If this morning was any indication, I have to worry about the long stretches of daylight getting to my boys than the long, dark days in the winter. They were both in a crazy mood this morning! It started when Thomas realized that one of the streamers in the play room had fallen off the wall (I think because of the heat this room gets in the summer?). I decided they had been up long enough (since Henry's birthday!) and pulled them all off the wall.
The boys flipped out:
Who knew crepe paper streamers could be so exciting?!? Henry kept wrapping himself up like a Christmas tree. I think he was intending for them to be necklaces, but since he had so many, they ended up everywhere!
I am not 100% sure what Thomas was trying to do. It looks like he punching them in slow motion. An hour or so later, these things were scattered all over the house and in hundreds of pieces. I finally told them to throw all of the scraps aways and they did! I said it knowing I was going to have to do it later and then magically all of it was in the trash. Awesome!
Since the summer solstice is almost here, it is time again for the Solstice Festival downtown! This time, Matt joined us and it is no surprise that we ended up stopping right away to watch the skateboarders. I am quite sure Matt is thinking he could have done all of these tricks back in the day. (I have no doubt he could, these boarders weren't all that impressive. At least not during warm-up.)
But Henry was impressed enough for the two of them. I snapped this photo and it felt like a total deja-vu...
Because I have an identical one of it from last year with Thomas! No doubt these two are brothers, huh??
Back to the present! They didn't eat any of the food I bought them last year, so I got smart this year and packed them a lunch. They were happy as could be with their sandwiches and chips. Much easier and *much* cheaper. Mom win!
Also, you might be able to tell from Henry's hair that it was super windy downtown! After Matt and I tracked down a hotdog cart, we found a place to picnic on the (mostly) calm side of a large sculpture. Thomas ended up finishing his food first, so we kept him busy by having him run across the lawn to tag different trees. Such cheap entertainment! ;)
Matt had eyed a snow cone stand and bought one for him and one for the boys to share. Thomas wasn't too sure about the snow cone, as you can probably tell from his expression. He ate a few bites then decided it was too cold and tried to foist it off on me. I fed most of it to Henry since bubblegum and tiger's blood isn't my favorite combination.
We finally headed off to the kid's play area and found the obstacle course from last year that Thomas has been talking about all morning. I figured Henry might be able to do it on his own, but after the slight fail on the last inflatable I decided it was worth the $1 to go with him. Of couse the guy taking tickets neglected to tell me I couldn't take my camera in until after Matt and Heather had gone down the sidewalk to watch Thomas do the course.
"It's ok, you can just put it here on the ground."
It was in that moment that Henry was almost left to fend for himself...
I ended up leaving it against my gut reaction. I told Matt the guy had it as soon as I saw him through the mesh and the guy gave it to him. Which was both good and bad. There is no way he had seen us together! But my camera was safe...
Whatever. It gave Matt a chance to get me in a photo for a change. And Henry did need a slight boost on this ladder, so I guess it worked out in the end. Pfffft.
I bought Thomas two tickets, so he was ready to go again as soon as he went through it. He looks a little grumpy here because he is ready to go and the guy has not taken his ticket yet. And they told him he couldn't wear his glasses, so he was having to squint in the sunlight. This guy is like his momma - never without his shades!
Also, I have no idea why he suddenly wanted to wear his outfit we bought him in Hawaii. I tried to talk him into a different pair of pants, but he insisted he wanted to match. I have learned long ago that clothing battles are pointless, so he got to look tropical today. :)
Henry didn't seem to mind sitting with his dad while waiting for big brother to go through the course again. Henry also chose his own clothing this morning and picked out the exact same shirt that Thomas wore last year. Ha!
Thomas climbing up the last big ladder. He had to pause to read the sign before he would climb up it (even though it was round 2). I was watching him climb up like a champ and was a little impressed with how defined his calf muscles have gotten. My oldest is definitely a little boy and not a baby anymore. *Sniffle, sniffle*
And it looks like he has even figured out how to drag his hand behind him to keep from going too fast. Which means no terrified looks like last year. Sigh... Too smart for me to get any hilarious photos!
We headed back to the rest of the kids area and found the obstacle course they both loved last year. It's hard to tell from the photo, but Henry was killing it on the hopping! He looks like a little kangaroo bouncing around. :)
Thomas was speeding through the tunnel like an old pro.
Some of the bigger kids were jumping over these wickets, but Thomas decided that walking over them was quite sufficient. Heather and Henry decided even that was a stretch and ran patterns through them instead. Hey, it's not like there were any instructions!
Henry has grown quite a bit in the last year, but he still needed help walking on the rounds. Aunt Heather to the rescue!
Last, but not least we headed to the giant sandbox! So much sand and so many kids! When I was putting the boys to bed tonight, I asked them what their favorite part of the day was. Independently, they both said "Dump Truck!" - they had both been playing with some version of a dump truck in the sand box. Makes me glad we built them one this year!
Last, but not least - cupcakes! Promising cupcakes is pretty much the only foolproof way to get them to give up a fun activity and move on. And these cupcakes were delicious! Henry didn't seem to notice that I gave him less than half of my cupcake (probably because I scarfed it down!).
Of course, he managed to still smear cupcake all over his face. I'm sure some day he will be a super neat eater, but that day has not come. In a total oversight, I left the package of wipes at the house, but I managed to clean up both of them with a bottle of water and one napkin. A true Super-Mom moment!
All done and headed back to the car! Henry kept lagging further and further behind. I can't blame him - it was way past nap time and they had been having tons of fun! Of course, in true toddler fashion, he fell asleep in the car 5 minutes before we got home and refused to nap once we put him in his bed. Thomas looked like he would take a nap, but he heard Henry talking and was out of bed too.
So we gave up on naptime and pulled out the bubble machine! No one can be grumpy when they are playing with bubbles!
Of course this guy started trying to eat them. I told you, the sunlight was getting to them - ha! Overall, it was a great day and the predicted rain held off for us to have a fun time at the festival. A few more weeks of this insane daylight and we'll start losing it again. We fully plan to enjoy it while it lasts! :)