Twins' First Camping Trip

I still have a back-log of Michigan pictures to post--plus Uncle D's homecoming pictures--but I'll put those on hold for the moment to share some pictures of our camping trip this past weekend. We drove up to Flagstaff to camp at Lockett Meadow with Anna, Justin, Kezia, Daniel, and Lauren. Unfortunately the grandparents were hard at work on their floor project and couldn't join us.

Anna and Justin staked out a campsite earlier in the day, and we finally joined them Friday evening. They chose a lovely site overlooking the meadow and secluded from other campers. The clouds rolled away as we set up camp, and the weather was beautiful and cool Friday evening and Saturday. The stars in the clear sky that night were stunning. (Mom, I thought of you--you would have loved it!) 

 Lydia obliges Aunt Anna's request for a hug

 Kezia and her Daddy

Kezia changed a lot in two months! She's cuter and chubbier and much more interactive, smiley, and talkative. She enjoyed sitting in the girls' clip-on highchair. Lydia and Abby enjoyed touching and kissing and talking to their little cousin!

 Lydia and Kezia

 Abby and Kezzie

 Sweetie niece!

 Kezia checks out her adoring cousin Abby

Isn't she just the cutest?!

We enjoyed plenty of good food and good company. Daniel and Lauren joined us later in the evening, and we lit a fire and ate soup.

Josiah had long talked of marshmallows, so we let him choose a stick and roast a couple. His excitement about camping was fun to see. The girls loved being free to roam, too, though they often tripped on the rocky ground. Lydia ended up with yet another black eye.

 Abby found time to do buckles

 Uncle Justin took Lydia and Josiah exploring around the campsite

 Josiah collected "seeds" to pour on people

 Abby loudly told Kezia about the "ducks" (actually penguins) on the clip part of the portable seat

As anticipated, unfortunately, the actual camping (i.e., sleeping in tents) wasn't glorious, and our little ones are not born campers. Kezia, Lydia, and Abby kept us parents up most of the night. Poor Anna came off of several days of little sleep, since she had just been a doula at a long labor and birth the previous few days. Our girls are thrashers and both wanted Mama for comfort and warmth (= nursing all night, fighting the other to nurse, lying atop Mama, cutting off Mama's circulation, stealing Mama's sleeping bag, etc.). 

We talked up Josiah's luck of sleeping in a tent with Uncle D, but when bedtime rolled around, Josiah wanted Mommy and Daddy--not Uncle D. He went down okay with Daddy in there, but he ended up in our already-crowded tent partway through the night when he awoke and wasn't pleased to find Uncle D his tent companion after all. (Sorry, Daniel! He still thinks you're plenty cool in other ways.) 

 Uncle Justin and Lydia

 Kezia enjoying a seat at the table

 Lydia liked Daddy's cool camping contraptions

I'm glad we finally made the trip happen--but it was a lot of work for just one night away! We came back with piles of dirty clothes, lots of stuff to sort through and put away, and (of course) some cranky kids. But they loved the chance to roam in the cool weather and aspens, and we all enjoyed seeing family. As we drove away, Josiah said pitifully, "I wanna go back to the campsite!" All the way down the mountain he mourned the loss of the campsite and Pa and Grandma's house.

 Josiah "helped" Uncle Justin take down the tent

In a few years I think we'll have happier campers (and parents)--so I hope we have many more opportunities to camp together! Next time "Lil' 'Lias" and his mama and daddy need to join us--along with Pa and Grandma.

 Balancing

 We're glad to have these two back in the country!

 Aunt Anna with impressive baby handling skills--keeping Kezia asleep while helping Lydia balance!

 Lauren and Abby

 Lydia wanted Uncle D to hold her upside-down continually

Here she's throwing herself back

Of Dragons and Pie-rats and Nursing

1. Of Dragons

Jeremy played the soundtrack of How to Train Your Dragon the other day, and Josiah asked about the origins of the music. So Jeremy told him a bit of the story, which fascinated Josiah. He also (perhaps unadvisedly) showed Josiah a trailer of the movie. Since then Josiah has had dragons on the brain. I think the trailer scared him a little bit, but he keeps asking to see the "dragon movie" again.
 
He regularly asks for the "dragon music" and, when it's playing, wants to know exactly what's happening at a given musical moment in the story: "What's happen, Mama?" he asks. "This the bad dragon?" or "The good dragon got hurt, Mama?" The other day he told me, "I want to see a dragon someday, Mama." When I reminded him that dragons aren't real, he just repeated the "see dragons someday" phrase in an assured voice.

Josiah's dragon obsession means he sees dragons in everything these days, too. I squirted some foaming soap into his hands after he went potty one day, and he said, "Look, Mama! It's like a dragon!"

2. Of Pie-rats and Other Word Mix-Ups and Stories

Richard Scarry wrote a story about Uncle Willy (a cat) and some pirate Pie Rats who stole his cherry pie but got their comeuppance at the hands of good ol' Sergeant Murphy. Josiah loves Richard Scarry books and enjoyed this tale, his first exposure to the concept of pirates. Since then, he always says "pirates" as "pie rats."

In another Richard Scarry book, we looked at pictures of an airport with planes and airline personnel. He asked about the uniformed cats and I told him they were the pilots. He's now got it in his head that "pie rats" fly planes, too, since he confused "pilots" with "pirates."

And another story about a story--we read the book Little Toot (about a tugboat) the other day. Josiah requested it again later: "Mama, you read Little Poop!" Because we refer to farts as "toots" around here, I guess Josiah just got confused as to which bodily output the little tugboat was named after.

I'm glad Josiah's mind is full of books. Not only will his love of books serve him well in the long run, but it also adds amusement to my day. Lately he's taken to yelling out several times a day, "AH-CHOOO! You fall down flat, Mama!" (Anyone want to name that book? Winner gets . . . hmm . . . more pictures of Josiah posted on the blog!)

In another funny (but otherwise unrelated) word confusion, Josiah calls "picnics" "pancakes." "We go on a pancake to the park, Mama?" he'll ask.

3. Of Nursing

This one just makes me laugh . . . poor Abby

Lately I've been tandem nursing again. It's a compromise to deal with the desperation of the poor, deprived sister who doesn't think to ask to nurse first--and thus is left to watch the other smugly suck down gallons of milk while she objects loudly to such preferential treatment on my part.

 Who wouldn't want to nurse these two at the same time?!

So I haul the unlucky sister up on the couch and try to get her situated so she and I are reasonably comfortable (usually she sits up). She lunges to latch on, but both nursing at once doesn't mean peace for anyone. I turn into referee as I try to keep the girls from poking each other's eyes, digging their toes into each other, doing acrobatic contortions and flips, scratching me, pulling each other's hair, grabbing toys from each other, etc. Nursing is definitely a busy, social activity with two toddlers!

 Unhappy Abby (here she wanted the camera, not nursing, though)

 Thumb-sucking Lydia

Last week when I was wrangling the girls during a tandem-nurse, Josiah sensed my frustration and asked, "You not happy, Mama?" I told him I was fine, just trying to nurse the girls. He said, "I want to nurse too, Mama." Oh yes, I'd love to add a third, even bigger toddler into the chaos--bring it on, Bud!

 As a rule, Lydia likes eating real food better than Abby does . . . but that doesn't stop her from clamoring to nurse every time Abby wants to!

 Abby loves this doll from Great-grandma!

 Abby loves to put the animals into this Noah's Ark

This is Lydia, but they all love to sing and dance!