Hi, everyone!
James’ and Thomas’ day camps only lasted two weeks, so now we have more time to spend with each other! I was happy Thomas drew me as part of his family on his poster for Peacemakers! When Grandma made oatmeal raisin cookies, Thomas shared some with me. Then he took the rest of them to his new house to eat when he’s there!
One day, Grandma had to pick Thomas up from Peacemakers. Thomas asked Grandma to buy him some pretzels, and he chose alphabet shapes. There’s been a lot of reading and spelling practice going on, ever since! When they were at the store, Thomas recognized a special treat from Europe — Kinder Eggs! Kinder Eggs have candy and a toy in them. The American version has the toy in one half of the egg and the chocolate cream filling in the other side. Thomas found Elsa from Frozen in his egg, and James found Sven the reindeer!
Guess what! Grandpa has a new car! He decided to get one that is big enough to take us and Uncle Steven’s family somewhere together. There is a third row seat that unfolds out of part of the trunk space. Thomas likes all the room in back when the third seat is flat. I like the color! Uncle Steven found his old Run Yourself Ragged game in the basement and has been teaching James and Thomas how to play. Success takes concentration and coordination!
Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa took me to the bay. Grandma kayaked over to the wetlands to see whether the rose mallow were blooming yet. They usually don’t bloom until the middle of August, but we’ve had very hot weather. She saw lots of rose mallows in full bloom already! There were still a few buttonbushes blooming, but most of them had moved on to developing fruit.
Uncle Steven’s family came out to the bay to join us! We went to Burnaps farm market to get corn for dinner. Then Thomas and James had time to spend on the playground! They like to swing at the castle and play Follow the Leader along the train.
Thomas and I drove the tractor, then I made friends with the sunflowers and the daylilies!
Back at our cottage, Thomas was into exploring! He found a stack of egg cartons and turned them into a barrier to keep ghosts off the ladder to the loft. Then he found Grandma’s mask and snorkel and decided they were battle gear! When he settled down to watch a Lego video, I was happy to watch with him!
After James and Thomas went to bed, Grandma and Grandpa and I went to Sodus Point to watch sunset. It was very pretty! I like seeing the reflection of sunset in the wet sand on the beach!
Last Sunday morning, Grandma took Thomas for a kayak paddle. Then Aunt Kara gave him pushes on the swing! After lunch, we all got in the boat to go look at something special. There’s a dredge in the channel, digging out the bottom so bigger boats can get into the bay. Over time, the entrance to the channel gets filled with silt and needs to be cleared. This year is clearing time! We circled around the dredge and barge so we could see all the machinery. Thomas had had such a busy day, he fell asleep on the boat ride back!
The dredge crew wasn’t working when we took our afternoon boat ride, but they were when Grandma and Grandpa went back to the Point for sunset. First, the crew used the bucket of the dredge shovel to pull an empty barge into position next to the dredge. Then they started digging out the channel and putting the material in the barge. When the barge is full, the tugboat pushes it into deep water. The bottom of the barge opens and all the dirt and rocks fall out! Grandma wonders whether that material could help fill the breach in Crescent Beach.
Last Thursday, Uncle Steven and Grandma took James and Thomas and me back to the Strong Museum. There’s a new display there, Robots, Rockets and Ray Guns! James and I went there first! He tried launching rockets and decided throwing them was better than using the launcher! Then he played Space Invaders while I watched. I made friends with a robot that reminded me of the Peppers I saw in Japan!
There was a puzzle picture outside the Robots exhibit, and James got all the parts aligned to show a big monster eating a car. Then we flew the rescue helicopter and joined Thomas at the Sesame Street taxi.
James and Thomas got interested in a construction site they’d never visited before. James used foam shingles to build two complete walls of a house! Thomas used the shingle shooter to send shingles up to the roof! After that, we all stopped for a snack. We had our usual rides on the carousel just before going home!
Yesterday, Thomas wanted to try snorkeling, so his parents took him to the beach in the power boat. James was invited to go along, but decided not to go. A little while later, he changed his mind! He put on the other mask and snorkel, but the boat was already gone! He was lucky that his mommy and daddy were willing to take another trip to the beach when they brought Thomas back! After the swim, James went back to working on his new Minecraft world.
Last night, we tried going somewhere in Grandpa’s new car all together! The “somewhere” was Brain Freeze in Alton for ice cream. Nearly all the flavors were available, so we got a dish with cherry blossom, muddy boots and black raspberry with two kiddie cones on top. James and Thomas did good sharing of all three flavors!
Last night, Grandma and Grandpa took me up to the Point again for sunset. It was hazy and quiet, except when the dredge pulled up its supports so it could move to a new place in the channel. That sounded like the biggest rusty hinge sound you could imagine! This morning, we had waffles on the porch. There are a lot of things to like about August!
Love,
Lion-san
Lucky Lion. Lucky James and Thomas.
LaVache
My favorite part was the ice cream. No surprise there.
Grandpa has good taste in cars. Joe-san says that the nicest people drive red cars. It looked like a fun time at the museum. Burnaps is always fun to visit also. The ice cream looked good and it comes from Maine. It has been really hot here so we have to eat our ice cream really fast. August is really a fun time!