Yesterday we went to the coolest place, a toy train operating museum in Tucson. We didn't even know it was here, and now we'll probably go every other weekend (which is the only time it's open). They had displays of three different sized model trains. I had forgotten how neat the details are, with the little towns and the people. First we watched the large sets like you see in the picture below, then Mason discovered a Thomas set that he could power himself and actually touch. At least no one yelled at us for touching them. He had a blast derailing Thomas then putting him back on the track and re-coupling the coaches. The kid did that for maybe an hour.
This was a real caboose we could enter and tour.
Sunday Erika and the kids went to the Celtic Festival with their friends who have Giselle, Mason's gal pal. Our exposure to actual Celtic activities was limited because the kids only wanted to play on the jumping castles. But they had a blast, and that's what's important.
This picture should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
A jumping castle that is a train. It doesn't get any better, does it?
This kids got their faces painted. Mason got a shark, Giselle a butterfly.
Mason holding a Celtic sword.
Halloween 2010 was a blast. Mason is still shy or something, so he wouldn't automatically say "trick-or-treat" but would sometimes say thank you. He was a fabulous spider man, but didn't wear the mask outside.
Camryn stole the show, though. We carried her between houses, but put her down on the walk-ways so she could go up to the door on her own. She toddled as fast as her legs would carry her to the doors, fearless as usual. She was so cute she got more candy than Mason! Thanks to Nana for the costume.
And the parents went to a couple parties and had a fantastic time. Erika dressed up as Stephen King's Carrie and Kevin made a funny political statement with his.
Who would have thought a simple idea of letting Mason get his feet wet after a long hike in the Santa Catalinas would end up with four out of six people getting soaked. It started with Mason slipping on the mildewy rocks, smack on his butt. He cried, but recovered and got back in the water. We had a spare change of clothes for Camryn, so we let her play in the water. Two down. Time to go home, so Nana tried to rinse the sand off of Camryn. Her feet got wiped out from under her when the sand gave way to the water and both her and Camryn crashed to the water. Crying baby and Nana down means Mama now had to get wet to carry wet baby. Doesn't seem right that only the women and children got wet...
So apparently it's been forever since we've updated the blog. The fun activities in Ohio continued. Erika, Kevin, Loren, Dirk and Diane went to the Ohio State game while Uncle Billy and Uncle Don graciously watched the kids. We went on a train ride through the hocking hills, followed by a few short hikes in Old Man and Ash Caves. Mason had just gotten new hiking boots and was excited to wear them, so he was a great hiker.
We also spent a lot of time with Great-Grandma. She of course adores the kids and they were so sweet, gave her a lot of kisses!
The week after we got back Erika and Camryn went on a hike to Lemmon Pools. It was their longest yet, 8 miles and 1500 feet elevation gain. It was hard, but worth it, the water was cool and refreshing! I apologize, there seems to be no way to rotate the pictures if they were taken vertically. I use the Droid phone camera for everything, it's just easier, but that's one down side. I try to take mostly horizontal photos.
See how much Camryn loved it!
On another trip to the Children's Museum Camryn enjoyed playing with another little baby girl. The other girl was older and gave Camryn lots of hugs. Wouldn't it be nice if adults were as nice to each other as kids were?
The kids have been sick for about a week, starting last Saturday with Mason having green drainage oozing from his eyes. As creepy as it sounds, our MD friend seemed to think it was just mucus filling his sinuses. When it wasn't better Sunday night, we started both kids on antibiotics (Camryn prophylactically since she gets so many ear infections). Mason was so tired that he passed out on his floor at bed time while Erika was putting Camryn to bed.
Two years ago Uncle Loren bought Mason a Smart Cycle that we thought would encourage him to learn to peddle. It did not and he hardly ever used it. He has mastered it now and has found a racing game that he loves and has been doing it almost non-stop for days.
Today we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up, a place loaded with inflatable activities. Camryn could climb the ladder and ride on Erika's lap to go down the slide, and Mason was all over the place, loving the slides.
