Exploring the World

Yesterday the boys and I wandered down to the riverfront area near downtown. We watched cars zoom by under us from the pedestrian bridge, admired moving trucks being loaded with stuff from the lofts and were mesmorized by the trains chugging under yet another bridge. It was an all boy afternoon, and that included getting as dirty as possible.

Close to commons park is a little open outdoor area in the shade with lots of cement rises to explore. LT ran around the tops of them and jumped off the edges. Adler would have done the same, if he could walk (which we need to get a video of, but he has taken 6 steps in a row, but prefers to crawl).
Adler watching the trains below.
It was really hard to capture just how dirty these boys really were on camera. I had also wiped off their hands and feet several times by the time these pictures were taken, but you can sort of see the gray tint on both boys pants that are supposed to be dark blue.




Adler is learning about the world. One way to do this is to rub your hands on dirty cement downtown for over 45 minutes. At various times during this afternoon event, Adler was laying on his belly making snow angels with his arms and legs.

Do-Rag

I am glad that there are no dress codes in pre-school that prohibit do-rags, because this is what LT wore today.

Similar

I could go on and on about how different our two boys are, but then there are some shocking similarities. One of them is their 12 month stats.
Exactly the same, here are Adler's and a link back to LT (although you don't even have to link back because they are exactly the same...):
Weight: 22 lbs (40th percentile)
Height: 30 3/4 inches (80th percentile)
Head: 18 1/2 inches (85th percentile)

LTs stats

First birthday

The week before Adler's birthday trip to the mountains, we had a little family dinner party for him at our house.

He got a new ride on toy Radio Flyer. He likes to ride it but he loves to ding the bell.

Avocado for dinner.

LT and Kari helped blow out the birthday candle for him. Adler's not really sure what's going on at this point but LT clearly knew.

Everything's a bit more relaxed with the second child - Alder didn't have to wait until his birthday for his first bite of cake. But I think this is his first whole piece to himself. Spring Fling cake from The Market, of course. He was a little hesitant at first...

But the hesitation didn't last long.


The boys playing together.

Adler smiling as he tries to climb up the slide.


LT likes to say he'll help his brother open his presents and then share them with him. That's how it is in his mind no matter how many times we tell him it's the other way around.

Adler did get a few moments to play puzzle on his own.


The puzzle pieces make great clapping instruments!

funny dad

Dinner with Phoebe and baby Shane

Here are few pictures from a dinner play date with Z at Phoebe's house a couple weeks ago.

Shane and Alder playing in the sand box together.

LT getting off of the double swing with Phoebe because she was going too high.

Phoebe said "cheese" for the camera while the boys insisted on saying "chugga chugga choo choo" over and over again.

Birthday getaway

Rather than having a party for Adler's first birthday, Kari organized a weekend trip to a cabin near Salida with two of his little friends, Jonah and Holden, that are almost the same age.

We never managed to get the three babies lined up for a picture so here's one of their older brothers instead - LT, Isaac & Ewan.

Driving to the cabin on 285 near Bailey we noticed Coney Island which both Kari and I thought had been moved out of state. It used to be located a little closer to Denver on 285 and we both have fond childhood memories of the place from going to Cabin Camp and later when visiting my mom's cabin near Bailey.

Of course, we had to stop for dinner and LT and Alder got their first ever taste of milkshake. We might have stopped at the giant kitschy hotdog for lunch on the way home too, if milkshakes can be considered lunch...

Lots more pictures from the weekend of all six of the boys are in a new set on flickr.

One!

Baby Alder turns one year old today!

Playground

More on LT's style

"Mix and match" shoes on the wrong feet.

Pink sandals with socks and a purple face.

Seeing how many pairs of pull-ups, mostly pink but a few blue, he could put on.

I think the final count was seven or eight.

Dinosaur hoodie towel, googles, shorts and pink sandals (of course). Granted, we were at a pool but it didn't end there.

He wore it in the car and even added a pair of sunglasses to complete the ensemble.

And then wore the whole outfit to dinner.

He did take off the googles once we were inside.

LT's style...

Painting

Adler is always trying to do what LT is doing and if I attempt to distract him with something else, it is inevitable that LT will stop what hes doing and insist on doing what Adler is doing. Today, I gave in and just let Adler paint. How bad could it really be?

While I was watching Adler closely, LT turned around and painted the walls....
Adler dipped the brushes, turned and painted me blue...
and I guess if I took him in public after the experience, one might think he had some sort of accident that caused his mouth to bleed and turn blue, but really it was just paint! We all had fun and laughed, so really, it wasn't so bad.

More on the race car

I was thinking about the race car post after I wrote it and for some reason remembered back to when I was a kid when, for a long time, I thought my dad's Chevy Vega was a Porsche. I guess there's some predisposition for us Campbell boys to have a confused fondness for cheapo-wannabe sports cars.

Polyface Farm

I am finally getting around to reading Omnivores Dilemna and man I wish I could visit Polyface farm, or better yet, that it was within driving distance. But, its not, so yesterday we headed out to get some fresh produce from Berry Patch.
LT strolling the strawberry fields.
LT and Jack building "doors for the animals that live underground".
Its not just me who loves fresh produce. When LTs doctor asked him if he eats any fruits or vegetables, he replied, "yes, tomatoes, but they have to be fresh from the plant, and basil, but it has to be fresh." I have always found store tomatoes to be disgusting, but I absolutely love fresh tomatoes. The strawberries from the fields yesterday put store strawberries to shame. I am not sure you can even call them strawberries. When we got in the car, I asked LT if he wanted a snack. He said, "yes, one fresh tomato and one fresh apple". He ate them both on the way home. Adler had the strawberries and an apple.

I love supporting local farmers and enjoying their fresh produce. We will be back soon for more.

Fun with Joe

We met Joe and his mom at the museum of Nature and Science for a little playdate. The boys had a blast, until the fire alarm went off suddenly. We are 99.9% sure it wasn't our boys who pulled the alarm, but we might never know...

Race Car!

There is a little red car that is often parked out in front of the building across the street from our house. It' a piece of junk - I don't know how else to describe it. It wasn't a nice car to begin with, more of a wannabe poor man's sports car, and the years have not been kind to it. Now it has one headlight held on with duct tape, the front grill is gone and the hood is strapped down with a bungie cord.

For some reason LT has been fascinated by it for a long time (I'm going to guess because of the little spoiler on the back but I don't know). Though the winter and spring he talked about it whenever he saw it. He would even bring it up sometimes when it wasn't in sight. He said it was his favorite car called it a "fast race car."

I thought it was pretty funny and I'd egg him on and ask questions about the "fast race car" when he'd bring it up. Apparently he misinterpreted my joking about the car for a genuine fondness for the crappy vehicle and by the start of summer it was no longer the "race car" but had become "daddy's favorite car."

Kari suggested I write the car story down before he stopped saying it (and, sadly, he pretty much has stopped now). So in mid June LT and I set out to do some photo journalism on the unique subject.

A nice smile to go along with a nice car. And it really is nice, isn't it?


And here is LT helping me photograph some of the finer features of the vehicle.