly  “Can I hit your head?” He then helped me vacuum the area around the dining table. He saw Colin and couldn’t believe he was touching his scrape: “No! He’s touching his scrape!” He’d said something along the same lines when he saw Colin touching his knees in the morning or yesterday, even back before he had the big scrape. August doesn’t like his being touched at all.

It was a pot pie for dinner, and August wasn’t eating much at all until we turned it into a game and he was taking ‘secret’ bites from me. He went up to Vivian while I was dishing up more and ended up hitting her. When I talked to him in the bedroom and asked why he said “It’s fun for me.” He said he was ready to apologize and we practiced what he was going to say, about being story and that he wanted to play with her. But then when we left the room he bumped his foot or Colin ran up to him and he lost the words: “I don’t have the idea…I need another idea.” So we had to practice again in the living room before going out.

Soon after that it was time for baths. Carly washed him quick, as Vivian needed to wash her hair. He then went in and went right to sleep by 7:30.

He was up at 7:30. Colin was already up and ran across the room to him: “Ata! Ata! Ata!” He’s done that a couple times and I’d like to get it on video. Vivian was the third up, and they participated in a cousin hug together, then an Oma hug. They had English muffins for breakfast, and were  breaking off small pieces as “hay” for Colin’s trailer for his tractor. Vivian and August then had a bit of a rough spot. Vivian found a computer mouse in their utility drawer. August of course wanted it, but Vivian had no desire to share it. Cherie got her wireless mouse. August was asking how it worked and guessed that it had a battery in it. Vivian wanted the wireless one, but then sulked when she couldn’t have it. Cassie took her kids outside, and Carly and August played separately for awhile. I took a shower, and when I came out they were all over at the play structure. Things were fine for a moment, but Vivian and August were climbing on a metal trailer, which was wet, and August fell down.

Carly went inside, then Cassie picked up a shovel and Colin wanted to play with it. Which meant August and Vivian also wanted to play with it. Vivian was upset when she had to go third. August was smoothing the wood chips with the shovel. Cassie asked Vivian if she wanted the small shovel and she kept saying no. But when Cassie left and came back with another big shovel and the little one Vivian wanted the little one. August saw it and also wanted it and was then upset Vivian had it. Meanwhile, Cassie and I discussed the difference between a shovel and a spade and looked it up. Ended up in the garage, where Cassie was sweeping, but Vivian tore up more styrofoam and dropped on the ground. August also wanted to do it, even though Cassie was telling Vivian she had just said not to. When he got upset I picked him up and headed inside. He said  “I want fun!”

He nursed with Carly, and I heard him say “That’s not fun.” I think she was telling him about us going into town. He came out and played with the toy cash register. It only had a couple coins in it and he wanted more. A lot of saying he ‘needs’ things today: “I need more coins.” “I need the shovel.”

The three of us left a little after 10:15. We were headed into Stroudsburg to get passport photos for our Israeli visas and to try to download some shows at Starbucks for the upcoming flight. We parked behind Starbucks and first found the photo place across the street from Starbucks. The guy was really nice. Carly went first, then me. August got a bigger stool and sat very serious for his photo. He had moved his eyes when the photo was taken though so had to have a redo. Had to instruct him to straighten his back, raise his chin, etc. which led to funny interpretations (his chin way up in the air, for example) but when Carly straightened him out he looked right at the camera and got it this time. While we waited, he had tons of questions about all the equipment in the shop: canned air, flash diffusers and screens, etc.

We then went across to Starbucks. Sadly, they don’t have his usual chia seed juice, or that brand at all. Got him another juice and we sat down. He was being pretty wild though and didn’t seem too fond of the juice either. Carly started a few downloads on her phone then left it with me and took August over to the park. August had remembered that the park would have the rolly slide. Apparently he went on it once, and the bridge, and in the little kids playground and on the swings. There was another kid there that asked August if he wanted to do parkour. The dad explained that they had run across a video of parkour and were now trying to introduce it in a safe way.

I managed to get a few things to download, but not much. I started to walk over to meet them, and met them walking back towards me at about the halfway point. That was about 12:45. Carly drove home. August spotted a small scrape on his ankle and didn’t know what it was from. He didn’t like it: “It’s not part of my scrape collection cuz it isn’t a line…I don’t like circles.” He was then talking about beetles, and helping them and not helping them, repeating “I’m helping the beetles…I’m not helping the beetles.” I would give a happy or a sad face. That game went on much of the way, with variations, and August said “I like happying and sadding.”

Back at the house we went in to get some lunch. August asked “Can we go back to Starbucks and the photo place? After we go to sleep and wake up actually?” After that, Vivian came in and the two of them had an amazing afternoon and evening. It started with August being in the bedroom and shoving things out under the door to Vivian. She then got more markers and paper and was shoving them under so he could draw pictures and push them out to her. I asked what he was drawing and he said “mountains”. Carly and Colin then got involved, with the two of them on the outside and Vivian and August on the inside. He drew pink pictures for Carly, and a couple times said they were climbing walls. That lasted until 2:40. They were then supposedly cleaning up and making confetti, but it blew up again.

I made a run to Weis to pick up a few groceries, leaving at 3:30 and taking about an hour. When I got back they were playing in the RV. I went in there and they were eating a nice sour apple. August said “The next time I throw up I want gatorade…The blue gatorade.” And then he bit his tongue. I picked him up and Vivian said she saw it bleeding. August didn’t like to hear that, and she insisted “It’s bleeding.” With him insisting back “Its not bleeding!” He calmed down, and Chuck had turned on music. Colin started dancing right away, and was able to ask me to dance to: pulling my hand and pointing to the floor, then doing a little dancing himself. All three kids ended up dancing. August also was excited to use the vacuuming system in the RV. He only liked it with the attachments off as it wasn’t as high pitched. There was also some talk about squiggly worms: “I want a squiggly worm.” Which had something to do with a discussion when I was gone: Cherie had tried to think of something that August wouldn’t want to eat and suggested that, and August said he did.

We then went back outside to the swings and to play with the little shovel. August did some digging in the dirt. We discussed tetanus and rabies and August was asking a ton of why questions. Cherie tried to turn the table on him, and when he wanted to climb up on the end of the monkey bars she kept asking him “Why?” He had several answers: “Because I want to sit on it…Because it is a nice sitting place…Because it is monkey bars.” Then he ran out.

We went in and had dinner, which was noodles and cauliflower and tofu and a tahini sauce and also corn on the cob.

After dinner they did a little art with the glitter glue paint. And Vivian agreed to give August the favored chair during the rest of his visit and she and Cassie made a ‘Z’ and a ‘V’ sign for their chairs and put them on the back. Vivian then went out on the swings. August wanted a popsicle, but there was just one lime one left. Carly and I mentioned confirming that that was okay with Vivian, but August said “I want to share it with Vivian.” We went out and I had him holler across to Vivian on the swings. She came in and we got a cup for it and two spoons. August asked her “Do you want to go out on the porch?” So they went out and did a great job of sharing the popsicle. Colin got a raspberry one and I had a raspberry one as well.

Vivian had the idea of moving to the bench swing to finish their popsicle and offered to carry August over there. They didn’t make it that far, settling for sitting in the wagon. Vivian helped August walk from the steps across the handle of the wagon and sit down. Jeff got home, and Vivian had to pee in the grass. August wanted to pee in the grass as well, but Vivian said there was a special spot. August wanted to see the special spot, so
Vivian started to pull him in the wagon. They got sidetracked by Jeff taking Colin over to the pumpkin plant. Vivian pulled him halfway there, then they stopped and were playing in the middle of the lawn for a minute. Vivian then went to pull him more, but August wasn’t ready and fell in the wagon. A superficial scrape on his knee, but enough to hurt.

Carly took him in, and while nursing he fell right asleep, about 7:30.

August got up around 6:30, came out and got Carly, but then went back and fell right to sleep. He then got up again an hour later. Colin was already up and he ran to greet August and gave him a car. August then sat on Carly’s lap and Colin kept playing with him, asking August to help him fix a truck that kept falling apart. When August and Carly went into the bedroom a few minutes later, Colin went running after them, shouting “Ata!” about a dozen times. There was a lot of “Roar!” coming from the bedroom as they played in there after that. And a few minutes later, after August had walked out to the kitchen, Colin came running after him carrying one of his pairs of pants. Colin had seen them in the laundry basket and recognized them as August’s and was handing them back to him. And once in the kitchen they were both sitting on the floor and Colin was scoot chasing him around the room.

Cherie asked one of them to pick up a piece of chalk that was on the floor in front of the fridge. But Colin rain over it with the Jeep toy he was sitting on and it broke.  Cassie explained what he had done, and the next thing we knew he had run off and came back with a dust pan and was trying to clean it up.

August found the missle thing and was patient as Colin took it and put a grape in it and played with it. We couldn’t find the last piece of the launcher though so he couldn’t fire it. Vivian got up, and was soon sitting at the table, watching something. August wanted to play with her, and at least said “Can I bug her then?” before he ran over and put his face in hers. When she got upset, he hit her. Carly took him in for a short timeout, and then when he came back out he went up to her again. I said something about how it meant he wanted to play with Vivian, but it was Cherie that talked to Vivian and got her to stick her face back out at August and to tickle him when he hit her. That turned it into a good game, and they were both very happy.

I then had August brush his teeth, and while it was his regular toothpaste he spit it out in the sink. I took a shower, and a bit after that the truck came with the load of mulch for the play structure area. At first everyone was out there and I got a shovel. Vivian and August really liked that the mulch was really warm and sort of smoking. August kept saying he wanted to get warm and asked me to throw it near him as he was on the swing. He was asking “Can you throw it over here, Ryan?” Everyone else went in with the kids and Chuck and I could work faster throwing mulch everywhere. Carly came back out after a bit to help. I made up a tongue twister about Chuck: How much wood could this Chuck chuck if this Chuck could chuck wood? This chuck could chuck…

August and Vivian came back out, and August wanted to use the shovel, so I helped him do that and he did a little scooping. He then wanted to use the wheelbarrow and I remembered there was a plastic one out back. We went and got that, and he used it to haul a few loads to Carly. When he was done he wanted to wash off the wheelbarrow, and got upset that no one would carry it across the grass for him. We made him wait a few minutes until we were done with all of it and then I went over with him. He saw Carly washing off with the hose and asked “What’s she doing?”

We washed it off and our hands and feet, then went inside. In the kitchen Carly accidentally hit him in the face. He wasn’t really hurt, but felt wounded. They nursed, then Vivian headed to the store with Cherie. We had some lunch, then he wanted soy milk. The last soy milk was out in the RV, so he went out with me to get it. Back inside, Vivian and Cherie back after 1. Vivian started playing with the little plane (like the one she sent to August in Korea) and August wanted it. It was suggested that August play with the big one from the toy box and he liked that idea. When he got it out Vivian wanted to play with it and got upset when August got it first.

August played with it for a few minutes, then wanted to go find her. We quietly went upstairs to look, as Colin was taking a nap, but she wasn’t there. We found her out on the play structure, swinging with Carly. He played on the swings, then we went back inside to use the toilet. We were then getting ready to go to the library. Vivian said August could wear her Minnie Mouse shoes (he had first worn them to go get soy milk) and helped him put them on. They then did a series of shoe dances in the mud room. He then went out to the RV with Cherie to use the bathroom. There was something about him having a hurt feeling, and really being upset that she wouldn’t let him put pepper on it.

We left a little after 3. I drove with August and Vivian in the red car and Carly rode with Cassie and Colin this time. The drive went smoothly. August was in the vest and did fine with it, and I put Vivian in charge of snacks. They ate a ew slices of apple and Cheese-its.

Got to the library and went inside. They were playing with hand puppets when Carly and Cassie showed up and I went out to move the car (I wasn’t sure I had parked in a legal spot, and only realized after the kids were starting to get out of their car seats). When I came back August was upset about sharing. He got excited about books, at least finding them on the shelves, then needed to use the bathroom. As I took him he said  “it’s the same one? The same library? That’s good, because I really like this one.” I guess he’s not used to visiting things multiple times this summer…

After we were out, Cassie and Vivian read Fish for Jimmy, about the internment, and Carly read a book about pooping. The kids played with toys a bit more, and me and Cassie read a couple books to to them and one other little boy that was there. But August wasn’t paying much attention, and his nose was bothering in. When we were in the bathroom he said he was going to stick his finger “too far” into his nose and I told him not to. He now seemed afraid to stick his finger in his nose at all and kept asking for a tissue and wanting to nurse. So Carly and I took August back in the red car and Cassie stayed longer with Vivian and Colin, who were playing on one of the computers.

At home Cherie was finishing up the vegetable soup and making some letter pasta to go in it. August had fun looking at the dry letter noodles. He really liked the soup, much more so than the other two, and while he was eating it he got out of his chair once, did a very Colin-like dance as he spun in circles a couple times, said  “I like soup” and sat back down.

After dinner we all went out to the play area. August is getting better at hanging from the underside of the curved ladder. Cherie had some green beans that were getting old, so the kids had fun throwing them into the woods for the bunnies. August and I then went inside and got a popsicle. I was trying to convince him to get a different flavor, but he stuck with the bigger lime ones but said that tomorrow he’d have an orange one. I had some pie, and when we finished that he told me “Grab some more pie, dada.” It was the last little bit and August decided “From now on I like the last of the pie.” Walking out of the kitchen he accidentally kicked a cup that was on the floor and said “Sorry, cup.” While eating his popsicle he was spinning his head around and holding up the popsicle above his head and talking in a lower funny voice. He called it his “swirly voice”.

It was then bath time. Carly gave him a quickish bath, then he played while Colin and Vivian took theirs. Vivian remembered me saying we should read Daisy-Head Maisy, but then it wasn’t actually downloaded on the iPad. While it downloaded, Vivian started the kids doing a dance performance. Carly then did some ballet, and Cassie did some gymnastics. We read the book, during which August headed to bed. They liked the book, and Vivian wanted to read more. But it was now past 9. I talked to Jeff and Vivian for awhile – to Jeff about his time in west
Africa and to Vivian about how she and August were doing really well together. August wasn’t asleep, however, and came back out after they had headed upstairs. Carly took a shower and he and I played around a bit and then read all of Bread and Jam for Francis. Another one that I really remember from being a kid. He went to sleep by 9:40.

He was up at 7:30. When he wanted cereal for breakfast I asked which kind of milk he wanted in it. He said soy, then as I poured it he sang a little song: “I like soymilk because it doesn’t come from an icky cow.” That was apparently the lesson he took from our trip to the farm yesterday. I remember telling him that “this is where milk comes from”. Apparently he thought about that.

After breakfast he took off his shirt. He then played with the toy drill for quite awhile, “fixing” things. The cutest was when he fixed Colin’s truck for him and Colin pointed to spot after spot, saying “Here”. It was pouring through the morning. Augist stood in the doorway once and Colin said “Outside” and pushed him in the back to make him step outside. August decided he was too cold though and came back in. He also drilled holes in the floor and said “The holes is just for beetles.” Colin and Vivian ended up watching Sarah and Duck on our iPad somehow and the Vivian switched to a game and was playing it. August came along and a minute later I saw him running away from the couch, the iPad held over his head. He later told me that he had wanted a turn, but admitted he didn’t use his words. So I’ve been practicing scenarios with him when he doesn’t use his words, having him act out what he should have said and we did that with this as well.

The rain let up and we decided to head to Belvidere to walk around, get coffee, and go to a park. As we were getting ready August wasn’t doing too well with Vivian. He tried to hit her with shoes after he couldn’t handle the seats again (basically, both he and Vivian only like the red chair with no scratches on it; since she is always using that chair he can’t sit at the table with them). So on the way there I said that Vivian needed to ride in the car with Cassie. Neither was too happy with that, but as we left at 10:15 he said “After we go for a ride and come back I will act much better.” Also, it meant that on the ride there he hummed and sang the entire way without Vivian telling him to stop and without him getting really loud to annoy her.

We drove into Belvidere and parked near the Thisilldous Cafe. We got out the two strollers and started to go for a walk, down to the park square and past the county courthouse. Then Vivian needed a bathroom. So we reversed directions and tried to go to the library, but found it closed. We walked around the block and back to the Cafe, but it turned out to be more of a diner than a coffee shop, so we decided to head over to the Sarivan Bake Shoppe, which was supposed to be open, according to the hours on Google Maps. But we walked the three blocks only to find it closed. Along the way there were some big bumps in the sidewalks which Carly and August called the roller coasters. So we reversed course and went back to the cafe.

The woman that seated us was grumpy, bordered on rude, but the rest of the staff was nice and the food was good, once we were able to order and got the food. We ordered a couple plates of fries, a waffle, and scrambled eggs and toast. Carly took Vivian and August outside while they waited for food and they went up and down the block, going up and down the steps to buildings, hanging on railings, and playing in the water on a table out front. When the food came they came back in and of course enjoyed it all. Vivian stuck a piece of waffle on her finger and August followed suit.

After that lunch of sorts Cassie headed back with Colin and he fell asleep for a nap. We transferred Vivian’s seat back to our car. The four of us initially went for a short walk to a playground at an elementary school. Along the way August saw a church with a pretty tall spire and asked  “Can we go to the top and look out?” Not being something we’ve really focused on doing before I thought that was an interesting request. We kept going, finding a really impressive old house (there were a lot of impressive old buildings through the town) and getting to the playground only to find that it was apparently closed until 2 while a summer camp group used it.

So we walked back, got in the car, and drove east to find the ‘Shoe Tree’ sign I had seen when we drove through at night on our way back from Philadelphia. Found it and learned that it was an old oak tree that the barefooted country families would stop under to put on their shoes on their way to church on Sundays.

We then ended farther east to check out Pequest River Park at 1:10. There was a decent playground there, although it was getting overrun with prickly plants. Also, there was no river access. August started to practice the monkeybars, which was cool. He needed to use the bathroom so we did the long walk to the outhouse. We had brought Cassie’s emergency toilet with us. We didn’t use it, but August wanted to and said “I like red suitcase emergency toilets.” After the outhouse he was being a broken machine and also told me “If you are broken I will pick you up.” Which was very nice. He also talked about having a tank of electricity: “There’s a tank with electricity in it.” “When the tank is empty, a truck comes and fills it up. An electricity tank.” Which kind of sounds like a combination of our talks on how portapotties work and rechargeable batteries.

Back to the swings he said “I want to have privacy on the swings.” He then went to the monkey bars and was practicing hanging on them. Vivian then wanted to use the monkey bars, so I was showing them how to share the monkey bars, with Vivian asking nicely, August stepping to the side so she could go by, then when she was out of the way hanging again. That was going well but then he had gone up another step missed it going down. He fell onto the step below, then off it onto the ground. He got up, and said “There’s pain”, referring to his ankle. They nursed, and he recovered.

Vivian played a good joke on me. She said “Ryan, let’s go down the blue slide.” I went around to see that the the entrance was actually boarded up. She had seen that. We ended up playing with the slide, pretending there was a family of badgers in it. After that sillly time we got going. Vivian went to the bathroom, then we headed back west and across the river to the ‘Jerry Brunetti Environmental & Welcome Center’.

This park was nicer, and while Carly stayed with the kids on the playground I walked down to see if there was water access. There was, with a little trail leading down to the shore. There were a few feet of shallow, slow water and lots of rocks to throw. Went back and got all of them and we went and threw rocks in the river. They argued a bit about saving or throwing certain rocks, but otherwise had fun together. They also found little shells and dug in the sand. When Vivian had to go to the bathroom August and I stayed a few more minutes and played. We also took out Smokey and took a Smokey photo by the Delaware.

We headed home and got back sometime after 3. It was all about playing on the play structure after that, since it is finished. On the swings he was walking in a  “my favorite circle”. They got all the cars and were rolling them down the slide and dropping them on the ground. Cassie went in and got the sandwiches that Carly had made for our trip and brought them out for a picnic. August generally wasn’t wanting to get dirty, and didn’t want to get the picnic blanket dirty. Cassie then found out that he doesn’t really like wet wipes, so then we were asking and determined that he likes getting wet even less than getting dirty. Although by the end of our time outside he had decided he liked wet wipes and was requesting them.

When Carly came out, Colin initiated the tea game and played it with her: “Carly, Carly…Tea” August had another slightly frustrating fall, climbing up the bottom of the curved ladder. He had just asked if it was okay to do so, then slipped and hit his nose and face on the bar. He said “I was trying to climb!”

He was talking and Cas
sie noticed that he sounded like Sarah from Sarah and Duck. Earlier I had told Carly that his “Oh” and “No” and other words were sounding like Sarah. He was really gentle with Colin, saying at one point: “I stepped on your foot a little, sorry.”

He and Cassie were talking about cleaning things and she asked “Aren’t vacuums the best?” He replied “No, Colins the best, “ which was really sweet, but then continued “Vivian’s actually the worst and Colin’s the best.” Which wasn’t.

He and I went over and washed off our feet and hands in the hose, then headed into the house at 5:45. He ate some ramen and broth, then we all had spaghetti for dinner. August was wearing the Pippi Longstockings sort of wig and bothering Vivian with the end of it while she still ate.

They headed out on the porch at 6:25. Thunderstorms and rain had come through so no going on the grass at the moment. He asked Cherie “Can I pee in your tea?” Then really got funny when he said “Yeah but I need to poop too.” He went to the bathroom instead. He then had a popsicle and ate it outside. I got pie and we shared the two. I asked about his favorite foods. He said “My worst is spicy things…My best is popsicles…Blackberry pie.” He saw Cherie mopping the floor inside and told her “I really like that mop.”

The rain had stopped and he wanted to go walk in the grass and mentioned it a few times. So I told him I would go get my shoes in the mud room and we could go. I got my shoes, but then found that August had found Carly in the bedroom. He nursed, and soon fell asleep, just after 7:30.

He was up at 8:30. I made him and Colin and Vivian French toast for breakfast. They were then outside, spraying windows and things with spray bottles. I was inside and saw them through the window. August sprayed Vivian and she screamed in his face. I went out and intervened. They ended up making dirt soup. He tried to sell it to me by saying “I put yummy dirt in it.” He started drinking from the spray bottle at one point then stopped, asking “Wait, where it filled from?” He knows we don’t want him drinking the water from the pool or water table. Luckily, this was filled from the hose.

They also spent some time playing on the play structure, which is coming together. The floor is on the elevated part of main structure, so they could climb up the curved ladder or climbing wall, play at the top, and go down the slide. August mainly wanted to be set up at the top as, due to the rain and then the mud on Vivian’s shoes, the ladder and climbing wall were to dirty for him.

It took awhile but we got going and headed to Klein Farms about 10:30, getting there by 11. Vivian rode with us, Colin rode with Chuck and Cherie, and Jeff stayed to work on the play structure. Cassie slept as she had worked the night. At the farm Vivian and Colin headed straight to the animals, while August started at the playground. We all then looked at animals together. August showed his clear city boy signs, very aware of the muck and mud and smell. While looking at the chickens he asked “They’re not wearing their shoes?” Meanwhile, Colin, a farmer in another life, was trying to drag August farther into a barn, repeating “Cow! Cow!” He also was fascinated by the tractor and trailer. Later, when Colin was going to bed, he and I reviewed all of the things he had seen at the farm, him nodding and saying “Uh-huh” to each thing. When August did go closer to the animals it was with us carrying him.

On the playground August was really working to pump on the swings like Vivian. He’s pretty much there, having the rhythm down and throwing himself forwards and backwards forcibly. They played a lot, and the other two main things he played with were some rings that you could swing on on the deck of the ship (the shape of the play structure) and a fire pole in the center. Vivian could go down it just fine and was working on trying to climb back up it. August went down it close to a dozen times, with me holding him. By the end I was supporting him less and less. He would also have me place him halfway up and then let go so he could do part of it on his own.

We sat at a picnic table and ate lunch (we had packed sandwiches) around noon, then after more playing went up about 12:30 and got ice cream and ice treats. August wanted the same thing that Vivian got, lemon ice, but he has a love/hate relationship with lemon so Cherie worked out an arrangement where she also got a mango one. The adults got ice creams – I got a sweet cream cheese ice cream that basically tasted like cream cheese frosting. August declared mine the best and had a few bites and finished the last of the cone. He finished the last few bits of the lemon and mango ices outside, drinking down the “juicy bites” as Carly talked to Glecy on the phone.

Cherie and Chuck left with Colin to stop at the store and then put Colin to sleep with a drive. Carly realized it was easy to change the height of the swings and was doing it for Vivian and August. She started to regret it as they kept requesting them up and down. August used an odd construction to ask if Vivian’s was as low as his: “Is it as low as he’s?”

August and I went up to use the bathroom when he needed to go. We had to wait in a line and someone wasn’t happy when she couldn’t go in first, nor happy when we then headed home. We got home at 2:15 to find the playground almost completely done. Vivian and August started playing on it, going on the swings. Cassie came out, then Chuck and Cherie back with Colin. He had fallen asleep in the car, but when Cassie picked him up he instantly started saying “Cow! Cow!” So no real nap for Colin. August played at the play structure a bit longer, then came in. He and I played with water and dirt and then he nursed. He was roughhousing with me and Carly on the beds, then went to the bathroom. He wanted to go upstairs so we went up and looked around but didn’t read any books.

He was hungry so we went down to the kitchen and he had some ramen and seitan soup while Carly cooked the mushrooms and spinach for the pizza. We put some mushrooms in August’s soup: “That one was super good but the last one wasn’t.” What made that one not as good? “It was just how it growed.”

When Vivian came in he started to have some problems. He wanted to watch a video with her, but as I moved his chair he reached out and pulled his hair. First time he’s done it, so seemed like he just did it to find out what happened.

He ended up nursing a bit later and was falling asleep. But got him back up and he and the other kids made it through dinner while watching some Sarah and Duck, taking turns choosing episodes and smearing pizza sauce on my iPad. The pizza turned out really well though, with goat cheese and spinach and olives and fake pepperoni and artichokes.

Carly gave him a bath. Today it was his left foot that he didn’t want in the water, so Carly drained it and washed him that way. After his bath he was playing with the drain, but a few seconds later said “If you put your finger in your ear it hurts.” He burst out crying and then went in to nurse. I told him that Oma was going to read Bread and Jam for Francis: “When they’re done I want them to read it again.”

Vivian had been looking at her reading and math flash cards, then started pushing them under the door to August. Eventually he was outside with her, pushing them under the door to Carly, who pushed them back. Hyper time ensued after that and Colin joined in. I kicked them out of the bedroom and they cleaned up at one point, then Vivian dumped them out again and they ended up putting them down their shirts and then “peeing” them onto Carly.

Got them cleaned up again, then Chuck and Cherie headed out to the RV. I finally got the kids corralled and in on the low bed. They each got a pillow and each got their water bottles. We read about half of Bread and Jam for Francis, then Cassie and Jeff were outside and invited them to help bail out the pool. So we went out and did that, and Jeff got Vivian with a bucket of water. August wanted me to pick him up and take him over to the grapes where Vivian and Colin were getting raspberries. I took him over and he chewed and spit out several sour grapes. I took him inside to check on Carly although he said he wanted to stay out. He was getting tired. He hummed the entire time he was falling asleep, gradually getting tired, and was asleep by 8:30.

He was up at 8:30. While he was in nursing, Colin was drawing pictures, and when Cherie asked him who he wanted to give the pictures to Colin went and was sliding them under the door like he’s seen Vivian and August do a lot. He was very proud of himself. Colin then spotted a water bottle outside, then two other water bottles inside and knew which one was Cassie’s and which was Jeff’s. August had mixed cereal for breakfast, then took a form that Chuck had printed for her into her. Vivian got up and sat on Cassie’s lap, and August had the idea of sitting on Vivian’s lap. When she wouldn’t let him he hit her.

A bit later Cassie was alone in the chair and closed her eyes. August made a loud noise to wake her up, then when Jeff massaged her arm with a car August liked the idea and did the same. Colin and August went outside with me. Colin was carrying some Duplos I wasn’t sure he was supposed to take out and August was concerned about Colin getting them wet. He then said “I want to walk on the flat sandy dirt.” He meant the new dirt between the garage and house. There, he asked “Could you make a ball for me oma?” He and Vivian ended up in the garage, hiding and finding little green plastic things left over from building the play structure.

I took a shower. He couldn’t handle the chairs and video again. I then went out to help Jeff and Cassie move pieces of the play structure out of the garage and over to the dirt area. Carly made August a cheese and broccoli grilled sandwich. He said it was “really good”. Sat there for a long time eating his sandwich. He got cold sitting right under the air conditioner so eventually he agreed to put a shirt on. They nursed, and he pinched her or something. He seemed to think she was joking about it hurting and kept adding ‘really’ to his question: “It really, really, really hurt mama?”

Cherie had gone shopping and came home with a bunch of hot wheel sorts of vehicles, mainly from the dollar store, to be used on the roadway printed on the floor of the play structure. She made sure she got the same car for Vivian and August, but of course he still wanted whatever one he didn’t have at the moment. Still, they had quite a bit of fun with them.

He ended up going out to the RV with Cherie and Vivian. I went out a bit later. They were watching the bulldozer and playing on the bed. August needed to use the bathroom, but Vivian took the one in the RV so I took him back inside for that and water at 12:10. On the toilet he talked about always wanting his toe nails painted: “If my toes are not painted I don’t like it…Can we get green?” “I want to paint it again. I want to paint my whole body purple.” Apparently he also told Carly he didn’t like her toenails since she didn’t have them painted.

Chuck skyped with Derek and Thatcher. The kids had fun saying hi to each other but it was pretty chaotic. Carly ended up with the kids out on the porch and I then skyped with my parents. I started it out on the porch with August and Vivian, but then the workers started spraying straw on the dirt area where grass would go. I went inside because of the noise. A few minutes later I saw a big cloud of the straw come up on the porch and Carly and Vivian retreating from it. The hose had come unattached on the truck and sprayed it up there. I went back out on the porch a bit later when they were done, but then the woman came by with a leaf blower to blow some of the straw back off the porch.

Vivian and August did more playing out on the porch, and I went with Cherie to help spot the RV while Chuck parked it in the new spot. It fits nicely and now they have electricity as their cord can reach the outlet on the garage. And with the RV out of the main driveway it now feels huge.

Things were getting rough between the two kids so Carly and I decided to take them to Weona Park. We left a little before 3, Carly driving. They had complex ideas about switching between Cheerios and crackers and who would get what first. Carly is good about that attention to detail. I was more like ‘here’s the crackers you get on this trip – make them last.’

We first went on the carousel. We rode the giraffes this time. They are the tallest animals, and both the kids noticed they were higher this time. They did okay with it. I’d read the whole application for the carousel to become a national historic place so knew a lot about it now and could appreciate that the animals still have their original paint on them.

We then went and played in the playground: swings, tire swing, up to the play structure, back to swings. Eventually Vivian needed to use the bathroom so we went there. After they had both gone they played on the railing down from the men’s room, swing from it. We then went over to the baseball field. August had one of his funny moments of opining out loud: “I don’t like baseball. I love baseball. I love it the most…We’re not playing that?” We walked around the baseball field a bit and the kids played on the portable bleachers, jumping off the ends.

We headed back towards the car, August chasing Vivian. We stopped to get a drink and when August asked to use Vivian’s harmonica, which was in my pocket, she got upset and I took the harmonica away from both of them until we were home. We left at 4:35 and after they were calm in the back August asked for a mint. I heard “Vivian can go first.” Which seemed impressive on his own until I realized that Vivian had actually whispered it to him first.

At the house August still wanted a harmonica so Cassie found him one of the others and he was happy. Cassie put in the ramen noodles to eat with the seitan and veggies and August had dry ramen noodles for the first time and liked them. Colin drew all over his face with a blue marker, and Jeff joked that back in his day that would have meant his face was blue for a week; nowadays there are no consequences as it will wash right off. During dinner Jeff told his Cambodian noodle soup story. August ate a good amount, but really liked the broth, which was funny because it was just the plain ramen. He ate a ton but then said “I don’t even like the food.” Which I think just meant he was full: “When I’m not eating that means I’m full.” He had a long conversation with Jeff about being full and when he does and doesn’t eat food.

We headed outside with Vivian and played by the RV, jumping down the gravel embankment, then over by where Jeff was working on the play structure. August had worn Vivian’s pink rain boots so she put on her snow boots. They stomped in the puddles of the slide, which was now lying on the ground out there. For the past couple weeks August and Vivian have been playing the “I love ____ more” ‘game’. Today Vivian had decided she wasn’t playing that game anymore (a development of which I approve), so when August started to say he was dirtier she said she wasn’t playing that game and he asked “We’re not playing the who’s dirty game?”

Carly and I then took the kids for a walk down the short bath from the road to the park parking lot. We made August walk and he complained a lot about poop and wet grass despite wearing rain boots. He’s definitely a city kid and we have a ways to go to make him into a ‘wild child’ (which is a book I’m reading). We walked just a little ways down the trail around the lake, then came back and played by the boat launch – they wanted to tromp in the edge of the lake and I said no. They then walked on the edge of the retaining wall next to it and stomped on some shells.

We came back in to find Cherie making blackberry pies. They got to each play with and eat some extra dough. Then it was bathtime. Vivian and Colin went first. August sat on the toilet for quite awhile (he had had a long sit earlier in the day as well) then I gave him a bath. He complained about his right foot hurting and wouldn’t keep it down in the water. Looked like he had a mosquito bite. He walked out into the kitchen, wet a
nd naked, and found everyone having ice cream. So he had a little ice cream, then brushed his teeth, and went in for bed after that and was asleep just after 8.

August stayed at the house today while Carly and I escaped for some shopping to Stroudsburg.

August got up during the night and said he needed to go to the bathroom. Carly told him to go back to sleep but he insisted. She took him to the bathroom, he went, then went back to sleep.

A guy came with a backhoe around 8 to remove the pile of dirt and rocks where they plan on parking the RV. I took Colin out to watch for a few minutes. August was up at 8:30, and after nursing he went outside with Cherie to see the backhoe, then they were in the garage. There, he hit Vivian when he wanted her bike. She brought him in and he had a timeout with me. We discussed strategies for when someone has something he wants.

I took a shower and when I came out he was finishing his breakfast. He was having  “Mix” cereal of Life and Cheerios. The backhoe started up again and startled him. I took him outside and Vivian called to us from the RV. They greeted us as we entered the RV. Colin was chanting “Eat! Eat!” And grabbed August’s hand and led him to the table to where they were eating some of Oma’s cereal. August didn’t want any but the three of them ended up playing on the bed for several minutes then August, just for fun, hit Vivian on the bed. We went inside again. Then back outside, where we just stood and watched the “digger” for a few minutes before going back in the RV where they ate some pumpkin seeds that Cherie had just roasted.

Carly headed to the Walmart past Tannersville for an eye exam so she could get more contacts and Cherie and I and the three kids then headed to the back porch and the water. We emptied the pool and moved it and the slide towards the corner and away from the door down to the basement. August was cooling down his hand by putting it in the water and said “I’m colding it.” He spent a lot of time running the hose through the rocks at the corner by the tomato plant, making a sort of stream that Colin put some green tomatoes into.

The backhoe driver then drove it right between the house and the garage – a tight fit – and started to work. Colin, then all the kids, watched from the play room. Colin started a little digger dance, then Vivian and August joined in and Cherie sang a digger dance song. I got just the end of it on video. But then August was playing with the workbench toy thing and asked if he could turn the hook things to hang tools on. I said yes, but then Vivian told him he couldn’t turn the top one and he hit her again.

After another break, Vivian and him had a glorious hour and a half where they played without conflict, starting by having privacy time in the bedroom, starting at 11:45. They came out and got toys and took them back in the room and were calling it their “house”. They came out for some apple, then went back in the bedroom, then came back out for lunch. Chuck made grilled cheese sandwiches for Vivian and August and he really liked that. While they waited they sat at the counter. August really wanted the bottle opener that Vivian found on the counter and was playing with. Eventually, August started using a toy syringe as a microphone. Vivian then gave him the bottle opener and once he had it told him he had to trade and took the syringe. He was happy though.

Carly home little before 1. Soon after she came home it was the end of the glorious time, as Vivian was lying over the Ottoman and August wanted a turn. They ended up nursing, then the kids were playing on the porch again. Colin was pushing Vivian around the porch on the tricycle. They ended up needing a timer set for that. When August had a turn we ended up at the front porch and Vivian was playing a disgusting chocolate game, putting mud on the spoon to feed me, then telling me it had something disgusting in it. I requested vegetarian chocolate, so a lot of them had animals in them.

Carly and I wanted to go and see our next car option, the Kia Forte, and there was one in Stroudsburg. Cherie said we should leave August with them, so we did. He cried as we left and cried for about four minutes. He didn’t want a cookie, but finally agreed to a popsicle when Cassie offered one. Later, Cassie asked them if they wanted a snack and when they went in she offered them something like carrots, green beans, or something else. He said “That’s not a snack…It’s not crackers.” He interacted with Chuck and Cherie more than he has. And he hit Vivian once, then as Cherie was talking to him about it she asked “What are you going to tell Vivian?” He said “I’m going to tell her to suck it up.” Which is hilarious. I’ve never heard him use that phrase before and don’t know where he would hear it. It’s possible he was just making a vacuum cleaner reference, as he often starts acting like a robot or vacuum cleaner when he doesn’t want to talk about something.

Carly and I got to check out the Forte5 and liked it better than the Chevy Sonic. We then drove to the Stroudsburg Walmart and got more contacts as the first Walmart didn’t have enough in stock for her. Finally, we drove to the Weis in Pen Argyl and did the grocery shopping and got back to the house before 4:30.

After we were back, someone offered snap peas to August and said there was a bowl of them out on the porch. I went out with him, and he didn’t want to eat one at first until I said they were Vivian’s and she had left them. He started eating one and said “I’m eating all or Vivian’s snap peas…Dada said I could eat all of Vivian’s…”. He then found one of the pig masks that he and Carly had painted and sent and played with it. He asked “What if just Vivian can wear it?” and was a bit concerned but I told him it was okay. He was acting sleepy and yawned six or seven times by the time we found Carly outside.

Colin was delighting in the big ruts of mud left by the dump truck and called it “dirty time”. August joined in, but complained (as he didn’t have his shoes on) when they ran across to the a different tree: “They’re not going back to the shade!” August then played the chocolate game with Carly and I headed in to work on our car choices spreadsheet.

On the back porch though Vivian and Carly were going to have a water fight. August and I ended up out there participating. August had the big soaker thing and hit Vivian a couple times, and did okay with getting sprayed with the spray bottles as long as it didn’t get his face. Somehow, Carly ended up sitting down and I did most of the water fighting.

Dinner was then ready. Hot dogs and sauerkraut and green beans and asparagus. He made a game of bugging Vivian, standing up really close to her face. He ended up going in with Carly for some Mama and Zinnie time. I was there and he said “I want privacy. Shoo, shoo, shoo.”

Colin and Vivian were then watching Bob the Builder. August was visibly tired and then upset about the red chairs and threatening to hit. I took for a break and we talked about “hugs not hits”. He wanted to nurse, so we found Carly. She and I were discussing cars while he nursed and he twice sat up and said “Stop talking!” At 6:30 she asked if we should let him sleep, but I went in and he got up and we went out and he got on the horse and rode that. He then wanted to try watching the video again, but still couldn’t settle for a chair so he went back in with Carly.

But he didn’t fall asleep, so Carly gave him a bath, then while she took a shower he and I went upstairs. He was really interested in Vivian’s room but knew she didn’t want us going in. We spotted a Bernstain Bear Bedtime Battle lying on the floor though and we took it to the changing room and read that. Then took it back to Vivian’s room and borrowed the Sarah and Duck Visit the Doctor and read that.

He wanted to then watch Sarah and Duck, but when I said no to that he decided he wanted an apple instead. We went down to the kitchen. I started to get the apple and knife out, but then he asked me about something at the end of the counte
r. It was the outlets, and specifically he was asking me about the ground hole. I explained what it was, and he asked if it hurt. He then got really sad and was holding his finger and said it hurt and broke down crying. I don’t think he actually got shocked, but maybe had it pinched in there. And especially after reading the safety rules in that book when he realized what he was playing with I think he got scared. We went in to Carly and he was asleep at 8.

I finished listening to S-Town in the morning.

He was up at 8:30. Opened the door, saw the other hyper kids, and closed it. Carly went in and the other kids went in as well. At one point in the morning Colin and August drew with crayon on the bedsheet and we washed it. At another he hit Vivian. Instead of apologizing he gave her a big hug. Vivian and August then ended up outside, where Vivian painted August’s toenaile and fingernails purple. They then started playing in the water. I took a shower and they were still out there. August walked up and down the slide, but wouldn’t actually slide. I sprayed the hose up in the air like rain for Vivian. They kept playing and playing. August drank water from a spray bottle and said “I like hot water. I like warm water. But I don’t like shower water.” At first I thought he said ‘shallow’ water, but he carefully pronounced it so I got it. While he had the hose “Vivian’s picking tomatoes and letting me wash it.” We talked about the “digger” coming tomorrow to level the spot for the RV “After we go to sleep?…Thats fine…I don’t want it right now.” Vivian and August played the shutting down robot game after they drank water. Vivian got him to start dropping the bottle when he shut down.

About 10:30 August finally ate some breakfast when Carly brought some cereal. They ended up inside, and Carly and Vivian read Merle the High Flting Squirrel, which had just arrived in the mail. August played with the wand/club thing that lights up when you hit things. He said “I only hit the butter chairs.” Vivian and August were outside with Carly on side porch while Chuck mowed the lawn, and their when the gas guy came to refill the tank on the house. A funny moment of confusion, as Carly asked him what he was doing, and the guy thought she was Cassie and was confused. The kids, Colin included, watched him and his truck.

Then out on back porch playing with water again. August was getting his hands dirty in the soil out front, then running to the back and washing them off with th hose. Vivian turned off the water and I joked that the well had run dry. August then decided to refill the well by putting the hose in the pool. They played for several more minutes. Vivian went inside about 12:30, and August played a bit longer on his own beforing going in.

Vivian made a lemonade cafe for Carly and Cassie’s birthday, and they sat and had lemonade. Vivian and I had eaten the last of the pizza for lunch, then August had some of the curry for lunch. When he was done they were allowed to have a cookie. I suggested a version of the Stanford marshmallow experiment, where you offer a child one treat now, but two if they can wait. We only asked for 5 minutes of waiting, and they had plenty of distractions, and both Vivian and August easily made the five minutes. When I handed each of them their second cookies though I  suggested they share them with their moms, which they did. As August ate his he exclaimed “I just love chocolate.”

Awhile later I found him crouched in the mud room, just admiring Vivian’s pink flip flops. Vivian went to the RV with Cherie and August headed around to the back with me where we filled up the water table but didn’t use it, then filled the pink water bottle but didn’t spray it, then peed in Colin’s toilet. He dumped it out and we sprayed it off with the hose. He then decided to head inside, a little after 2, where he very quietly asked me if he could use Vivian’s towel to dry her feet. He then kept going out and spraying his feet, then coming in to dry them again. “I love this towel.”

He ended up in the mud room again, this time admiring Vivian’s other pink shoes:

“I like vivian’s sparkly pink shoes” I said he should probably ask if it was okay before he wore them, and he responded with his best Sarah and Duck impression: “Yeah, s’pose so.”

We did some art. He used up the last bit of the sparkly paint, then drew on his foot with a marker on his foot. Sang “I want to wash it off in the pool. But if I wear my shoes they’ll get dirty. So I’d like you to carry me.” Then asked “Could you please carry me dada?”

We got ready to go to a park. Hot and stifling today, so we wanted a park in the shade. We decided on Mountain View Park as it is big and shady and Cassie told us there was a Crocs outlet store near there. Before we left, Vivian and August played wonderfully on the bed for quite awhile. While I was in there, they were pretending to go on a journey to Mexico. Vivian was pretending to fly the plane and asked “what’s that noise?” August said “That’s the plane moving.” She changed the noise and asked again and he replied “That’s the engine breaking.”

We headed out, about 3, and stopped at Chuck and Cherie’s car to get the booster seat for Vivian. August said “Their car’s super cool. I don’t like our car very much.”

We got to the outlet mall and went to the Crocs store. They both had a ton of fun trying on shoes. August liked the ones that were fuzzy inside and with Mickey Mouse on them. Vivian found a pair she really liked and we took a photo to show her mom. Carly had to take August outside while I chose a second (buy 1, get 1 50% off) pair. They didn’t have orange, teal, yellow, or gray in the next size up, but I found a nice dark green pair. So he has a sea green pair to replace his dark blue ones that are getting small, then a bigger pair for after that.

Vivian spotted escalators on our way out and asked to ride them. They did one trip up and down, then we got going. Vivian had asked to ride a second time, but didn’t protest when we said we wanted to get to the park. But back at the car she said “I really wish we could have ridden the escalators again.” I then realized that escalators were more of a rarity for her, kind of like when I was a kid and we rarely got to ride them. August likes escalators, but got to ride them daily.

At the park they got out and first ran across to the tire swing. I pushed them on that, then they ranged over all the playgrounds. Carly talked to a woman who had three older sons there. She was from Norway but had a New York accent, although she had never lived there. She had lived in Florida and got the accent from her husband. Vivian pushed August on the swing and taught him how to make poop balls out of the moist and dry sand. He would then throw them on the ground and they would break apart kind of cool.

We left at 5:30. We stopped at the bathrooms, and while Vivian was in with Carly, August and I made a river going down the hill using the drinking fountain with the clogged drain. Something to do more of if we go back.

In the car they had snacks, and August exclaimed “I love apple so much…I love crackers so much.” Carly had been working, before we went to Philadelphia, on having them say the other person could go first. Only Vivian had done it before, but this time August started doing it: “Vivian can have cracker first.” They then played a poop tea game, offering each other tea or water with poop in it.

We got back at 6:05. Yummy tofu and mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, although August barely had any. August got upset when he saw Vivian with his chopsticks, and hit her. We had a timeout in the bedroom and he said he was ready to apologize. We came back out, but then he was asking “If you hit Vivian there will be a consequence?” He was clearly testing consequences, and a couple minutes later he hit her again, for no apparent reason. Carly took him for a timeout, and he sat in the room by himself. No crying like when she’d try to do it before.

Back out he played with the bouncy ball that lights up when it hits things. He called it the “super cool” ball and would get it to light up, then give it to Carly. We were then playing outside on the porch when a thunderstorm rolled in. We admired the wind and as it really hit the ducky floaty started to blow away. Colin saw it and said “U
h-oh, oh-oh.” I ran and got it. A few minutes later the rain and wind really hit and the kids retreated to watching from inside the bedroom.

Vivian and August did more art on the floor in our room and August was being silly, hitting Vivian with Marshy. He was then lying down with me for a bit. Then he stood on the bed and was throwing Marshy well over Vivian’s head – he’s definitely improved his overhand throwing.

Back out in the kitchen it was time for ice cream. In the chocolate container August spotted a perfect little bead of refrozen chocolate and I scooped it out for him. They then each had ice cream out of the small “adorable” bowls.

Before bath time Vivian and August had the idea of trying to go on the toilet at the same time. While admiring this attempt at equity, Carly didn’t think it a good idea. He spent a long time on the toilet, and Vivian didn’t want to go in the bath until he was off. She instead drew funny pictures (of poop) for Carly. They took a bath, then were jumping off the bed. I hung out with all three of them while Carly took a shower. That was fine until August was asking to play with a ball that Colin had set down. Vivian got it first and then he hit her.

After Carly came out I read Hug Machine, Gaston, and Creepy Carrots to the three kids, although August wasn’t paying too much attention. He chose Merle as the fourth book, but then asked if he could touch a bracelet thing that Vivian had left on a table. When she said no and took it instead he hit her again. Carly did a timeout with him this time, and reading time was over.

He didn’t fall asleep, and I went in and read Bernstain Bears No Girls Allowed with him. We switched, still didn’t fall asleep. I read two Frog and Toad stories to him. Then he was looking out the window and saw all the fireflies under the street lights. And we saw a bat flying around in them. It looked like it was on fire. August went and told Carly about it and we watched out the window. He also spotted the stars up in the sky.

I had some cereal, and he wanted some. I made him share from mine, but then when we were done he very sweetly asked “I want more cereal, but could I please have my own bowl and could I please have my own cereal?”

We went back in again, and he finally, finally fell asleep a little past 11.

I moved the car at 8 and August woke up when I got back at 8:10. I took a shower, and then he told Carly that he wanted to stay at the children’s museum forever. He was also talking like a robot through the morning, although I’m not sure what prompted that. We packed up to get ready to go, and he sat in the rocking chair drinking the mango smoothie drink from a straw. He wanted me to hold it, but I encouraged him to hold it himself. Carly brushed his teeth, then he brushed some more. He sneezed, then said “You did sneezing music?” He grabbed his stroller and said “Now, ready to go.” We walked to the end of the all and went to Pure Fare for breakfast at 9:05. I got the kale frittata and Carly got a yogurt cup. And I got a real macchiato.

Got back just before 9:30. August kicked his shoes off as Carly carried him to the bathroom. He’s so trained to take his shoes off. We grabbed our bags, walked to the car, and drove off at 9:40. We made it to the Please Touch museum, paid our $57 dollars, and started playing at 10:10. He started in the water area, then went to the pond area. From there he saw the carousel and wanted to ride, so I went and bought a ticket for that and found them in the Adventure Camp. It kind of had random stuff in it – a telegraph, a flagpole you can raise and lower a flag, and a handle you can turn to light a lightbulb. August saw wires from it, followed the wires with his eyes around the room, and realized it also made a propellor mounted above the door turn.

We went to the carousel and I rode it with him. He sat on a middle horse. He was a little quiet as it started up and went up and down, but he liked it. I talked about how he was making a sine wave through the air, and we discussed how it was going up and down and how the pieces all went together as a machine. When we got off, he told Carly “I likes the up and downness.”

Next, we found a blue blocks area. It was like the area at the children’s museum in Seoul, but bigger. It felt really odd not taking our shoes off – it was the one place where they really should have people take them off, as the blocks were looking rather dingy. He rolled around on his tummy on some round ones when he saw someone else doing it, waved around a long one, swordlike, and started to make a sculpture. Another kid came and grabbed part of his sculpture. Carly got the part back, but he seemed a little bothered by it and asked to go somewhere else.

From there it was down to the Alice in Wonderland area. This was really cool. Would have been cooler if he had remembered the movie a bit better, it’s been awhile. But he really liked painting the roses red, sat down at the tea party table, and wandered around. There was the other end of the pipe that you can speak through from the Adventure Camp room, and Carly went up to the other end. August was really excited by all of this, and was screeching and covering his eyes when he spotted Carly going up the ramps or in the room. Thought I caught much of that on video as she came back down, but then realized it wasn’t recording. Very funny though. At one point, in the maze part, he crawled under a wall and disappeared. I thought he had crawled to where Carly was, but he hadn’t. Found him back in the roses area. It all felt a little odd, and appropriate for the area.

Then into the area commemorating the 1876 expo. I really liked the displays about the expo and the big diorama of it. August really liked the model train and pulling the rope to make the bell ring. August and I headed to the town area, where he played with the brick conveyor belt for several minutes. At 11:40 I then went and read, sitting on the benches of the model train station in the middle of the floor, while they kept playing. They came over after awhile and ate some dried mango as a snack, then headed to the bathroom and back to playing.

I went to the bathroom after awhile and then found them upstairs in more of the town play area. They had spent a lot of time in the grocery store area downstairs, and then with the backhoes upstairs. I found them waiting to get in the car. Played there for awhile, then we went over to the ice cream shop, where August and other kids kept making really big ice cream cones for Carly. We also went in the bus and he and Carly pretended to drive. He said “If I turn to the left there’s no cars. It’s clear over there…I hitted the pigeon.” “I want to hit a kid.” The last came, I think, after a bigger kid ran up against the windshield as if he had been it. Very amusing.

We went to the cafeteria and got three pieces of pizza for us, and a fruit punch drink for August. We went to the tables near the Statue of Liberty to eat. August and I went over to the Statue of Liberty sculpture, but he was disappointed to find that you couldn’t go in it. While I’d been reading the signs there I noticed two typos in them.

Carly then sat and read while I went back with him to the water area. He basically spent the next 20 to 30 minutes playing with the lock, making it fill and empty, having boats go up and down. Even when the immediate area got crowded with bigger kids, August kept his nose in, pushing through to put ducks and boats in it. I gave him several reminders that we were almost done, and at 2 we started to get going. August said he wanted to go back to the children’s museum next time – he meant tomorrow, but I said maybe when we come back next year.

It was about 2:20 when we drove off. I had chosen a route through norther Philadelphia that would be a bit faster than on the way down, but still have us drive the 611, the scenic part, for the northern portion. Even with Google’s help the beginning was confusing, with Google taking seemingly random back streets. Near the beginning August started singing loudly, and Carly told him to let dada concentrate on driving. When we got out on an actual highway a half hour later or so, he asked “You can sing now?” And he asked Carly to sing about dragons.

About 3:30 we stopped at a Chevy dealership. Third time a charm, as this one had Sonic hatchbacks. We checked one out in the showroom, then a guy took us to one outside so we could see the trunk, as the one inside didn’t have a battery in it. We generally liked it, although the driver’s seat seemed a little low.

Carly drove from there. August and I did a lot of the pretending to sleep and wake me up game. We read George Gets a Cold and watched videos in the Musical Instruments book – the first time in quite awhile. And we watched Sarah and Duck. The first time I actually saw several of them, as I’d only heard them.

We got back to the house at 5:45. He seemed hesitant for a moment, but was then right back to playing with Vivian and Colin. For some reason he and Vivian wanted milk from baby bottles. As he got it he said “I really want a bottle…I want to be the oldest.” They then played outside for a long time, doing a good job of taking turns with the hose. The big playground that they’re going to install had arrived, and they had set up the slide as a sort of waterslide into the kiddie pool. August wouldn’t go down it, but liked playing with the water. They went over to the pumpkin plants with Cassie at one point, then he got upset about the stuffed animals that Vivian had. He wasn’t eating dinner, probably because he was so excited with playing. Carly and I slipped off one by one to eat dinner out in the RV. He eventually ate some broccoli and tofu that Carly heated for him, although Colin ate more, taking all of it when August wouldn’t eat it.

August nursed, then Vivian came in and they kicked us out: “Kids only!” Vivian got paper and crayons and they started drawing pictures, and August would bring them out and give them to Carly or Cherie. The ones for Carly were all talking machines (like the tube they had spoken through at the children’s museum): “you talk through it…It goes around there and through the lines…I used your favorite kind of green.”