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Chuck and Cherie left today. This morning they came over around 7:30 and we (except for my parents) walked to the Artisan Bakery for coffee and a light breakfast. We got our food to go and took it to the same area Carly and I went the other morning. Along the way August kept requesting that Cherie sing the turtle song. 

August was having a blast playing with our cups at the park. Cherie would stick them and he would knock them over. So we were there until a little past 9. In fact, we spotted Paul as he walked to work. 

We came up and Chuck and Cherie went to their hotel to check out. They came back on their way out of town to say goodbye. 

He took a nap and then Carly put him in a swim diaper and took him in the pool. 

When he was going down the back porch stairs with me he made it all the way to the bottom but then stumbled of the last step and hit his nose on his shovel, causing his first nosebleed. Not too traumatic though. 

In the afternoon we drove in to the library and he played with the toys there for 45 minutes or so. We also ran into Vicki who lives down the street and her grandson. August really liked the magnets, magnetic letters, and this wooden mailbox with wooden envelopes that you fit in the slots. 

My mom and dad went to the post office and then my mom came to the library, so she was there most of the time. We then went to Safeway, where August very clearly remembered the ball racks and the drinking fountain. He has the store pretty memorized by now. 

We came home and I watched the second half of the World Cup match (US beat Germany 2-0). 

My dad made spaghetti, meatballs, and zucchini for dinner. All went well and August ate a lot of zucchini except for an unfortunate handful of spaghetti sauce that ended up on the carpet. 

Mom tried to give him some apple pie after dinner, but he rejected it pretty decisively after one bite. He did eat a lite crust off of mine. 

Unlike yesterday it took some work to get August to sleep tonight. I read the One Fish Two Fish and Harry Builds a House books with him and did more of his stickers. He then literally hopped on pop when I laid down on the floor. I also did ‘Tickle’ with him a few times and finally wore him out. Carly still had to wrangle him to sleep as he kept standing up and walking around the room – even trying to climb up on the bed. 

 

Morning walk: 

Home: 

You can see the remains of his bloody nose: 

August was awake at 6:30. Carly and I were going to take him for a walk, but then it started raining. After it stopped, I took him out to the garage and he stood in the sink and played. When I came back in Cherie had arrived (Chuck had gone on a walk). 

He spent the next few hours playing with the grandparents. And apparently his truck noises are louder today. Also, Cherie has been singing a song to him involving bubbles, and August can clearly say ‘bubble’ now. 

He took a nap and afterwards we all drove out to the state park. Carly, Cherie, and Chuck did some floating. August went and played on the shore a couple of times, but mainly my mom and I took him up to the low faucets with short hose attachments for washing your feet and he played in those. He particularly liked the water overflowing the drainage area and making a little stream down the sidewalk and steps. 

When they came out of the water, Carly took him for awhile and went up with him. But mainly he wanted to play with a different faucet – one that didn’t work. He has an eagle eye for spotting faucets now, and was disappointed that there were a few in the park he couldn’t play with. 

Before leaving we walked over to the stream and walked up it a little ways. Not far as it was blocked by fallen trees. On the way there I was holding him high above my head so he could see everyone walking behind us. He found that amusing. 

We drove back to town and Chuck and Cherie walked down to the house. We looked at menus and decided on trying the Fox and Quail. Dinner was good and August was fine, but our meals didn’t work out well for August, so he mainly ate a piece of whole wheat bread from Chuck’s sandwich. 

We all walked back to the house and Chuck and Cherie stayed until August went to bed. Cherie went in with Carly when she gave him his bath. 

Fox and Quail:

Back home: 

August woke up early again, so this time both Carly and I took him out for an early walk. We walked over to the Chelan Artisan Bakery where we each got an iced latte and a pastry. We then walked back to a bench by the flag pole in Riverwalk Park and ate them. August played there for awhile but eventually saw all the pipes outside the hardware store across the street and wanted to walk that way. So we went over and played in the drinking fountain by the bathrooms before heading down to the pipe/bridge area and letting him run around on the bridge. 

We walked around the park and briefly went to the water area at the ranger station to get in the water. August wasn’t interested though so we kept going. 

Back home he played in the water in the bath tub and started using the little green cup to drink water from the faucet. He also spent a lot of time playing outside with Carly and my parents. He is apparently making noises when pushing the truck around, but I haven’t heard it yet. 

After his nap we found out that Chuck and Cherie were still quite a ways away. So we decided to go over to the city park. But when we got there the lot was full. So we went to Safeway and bought a few things, then headed home. 

Chuck and Cherie showed up and brought mac and cheese and salad for dinner. We hung out until dinner and August did a good job with all the foods. 

After dinner we all drive over to Lakeview Drive-in and everyone else got ice cream. August got to taste most of them, but didn’t go crazy. A good first experience for ice cream. He liked walking around with me (I didn’t have ice cream) and in particular he loved the cooling fans on the other side of the building. One was huge. 

We drove home and mainly hung out on the deck. Carly is taking August for a bath every day now and he loves it. Before bed I was reading him One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss and we were calling the “little fish” a baby. He then started calling everything ‘baby’ in a funny voice. 

Morning walk:

Back home: 

Lakeview Drive-in: 

Bed time: 

Enjoying the fan: 

August woke up really early (before 6) this morning so Carly took him on a walk. They got coffee downtown at the Vogue and then went to Riverwalk Park and played in the grass. 

They came home and he took a nap. After his nap, I took him out on another walk. We walked across the new bridge and walked around the high school and football practice field before taking a break at Centennial Park, a little park up the hill from the ranger station. We played in the drinking fountain and sat in a bench for a snack. He then walked around the grass and by the flag pole.

We walked home through Riverwalk Park. We took another August break at the boardwalk bridge by the pumping station so he could watch water coming from the pipes. He clearly knows the word ‘pipe’ now and was saying it over and over. Apparently he was saying it earlier when he and Carly walked through the same area. 

Back home he played with my parents: using the broom, getting my dad to put the bath toys back together when they came apart, having my mom help him give the doll her pacifier, etc. 

He took a long nap. After that he played outside in the sprinkler with Carly and used his cloth swimsuit diaper thing for the first time while he played in the water. 

We had an early dinner. My dad made stir fry and rice, which August gobbled down – except for the cabbage. 

After dinner we drove down to Long Park in Chelan Falls by the powerhouse. Carly floated in the water. August played in the water for a little while with the net and two plastic fish, but was more interested in a bucket someone had left on the beach. That didn’t last long either, however, and he wanted to go play in the drinking fountain we had seen on the way in. He has quite the memory. 

So I took him over there only to find that the drinking fountain didn’t work. Nor did the outdoor shower or faucet. August was not happy about that and didn’t really recover after that. 

We went home and he had a nice long bath and play time in the tub before heading to bed. 

Morning walk:

Centennial Park: 

Riverwalk Park: 

Watching his favorite pipes: 

Home: 

Long Park: 

Bring on the heat. From here on out it will reach 100 or thereabouts each day for the rest of our time in Chelan. 

So I took August for a long walk this morning when it was only in the 80s. We walked under the bridge and through Riverwalk Park, ending up at the ranger station. We sat at the picnic table, looking up lake for a few minutes. August pointed out all the buoys we could see. 

We then walked back the other side of the park and went to the boat launch. We watched a few dogs play in the water and a couple boats get launched. I would load up my hands with little rocks and pieces of wood and we would walk out on the dock and August would throw them into the water. 

On our way back we stopped at the Fox and Quail and got iced lattes for Carly and my mom. And I took photos of the lunch/dinner menu. I asked the waitress for an extra straw and has her give it directly to August. We hurried home so the lattes wouldn’t melt. 

He was looking tired – he stared at the ground those last three blocks – but perked up for awhile to play with the vacuum cleaner and watch my mom use it. 

He then spent a lot of time playing with the dryer both before and after his nap. 

As it reached the hottest point of the day, we decided to head to the city park. Carly took the floaty things we bought a couple summers back floated in the lake while August and I played in the park. He played in the lake for awhile, then we went up to the grassy area and played in a picnic shelter, where there was a tiny puddle on the ground. We went back to the lake for a few minutes, then walked through much of the rest of the park, looking for a drinking fountain. He liked the basketball hoops and also the rap music that some guys were playing really loudly. 

Carly finished with her floating and we then walked to the drive-in. Carly got ice cream and I got an iced tea. We sat and enjoyed those before heading back to the car. 

We stopped by Safeway and bought a bunch of fruit and garlic bread for dinner, then headed home. 

At dinner August ate pork chop and cauliflower for the first time. 

After dinner he had fun doing handstands as Carly held his feet, and used the push broom outside on the deck. 

He fell asleep about 8:30. 

 

Morning: 

Morning walk: 

Sitting at the ranger station: 

Back home: 

Don Morse Park: 

Little puddle: 

Back home: 

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

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

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

We then headed home through the baseball fields. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sitting in the morning:

Our morning walk, pointing to the apple: 

Breakfast at the Fox and Quail:

Playing with Kasiah:  

Eating quiche and corn: 

Playing in the sprinklers: 

And in the garage sink: 

Evening walk: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A very eventful day. 

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

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

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

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

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

Bread: 

Sponge: 

Blueberry Hills: 

City park: 

Back home: 

Haircut time: 

Nose beeping:

Evening walk: 

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

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

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

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