Vin and I took the boys for a hotdog at the Red Bus and Allie and Ryan met us there. We took a walk along the river to let the kids burn off some steam (someone lit a grass fire while we were there). Unfortunately (Vin forgot his coat) I had to work a night shift so we had to hustle home so (I could get some sleep) we could get the kids to bed. I thought it was cute how both boys were running in synch.

The old pink boat is up for sale. It'll be sad to see it go, and as much as Vin would like to buy it it's just not a priority to have a boat at this time (we need to finish our fence and oh so many other things first - ask Silas how his knee is holding up).

We've since got ourselves a sprinkler, but until that day Vin rigged us up our own sprinkler using our tripod (not the new one). It seems someone was drinking on the job when they designed our underground sprinkler system and there are large areas (or entire front yard except the corner by the driveway) that was left totally void of being watered. I love the idea of timed underground sprinklers, but oh how I wish they'd been put in with SOME thought.

We took a brief jaunt over to the Forestry Farm to check out family picture locations (we ended up getting a booking after all). Getting Dillon to accept being in a picture without me/with Vin without me is not easy. We usually get one quick shot and then the tears start to flow. And it's not a pretty sight.

Silas is rather enjoying the temperatures. He's already finding himself gravitating towards the shade almost exclusively (how did he survive in Taiwan?), but would still rather run around after the ball than lounge about. I'm thrilled to death that his molting stage is over and he can spend the bulk of his time outside (and Vin installed our central vac so cleaning up after him {Silas!} is so much easier).

We took the boys to the Family Expo on Friday. In terms of booths and activities it was a bit disappointing. Certainly older kids would've been bored senseless, but for these 2 there were enough things to keep their interest. 

Such as snakes wrapping themselves so tightly in my hair the handler could hardly get it out.

Spiders.

You could practice using a fire extinguisher.

For only $110 you too could own a wooden peddle-less bike (maybe for a kid Dillon's age, but Atti wasn't the least bit interested).

This was a big deal. Atticus has NEVER even entertained the idea of letting a stranger paint his face. Not. A. Chance. When the lady asked him I was positive he'd just recoil up into himself and that'd be it. But no, he quietly said ok and obediently sat in the little chair. 

She asked what he wanted and he said, 'Blue'. 

She then asked him if he liked any animal and he said, 'Tiger'.

So she proceeded to paint his face like a tiger. He couldn't see what she was painting but he could see the colors she was using and explained to me later that, 'She was mixed up. I wanted a BLUE tiger, not a pink (nose) and black tiger.'

I think this picture perfectly portrays his thoughts: 'I'm only PUTTING UP WITH THIS because I really want to look like a tiger. Don't think this makes us friends.'

On cloud 9 with his tiger face and blue (is there a better color?) balloon (and I let him wear his new runners that are 2 sizes too big). It was like his birthday and Christmas all rolled into one.

They had 3 of these bounce house things. This one had a basketball net and a slide towards the right of the picture. There was no charge so the kids could just go in whichever one suited their fancy and jump to their little heart's content (or until the parents got tired of standing around and dragged them out).

This one was just a great big slide. It looked really fun, and if there hadn't been an age limit sign I may have tried it out myself. Can't count how many times he climbed those stairs and slid down the slide in ever varying ways. 

And, of course, there was a magic show. Atticus was sufficiently entertained, but Dillon wasn't sold on the idea. The show lasted longer than we did.

I'm not a fan of candle apples. I find that once you bite in you come across the crappy apples that are bruised and otherwise not appealing to eat. Carmel apples are really no different, but the carmel is so much yummier than the candy. Anyways, we bought the boys each an apple and made them wait until bath time that night to eat them (so glad I made that call!). And wouldn't you know it but those were the nicest apples I've ever seen covered in crunchy red candy. White, juicy, and not a single mushy brown spot. Not one. 

Oh how I wished I'd bought myself one.

We were having family pictures the next day so I told Atticus we had to wash his tiger off. His heart broke in two and then slowly healed when Vin told him he'd paint his face like a BLUE tiger next time.