"It's OK By Me"

We went to the park today and as we were getting ready to leave, Brayton made an interesting fashion choice.

Can you spot it?

Brayton decided to wear McColley's police shoes.

McColley's response, "It's OK by me."

And he did look pretty cute in them:

But wearing his brother's shoes was just the beginning of Brayton's copy cat behavior.

If McColley was doing it... Brayton had to try too... no matter how hard it was:

Of course, McColley had to show off:

And then when it was Brayton's turn, he 'helped' (by bouncing the bee as roughly as possible):

After the bee McColley decided to do some sliding.  Seeing McColley do it, Brayton climbed up and got into position as well.  I told the boys they should race:

McColley got a much better start than his little brother:

For the next race, Brayton decided to try a new starting position:

This time it was McColley who imitated his brother:

As McColley climbed up to slide again, Brayton figured out a way to bother his brother from below:

In order to avoid more brotherly irritation McColley took another route up the next time.  Brayton tried to copy him again... but it was a bit too hard:

After all that work we decided to get some drinks at the shopette.  I got a pop, McColley got apple juice and Brayton wanted water.  Unfortunately his only options were a liter of regular water or a regular bottle of flavored water.  We went with flavored water... and Brayton actually liked it:

Surprising Mommy

We have an I.kea high chair that we purchased during the dark days of TLF.  Since then it has floated around our house, never quite useful and never quite useless.

Recently it found a spot at the end of the couch and became McColley's favorite spot to eat food he wanted to keep away from Brayton.  

Tonight McColley climbed into the high chair to eat dinner and I told him that I would be serving dinner in the playroom, so he would need to eat at the red table.

As I brought his food out I saw this:

I guess he likes the high chair for more than just convenience!

Gotta Love A Free Fair!

This week the De.laware State Fair is taking place about 15 miles south of us.  Since today was Mi.litary Appreciation Day (which meant I got in free... the boys always do) we decided to go!

The first thing we did was wander the midway.  One of the midway games was offering a free small toy for just playing - so I did.

When Brayton reached for a toy too, the guy in charge of the game told me to just tell people I had hit the target:

You'll notice that, along with his brown puppy dog, McColley is holding a bag of cotton candy.  It was the very first thing we had to get when we got to the fair.  McColley has been wanting a bag of cotton candy since the community picnic over two months ago... even though he has never actually eaten it.

Let's just say it was a bit of a disappointment:

Brayton agreed with his brother's assessment:

As we strolled around the rest of the fairgrounds we finally got to see my co-worker Chris march with his fire brigade band in person!  (He's right in front of the snare drum)

Our next stop was the pony ride.  Both boys wanted to go... and McColley had to ride on the biggest pony and Brayton had to ride on the littlest.  Since I was holding Brayton, this was the best picture I could get of the two of them:

We kept strolling and found our way to the Kid Zone.  The boys got to help color a mural for the fair:

Finally we made it to our last stop... the circus:

The boys were absolutely enthralled the whole time:

I don't know if it was the lights, the spandex, the sparkles or the thrills - but they loved it!

A Contest - Disclaimer: McColley-Hopkins Family Members Ineligible

This picture features two of my great-grandparents...

Can you figure out which ones they are?

The contest will be open to guesses through August 1st.

There will be a prize (although it might be slow coming... just ask Christel).

Let Them Eat Cake!

We have a tradition when we bake a cake - I let McColley pick out the style of cake: round, rectangle or cupcakes.

Today he went outside the box and chose The Gingerbread Man Pan.  ::duh duh duuuuuhhhhh::

There was a bit of worry about his choice:

With the pan choice made, it was time for some stirring and cracking:

With the cake mixed, I liberally (very liberally) oiled the pan.  While my attention was diverted, Brayton decided to lick the spatula.  Once its portion of cake batter was gone, he re-dipped... but lovingly handed the spatula over to his older brother.

Why?

He thought he would just be able to dive right into the bowl of batter - who needs a utensil!

There was bitter disappointment when I foiled his plan:

But the cake had to be baked:

I'll admit to cheating... I didn't attempt to actually get the entire cake out of the pan.

I just cut off Brayton an arm:

And McColley a leg:

A Pool Of Disappointment

Today we were invited to go and swim at the Ghirardo cousins' neighborhood pool.  McColley and Brayton were super excited to get the chance to play in the water with their favorite Ghirardos.

Unfortunately, when we pulled up to the facility there was a sign on the door saying 'Pool Closed'.

McColley was bitterly disappointed.

Luckily, the Ghirardos are fast thinkers, and they found a different pool for the kids to play in:

Obviously not all five kids were going to fit into that one little pool together... so the big girls instigated a rousing game of water blasters:

Brayton took advantage of all the big kids being distracted:

New Spots In Old Haunts

Today Grandma and Grandpa decided to take us up to Spoka.ne and try out a few places none of us have ever gone to before... and today that 'us' included Bella, Gia and Mia.

Our first stop was the M.obius Children's M.useum.

There the kids got to spin up some electricity...

dig for bones...

conduct a train...

build a castle...

paddle towards T.ahiti...

navigate a channel...

put a man on the moon...

drive a scooter...

and act like a dog!

It was a very exciting morning!

After lunch we went to our second stop - Ca.t Tai.ls, a large cat rescue/zoo.

Bella got the chance to feed a tiger:

We then went around the rest of the zoo on a scavenger hunt:

The kids found the special hidden golden rabbit and won a free admission pass.  It was a very interesting place and full of great information.

As we left Ca.t Ta.ils we all decided we weren't quite ready for dinner yet, so we decided to go and ride the carousel.

The three youngest kids all decided the most fun place to sit on the carousel was somewhere that did NOT go up and down:

And that the second most fun place to sit was on a bench watching everyone else ride the carousel a second time:

After two carousel rides it finally was time for dinner... and after dinner it was time to drive home.

It was a great day up in S.pokane!

A Lesson In Fr.isbee

Hmm... what do you do with these disk-shaped things?

Great!  Grandpa will show us!

Success!

Double success!

Now we can show the cousins!

A Dream Morning

Guess what we did today!

Thanks to Grandpa's connection, we got a tour of the police department this morning.

Officer Eric showed McColley how to get a sneak peek around a corner:

McColley got to watch in on Grandpa's 'interrogation':

McColley got to practice 'controlling' a suspect:

McColley even got behind the wheel of a police car:

Office Eric showed us all the things he carries around to do his job:

Including his shield:

Officer Eric then showed McColley the lights, siren and PA system... it was a bit loud:

The officers saluted each other farewell:

Then we were off to the S.pudnut Sh.op where McColley re-enacted the whole tour for the Ghirardo cousins with back-up from Brayton:

For the rest of lunch McColley and Brayton were Mia's personal police force:

All of the excitement wore Brayton out so we had to go home for naptime.  Eventually he woke up and it was time for dinner!

We took the boys to McColley's favorite restaurant where he did a little double-fisting:

Grandma and Grandpa provided entertainment while we waited for our food:

Then it was home again and a run through the sprinkler to get all the syrup off:

Clean and dry, it was into pajamas with just enough time to conference about the train room before bed: