Target

Brian was in Las Vegas for work this week and so I had no camera to take pictures, but plenty of stories. Today LT found an extra, disconnected, cell phone and picked it up, opened it up and began talking. Just a little background on our afternoon which will help make his thoughts more coherent: When he woke up from his nap, I told him we were going to go to target to get a new rolling pin for his play dough and some extra play dough. Here is what he said, although, I really wish I had it on video, it was much cuter:
LT as he walked up to me talking on my phone, "I am tawking to you on my phone"
Kari: "Who are you talking to, LT?"
LT: "Bob builder not hew now, he in space"
LT as he moved his phone from directly under his mouth to the side, as if he were answering the question from whomever he was talking with, "Mom, wew awe we going?"
Kari: "Target"
LT: "Oh Tawget, gonna get new wolling pin, paydough and some oder stuff"
LT as he closes the phone: "Bettew go, going to tawget"

LTs chattering

One of my favorite times of day is listening to LT as he talks himself to sleep. Its fascinating to hear what a 2 year old thinks of as they are drifting off to dream land. Sometimes its funnier than others and today wasn't the best sample, but it is a good indication of some of the things LT talks about as he falls asleep. I tried to write it phonetically as he says words, but its definitely cuter listening to him. I translated in the parenthesis. I did both nap time and bedtime too and indicated when he fell asleep.

Naptime

"Hmmm wonder what is dat noise?" (as the phone rings)

"Wabbit is mine, he’s mine, good morning." (rabbit is mind, he’s mine, good morning)

"Take tewns wif wabbit, mommy come fo dinnew, and daddy come fo dinnew, evewybody coming." (take turns with rabbit, mommy come to dinner, and daddy come to dinner, everybody coming)

Fast asleep.

Night:

"Oh my Babose"

"All my fwends are hewe " (all my friends are here!)

"wocking all my fwends, wock wock wock" (rocking my friends, rock, rock, rock)

"Baby, oh, babose, eieio, e f e f " (some sort of version of old Mac Donald)

"Seeping seeping" (sleeping, sleeping)

"Just feel bettew wif white b" (Just feel better with white bear)

"Geeen bankie on, hmm, oh geen bankie on!" (green blankie on, hmm, oh green blankie on!”

"Oh watew, I dwink watew" (oh water, I drink water)

"Oh, I hew noise , baby, yittle of dis" (oh, I hear noise, little of this)

"weawwy yove watew" (I really love water)

"Oh dew you awe watew!" (oh there you are water)

"Edewbody, dwink watews, not duice, and whewes yous? Wight dew, wabbits, b’s blue babose." (everybody, drink water, not juice, and where’s yours? Right there, rabbits, bears, blue doggies)

"Its not youw watew, its my watew" (its not your water, its my water)

"Choo choo, chug choo, dew you go B" (There you go bear)

Fast asleep.

Riding the Galloping Goose

LT rode on his first little piece of history yesterday with cousin Nicholas! There are only 6 Galloping Gooses (word?, geese?) left nationwide, and only 3 that still run. 3 of those 6 are at the train museum in Golden, Co. Each Saturday throughout the summer, they run their Galloping Goose around a small track and charge a small fee in order to keep the trains restored. We just happened to get to the museum at the right time and were able to take both boys on the train.
Nicholas escorting LT onto the goose.
I am not sure who was more excited to see who, Nicholas to see LT or LT to see Nicholas. They have a special bond for sure and really enjoyed spending lots of time together over the past week. LT calls his cousin, Nicks.
Getting a lift from Grandma off the goose.
LT and I go to the train museum pretty regularly. However, during the week is much less eventful than the weekends, I realized. Not only were they running the goose, but they have a huge model train exhibit set up. The tracks are set up year round, but we had never see trains running on them until yesterday. They even had a Thomas model train pulling Annie and Clarabel (Thomas's passenger coaches). All of us enjoyed watching the trains zoom around the tracks. LT especially liked the ones that made train sounds and would immitate them as they passed by.
LT watching the model trains through the fence (you have to be a member and train owner to go into the fenced area).
As usual, LT found some equipment to "work" on. This is a little car that checked to make sure the tracks were in good shape. He had fun manipulating all the gears and other gadgets inside the car.
There are also several backhoes and diggers that are usually parked outside the roundhouse. We hadn't ever seen them actually working, but yesterday, this backhoe was cruising around doing some "stuction" (LTs word for construction). It was a big hit as you can imagine for our little Bob the Builder!

Heyyicocter

The YMCA has plenty of things to do for all types of people with varying interests. One thing that they had was a whole art barn/craft center. LT was able to paint a little helicopter (or as he says it, heyyicocter). Here he is finishing up his masterpiece that he had started a few days earlier with Papa.

Yittle Kib

LT still sleeps in a crib. He asks for it, plays in it, sleeps like a champ in it and often times it calms him down at night when he's overtired. We obviously weren't able to take the big crib to Estes Park and so we bought a new Pack N Play to take with us (Bowen ate our old one and we needed a new one for the new baby anyway). LT helped Brian set it up and then asked to get into the new "monkey kib". He read his own books and would fall asleep quickly in it. I think he may be outgrowing the "Yittle cib", but it worked for this trip.
Sweet little boy fast asleep for naptime.Below LT is reading his Franklin book (yet again). He says, "Franklin, new safety sticker", which is what happens at the end of the book where he is reading!

Candid versus Posed

We rarely get a photograph of our entire family and so while we were all together in Estes park, we arranged for a professional photographer to take a large family photo. As you can imagine, trying to get 40 people organized in different ways for a picture took quite awhile (in addition to many smaller family pod photos that were to be taken). There really is no way to take a candid picture of so many people, but Brian managed to take quite a few shots of LT while we were waiting that I think are pretty high quality (and free!)
LT adores his older cousin, Nicholas (Nicks). He copies and follows anything he sees Nicholas doing and Nicholas doesn't seem to mind a bit!

A Hike with Jackson

My cousin Stephanie and her partner, Jen, have a little boy, Jackson, who is 6 months younger than LT. They had never met, but had a really great time together during our reunion. When LT was a few weeks old, I took him to Rocky Mountain National Park and did the Bear Lake hike. I was thinking at the time that it would be a really fun hike for a 2 year old. We decided to take both boys around the lake on a toddler stroll and they had a great time!
The chaotic parking lot on the free day at Rocky Mountain National Park.
LT and Jackson held hands for the beginning part of the "hike". They weren't quite sure who this other little person was as they glanced from mom to each other and back to mom, but seemed to enjoy each other's company none the less.

Steph, Jackson and Jen.
Dad and LT dipping toes in the cold mountain lake.
Tired kid!

First Smores

This is the first in a series of posts from our most recent family reunion for the Imig side in Estes Park (or as LT refers to it, Kesestes Paawwk). Our family is just so famous, they even wanted to make a news story about us (or we were just the lucky ones that happened to be using the zipline at the time that worked for the newscasters, either way, we were featured on the news!)
We started the week off right by roasting marshmallows over the fire at a family campfire. LT had never had a smore's before, but it doesn't surprise me that he liked it. When we asked him what was in the yummy sandwich he said, "cackers, chocat and gooey", pretty accurate!
His first taste of the yummy things!
Digging in a bit more once he realized it wasn't some healthy trickery.
A gooey, sticky mess.
But a satisfied kid.

Not to be forgotten little bro

Bri, despite not having any siblings, seems to understand that the second child gets a bit different treatment from the first. With LT, we saved every ultrasound picture, in pristine condition. Poor AC's 20 week ultrasound pictures were found having been washed in Brian's shorts pocket. When Bri pulled the pictures out of his pocket, he said, "who says the second kid doesn't get the same treatment as the first?" I am proud to say that AC's most recent ultrasound pictures were NOT washed and are hanging proudly on the fridge in perfect condition. Regardless of what AC's parents do or don't do, my friends didn't forget about little AC and threw a nice shower for him/me. Emily and Debbie hosted a small shower with excellent food and fun times for the little man. Of course, I forgot my camera (I probably did the same thing when I went to LTs shower). Luckily Emily had her camera and took the following 3 pictures. At least we can start posting some things about the second, not to be forgotten, Campbell babe.
Brian and I really lucked out with all the people we knew having babies around the time we had LT. Fortunately, we have a few other good friends who are pregnant and due around the same time as AC so he can have some friends own age too! Above is Debbie and her new daughter, AC's older girl friend, Avery! LT loves babies, but for some reason it bothers him when they are newborns and have closed eyes. He calls Avery, "Avery closed eyes". We are trying to explain to LT that AC will have closed eyes for awhile too, but he just says, "No, AC coming, play toys soon".
Mom 31 weeks pregnant with AC.
Debbie, Megan and Becky celebrating the new little guy!

Mo' 'Tantic Gardens

I stole the picture and video from Z's blog just 'cause I thought they were so great. Hope Z doesn't sue me...

'Tantic Gardens

We bought a membership for the Botanical Gardens this year. It is a very peaceful place with water and beautiful gardens. LT loves going to the "tantic gardens" and luckily some of his little buddies have memberships as well. Last week, we went with Beth and Phoebe (Shawn and Zack too, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of Z).
When LT was 1, most of his little buddies were already walking, but he had no interest in doing such things. One of Z's favorite activities was to push LT around in the stroller as he was learning to walk. Now that Z has a broken leg, the tables have turned and LT enjoys pushing Z around in his stroller.
As usual, LT was hungry not long into our adventures through the gardens. We decided to stop in a shady spot by the beautiful water gardens and have a peaceful snack.
Phoebe wiping something from LTs face.
...and then apparently he wasn't eating either enough of his snack, or his snack fast enough because she took it upon herself to feed him.
Phoebe about 48 hours before she became a big sister to Shane Holden!
Of course the best part of the whole gardens is the construction that is going on and the backhoes and Bob the Builder workers. We haven't made it through the gardens without stopping at each and every backhoe. As we were leaving, they were doing construction on the road outside the gardens. I said, "LT, look, its real Bob the Builders!" One of the workmen heard me and looked at LT and his buddies and said, "Yep, stay in school kids!" LT has no idea what the guy was talking about, but I think its pretty funny.

July 4th

We packed up LT, the two big dogs (in their seatbelt), two bikes, LT's bike trailer, golf clubs, a 40lb bag of dog food, food for us, a hiking backpack, clothes for everyone, some books for LT, and, of course, a few backhoes into one car and headed up to Silverthorne for the long 4th of July weekend. What are we going to do when AC comes?

LT had a busy social calendar that started off with a date on Friday morning with Joss at Starbucks. We'd talked about going hiking but it just didn't happen. LT didn't care, however, he rain around the little landscaped patio of Starbucks and insisted that he was in fact hiking. After his little "hike" he got down to the business of playing in the rocks and mud. Joss politely tried to show interest in his activities for a while.

However, she'd grown tired of his boyish activities by the time LT was moving around big rocks in an attempt to build something (I still don't know what). As we were leaving the coffee shop, Joss was quick to point out to everyone how muddy LT was and how clean she had stayed. The difference between boys and girls

After coffee we all headed over to the farmer's market in Dillon. "Famas maket" is one of LT's favorite new terms and he's more than happy to tell you all about getting "matos" and "go-ditas" at the market. And just about anything with a tent is now a farmer's market in his mind.

LT had an afternoon date with Riley and they went for a little hike. He was a good little gentleman and held Riley's hand while walking in the street but his attention went elsewhere when we came across a couple of big backhoes later on the walk.

Reading with Grandpa.

A rare photo of the three of us together - taken at the Frisco marina.

A second date that weekend with Joss. Throwing rocks into the lake was an activity they both could agree on. My parents supervised while Kari and I as well as Eric and Sarah enjoyed a moment free from chasing the little ones around.