Skimming the day away

Cam, Jordan and I had a great time hanging out this afternoon... I had a long split day at work so I spent the full afternoon playing. The weather is pretty close to perfect for playing outside. I pulled out the skim board pool and watched the kids go crazy. I love watching them giggle and splash. So, this is a quick moment to show you how Cam is figuring out his skim board. Very cute.

Enjoying the heck out of our vacation

Cameron is living it up on vacation... Of course we've had our periodic emotional outbreak. But on the whole, he's had some amazing experiences. I think I'll work our way backwards for all of the excitement.

After driving to New England for two days, we spent five days in New Hampshire camping in Crawford Notch in the White Mountains. Now we're on the coast of Maine. It's our third day here and we decided to take advantage of a sunny, warm day to visit a beach. It is so fun to watch Cameron get excited about water and running around in the waves. His sister is still wary but Cam had a BLAST. Not only did he spend a ton of time in the 53 degree water, he also spent a lot of time rolling around in the sand. It was SO messy but that's why God made showers. I let it slide. And Cameron did slide and climb and roll and dig and giggle in the sand. It was great. I still haven't been able to convince him to eat seafood, but we finally have a beach loving kid!

Before the beach, Cam was happy to climb around the rocks on the cove. He's so certain and confident, it's hard to tell him no when he wants to go down on his own. I'm not ready to let him go on his own. Maybe next year once his swimming skills are better. His climbing is great - I watched him do things on the rocks while wearing Crocs that should have never taken place. He somehow found a way to grip onto the rocks with those plastic shoes. I should have known better than to let him go down to the rocks with those shoes on! But he did great and he had all kinds of fun. He's also learning how to skip rocks! I can't wait for his first rock skipping time with his Grandpa. My dad is very good - he has decades of rock skipping practice.

Cam got some great rock skipping tips from his uncle while we were camping. Uncle Barry hung out with us for three out of the five days we were camping in Crawford Notch. We had a wonderful campsite that was right next to the Saco River. We had all kinds of fun throwing (and skipping) rocks. Cam, Barry, Randy and Jordan even floated down the river a number of times. Cameron got so good at it, he started floating on his own! That was so fun to watch. Our floats were so big, Cam had a hard time steering! There were so many amazing highlights of the trip. Cam got to bike with me on the Franconia Notch bike trail, swim near The Basin in Franconia Notch, visit The Flume, ride the tram up to Cannon Mountain and hike the Ridge Trail, ride the 8 mile auto road up to the peak of Mt. Washington, hike up a mountain to see the largest waterfall in New Hampshire and even got to cook hot dogs over the campfire! So many cool experiences. I really think he likes camping and I love that.

We have a bunch more days here in Maine and we're sure to have some more fun experiences. I'll try to take some time out to post a few more stories here.

Look at this bravery!

There's something about becoming an almost first grader that has inspired Cam to do brave things. To celebrate the summer, we bought a thing called a skim board run. It's like a slip and slide but it lets the water sit in a shallow pool and you have 26 feet of space to skim across the water on a small surfboard thing. Cameron spent a lot of time trying to do it himself. It was amazing to watch. He was okay with falling down and laughed even when you know it had to hurt! But the bravery didn't end there.

We took a really nice (yet steamy) bike ride down the Katy Trail. Cameron is enjoying our new bike extension and it's giving our family a chance to really enjoy biking together (although Jordan doesn't like just sitting in the trailer). Cam was adventurous during the trip. He was picking up baby frogs and climbing around on a fence. Randy and I just looked at each other and asked: "Who is this kid?" I'm a fan of the adventurous Cam but it's also reason for me to be more concerned for his safety!

Getting active as best we can

I have this newish rule - We have to go outside (the kids and I and Randy if he wants) once a weekend. To help with that "rule," I bought a bike extension for my new bike so Cam could ride on our local bike trails without screaming. So the whole family jumped on board the bikes (Jordan in the bike trailer) and took a really long trek. We ended up at a local park that has a really fun water spray area. To make it even more fun, a pre-school and now elementary school friend was there so they got to enjoy the water together.

Once we talked Cameron out of the water, the whole family went to a nearby restaurant and ate outside. We kind of pushed it... It was almost dark as we rode our bikes as quickly as possible back to the the parking lot where we started. Cam pedaled as hard as he could. It was awesome. The best part was as he and I pedaled down the trail and he said: "I'm the fastest biker ever! I love biking!" I can't wait for him to feel the same way on his own bike! Until then, we finally have the ability to enjoy bikes without feeling like we're bleeding him to get from here to there. HOORAY!!

Fun and family time

Cameron had a pretty good time while I was out of town last week... But this weekend has been a big family bonanza. His Grandma and Poppy are here and so is his uncle and his girlfriend Beth. To makes things even more exciting, Cam came along to meet up with some folks who went to school with us. Afterwards, we walked over to a new park that has a great playground area AND this really fun water play area. The sprayers pop up when you least expect it. In the end, Cam got totally soaked and it was SO worth it. He has so much fun. We had a great time giggling at him.

Cam is writing up a storm these days. Today he took a piece of paper and started copying sentences from a new Dora book he got. He's reading a ton... He drawing really great pictures. He even wrote a birthday note with a drawing for his Grandma today. It's just great. His ability to draw and write are improving a TON since he started Kindergarten.

"It tastes like french fries"

We took the kids to one of our favorite sandy beaches in Maine: Reid State Park. Cam's been there a couple of times before. This time was certainly the best. He was SUPER brave and went right into the ocean to enjoy some really great waves for the Atlantic. He smiled and giggled even though his parents were not in the least bit interested to get too wet in that FREEZING cold water. When Cam was telling his grandpa all about it, I caught Cam telling him how the water "tastes like french fries." Wow.

I can say our vacation is finally winding down... It's become quite obvious that Cam is very jealous of the attention his sister is taking away from him. I wish I could really help him. The best I can do is tell him that I understand. I've been there. Living like as the older sibling is HARD! Sharing your parents is HARD! I've also asked him to look for ways to get my attention without total mental breakdowns. We can only hope my advice to him helps!

A good weekend

Jumping through
Originally uploaded by NerdyMom

We had one of those Saturdays where everything fell into place. Cam woke up in a sour mood, but it didn't last. His grandparents were in town! They brought this plastic ring that fills up with water and sprays out. So we decided to set it up... But not before Cam got to spend pre-school graduation money to buy his first real water guns (I'm trying to be open minded and allowed the purchase) -- Super Soakers -- and a new bubble blower (it doesn't spill!!).

So we started out with the water ring. It was crazy fun. Jordan was a little skeptical, but Cam was all over it. The water gun and bubbles came out and he LOVED it. Then his Poppy arrived with new sand for the sandbox that's built below the treehouse. That's when life got very messy and extra happy.

There are many adventures to be had in that sandy box. The hard part: Sharing with Jordan and Jordan sharing with Cam.