Woohoo, a new fort for the backyard!

Corner prepared & fence down waiting for fort to arrive

backing the fort down the paper road to our backyard

Still on the truck

About to be lowered to a cool wheel system

Timber!

Attaching the slide and ladder

Finally time to play on it!

Both boys checking things out

Putting the fence back up

filling the sandbox - took eight additional bags of sand and we aren't done yet :-)

Dad and his helper

Fort has working sandbox and is now complete - let the games begin!

At the Carousel

On the Carousel - looking cool

Even Mom took a ride :-)

Snack break

The grins just kept coming 

Can we get on yet?

Miss Susan and Willa in the seat

Look at me!

Even the big kid got in on the fun 

Just some pictures

We had another busy weekend.  Harry had a playdate Friday.  We all went to a birthday party on Saturday at the carousel.  Both boys ran around the carousel more than they rode it, I think.  We all took some rides, but I must admit I am not overly fond of getting dizzy so I watched as much as I could.

Yesterday at some point, I rearranged the dinosaurs that Robert had set up around the table (they were a tripping hazard) and put them in a line along the counter.  When Robert came into the room here is what we said,

R:  How did the dinosaurs get there?

M:  They must have decided to have a parade on the counter.

R:  But how did you get that one to stand up?

So even though he was willing to play along with my fancy a bit - his logical little brain still wanted to know how I got the difficult dinosaur to stand!

Oh and from the Harry files - he likes making up jokes and this is my current favorite:

How do you make a robot angry?

You push his buttons!

I think we should send this one off to Boys Life.

A robot in a basket

Robert really wanted to "cuggle" with his brother - he settled for sitting near him

Cuggling

Totem Pole at the fort

A more traditional grouping

Summer, a poem by Harry

The sun floated in the sky, hot and humid, it makes things hot as fire.

Cold and wet water creates giant waves in the ocean.

Clouds of sand blow around ruff (sic) yet tiny, it covers every spot of the beach.

Wet, sweat releases heat from your body in tiny drops.

Tiny and soft animal babies grow up in there (sic) habitat.

Lazy summer days - a few weeks early

As I am sitting here writing, Robert is behind me playing on the floor with Star Wars characters.  They are moving around the room and singing to each other.  I can hear coughing in the living room.  Harry is home from school this afternoon because he was not feeling well.  We began hearing him cough at about six this morning and debated about sending him to school at all, but he seemed to be coughing less by the time of the bus.  I wasn't at all surprised when the call came to come pick him up.  I just regret having sent him in the first place.  Oh well, live and learn.

It is hot as if it were summer.  The last time I checked the temperature read 89 degrees Fahrenheit.  I asked Kevin to put the air conditioner in on Harry's third floor, since it is bound to get really hot.  We are enjoying an early taste of summer (although since I have heard complaints about the heat, I can't say all Rhode Islanders are enjoying the unusual June warmth).  Sunday when these photos were taken it wasn't very hot, but we all went down to wander Ft. Wetherell.  We climbed rocks and threw considerably smaller rocks.  Harry sought out treasures, I found a few pieces of sea glass and finally we went and wandered on one of the forts.  The views from the forts can be particularly spectacular.

I am feeling like it is a lazy day of summer.  We have been playing and sort of wandering about.  Robert and I went to bring bread to a family with a new baby.  She is very cute - were my children ever so small?  Then we went by the library.  We left the library a bit early because the school called for Harry.  Now we've been home a few hours and are just hanging around.  Since it is the first hot day, the indoors is comfortable enough.  We are all pursuing our own interests, an oddity really.  I think if the boys get bored, we may paint egg carton caterpillars, but we shall see what happens.

A treasure that was too big to bring home

On the beach

Super heroes

Both boys like to pretend to be superheroes.  They pretend and zoom around the yard with capes or other get ups that help them get into the spirit.  Sometimes they want us to play along and sometimes we are not needed or requested.  I think super heroes are just a normal part of being a small person in such a large world.  It is a nice thing to pretend that you are all powerful, when the reality is that Mom and Dad are usually the ones calling the shots.  Who among us wouldn't like to fly or have special powers that make us super strong or smart?

I also have noticed a tendency of some parents to say that their children are their heroes.  I don't really like that.  I think it may be true in some cases.  But even with a child with some special needs who overcomes all kind of obstacles every day, I don't consider him my hero.  I am proud as anything of him, but I want him to know, that a hero is somebody extraordinary who has accomplished something extra special.  I want my boys to understand that being a hero is something special that not everybody accomplishes.  It is something to aspire to become.  That is partly why I love watching them play superhero.  They are aspiring to be something beyond themselves and for a little time they are trying on a persona that may be very different from themselves, but that imaginary conquest may someday encourage them to attempt something extraordinary.



Robin and Batman

Green Lantern

Memorial Day

At Memorial Day Parade

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, so I guess it is officially summer season on the island here.  This year we are celebrating St. Matthew's 175th anniversary so we walked as a church group in the parade.  It was fun and, I think, my first time in a parade.  Harry walked with the cub scouts.  It is strange to have a child with his own interests that supersede those of the rest of the family.  We gave him the choice and he chose cub scouts and he did a great job and looked cute in his uniform too (although he would be annoyed with the description.

Even though summer season is upon us, it isn't overly warm yet.  We've had a few nice days and school isn't out until June 22nd or so.  Robert will continue with his toddler program 2 days a week into the summer and in the fall he will begin preschool at the same school as Harry.  Harry has various camps to attend this summer and will do his first scout camp for a week.  Even though it often seems long in coming, I enjoy the spring time here.  It is wet and cold and we northerners joke that we go from winter to summer in about a week, but the truth is it comes slowly.  Right now the iris are blooming.  We have gone through daffodils (which lasted much longer than usual this year because of the cold, damp spring) to tulips, to hyacinths, the early laurel bushes and then the lilacs, now the rhododendron are slowly giving out and soon the peonies will be blooming.  The flowers we'll see now will be the summer ones - hydrangea which I love, roses and lilies will all make their appearance here as we move into the summer.

For the first time ever we are planting a garden.  We hope to grow tomatoes, squash, some herbs and some bell peppers.  I don't know how successful we will be, but hopefully we'll learn something to bring into next year's garden.  We have set up a raised bed and mixed some fresh soil in with the island soil and we can only hope for the best.  Our next step is to set up a little fencing around the garden to keep out the pests (this unfortunately includes some of the smaller household members who think it is fun to climb in and walk around the plants).  I am looking forward to the challenge of the garden.  In the past I've planted vegetables, but never a bunch together and always just sort of in the ground without much care.  This year I am trying to be careful.

I have also put in some johnny jump ups and some begonias - these in my usual style.  I happened to pick them up at Easter and had extras from a teacher gift I was putting together.  Some the begonias went in around the tree in the back (after the deer ate a bunch) and the johnny jump ups went where I have tried various vegetables over the years (to middling success).  Hopefully they will do okay.  It is nice to have flowers around.  Since my main occupation these days is planting ideas and manners and trying to help little minds and souls to grow, it is nice to have something that I can measure.  I love being a Mom (which is now what both boys call me) and I enjoy the challenges, but I don't often see any results.  The garden of a child's body and soul takes much longer time to see change and grow and that is both the joy and frustration many days.  It is nice to plant a garden that I will be able to watch and measure over a few short weeks.