Busy, Busy Day

We have been lucky to have long, long days with James. He has been starting these long, wonderful days at 5:15 a.m. some days! We wish he would sleep in just a little longer :)

On one such early morning we went to our favorite breakfast spot on Saturday and then headed to the Mill City Farmer's Market. (Jim had rhubarb on his mind.) We didn't stay long at the farmer's market, it was pretty crowded for such an early season, but we found the rhubarb and admired some other things there (pancake balls- $5 for 3! outrageous!, herbs, grass fed meats, homemade/organic bakery items, etc.)

We left the farmer's market to look for a bathroom. I was concerned that James hadn't used it for such a long time, and so we went inside the new Guthrie, hoping they wouldn't mind that we were just going in for the facilities. I did explain to the information desk guy that we are newly potty training, and he seemed to understand. We found the upstairs bathrooms and a cool observation deck/bridge kind of area. It was such a great view of the river and then the farmer's market below.






This is one of my favorite pictures lately! James even looks like he's happy/smiling :) And he's holding his beloved Lego "spaceship".



Bird's eye view of the farmer's market

This little girl set up her own little spot outside the Guthrie to play her violin. We gave her a dollar and paused to listen. We thought it was very cool that she played the violin!

Our busy day continued at the playground. We stopped at Caribou for some refreshing drinks (iced mocha for Jim, NL coffee cooler for me, and a chocolate milk for James) and then played. James is very expert at climbing.

We all "ran" back to the car.

While we made lunch James watched his favorite show- The Golf Fix.

I think we only got James down for a nap because of the promise of playing in the pool afterwards. It was a hot day and the water was nice! This is the pool that Tia Kiki gave James. James has popped the inflatable slide but we improvised with his plastic slide. It worked well and James loved it!

James was a little scared of the sprinkler but he became brave enough to throw one of his water toys in that direction and then would sneak up on the water to retrieve it. He's a funny kid.

We put our feet in the water too. I can imagine myself doing this all summer :)

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Splash!

Its hot. We filled up the pool this morning hoping that the morning sun would warm it up for a late morning swim. It was still freezing cold when James wanted to go in (at 9ish) so we poured hot water in there to warm it up. It worked. James was still reluctant to get in the pool so I jumped in with him. I only took these pictures before we got wet, but you can see how cute James is with his little swim trunks.

He didn't want to walk down the hill but we made it fun by running!


Toddler model. Strike a pose.


"I think not." (We hear that a lot.) James didn't want to go in the pool.

Strawberries

Jim had today off so we wanted to do something fun. I knew that James would like picking his own strawberries. Oh yeah.



With every berry he picked we heard, "A strawberry!" or "Look! Strawberry!" It was cute :)



So we went home with our $8 worth of strawberries (I think 5 pounds?) and I had big plans.

But first I found this heart shaped strawberry for Jim. Awwww!



As I baked and created, Jim took James for a dip in the pool.



I came outside to say hi and James "got" me. "I got you!" he said as he sprayed with me with water.



Strawberry handpies, using my new heart-shaped mold from Williams Sonoma.





Mmmm. Sour cream strawberry ice cream.

Saturday in SB

So what's the first thing you do when you hit the beach? If you are James you golf!



Throwing sand is fun!



Look at that! The ocean!





Tia ChaCha and Tio Donkey arrive. They only stayed for a few minutes but they got to see James in action. Donkey helped James make a hole for golf.











The water was freezing! We did convince James to step in the water, but he quickly ran away.

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Burying seashells is also fun!



Later on we met up with Grandma Rosie, Grandpa Larry, Tia ChaCha, and Tio Donkey on State Street, the impressive main street of shopping in SB. I guess this could count as a milestone for James- his first bar. I mean, sitting at the bar.



And still later on, we met Uncle Juan, Aunt Marina, and their kids (my cousins) Juan Carlos and Marissa for dinner. I'm sad that I didn't take any pictures but this one of James' meal in a boat.