The Mellen Patch: Labor Day and other odds and ends

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Let me just say at the outset that our weekend involved a lot of eating. I'm not sure how or why but we ended up eating quite a bit of junk but we did.

We started the weekend Saturday morning with breakfast at the Apple Pan. It had great food but it took a little while to get our food and Cole does not do well in restaurants. Chad sat with Grant at the table while he colored and I had to take Cole outside to crawl around until our food came. Once the food came Cole was just fine. He ate about half a plate size pancake and would have eaten more but we cut him off. We had delicious omlettes and apple pancakes. After breakfast we walked from the restaurant to the square for Fair on the Square. The weather was perfect. It was very overcast and nice and cool. It didn't rain until we were almost home so it was perfect. At the square we looked at all of the booths then bought a caramel apple and chocolate covered cheesecake (yes, after just having eaten breakfast...see what I mean). We also sat on the lawn and listened to a fun bluegrass band. Grant ran around all hopped up on sugar. He also had a great time wrestling Chad and dancing to the music.

(Chad and Grant with an old train next to Sharlot Hall Museum)

Sunday we did the usual church thing, with nothing exciting. Monday, we took a road trip to Jerome. I have never been to Jerome (unless you count the time we drove through in our little Rabbitt with our yellow moving trailer moving to Prescott from Idaho when I was six). Jerome is only about 30 miles from Prescott but the road is extremely windy and slow going so it takes about an hour to drive there. Before heading out of town, we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. Grant had a biscuit and a box of apple juice. Grant also gets extremely car sick on windey rodes so about half way to Jerome he started puking. He tried to hold it in but couldn't do it. Why don't I ever bring a bowl or extra clothes? This is the third or fourth time this has happened. Luckily, he puked right as we were coming up on a recreation area so we pulled off and washed him down as best we could. Sadly though he was not done puking. Thank goodness for that empty McDonald's bag. We made it to Jerome finally and walked around. There is not a ton to see or do but it has a beautiful view and a lot of art if you've got the money or the taste for it. There was a fun, little park with swings, grass and a slide that we played out for awhile. Cole had his first swing ride and Grant had fun pushing him. Mommy even got a little swinging in too.

We ate lunch at a place called the Haunted Burger. Jerome is known for its ghost town theme and haunted buildings. Again, the restaurant dining experience was pretty awful. They did not have any available high chairs and our 4 person both was connected to another four person booth. I was holding Cole trying to make him happy for as long as I could but I think he is programmed to think, "Restaurant. Go crazy and grab everything in sight." My water was spilled. He flung water from my straw onto the woman in the booth next to us. He managed to yell and scream (not cry) over and over in a very small upstairs room of the restaurant. Finally Chad took him outside until our food came. Things were going well until...you guessed it. Grant said the infamous, "I need to go potty." I had to take Cole with me or he would start screaming (he's in the I only want mommy phase these days). We headed down the treacherous, old, too skinny stairs to the bathroom that wasn't really big enough for one person, let alone three. I literally had to put Cole in the sink. Grant, who stands to pee, was a little to short, so he was aiming up more than down and got pee everywhere, including all over my foot. Cole, meanwhile is complaining and doing his best to dive off of the sink (there was no counter). It was a disaster. We managed to finish eating and I headed out with the boys. Chad stayed behind to pay. Literally, ten minutes later Chad surfaced. He said our waitress greeted about four new tables before she took care of our bill. We were relieved to get out of there. We walked around a bit more and found a little bakery. I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. We walked to the bottom of a big hill, Jerome is filled with them, and Chad went back up to get the hill. We piled into the car and headed home a less windey but longer way home. Both boys fell asleep within about 10 minutes and then me shortly thereafter. It was a much smoother drive home. It was a fun outing and we learned a few valuable lessons:
#1: We will always travel with dramamine, a bowl and extra clothes and shoes for Grant.
#2: We will never eat in a restaurant again until our youngest child is over three years of age.
#3: We need to eat far less junk on long weekends.

(Chad at the park...no pictures please)

(Chad outside the movie store that is part of the old silent film theater currently under renovation)

(Grant enjoying some black cherry ice cream and Cole upset at not getting any)

(Cole swinging for the first time - although his face looks like he's upset, he really enjoyed it)

(Grant pushing Cole on the swing)

(Grant with his walking stick - also imagine a slight vomit smell coming off of him)

(Jerome)

(Part of the sidewalk...I like seeing these stamps on the sidewalks in the old AZ towns)

Other funny things

Yesterday, chad and I were getting ready for church. Chad was in our bathroom and I was in the kitchen making some cornbread. Chad called to me to show me what our children were up to. Cole was in the baking cupboard (you will see pictures below of another time he did this) and then he showed me what Grant was up to. Grant took all of the shoes off our shoe shelves in our closet and made a huge pile in the middle of our closet with Chad's ties and clothes. We asked Grant what he was doing and he said he was making a "big pile of junk."

(Grant's big pile of junk)

(The empty shoe rack...This is mine and Chad has one too)

Here is my cute Granty hamming it up in his new t-shirt from his aunt Kitty from Turkey. My children look like the most well travelled children. They have t-shirts from Honduras, Puerto Rico, New York, Turkey and Costa Rica. I just wish it was me who had brought them back for them. My sisters are the lucky ones who get to do all of the traveling.

This is Grant rocking out on the drumset to Rock Band. We had dinner at our friend Matt's house a week or so ago and Matt has the microphone, drumset and two guitars for Rock Band. We let Grant think he was playing drums while we played and he had a great time banging on them.

Next door to us lives a family from our ward. They have a little four year old girl Ava, who gets along really well with Grant. She loves to come over and Grant loves to go play at her house. This is Grant driving Ava around in his Jeep.

A few Fridays ago we went to Barnes and Noble for what we thought was going to be the reading of an Arthur story by the author, Marc Brown. We thought this because that is how I read the sign advertising it. I was wrong. We got there and it was merely a Barnes and Noble employee reading the story then a giant Arthur came out to meet the kids. Grant loves Arthur so it was still a fun outing, just not as fun as we'd originally anticipated. It should also be noted that ever since Grant was very little he has had a huge fear of giant mascot type creatures like Sally Sidewinder at Sidewinders games. He did really well with Arthur until it came time to standing right next to him for a picture. You can see how well that worked out. Chad pointed out after looking at the picture that it looks like Arthur is about to hit Grant and Grant is flinching.

Grant did not start preschool this year but he is ready. I have started doing some things with him at home during Cole's naps. Each week I work on a different letter with him. He already knows the letters but we are working on sounds. He also loves to do art so we do a lot of painting, cutting, gluing, coloring and the like. We make a letter poster each week with pictures of words that start with the letter we are working on. I am also trying to teach him some songs and nursery rhymes that go with the letter. He's not big on singing but likes me to sing and has learned some of the songs. He all of the sudden a week or so after learning Baa Baa Blacksheep during "B" week, started singing it by himself. Grant loves doing his preschool and everyday from the second Cole wakes up starts asking if it is Cole's nap time and preschool time. It actually gets quite tiresome even though his enthusiasm is good.

I have been trying to put a lot of emphasis on those things that Grant can do all by himself these days to help get him to be more independent. We have been working on getting dressed alone, specifically. He has just learned how to put socks on and now loves to put on his socks and to put on Chad's socks. It is an almost daily occurrence these days and he looks hilarious. Grant also found some knee high moccasin slippers of Chad's in his closet and loves to put those on too.

Cole is growing so fast. He will be one year old in less than two weeks. He has the most hilarious little personality. He is a bit of a menace and has to be watched continuously so as not to sneak up stairs or fall down stairs but he is fun. His latest quirk is that when he sucks his middle two fingers he lifts up his shirt to play with his belly button. He makes his belly and belly button so read but doesn't seem to care. It cracks me up.

Cole also loves my brother David. He loves for David to just sit and hold him and what's even greater is that David loves to just sit and hold him. It is adorable.

(Note Cole in his New York t-shirt from his aunts and Oma)

Cole loves to put things in things, stack things on things and climb in things. I put him in this basket and he just sat there forever and loved it. Grant has been playing with one of our remaining moving boxes and Cole loves to climb through it too like a tunnel.

Cole loves to stand up and see what he can see. He won't try to walk though or even creep. If he wants to move even slightly farther than he can standing in one spot, he will get down and crawl rather than hold on and slide his feet. He has absolutely no interest in walking. Here Cole is trying to get the toys that Grant is playing with at the table. He always wants what his brother has.