I wuff you too

Ethan is quiet the entertainer! He is ready and willing to provide information, and his bits of info mostly extend to "I'm two-an-a-haff!" and "I'm ti-owd" and "I want chocket miwk wif miwk" From those you can glean that he will soon be turning 3 (it's next month! My mind is boggled), he is a liar (he says "I'm ti-owd" at all hours of the day, including after waking up), and he enjoys himself some chocolate milk but recognizes that I will always cut the strength with more plain milk. He also adamantly expresses, "mom, I wuff you," to which the one and only response is "I love you, too." I can't simply say "I love you" or "you're a special guy" or "how about some chocolate milk with milk?" because he'll insist "no! I wuff you TOO!" until I get it right.

The kids love to tell knock-knock jokes, so Ethan tries to get in on the action. He declares (without taking a breath much less giving you time to participate in the joke), "knock knock! Who der! Moo cow!" And then busts up laughing. It's his take on the "interrupting cow" joke, I guess he really doesn't WANT to be interrupted! Good joke, buddy!

Yesterday he wanted a parrot. It took a lot of pointing on his part to help me understand he wanted a PEAR. A pear-ut.

 Trying to figure out selfies

 Exhausted after a long day at Swim Beach at the reservoir.

Sizzling summer

It's been too long to catch up, but not so long that I'm giving up on blogging! I still love to go back and read old blog posts so I suppose it's time to create new that can become old :)

Summer 2015 has been craziness!  First we went to Kansas City for a John Gustavson family reunion. We hit Legoland, the aquarium, the zoo, the girls did some shopping, the guys did some golfing, and we all did LOTS of hanging out with the kids and eating delicious food.

After Kansas we had a slew of grandkid visits. First I took all the kids down to Grand Junction to stay with my parents - the kids played with cousins and I blew through a Honey-Do List you would have to see to believe! Every day was some adventure - swimming, an indoor play place, tennis lessons, Perler beads, play-doh, outdoor parks, splash pads, fireworks, and again LOTS of hanging out and eating delicious food.

After Junction the big kids headed to Craig for a week with Joe's parents, while I took Ethan home with me. The big kids saw lots of wildlife, went to the local wave pool, waded in the river and caught crawdads, rode horses and saw sheep shearing, and toured a local fibers factory. I wasn't there, but I'm sure there was LOTS of hanging out and eating delicious food.

Back home we've had smaller adventures - swim lessons, splash parks, Children's Museum, Swim Beach at the reservoir, starting Patrick in Tiger Scouts, outdoor movies, the drive-in, and LOTS of hanging out and eating delicious food (often in the form of fast food, I'm a sucker!).

Just this past weekend we had another Colorado jaunt up to Broomfield to visit family at Joe's grandma's house - his sister had flown in with her family, so his parents drove over from Craig, and all the extended family nearby came for hugs and hello's. We took to kids to Peter Pan Park to run out some energy, but mostly we did LOTS of hanging out and ate delicious food (impossible to avoid at Eva's house).

Now for the photos dump, but just the highlights...

Kansas Highlights:

Tractors

Hallmark's Kaleidoscope kids creation area

Fire-something-or-ther museum. Way cool!

Kansas city zoo

Legoland

Aquarium

Lots of hanging out!

Grand Junction Highlights:

Fireworks

Splash parks

Perler beads

Cool parks

Pueblo Highlights:

Swimming at the PAC (Pueblo Athletic Club)

Drive-In (we saw Inside Out and Tomorrowland)

Swim Beach

City Park rides

LOTS of hanging out! Snazzy for church

 Broomfield Highlights:

Peter Pan Park

Climbing around at the park

LOTS of hanging out with lots of people we love! 4 Generations - Great-Grandma Eva, grandma and grandpa Jacobs, Joe and his sister Gina, and all the great-grandkids.

A little trip north took us to Parker first! The street outside the Phelp's house is was concrete but is now getting paved with asphalt (seems backwards, but it's true - I think the noise of all the cars driving over those concrete lips was one of the issues. Or maybe long-term maintenance. Who knows). The big diggers involved in the process happened to be RIGHT OVER Kari's fence! We pulled up barstools and chairs to watch the process, it was pretty much Ethan's idea of heaven. 

North of Parker, we got to visit with Joe's parents, grandparents, and sister and her family. This park is only 5 minutes from his grandma's house - I always called it Pirate Park because there's a pirate ship, but it turns out there's a whole theme and it's Peter Pan Park - so fun! Once I knew that there were lots of little easter eggs to see. But the kids didn't care for the details, they wanted the big fun like climbing and slides! 

The park has a splash pad aspect to it (it' THE BEST PARK) so Caroline is in her swimsuit. Again, add a little water to your afternoon and kids are entertained for hours! 

After all that visiting and playing, Sunday afternoon naps at home are the best.

 

 A Little Aloha came to the Pueblo neighborhood this week! #shavedice #tigersblood

We went to Swim Beach to cool off. Add a little water to the afternoon, and you've got hours of entertainment! Ethan tried his best to bulldoze the water.

Swimming does a hairstyle good! 

All tuckered out after a long day at Swim Beach

You're never too old for a baby pool! Patrick and Eli splashing around with Maggie and Caleb Stegelmeiere

Caroline matched her dress with these adorable Bobbi socks - so cute!!

Bobbi sock adorableness continues

Eli's awesome note. Me too, Eli! 

 

 

Fort Collins trip for Joe and these 3 monkeys. Sentimental stop #1: the Poudre river, where we took our engagement photos. I sure do love the fruits of those photos!

Sentimental stop #2: Our tiny 500-sq ft apartment on South Whitcomb Street. Where we brought home tiny bay Patrick! 

 Ethan served up the brownies tonight