Taking the Scenic Route

“Mama, I bwought you some fwowews. Awe dey pwetty?”
Yes Zora, the most beautiful flowers in the world.

The mama bunny we see around the yard a lot decided to have her babies here. She dug a hole in the yard and had about 4 little guys, and we discovered them around the time they all had fur and were about the size of a med-large mouse. This one kept wandering out of the nest.

Eventually Mama did move the babies to another spot so we could mow the lawn again.

Her happy faces are gaining complexity

On most Sundays my parents come into town to make a trip to Sams Club and spend some time with us. This time I grabbed the camera. The kids love to help unload the cart.

He has been obsessed with skateboarding for years. He has been in love with the Tony Hawk game since he was 4 or 5. Mom and Dad finally relented and got him a skateboard. After much research, we decided it would be safer to get a “real” skateboard instead of the toy ones at the big box stores (those have problems with the wheels not turning right and catching…the last thing he needs is a board that make it harder to skate, because this is going to be a lot of hard work to learn as it is). We found this neat hole in the wall skateshop and they helped him pick one, then adjusted the trucks to work correctly with his weight. By sheer coincidence, it matched the skateboard on his much beloved skateboard shirt (that he INSISTED on wearing every time he and Zach went to the skate shop as they were figuring out what to get).

The board finally came in, and on the way home we tried to decide where to let him have his first try at it. I suggested the hospital parking lot. That suggestion was promptly ignored. We realized that WSU ST parking lot was on our way and has a huge, mostly empty parking lot and it was the perfect solution. And the angels were on our side because Zora decided to fall asleep about a block before we got there and slept through the entire thing.

After long last, here is my skateboarding son.

His first ride

It was a hot day, and a lot of stressful new motor planning, and he got tired and fairly quickly. He took off the helmet and the guys walked over to the grass where the wheels could sink into the ground (soft from recent rain) and not roll, and practiced balance and Zach demonstrated how to push off with the foot.

We had one happy and tired boy, and just as we pulled away from the parking lot, Zora woke back up, unaware that we had ever stopped. Perfect.

The last day of his friendship group with the student ST, Lindsay. She has been with him a few semesters now and we are going to miss her. He also seemed to really like the kids we got to hang out with. One was a long time buddy that both my kids like, and the other two were new. The new peer model this semester was just the most awesome kid. He had the innate ability to understand Zane and figure out how to respond and to help him, and he was alway just very laid back and kind. I really hope we get to work with him some more and develop a real friendship.

For the last day, they made pine cone birdfeeders.

Much to our delight and surprise, a package came in the mail from Grammie.

Zora got this neat magnetic dress up doll. She carries it around the house with her and encourages people to talk to it. She carries the pieces around in her doll stroller, and she keeps trying to talk us into taking her with us in the car.

Zane got a marble maze thing. He LOVES toys like this and spends a lot of time playing with it.

We sat around the table, laughing and telling stories for a few hours. It was magical.

And, on her last evening here, Zane snuggled up with her on the couch. Zane doesn’t do this with very many people, so it was a really special momment.

We had SO much fun. We smiled and laughed so hard our faces hurt. It was a dream come true for me.

Since my camera doesn’t do as well on indoor pictures, we went outside to get a few group shots.

#192: Happy Birthday Zach! (take two). This is the first time my whole family and Zandra got together. It was also the first time Steve and Zandra met each other. The kids seemed amazed and very excited to see everybody together, and the two Grandmas had a ball, laughing heartily and giving each other the giggles. These are the only grandchildren for both of them. They agreed that they were the best grandkids in the entire world. (they are ya know). lol. It was absolutely wonderful. A day I dreamed would happen, but didn’t ever think would actually come to pass.

There are a crazy number of photos of supper. The first one was taken by the waitress and is annoyingly blurry, but I think I got enough to make up for it.

Then, we went back to our place for birthday cake….to be continued.