Evening Shenanigans

In the evenings we always seem to come up with fun things to do, especially when the weather is really nice.  A couple of times Jaden and Papa put together a nice fire in the back yard.

First they would crumple up paper and throw it into the fire pit.

Then they’d throw on some split pine for kindling.

And finally some split logs.

Look at this blaze!

Papa and Jaden are very proud of their nice fire.

As for me, I was kind of tired.  But don’t get me wrong, I was very impressed with their fire making skills.  I just find myself sleeping a lot.

It’s not all work, work, work, tho.  We spent some time just chilling together watching the fire grow.

I got some great quality time with Mommy!

And I always get lots of brotherly cuddle time.

And lots of sleep.  Did I mention that already?

Nana and Papa have an impressive garden.

They pick fresh vegetables from it nearly every night for us.  Jaden loves it, but I have a while to go before I can enjoy these fine foods.

After dinner we go back down to the fire to roast marshmallows.

Jaden loves these with chocolate and graham crackers.

In fact, it looks like everybody really likes these little sandwiches of warm, gooey, chocolately, crunchy, grahamy, uhmm.. messy goodness.

Oh yeah – messy, indeed.  Maybe next year I can get in the action.

But for now I’m happy to be adored by my Nana and Papa.

Some day I’ll be big like my brother Jaden, and they’ll put me in charge of the goodies, surround me with mosquito repelling candles, and give me a nice cushy chair.

But until then, I will observe and learn as much as I can from the pro’s like my big brother.

Bubbles!

I’ve been playing so hard here that I often need a good scrub-down at the end of the day and there’s no better place for that than in my Papa’s jacuzzi!

I was quickly overrun by bubbles I had to find some way to manage them all.  Even this big cup wasn’t enough to contain them all, and they seemed to just keep on coming.

Look!  I’m nearly drowning in bubbles.

And my chicken – who is an excellent swimmer, by the way – needed to be rescued several times.

We grew bubble hair together.  What fun!

Daddy asked if he could jump in, but I told him there was no room – clearly!  Take a look.  Where would he fit?

After an hour or so, it was time to clean up the tub and the tile.  That was even more fun, to be honest, but don’t tell anyone that.

Gone Fishin’

The weather was looking like rain for the late afternoon, so we got out there early to do some fishing.

Papa handed me a brand spanking new Rocket Fishing Rod to use!  I was sure this was going to be so awesome.

It seemed a bit complicated at first, so I stopped to review the switches and controls.  Yeah, I was going to need some help with this thing for sure.

I think I made the moose a little nervous here, holding what looks like a pretty formidable weapon.  Heehee.

[I still can’t figure out why this moose’s shirt says “GO” on it, especially when it’s red – doesn’t that mean “stop?”  Nana is pretty fond of the moose, so I didn’t ask any questions.]

The first catch of the day!

Another one!  Papa let me reel one in with his rod.

Go Papa!

I let Daddy help me with this one.

Here’s a feisty one!

My Mommy is so cool to come down to the dock and fish with me.

I gave her a few pointers and we had a great time!

Here she is benefiting from my fine instruction.  Go Mommy!

Schroon Lake, NY – at the beach

We had such great weather on our first day here at Nana and Papa’s house, so we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach.  Papa supplied lots of sand tools and put me to work.  It took a while just to figure out what everything was and did, but eventually Daddy and I managed to build something.

Here I am hard at work!  Why is water so heavy?

Daddy called this thing a “duck slide” but there wasn’t a whole lot of sliding going on.  I quickly figured out how to fix that, tho.

Go ducks, go!  I’m pretty sure this is what Daddy had in mind all along.

I learned a lot about erosion that day.

After all that hard work I was rewarded with some yummy grapes.

Oh yeah..  What a productive and fun day!

Cuz Ruthie’s Graduation

Daddy finally got the pictures downloaded, so I can now show you some fun events from our weekend in Victor, NY.

Here’s my cuz Ruthie being silly with her diploma.  She’s a super smarty pants and I hope to be like her some day!

Cuz Rhianna and her friend Taylor are unceasingly silly and I love them for it.  They are so much fun!

Here I am getting in some serious cuddle time with the graduate.  A smart, older woman..  too bad we’re related!

Heehee..  I’m just kidding, of course.  She’s got a handsome b/f already.  His name is Brian and he’s almost as good at golf as Daddy, even tho his 5-iron goes twice as far as Daddy’s driver.

My brother Jaden had a great time at the pool, especially with the space shuttle float.  The weather was so nice for the graduation party and everybody had a great time.

Next stop..  Schroon Lake!

Victor, NY

Jaden and I have been in Victor, NY visiting my Aunt Karen, Uncle Bob, and the whole family (well, almost – Rebecca is living in TX now, so I haven’t gotten to meet her yet).  Ruthie just graduated from High School – one year early!  I hope some day I’m as smart as she.  I want to post some pictures, but Daddy forgot to bring the camera to the house today, so I asked him to do something with the webcam and this is what I got.

Not so great.  A little creepy, in fact.  But it’s a picture nonetheless.  That’s Robbie in the background.  Here’s another.

I wonder if I’m going to have a big nose like Daddy, or a cute one like my brother.  He says, “hi” by the way.  And Daddy is smiling because he did kind of okay at golf today.

Tomorrow we’re headed over to Schroon Lake, NY to visit Nana and Papa at their house.  We plan to do all sorts of fun things there, if the weather cooperates.  I’ll keep everybody posted – don’t worry!

Our Travel Log

Hi, this is Jaden.  Since I turned two I haven’t blogged a whole lot.  I used to have a pretty active blog, but I guess things just got busy and my parents were preparing for number two (Markus, the owner of this blog).  Anyhow, I’m back in the action now and my little brother has opened up his blog so we can share it and post lots of stuff together.  My first contribution (besides this little post, of course) is our travel log.  Things are pretty tight in the old VW these days, but we still plan to travel a whole lot together!  Check back in once in a while to see where we’ve been and where we’re going.  Cheers!

My Goofy Big Brother

I realized that one of my previous posts portrays my big brother as a nice, gentle, normal kind of guy, but I wanted to be sure you got a view of some other sides of him.  Take another look and let me know what you think!

Goofy?

Ingenious?

I can’t quite figure him out yet.

Family

There are just so many Uncles, Aunties, etc. sometimes I can’t really keep track. Who’s who and who’s really related to me?

Here are Uncle Jeff and Auntie Joyce. They have two boys, just like my Mama and Dada. Does that mean they’re my cousins?

Here’s my Lao Lao. She’s the only one of her kind that I’ve met so far. That must mean she’s someone very special. We have a special secret language that she’s teaching me, too.

Here are Uncle Berhan, Auntie Karen, and Karynna. Uncle Berhan and Dada behave like silly brothers, but they look nothing alike, so I’m really confused here.

This is Auntie Peggy. There was no accompanying Uncle, but they kept talking about someone named Nate.

Boy this is all very confusing. I need a cheat sheet or something!

My Big Brother

So, it’s true.. I’m a little brother. I’m slowly learning what that means, but so far it seems pretty nice. See for yourself!