Mama's birthday Part II

Thursday on my actual birthday I took the boys to Thunder Island, a small water park nearby. It was small enough that after an hour or so the boys were familiar enough that they could have the run of the place, and I could hang with Reed in the kiddie pool. The boys weren't quite tall enough for the biggest slide in the park, but everything else was wide open. It was a beautiful day and I guess because it was a weekday, it wasn't very crowded so there were minimal or no waits for the rides.

Mama's birthday part I

Last week Reed's daycare was closed so I worked Monday (Grandpa Greg and Grandma Kathy came for the day) and then I took the rest of the week off to have some Mama-boys time. We went to the lake Tuesday morning until Thursday morning and packed in so much fun: fishing, blueberry picking, boat ride, bike riding and playground-ing, lake swimming, and swimming pool swimming. The day before my birthday, Wednesday, we spent part of the morning at the Trumansburg schools playground. As soon as he got out of the car, Beckett said, "I broke my leg here." He took us right over to where he had indeed broken his leg three years earlier. Theo and Beckett biked all over parking lots, showing Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu their new skills. After lunch Beckett and I enjoyed a lovely nap together in my bed, which was just perfect, and then after a lot of high-action fishing off the dock, the boys and I swam in the lake quite a ways down the shore, which made my heart burst with love and gratitude. We wanted to take a boat ride in the Chriscraft but couldn't get it to start so we took an equally wonderful ride in the fishing boat.

After loading up in the Chriscraft before jumping ship when it wouldn't start.

In the fishing boat. Beckett was taking in every moment of the boat ride, gazing out over all of us and everything in front of him, and enjoying every bit of it.

Tiny sailor.

Tuesday afternoon Reed and I had some time blueberry picking (though he slept for most of it). Then he woke up and double fisted from both my pails.

Mama selfie in my new hat from Auntie Alexis.

Fishing

Wednesday was pretty much a perfect day. One of the best parts was watching these guys reel in dozens of fish.

https://youtu.be/bNrhn95sK_E

https://youtu.be/Lsn9KZdrOfU

https://youtu.be/4LW40ZQt5jo

Ithaca visit

Reed's been building towers lately and I've been pretty impressed at how well and tall and well-balanced he can build. I told him I wanted to take a picture of him next to his tower but he couldn't be bothered stopping to pose.

Auntie Alexis and I went blueberry picking with Mary Kate, who ate her way through a serious quantity of blueberries on her first expedition.

Visit with Stacey and Tara and families

Last Sunday we met our friend Stacey and her family and our friend Tara and her family at Gillie Lake. Stacey was visiting from San Francisco but used to work with me and Tara at Legal Aid. We had perfect weather and ended up staying six hours at the beach. The boys were a little pink by the end but we had an awesome time catching up and watching the kids play in the sand and in the water.

Paint Nite

Last week Jeff and I did a paint night, where a company provides an artist instructor and supplies, and you try to recreate the modeled painting. It turns out that Jeff is a perfectionist and really liked trying to get all the details right. I enjoyed learning some painting techniques and mixing the paint but wasn't so concerned about the outcome. Mostly I was hungry and wanted to eat dinner. We had a good time and our final products are lovely!