Colin's First Camp Trip

Well, we finally got around to going camping with Colin this weekend. :) Michael took off Friday so we could make three days of it and we drove up near Waco and met Joe and Laura there (Check out Seal Rock, Laura's blog, for some more pictures.).

Colin was such a good camper and enjoyed everything about the weekend. Here he is bringing Michael some tent stakes when we first arrived.
And chilling out with Papa Joe.
First up, came a lesson about fire-building and safety.
He did pretty well helping out and not getting himself scorched.
Pardon the smoke.
Not sure we're there yet, but I think he's beginning to understand that it's hot and will hurt if he gets too close. It's problematic that he does not yet totally acknowledge the concept of "hurt" yet (despite - or maybe because of - the number of bumps and bruises he gets in a normal week).Like any good little camper, Colin got dirty as quickly as possible. I just adore that smudged up face though!Colin's first S'more. He loved them (once we convinced him it was just a better version of graham crackers!).
The fog over the lake in the mornings was beautiful and the crisp fall air was just the break we needed!
Then the sun started to come up and it was even better!
Here's our campsite in the early morning light.
And my favorite boys in the early morning light. (Colin actually slept with Joe and Laura though...suckers...I mean, thanks!)Yesterday we did a brief hike.
In the afternoon we played at the camp playground. Colin insisted on pushing his wagon all the way there.
Poking at Papa through the holes.
And waving his favorite rock.
The most favorite activity of the weekend though had to be throwing rocks into the lake down at the boat ramp. Our campsite looked out over the water and several times a day Colin would say, "rock i' water? boom, splash? puh-lease?"Colin, being a clown. (that's a bucket, in case you can't tell)
Saturday evening he was so tired that he literally fell asleep mid-bite at dinner. No kidding. We were trying to get the burger out of his mouth before laying him down.
Here's Michael playing with the fire. Someday I'll have a camera that will taking amazing shots, even in the dark. :)
Colin was just as big of a help with breaking camp as we was in setting up. He largely stayed out of the way until given a job to do. Here he is drawing in the rocks with a stick and waiting.
Then he helped daddy sweep out the tent and then even began sweeping the gravel around our campsite!
Here are Michael and Colin this morning getting ready to head down to the lake.
And one of the few pics we got of all of us. Colin, unfortunately, is desperately trying to get away, unhappy that we have inhibited his play for even a short picture!
And there you have it. Highlights of our fun and relaxing weekend away!

A few pics summarizing last week

So for some reason I didn't take a lot of pictures with my camera last week. Not sure why, but here are some that were hanging out on my phone...

Colin's fascination with animals in general and horses in particular has led to everything becoming a potential horse. He also gallops any time we are trying to walk in a store now.
We went out for dinner at Tiago's and Colin scarfed down a whole plate full of enchiladas and beans and then finished off his meal with a huge helping of tortilla chips while Michael and I ate.
One of the only pics where neither of us is making a particularly weird face. Strange, since you can see your face on the screen before you click it...you'd think we'd always look absolutely perfect! Ha!
An evening Target trip in preparation for our weekend camping.
Dancing in front of the mirror in the men's section! Such a clown.
And that's all...I'm going to work on getting camping pics up now! :)

Antics and Animals

Colin gets sillier every day and we never know what's going to come out of his mouth. He's been making "puns" lately with new words he is learning (at least, I'm not sure what else to call them...pun-like-statements), pretending silly things and laughing about it, and telling us silly "lies".

Then, yesterday afternoon he did this (which you may have to click on to make big enough to see in detail):
I was chopping veggies for dinner and thought he was eating a banana. Then he walked up to me and said, "momma, I fix hair, banana! *heeheehee*". He had restyled his hair with banana-product. Cute, huh? Maybe we should spike it more often!

This is him saying "cheese" for the camera, another new development:
Since it's Wednesday, this morning we trucked out to the farm. I took some longer carrots and celery, which Colin found easier to give to the horses and cows through the fence.
He always really loves the goats.
And pouring sand on himself at the sandbox. He emptied each cup on that table over his belly.
Before we left today, one of the boys brought a hen and a rooster over to let Colin pet them. I thought that was really sweet.

Pictures from the Week

I just can't seem to get pics up every day right now (partial blame lies with the star of this blog, who does not like me to do it during the day and wears me out so I don't feel like doing it in the evenings!), so for those of you who look each day: um, sorry! :) At least I'm still taking pictures!

Here are some pics from our week:
On Tuesday, we met Michael on base and had lunch at the BX. He and Colin were already chowing down when I got to the table.
After that, we met Lauren, Lauren, and Kim at the zoo. Colin fell asleep while we were waiting on the girls...Lauren got a picture of this highly unusual event:We visited the butterfly house again. If you look carefully, you can see the pink and blue one in this picture:
And the butterfly that landed on his shoulder in this picture. He really wanted me to help get one on his finger, but we just couldn't manage it this time!
We got some pictures of all the kids on a little bench in the butterfly house (accidentally in age-order). Lauren and Kim got better pictures of all the kids' faces, but I like how the girls are both looking at Henry here:Mr. Independent:Who thinks he's boss of the zoo. I love the tiptoed peering into the rhino pits:
On Wednesday, we met Lauren and Anna at the Children's Museum. They had a great ball area, which shoots them through pipes and pops them with levers and such, which I'll have to get pictures of next time we're there. All the kids were fascinated by this and I guess so were the adults. Didn't even get the camera out of the bag until we were done in there! LOL!

As we were walking from that area to the next (a bubble room!), Colin hollered out, "whale"...it took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about. That kid is too observant. Taking him to the grocery store takes forever now because he notices animals on packaging I've never even looked at before and then we have to stop and talk about them all! :)
There was a little trolley, which of course Colin had to drive. Lily didn't seem to mind him being in the driver's seat too much...until he turned around and actually told her to "sit down" ~ haha...you think he hears that a little too much?!
Colin liked the little aquarium area and probably would have stayed an hour just watching the fish.
Lily prefered the mirror. Pretty girl!
On the lower level, they had a mini grocery store set up, complete with tiny carts and scanners that beeped when you rang up your barcodes. Colin went around labeling things, but not putting much in his cart. He was perplexed that the cracker boxes were empty and the asperagus (which he was excited to see) didn't crunch when he (much to my horror) tried to chomp down on it. Yuck!
Lily, (I think much to Lauren's horror) kept going back for another carton of ice cream! I believe she hit that aisle at least three separate times and always went for the same flavor!
When Colin finished, he went to an empty corner and started singing at the top of his lungs.
Later Lily joined him and they played on some construction equipment.
Yesterday was another Art Day and we had a ball. Here we are going on a nature walk to gather supplies for our projects:
We made some wax stained glass leaves and even the littlest kids seemed to enjoy the feel of the shaved crayons and the results were pretty cool. The older kids liked watching the wax melt under the iron.
We made collages with some of the flowers and grasses we gathered on our walks. Lily backed hers with a pretty purple!
Here is Colin's, which he made with very little assistance. I had them smoosh stuff onto contact paper to make it easier than gluing.
Here's Colin's finished leaf...not the best pic, but he arranged the colors on this one totally on his own and it turned out kinda pretty actually.
And that is pretty much it. Hope you like the pics! :)