Plumas County Fair

Last year we also attended the Plumas County Fair while at Lake Almanor, and we decided to return this year. Last year, one of the competitors in the swine tent let Josh (and us) into his pig's pen to meet him. I remember how ticklish it felt when the pig licked my toes, which he kept doing! This year, one kid tried to show his chicken to Josh, but Josh was a little freaked out at the idea of holding it (I think I would have been too, they seem like wily creatures to hold onto). We visited all the animals but didn't really meet any or get any good pictures, as Josh was tearing through the place and I was busily trying to keep up without rolling the stroller through poo.

We did, however, spend lots of time in the kiddie ride section. Josh was really cute and had a great time. He even left, without a fight, when we said it was time to go.

He told us for the entire duration of his wait in line that he wanted this blue race car. Luckily, he got it.



I was disappointed that the little airplanes came equipped with machine guns, but Josh wasn't. Despite never playing with toy guns before, he seemed to know just what to do as Daddy ran around the circle "hiding" from Josh and getting targeted.


Josh did the bungee at the Rose Festival back in May, and we were excited to see him do it again.





The second time Josh drove the kiddie train, some kid came to sit shotgun with him, and Josh declared his now-overused new expression, "I need space." (I think his teachers taught him this as a nice way to say "go away"). The kid did not give Josh "space," but Josh let him ride along without further protest,which was a huge relief to me.

Looking at this photo as I write, the train seems kinda creepy looking, like it could be in a horror movie with nightmares and bad clowns. It didn't seem that way in real life, just cheesy in a kiddie way.

As with Juniper Lake, Luke spent most of the fair tucked away in his stroller, out of the very hot sun. Next year Luke!

Juniper Lake

During our 2004 Lake Almanor vacation, we decided to venture into the Mt. Lassen national park and explore. That day we hiked down to a geothermal area. The following year, we went into the park land again and visited Juniper Lake for the day. We've return each year since. This year, our brother and sister-in-law Curt and Jeni came along with us. As always, it was a really nice time. It always seems a little strange to leave one lake for another, but the experience at each is so different, we are always glad we made the trip to Juniper Lake. It is fairly still, sparsely occupied, fairly shallow, and just peaceful and wonderful to visit.

Here are Josh and John out in our little boat. John would like me to state that the water was not very deep (as Josh is not wearing his PFD).

Josh is not content to ride and always wants to take the oars.

Aunt Jeni helps Josh to the big rock, much to his delight.

Monica at the oar.

And where was Lucas? Up on the shoreline, under the shade of a tree, staying out of the sunlight.

He'll have more fun next year!

Lake Almanor

Every year we meet up with the Markley clan at Lake Almanor, a mountain lake in Northern California, in the Mount Lassen area. The water is snowmelt (cold, even in summer) and the scenery is alpine (conifers, as we know from Josh's CDs), and there are deer and other wildlife. It is a gated peninsula, and is very serene. We always have a nice time.
Here is a location shot:

Here are my boys. We got a second one of them actually looking at the camera, but this one was somehow cuter. I love how Josh's hand is gently resting on Luke's head.

Josh loved playing frisbee. We loved how he pronounces it.

Surfer dude. I may be biased, but he is going to drive the girls crazy.

Gammy and Poppa:

The week starts off with the Sunday "Family Dinner." There is a long line of barbeque grills and everyone on the peninsula (okay, it is technically called a country club) comes out to eat together, followed by live music. Here are Josh and Gene enjoying their dinners together.

And, here are Josh and Gene the following day, hand in hand (so cute!).
I had to zoom, so I lost some clarity with my less-than-professional grade equipment.

I think this is a really good picture of John and Luke, on the back porch of the house Gail and Gene rented for all of us. We had a great front porch, with a wonderful porch swing, and two back porches, one just off the kitchen, and one down the steps at ground level. It was a really great house.

Morning in the lake house. Dad's job isn't easy either.
Check out Luke's extremely cute vintage hoodie. I am so proud of finding that!

Another cute pic of John and Luke, and of hoodie!

John is rocking the tan already.

Smiles, everyone, smiles

I captured a few more Luke smiles. He is smiling a lot these days, which is great. Here he's also waving to his adoring fans:

A more mischievous-looking smile, or possibly a little laugh:

He is also learning to suck his thumb, as he steadfastly refuses to take a binky, spitting it back at me every time I offer it:

He's starting to get pretty good at it, and is producing some serious sucking noises, but that little thumb is just too small to give him much satisfaction yet, so he's having to try to use his whole fist. I realize one day I will rue the day he learned to suck his thumb, but right now I will be so happy if he can learn to soothe himself (as I could use a break from all the soothing!).

Compare and contrast

Here is a picture of Josh in the swing, from around the same age. He was definitely smaller. I'll have to compare the photos side by side to determine their other similarities and differences. Discuss amongst yourselves.

A few of his favorite things

Last Friday at school, Josh decided to do some drumming. Not finding a drum set, he industriously went to the "kitchen" and created one with the saucepans and wooden spoons. Several other kids immediately surfaced and wanted to play his "drums" or join his band, but his teachers protected his creation and let him drum away without interruption. I love to see his mind at work like this.

Although it is also fun to see his mind not at work, as he plays Golden Tee golf with Daddy:



He is so funny when he is being a gamer!
Unfortch, his favorite thing is to hit the ball into water, second favorite is to hit it into sand, so he hasn't quite grasped the regular objective of golf, but he enjoys it tremendously which is all that matters.

Mel's visit

My sister Melanie came to visit us this week. The weather did not cooperate, but she still got in some good bonding time with Luke, and got to attend Josh's class party, even though it was moved from the park to the classroom.



We even got Luke into one of his first real outfits (not just a onesie) due to the coldish weather. It fit better than it appears in this picture.

Got It!

Pay no attention to the sullen-looking 3-year-old on the left. I finally captured a big, pure smile from Luke!

These are the results of today's photo shoot as I continue to try to get a good "brothers" pic for Luke's birth announcement. After this session, I gave up and used the one from the hospital. If something else works out before I approve the proof, I can always change it.

This one is captioned "the first hint of big brother hero worship."

This one was almost really cute, and still kinda cute.

I love my boys! So cute together.

Sammy's haircut

To help Sammy beat the heat, we had him sheared. We were inspired by Krista and Nick's success with Hogan, who I thought looked very cute with his short haircut. We were really surprised by how different Sammy looks without his trademark waves of hair. He has long legs under all that hair! And, he looks like Scout a bit in the face, which I never noticed before. He looks half his age with this new youthful 'do, but it's really weird to see him like this, and it doesn't match his laid back personality. But with 100 degree temps, it's worth it! The hair will grow back, after all.

Before:

After:

Josh was napping when Sammy arrived home from the salon, and first encountered him later when Sammy was eating. Josh exclaimed, "Oh! No doggie, that's Sammy's food. Mommy, look what I found, another doggie!"
He so genuinely did not think it was Sammy, it was so cute. And, he was protecting Sammy's food from this new dog. Such a good companion to our dear Sammy.

Slip and Slide

We've just suffered through a mini-heat wave, with temperatures over 100 degrees. For Portland, that's really hot--most houses (including ours) don't have AC here, so we are not built for these high temps. It was 88 degrees inside our house. So we decamped to the shade and breeze of the back yard during the evening and broke out Josh's new slip and slide. He loved it! And it certainly did the trick for cooling everyone down. We boldly ignored the "not for adult use" caveat on the slide.

Dante and Richard

Our friends Dante and Richard just came for a quick visit. Although both went to Lewis & Clark here in Portland, they now live and work in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the science department of an international school. They are getting married in Napa, California next weekend. Although we are (very sadly) unable to make it down there for the wedding, they graciously decided to come to Portland and see us, and meet Lucas, while in the States for their wedding, before returning to KL next month.

When they first arrived, straight from the airport, the first thing I noticed was that they were dressed exactly the same: olive shorts or pants and magenta tops. As I suspected, they had no idea and had not noticed. It was pretty funny.

Dante bonding with Luke:



Richard, Dante, and Luke:


We wish them a beautiful wedding next weekend, a happy marriage, a safe return to KL and a great school year, and happy house hunting (here!!)!

Ready for our close-ups

I love this picture of Josh and me in the park, with his green shirt and the green trees behind us. Not to mention his red face from his hard play.

Luke prefers a blue period. I almost got a full smile, but even this half smile is enough for me.

Brothers

Luke and Josh both went to the doctor today. She was checking Luke's feeding and growth. He has put on 7 ounces from last Friday to this Tuesday. We may be overfeeding him. He has been gassy and colicky, and feeding seems to help, so that's what I do. Now he is growing like a champ. He is 9 pounds, 5 ounces.
Josh was having his 3-year check up. He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. Given how skinny he is, and the difficult time we have finding shorts and pants that will stay up on his lean frame when he runs (and runs and runs), I can't believe 3/4 of the 3-year-olds out there weigh less than him! He has large tonsils, and will probably need to have them removed when he is a little older. Otherwise he was in excellent health and spirits. All good news.

Here are several of my attempts to get a good "brothers" picture: