Lane County Fair 2011

My brother, Tim, and his wife, Candace, came over from Central Oregon to spend the weekend with us. We haven't had a chance to really spend any time with them since they moved out there, so it was nice to get some quality time with them.

We went to the Lane County Fair on Saturday afternoon after they got here and although it was hot, in the high 80's, we had a great time. Sam was tuckered out by the end of the day and uncle Tim had to carry him to the car where he almost fell asleep on the ride home.

While we were waiting for the BMX stunt show to start, we had fun walking through all the animal barns and seeing cows, goats, pigs and baby pigs, horses, etc. We got ice cream then went and looked at some of the outdoor vendors. They had a kids play area where they had a cow milking simulation (I only got a video that ended up being 48 MB, so I will need to post that separately) and a coffee filter flower craft. We walked through some more of the animals and then heard some other families saying the BMX show was about to start.

We washed our hands and were walking out to the BMX show when Sam "dropped" for a lack of a better word to describe it. My brother said he went down on his knees and then just went flat down from there. I had been holding his hand, but with the wetness from just washing them, I couldn't get a grip to keep him from going down like I have before when he has tripped. It dawned on me later that he really didn't try to catch himself by grabbing onto my hand either, like he normally would....

He ended up landing flat on his face on the pavement. When I got him up, his mouth was all bloody and he was screaming uncontrollably. We happened to just be right by the First Aid station so I carried him over there to see what assistance they could offer. Unfortunately the guy that helped us was kinda shy or something, cuz he really didn't help or check Sam out like I thought he would or should have. He just stood back and asked questions about if Sam had passed out, if he was drinking water, etc. He did finally find some wet wipes to clean the blood off Sam's face and clean his hands up. I ended up investigating Sam's lip more closely when he didn't and found that he had lacerated the back of his upper lip, but his teeth were not loose and other than some other superficial scrapes, he seemed to be doing fine.

Sam was really subdued through the whole process at the First Aid station that I was a little concerned but didn't know if it was just the "stranger" shy that he gets when there is a new person around... the strange first aid guy this time. Anywho... we tried to give him water from his water bottle, but with the fat lip he had it was hard for him to drink. So we got a cup from the water station outside the First Aid building and got him some water which he downed cup after cup. I guess we were not doing a very good job of making sure he was hydrated since the only thing we had had to eat or drink since we got there was ice cream. The more I think about what happened, I think he may have swooned, fainted, or at least had his legs buckle from the extended heat exposure. Sooo....

After about 8 oz of water or so, he was getting his energy back and we walked over to a shady spot where we could watch the rest of the BMX show... he seemed really interested in it, so I put him up on my shoulders so he could see over the crowd that was in front of us; he started cheering with his hands held up over his head, pumping, when they would do a good trick. It was pretty cute and Tim caught him on his phone camera...

Anywho... we sat down after the BMX show and Sam wanted to lay down in my lap and relax, so we sat there for about 10 minutes while we decided what to do next and went to go look through the vendors in the indoor area which was air conditioned. Of course we found stuff to buy and ended up with a hand painted framed wall sign art of Sam's name.

But we did good since we decided to pass on the hanging chair, the cups with saltwater filled plastic cubes you freeze and shake in the cup to make a slushy out of regular beverages, and another race track to expand the one Sam already has. Oh and the worm composter kit which was actually pretty impressive.

Anywho... it was getting late so we decided to figure out what to do for dinner, since it was getting to be about 4:30 by then. Aimee went to grab some teriyaki chicken from a vendor down the way and Sam and I got chicken fingers, fries and a lemonade at the booth Tim and Candace got their hamburger and onion rings. After searching around we finally found a table in the shade and ate.

That is when Sam got his energy and finnnaallllyyy said he had to go potty and then went in the port-a-potty with minimal coercion; he really doesn't like public toilets for some reason and was a little freaked by the open pit design of the port-a-potty.

We then proceeded to wait in line for the Old Fashioned picture booth, where people were actually being quite rude... it was kinda crazy and I wish we would have just walked away and come back 30 minutes later, cuz it wasn't busy when we walked back by about that much later. We got an awesome picture through, it was perfect, except that Sam got a bigger gun than I did. Oh well.

Anywho... it was a fun time had by all. We got home and had a relaxing evening and Sam got cozy enough with Candace to snuggle with her bare legs and feet like he does with Aimee, and actually any other woman he gets comfortable with.

My silly little man; at least he isn't doing it to uncle Tim.

It was a fun time with my brother and sister-in-law. I look forward to trekking out to their part of the state this winter for some cold weather fun; we didn't get to go where there was ample snow last year, so we need to make sure Sam get some use out of his snow suit, from last year, while it still fits.

Take nap

We were getting finished with dinner tonight when Aimee checked Sam's sun flower in the window sill. It was a little dry so she showed Sam how it was wilted. I tried to help by pointing out how the leaves were drooping and the stalk wasn't straight. I said, "It's tired and thirsty."
Sam helped Aimee water the pot and while they watched the water soak into the dirt, Sam said "Take nap."

We laughed and laughed and congratulated Sam on his witty comment.

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somewhat neat blogger feature

I was just reading random stuff about blogger and came across an article about blogger views. Evidently it is something that is available on all blogs, you just add /view after the url. For instance, you can view my blog with the sidebar view at: http://whatasillyandstupid.blogspot.com/view/sidebar#!/ There are other views on the top dropdown, like mosaic and flipcard. They just take your blog posts and pictures and display them in creative and different ways; some more visually pleasing and some more useful that others.

The great grape escape

I bought some grapes at the store last weekend and we have been eating on them all week for dinner. Sam loves them and has even learned how to pull them off the stem himself and recognize if the stem breaks off and needs to be further separated. I know it sounds trivial, but for a 28 month old, not so easy to do. Anywho... I asked him for one last night, since it was the last small bunch left. I only asked for a couple but each time I did, I would say "Thank You" really enthusiastically and make a gesture like it was some great prize Sam was rewarding me with. Then pop the grape in my mouth and chew as if it was the best grape that I had ever had. Well I guess the flattery worked, cuz I think he gave me all the rest of the bunch, except about 3 or 4 that he ate, waiting for me to say thank you and gobble it up. The giggle he was getting out of it was well worth all the overplay. I was feeling kinda silly that night so it was great fun for me too. He especially cracked up when I got a slightly sour one and couldn't make the normal excited act and made a sour face. Then he got the biggest laugh out loud belly laugh when he was trying to give me one of the last grapes and I said it was ok that he have it but that he better hurry up or it was going to get away. By coincidence he dropped it and it rolled across the table toward me so I batted it around a little bit as he was also trying to grab it, like it was trying to evade our capture. I eventually let him catch it and he popped it in his mouth to secure it but wasn't chewing it. Again I said he better hurry up and chew it so it didn't get away. He put both hands over his mouth like he was gaurding the exit of the grape prison but played around with it in his mouth for a little bit. Soon enough, "pop" out it came, landing on the table where he quickly grabbed it and bit it in half; gotta make sure it doesn't do that again. Aimee and I burst out laughing and we chuckled about it all night. I think Sam thought that grape WAS actually trying to get away from him by the time he got it the second time, so he wasn't going to let it get away again. I think Aimee might have gotten a video of it on her phone, but I am not sure. If she did, I will ask her to post it or post it myself later.

First woodworking project

We were at HD today looking at some plants that I saw tasse the other day when I got some new dirt for the raised garden beds. Well I got the basic approval of my finds but got the obvious question of where said finds would be planted... Uh... I was hoping that was aimee's department, so it would have to wait.

So Aimee went in search for some flower seeds she did know she wanted and Sam and I went in search for waterproofing membrane and shower pan forms for options for the master bath. We got directed to the wrong isle by an obviously misinformed employee, who evidently thought I was talking about shower forms, not just the waterproof membrane that would go under tile work. I digress.

We were on our way back to the tile department and in the main isle they had a line of 1x8s stacked on HD buckets and there were a bunch of kids and their parents making a small wood project. I was at first concerned that Sam wouldn't be interested or able to keep his attention on it, but figured if it didn't work we could take the stuff home and try it later.

Sam got his own apron and a pin that said he had completed the flower basket project. We got the kit, Sam grabbed a hammer and glue from the bucket by the sign-up table and we went and found a place at the plank to sit down to work on it.

Sam did great. He was very interested in the wood pieces and for some reason, especially the bag of nails. Anywho I figured out pretty quick, with a glance at the instructions and the kids around us, how it went together... Bottom, two sides, and 6 slates for the two sides.

We got started off kinda slow and I helped Sam hammer the first couple nails to attach the sides to the bottom... I was a little worried about getting a finger smashed by a two year-old left to hammer on his own. Sam was doing pretty good with less and less help, so I gave him more and more freedom with the hammer. I am happy to say, although there was one close call, we both came out with a finished project and no hammered fingers. He did have a little bit of an aiming problem but evidently practicing with the play workbench has paid off because he eventually got every one of the nails hammered in.

We even let him pick out two flowers to put in his planter on or way out of the store; what we are doing when I took the above picture. I'll have to post a picture once we get the flowers planted in his planter, hopefully tomorrow.

All-in-all, this was just one more example of what I was talking about in the last post...he is such a capable little man. I guess this is what parents talk about time going by so fast; it sneaks up on you.

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My little big boy

Sam helped me bring the yard waste cans back in from the street this afternoon. I was curious if he could manage one of the cans by himself, not really expecting that he could, and he pulled it the 10 or so feet from the street all by himself and then tipped it up to standing too.

Sam has been amazing me the past few days that he has been home with me. The daycare provider had family in town and asked if we could make other arrangements for Thurs and Fri so they could have some family time. We didn't come up with any other arrangements so I just decided to make it work for the two days.

We went to the park on Thurs that has a 3 story play structure and Sam was climbing the vertical ladders between the levels with little difficulty and pretty confidently. He even was going down the slide from the top level by himself, after I got comfortable with his ability to do it. He is quite the competent climber. He wore me out climbing all over the place.

Today we went to a local open gymnastics place during the 0-5 yr old time and, after warming up to the new place, Sam really amazed me again with his physical ability.

I guess it really has been since last fall when he went into full time daycare that I had really been out doing stuff with him like this. We have stayed mostly inside during the winter even though he has had time playing outside with the older kids at Sarah's when there have been the occasional nice afternoon.

Just trying to get stuff done around the house on the weekends makes it hard to go do fun stuff like this normally. It is kinda sad that it took being "forced" by circumstances into spending extra time with Sam to realize that I really like my son and love spending time with him. And I need to take more of an effort to make time to "be" with Sam and not just be around him.

Well lesson learned.

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More track

I have been wanting to get Sam more wooden train track ever since we got his first set for his birthday. Sam has gotten a couple other big add on pieces for his birthday and at Christmas but we always seem to run out of track to get it all connected. I didn't realize just how expensive the track was...like $50 for about 20-30 Thomas brand track pieces, if it was on a good sale, and the other major brands are not much better. But I was looking on Amazon for something else and came across some generic track that was like $40 for 100 pieces; 25 each of 6" straight, 4" straight, 6" corner, and 4"corner track. I was a little sceptical of the quality based on the online reviews and it is probably produced by some guy in his garage but I am impressed with the quality, even though the pieces seem to be a little looser than the other track we have. Some of the reviews were saying something about some plastic pegs that fell off within days but it must have been from previous version of this set cuz a you can see from the picture, they are all wood with slots and pegs cut from the wood. Looking forward to building some big tracks, although I have a feeling that I may think w e will need more other pieces now and definitely more trains.

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Cool Android app

My current Heart Rate is 85bpm. Measured using Instant Heart Rate app for Android My Current Heart Rate

It measures the color of the skin on your index finger with the phone's camera and flash, as it changes as your heart beats blood through it.

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Labor Day Hike ...err Climb

We decided to try and do something fun for Labor Day with Sam, so we went to Mt. Pisquah Arboretum for a hike and to have lunch. We evidently didn't do enough research about the trails cuz we ended up scaling a small mountain, Mt. Pisquah. There evidently were rolling hill, mostly shaded trails, but we decided to hike straight up the steepest, full sun, hot trail we could find.

It took us over an hour and a half to get to the top and it was pretty steep. You can kinda tell in the pics where you can see where there are people walking way up the slope. Anywho... it was a fun time but we got home way later and were all exhausted when we got back... Sam even fell asleep in the hiking pack for the last 20 minutes or so coming down.



Aimee carried Sam up the first part of the very steep path and was having a harder time with it than she expected. So I took Sam for the rest of the assent and we still went pretty slow. We let Sam out to walk about 3/4 of the way up so we could have a snack and he wanted to walk. But when it proved to be even slower going with stops every 3 steps to pick up more rocks, we decided it was time to put him in the hiker pack and get up to the top so we could have lunch.



The top was fun and gorgeous, even with it being a little hazy. It was an awesome 270 degree view. We took some rest in the shade of the trees at the top and had lunch we brought... it was like 1:30 at this point since it had taken us 1.5 hours to make the top. It was a welcome break to have lunch. We even had a praying mantis visitor that started crawling up my leg after we started eating.




The decent was much quicker and Sam was able to actually walk a lot and just held our hands when the slope was a little too steep for him to keep his footing in the gravel. We made pretty good time but he started really slowing down and figuring he was getting tired we put him back in the hiker pack about where we had taken a snack break on the way up.



We got to a crossroads where two trails met and decided to take the slightly longer, 1 mile, trail that was much less steep compared to the way we came up, which would have been murder carrying Sam. Aimee did a great job carrying Sam all the way back down; I think she wanted to prove to herself she could do it.



There were three hawks, or maybe eagles, that flew over us almost one right after the other. I think this was the first one since the other two went over really fast and were out of sight before I could get the camera back out.



This tree was pretty cool with the moss growing on it; Aimee and I both commented as we went by so I decided it warranted a picture.



And the end of the hike, where we all feel like Sam, but just can't show it yet.



Anywho... when we got to the bottom about 3:30, our neighbor, John, from down the street was just getting there with his dog Turbo and his Son, Scott, and his dog Taser. It was kinda strange to see someone familiar up there.

The State Fair 2010

This is the second year we took Sam to the State Fair. He had such a good time and he wore his grandparents and us out. He loved the petting zoo and tolerated the pony ride but was pretty amazed with all the other large animal exhibits, especially the small animals: chicks, bunnies, chickens, and other foul.

The third pic, with all of us, is at the show in the next picture, the "Let's Pretend Circus". We didn't stay too long since Sam wasn't sitting still and watching. It was kinda boring if you ask me.



We also saw Smokey the Bear there. At first Sam wouldn't go up to him and was just circling as other kids came up and were hugging on him; I guess he liked his hat also since he is signing hat in the first pic. Sam didn't want anything to do with Smokey until I picked him up and we both posed for a pic. He was kinda interested in him after that.

Camping 2010

Here are some pics from our family camp-out at Detroit Lake this year:
Upon Arrival
Get Sam's trucks out first.
Have some dinner.
Take a walk to the lake.
Stroll on the rock beach
bask in the beauty
Greet Maemae and Gpa Bob.
Breakfast, first morning.
Sam, "Up"
Sam, "Down"
Playing cards.
Stickers before dinner.
Aimee exaggerating her camp hair
Locals.
Playing with the big kids.
sliding over and over.
Locals working.
The Island.
Mounting the Island.
Too Hot, but cooling down.
Writing; "rite"
Playing with Papa the last night; totally broke in the new Tonka truck.