First Day of Preschool

Here he is ready for his first day of preschool.





He had a great day, played outside, did some paint and play-doh. We took him for ice cream when we picked him up.
Sharon and I did pretty well too, only a few tears when we left!

More Camping

Labor Day weekend we camped with our friends Pam and Julie and Dory at Paradise Creek in the Gifford Pinchot Forest, outside of Carson, WA. Sharon and I haven't been to this campground since 2004, so it was nice to be back. Our site was right on the creek so Cooper asked Dory and Pam to go to the creek and collect rocks or play with him.

It was Dory's birthday weekend and we celebrated each night he was there. Holly and Angie came up Sunday evening to celebrate as a surprise too. Sunday we took a day trip to the Swift Reservoir to do some fishing. It was a great afternoon of catching frogs, tadpoles, seeing dragonflies and butterflies and little fish. We also got attacked by mosquitos, I am still itching!! Cooper had a blast, it was a hot day and the water felt great. No fish were caught but the fisherwomen/men had fun trying. Cooper got really good at catching the frogs and tadpoles, they were everywhere. By the end he told Sharon that she couldn't catch the frogs, only he could.

We ate really well, really well. It was our first time camping with Julie and Pam and their first time camping as a couple. We truly enjoyed camping with them, it was a great weekend. Oh one last thing, Cooper had his first crash on his Skuut bike. He went super fast down a big hill and wiped out at the end. It caused a lot of tears and some blood but he is okay. His helmet protected him from major damage. By the end of the night he would look at his leg and whimper, he is so funny.

Camping Trip to Lakeside

We had a great trip to the coast the weekend before Labor Day. Libby and Jaime have the ability to reserve a campground through Jaime's work and invite friends to camp. This place was awesome. Quiet, hook-ups for our trailer, kitchen, showers, bathroom, beach and playground. Cooper had so much fun playing with all the kids and running around. We stayed an extra day we were having so much fun. Sharon and Cooper went kayaking one afternoon. I went kayaking with Emory and Libby also. We took a day trip to Bandon, OR. Cooper played on the beach a lot and generally ran around a lot.

The weather was gorgeous! I haven't been to the sand dunes area of the Oregon Coast in 11 or more years. It was awesome! We had a great trip.

More Swim Pictures

I took a few more pictures on his second to last day of swim class. He was super chatty with the teacher, Otter. He is doing really well with the classes and we signed him up for more in the fall.

Otter taught the kids about being safe in the water, they practiced with the flotation devices for awhile then did some more floating.

Crazy Dance Party

We had a dance party today!

Jamison Square

Erin and I took the kids to Jamison Square Friday for some splash park fun. I don't prefer to go to this waterpark because it gets super crowded and it is in a pretentious part of town. We had a great time though, it was fun to people watch and we had lunch at a nearby burrito joint. The kids lasted in the water for about an hour, they had a blast.

Berry Picking

Libby and I took Cooper, Emory and Larkin berry picking on Monday. It was a hot hot day out in the fields but we all had a great time. We decided we wouldn't go back to this farm in the future. It's hard to find a u-pick farm open on Monday. We are going to do it again soon, maybe out in the Gorge where the weather is a bit cooler. We picked a lot of blueberries, the blackberries were not consistently sweet or ripe.

I forgot to bring hats for the kids so we used umbrellas from the car and lots of sunscreen. There was a play structure at the farm that the kids enjoyed before and after picking berries.

Here they are in the field.

Larkin was busy running through the fields on her own and picking the green berries.
Here is our blueberry bounty.

Swim Class

I took some pictures of Cooper's swim class on Thursday. He is doing really well, getting way more comfortable in the pool. He will put his face in the water now. He has one more week of swim class and then we are going to sign him up for the fall. He continues to ask if we are going to the "shark slide" pool. The community center has swim classes that he took last year and they have a shark slide. It took him awhile to warm up to this pool, with no shark slide and deep water. They use step platforms for the kids to stand on in the pool, they call it Strawberry Island. He is enjoying himself and he is getting way more confident in the water.

Funny pictures

It's been a long week with some ups and some downs. I've decided Cooper and Larkin are both in a developmental stage. Cooper is at the year mark and Larkin is at the half-year mark, which means lots of behavior issues. My three likes this week are: 1. Cooper's ability to comprehend and respond to all sorts of questions and comments, 2. the great 80 degree sunny weather, 3. berry picking. My three dislikes are: 1. the constant fighting between Cooper and Larkin, 2. cleaning up puppy pee, 3. Sharon working away from home.
Here's hoping tomorrow goes well.
Cooper and I took some great pictures today.

Sharon's Birthday

We ha a party for Sharon on Sunday. It turned out to be gorgeous/hot day. We barbequed chicken and had a good southern b-b-q. Great party, wonderful friends.
The only pictures I got were of Sharon opening her gifts with two helpers.

Cooper and Luke

Two best buddies. Luke comes up to Cooper when he gets hurt. Luke also loves to sleep with Cooper on his bed. I let Luke cuddle until I go to bed and then put him in the kennel.
Luke sleeps all night now, no more night wakings to pee :) This week he woke up twice puking and then ate it :) Ahhh labs, they are so food obsessed. He is a good boy, we love him so much.

New Bed

We finally put Cooper's new bed together! We bought him a loft bed with a space underneath to play. We put it together before our vacation but were sent two of the same pieces so the bed part was put on hold. We finally finished it last night and bought a mattress from IKEA.
He likes it a lot but it is too high for him to climb in and out at night when he has to go potty. We decided to keep the mattress on the floor at night and then put it in the bed during the day so he can climb up and down and play on it. Last night, I woke up at 5:45 to let the puppy out and Cooper was sleeping in the dog bed and Riley was sleeping on Cooper's bed :) He picked out the green sheets (his favorite color right now).