Cow go pee-pee at the Fair

It's one of the most-often-pulled-out-and-used phrases from the "stupid things we said when we were kids" list. Cow go pee-pee at the Fair. Apparently one of us (I can't remember, but let's just say it's Jeanne. Cuz she STILL says weird stuff. And she got to do all the cool things when she was a kid) went to the local 4-H fair with Dad. Upon coming home, Mom asked what Jeanne saw at the Fair. And apparently this was a big deal to her. That she saw a cow, going pee-pee, at the Fair. A momentous occasion.

Anyway, Dex and John and I went to the happenin' Cecil County Fair this morning, to see if we could find any cows. Bonus points if we found cows going pee-pee. Notes: 1) If you go to the Cecil County Fair at 9AM sharp, the admission teenager chicks aren't manning the admission booth yet and you can get in scott free, instead of paying ten bucks. 2) We saw a wide assortment of animals, but Dex went RUNNING across the driveway to see a huge tractor. 3) Yes, yes. We saw a cow going pee-pee at the Fair. And also a pig. Who peed FOREVER. I mean, really. It was insane, the volume of pee that came out of this pig. 4) Goat shows are pretty entertaining to watch. 5) There's a lot of flags at the Fair. And Dex wants to stop to see EVERY ONE of them. 6) Cows going pee-pee at the Fair makes for one VERY VERY tired boy. We might have to do this all week...

For your viewing pleasure: The Cecil County Fair

Hold on, Daddy. I'm watching a cow back there...

Cow petting. MOOOOOOO.

Cows. Fascinating stuff. Also cool - the fans up in the corner of the stalls.

Still with the cows

COW WASH!

Petting a very patient pig

Neither boy seems very impressed with the curious pig who wants to say hi.

Also saw, and was not very impressed with, sheep

Goats, which we eventually got out to pet. And try to poke in the eye.

Went running across the driveway to see this monstrous thing

Tractors! Must. Go. See. Tractors!

The universal sign for "things with wheels"

An excellent morning at the Fair

Swing

Aunt Christy and Steven came to visit for the weekend, to babysit for us on Saturday night while we went to Longwood Gardens to celebrate Mother's Day. Late, I know, but John gave me a certificate for a symphony or a concert, and I chose fountains and fireworks at Longwood, with some Gershwin music thrown in for good measure. It was AWESOME. I don't even like fireworks much - I don't like the loudness - but these were great. Directly over our heads, set off like 100 yards away, 40 minutes long, fountains with lights changing colors depending on the music. Very very cool.

So, Aunt Christy and Steven had fun with the small child for the evening while we relaxed. Really, they deserved some relaxation as well, as we enlisted Steven's help in going to pick up a swing set for Dex (found on Craigslist. Seriously - what would I do without Craigslist?). And then, on the hottest afternoon of the summer, we decided it'd be fun to actually put UP the swing set. Which, on our un-level ground, involved some serious digging. And sweating. And sunburn. And more sweating. John made mud on his arms, from the mixture of dirt and sweat.

And then this morning, which wasn't a whole lot less hot that yesterday, Steven and John finished up the swing set while Dex climbed on it - he was too impatient to wait for it to be done. He wanted to climb that ladder NOW!

So, Christy and Steven, we owe ya one. Next time you want a swing set installed in your condo in New York, just give us a shout...

Swing set retrieval is way easier when you can borrow a trailer

Gotta do a little digging. Everyone pitches in.

Christy, Master Leveler

John wants to know why so many of the pictures I have are of his butt. Just getting your best side, babe. ;-)

Doesn't that shovel seem a little on the small side?

Seriously, hon, Why you gotta steal Dexter's shovel?

The fort has been moved in to the trenches. What do we think? Does it fit? Is it level?

Ladder installation

A new day, a new hole to be dug, more checking for level to be done

The finished product

With monkey bars, for some excellent falling and breaking of leg opportunities

Also includes a fun steering wheel - likely Dexter's favorite part of the swing set in the foreseeable future.

Heading toward the completed swing set for the first time. After a huge rain storm. We couldn't wait til it was dry.

SWING!

Will need some help getting up the ladder for a while but I think he'll catch on quick

Hooray steering wheel!

Your monthly installment of Longwood Gardens pictures

We had absolutely nothing going on today, and I don't do so well with nothing going on. So we needed an excursion. I chose Longwood. Which, in retrospect, was probably not a good idea. Because it was BLAZING HOT. And inside the greenhouse? Not exactly cooler. Dex was ok - he was splashing in water. I was... HOT.

But we had a good time for a couple hours, doing all kinds of stuff. We fed fish:

Yeah, ok. This isn't a picture of Dex feeding fish. I couldn't really do that, as I spent the whole time with an arm around him so he wouldn't dive in to the pond... But, it IS a really cool, huge frog that we saw at the pond.

We watched people feed some really ugly fish:

Really, REALLY ugly fish.

Dex was not so psyched about watching the ugly fish because he wanted to watch more of THIS:

Water, Mom. I see some water.

The object of Dexter's desire:

Italian Fountain Garden. Dex could have stayed here for HOURS watching the water appear, then disappear, then reappear, then disappear. Fascinating stuff.

We also hugged some trees and some dragons. That's right. Dragons.

I'm amazed at the difference in size between tiny Dexter and the HUGE Tulip Poplar.

See? Dragons. Dragons rule.

Then, of course, it was off to the Children's Garden to play in some water for a while. There were a bajillion kids there today. Apparently it was "let's take a field trip" day at Longwood Gardens.

Highly entertained by the traveling water fountain

Finally, here's a little video for you. Listen carefully to hear Dex talking...

Longwood Gardens July 21 2010 from Alissa Norman on Vimeo.

Watching fountains on a hot day at Longwood

PS - Right! Video! Haven't posted video in forever because I haven't had sound on my laptop. But now! Now! I have sound. Yay! Because John is awesome and fixed my computer while I was away at the beach. All it needed was a nice new hard drive. Thanks, honey!

Hot

It took me going away for the weekend for Dexter to say his first word. Sure, John thinks his first word is "Da-Da." I still personally think that's a crock of shit. But if he wants to believe it, fine. Da-da is just a noise me makes. It's sounds, all strung together in a line of babble.

(Dex just learned to climb on things a couple weeks ago. Greeeaaaaattt...)

But Friday July 16 John said he was waiting for the hot dogs to cool off before giving some to Dexter, and kept telling Dex it was "hot." And Dex picked right up on that, and now runs around saying"HOT" to everything. In the car seat? Random "hots" just come out of his mouth. On the changing table? HOT. In the kitchen? HOT. Looking down the air conditioner to see if it's turned on? HOT. Sitting on the driveway playing with tennis balls? HOT. Hella cute.

Every time I think he can't get any cuter, he does it again.

Lots of letter sounds have gotten better, too, in the past couple weeks. Dex will look at the "D" hanging on his door, point and say "DA." In the bath tub he has a foam letter B and J, and will say "BA" and tries to say JAH (but it comes out as DA). He likes to make the noise for the letter X. And he has awesome letter S sounds.

I think I can, I think I can...

Dex is still learning new signs every day. He recently picked up a sign for "clock" and just Friday started doing the "drink" sign like it's supposed to be done, instead of just randomly waving his arm around. Cool. He also thoroughly enjoys sitting in his high chair doing the hand motions for the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. It takes me a while to pick up on that one. What do you want? A ball? A banana? Oh! Got it! Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Dex signing "socks."

And "shoes."

John just told me the best story of his adventures with Dexter this morning. Dex loves John's long-sleeve Syracuse shirt. He pulls it out the drawer almost daily. I've been showing him the big letter S on the back this week when he pulls it out. So today John said Dex pulled the shirt out of his drawer, turned it over and over looking for the S, found it, and said "SSSSSSSS." Priceless.

And where was I this weekend, you ask? At the Beach! With ADULTS! So awesome. A girl friend celebrated her 40th birthday (which, really, blows my mind to think that I have friends that old) with a girls weekend in Dewey Beach. I haven't been there in four years or so. It's amazing how the place stays the same - same bands play at the same bars on the same nights. John asked me what we were going to do for the weekend. Where would we go? I told him I had no idea - I'd never been to the beach with girls before. Only with him and his guy friends, who have a Dewey routine set in stone. Go to the Starboard on a Friday night? Unheard of! Skip Jam Session and go to Northbeach for dinner? Blasphemy! Go to the Starboard for Sunday morning breakfast and NOT get a blood mary? What's WRONG with you people!! It was, however, a fabulous weekend away. And it sounds like Dexter and John had a great, HOT weekend.

The Perfect Summer Weekend

I'm a little behind here, so bear with me.

We spent July 4th weekend with Mom and Dad in Lansing, enjoying their awesome heated pool and taking advantage of the perfect weather - hot during the day but not too humid, cool at night. Dex wore pants and a sweatshirt on his morning walks, and swam in the pool all day.

We pretty much spent all weekend doing THIS:

And when we weren't doing that, we were doing THIS:

And when we weren't doing that, we were doing THIS:

And when we weren't doing that, we were doing THIS. Or sleeping:

It was a pretty awesome weekend, especially after spending so much of the past couple months running around doing various things for various houses, packing and unpacking. It was nice to spend a weekend focusing on nothing but having fun.

Here's a few more photos. If you're crazy (or a Grandma) HERE is the link to the whole lot of photos from the weekend.

Note complete lack of tray. I thought this would be way more of a pain in the ass than it turned out to be. I think Dex has flipped his plate over maybe once.

Jumping in. Always with that surprised look on his face. One would think he'd want to close his mouth...

Checking out the cool (and amazingly still alive) frog in the pool skimmer

Water guns. Of course.

Blowing bubbles with Grandpa

How many noodles does a boy need?

Dex tries to figure out how he can pick up the HUGE ball