Last weekend was a boys weekend.? SuburbanMommy went to NYC for the weekend to attend soon-to-be-SuburbanAunt’s bridal shower and bachelorette party.
Surprisingly, the weekend wasn’t too bad.? It was much, much better than the weekends in the winter when I was home alone.? Mainly because we can do things outside.? The Things have way too much energy to be contained indoors.
I shot some video of our weekend.? As you can see, water, spray bottles, a sprinkler, and popsicles are all we needed.
What does a 5 year old consider to be fun? Sure, there are the typical activities you’d expect – tee ball, board games, puzzles – that Thing 1 enjoys.
But there is another one you probably wouldn’t guess. He likes to write numbers on a piece of paper. He starts with 1, 2, 3 and continues until there is no more room on the paper. It’s a game to see how high he can get.
In this one he counted by two’s and got to 417. Sometimes he’ll go by three’s or fives. If he doesn’t have time to finish he’ll save it and pick up where he left off.
He’ll also flip the page over and continue writing numbers. Here is the back of the one from above.? Final tally on this one was 669. Not what you would have guessed but he really likes it and has been doing it for years.
I had a company picnic this week.? There were the usual kids activities – face painting, balloon animals, ice cream – and the featured attraction was a softball game where the company “all stars” played against a visiting team with “special guests”.? Turns out the guests were the the Jonas Brothers.
It was pretty cool even though I don’t have a clue about the Jonas Brothers, other than I’ve seen them on the Today show and know they are very popular with young girls.? I have three boys.? They care more about important stuff.? Like who gets the bigger balloon sword.? More on that later.
As I was walking out the building to pick up Thing 1 and Thing 2 for the picnic, I saw the entourage of SUV’s that was the Jonas Brothers.? I managed to snap these up close pictures with my iPhone.
Back to the balloon swords.? We waited in line, in the hot sun, for 45 minutes because Thing 2 really really wanted a balloon sword.? About 5 minutes later, all 4 swords were popped.? What a great use of time at a company picnic.
We went to the Reston Festival this weekend. We got there before it opened, which was good for beating the crowds. But many of the rides weren’t ready yet and the Things grew restless.
By far the best ride/game was this giant inflatable slide. Kids had to climb through a series of levels (not easy) and then there was a big slide at the top. We saw lots of kids try but not make it, and they had to do the “climb of shame” while dozens of kids in line watched them.
I’m happy to say both Thing 1 and Thing 2 made it to the top. Thing 1 easily. Thing 2 struggled around level 3, cried a bit, but was motivated by his brother. What a proud moment for SuburbanDaddy.
I learned a new meaning of the expression “Cold Feet”.? Last night, Thing 2 came into our bedroom around 4:30am.? Unfortunately, this is not all that uncommon.
He often wakes in the middle of the night, wanting a light turned on, or a different blanket, or some toy to sleep with.? He goes back to sleep easily enough.? I, on the other hand, can’t always get back to sleep so quickly.
But I digress.? Last night, when I walked him back to his room, and asked what he wanted, he said “My feet are cold.? I want my slippers”.? He has a pair of Barney slippers which he hasn’t worn and I haven’t seen in months.
Waiting for the sack races to start. The race didn’t go too well. Thing 2 jumped out to an early lead but then took a tumble and started to cry. Thing 1 gave up halfway through when he saw he couldn’t win. So much for always finish what you start.
