Solvang for Thanksgiving

It's been a very fun week! Brooke's been out of school all week, so she and Camille have been playing a lot together. We spent a lot of Tuesday doing laundry and cleaning up the house, in preparation for our miniature trip this week.

Wednesday, we woke up early and got ourselves ready to go. We drove to Solvang that morning. It took us a couple of hours to get there, and after stopping in the little town square to stretch our legs, we attempted to go apple picking first thing. But, we discovered that the apple farm was closed. On our way out to the farm, though, we saw a really cool looking park, so we stopped there to play for a while instead. It was such a fun park, all made of wood, and built up like a little town and castle. Jack slept in the car for a bit in the car while we played at the playground. We had our picnic lunch there, too, before we set out for more adventures.

We next went to Ostrichland, on the other end of town, which was a little Ostrich farm and preserve. They had huge enclosures with just hundreds of birds in them. It was really amazing, actually. We paid a couple of dollars to feed them, and it was pretty funny. They kept trying to pull the feed buckets out of our hands, and they were pretty strong. Brooke and Camille didn't really want to feed them. They were afraid of being bitten and pecked. And they didn't seem entirely sure that they were enjoying themselves. But I had fun!

We went to a museum for a little while afterwards. It was all about this history of Solvang and the immigration from Denmark. Solvang is a little Danish settlement, started in 1911 by a group of Danes who came over from Denmark. They wanted to settle a place just for Danish folk to come and live together. Then, people started coming for visits, and they remodeled the town to LOOK Danish, and ever since, it's been a big tourist destination.

We walked around the town for a bit, going into some of the shops and looking around. We stopped at Birkholm's Bakery for some Danish treats to share. It was a fun town to walk around. They also had a local Farmer's Market going that afternoon that we were there, and we got some honey sticks. We played tag in the town square one more time before going to check into our hotel. We stayed at the local Holiday Inn, and booked a suite room, so that we'd have 2 separate rooms (for ease of putting kids to bed). After getting settled in a little, we went to the Little Mermaid Restaurant for dinner. It was just down the street from our hotel, so we walked the little ways there in the rain. The kids were so good for dinner in the restaurant, even Jack! The girls colored on their little menus, and Jack just sat and ate and played with his little cars (he had a car in his hand almost the whole day).

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for bedtime. We put Jack to bed first, and he cried for a little while after we left him in the room. But it didn't take him too long to fall asleep. He was pretty exhausted; it was a full day, and there wasn't much sleep for him. The girls and I watched "Peter Rabbit" in the other room while Jack was falling asleep. Then, once he was asleep, Camille went down. Then Brooke eventually. It actually worked fairly smoothly! We are always so nervous about staying places, especially hotels or camping, because it's so hard for our kids to go to sleep when they're not at home in their own beds. But this actually worked!

Next morning was Thanksgiving day! Daniel took Jack for breakfast and a walk while the rest of us slept a little later (Jack woke up just after 6am, the stinker). Then once the girls and I were awake, I took them and Jack to breakfast, and then we all went to the pool for a little bit. Well, the girls played in the pool. Daniel and Jack and I stuck to the hot tub.

That morning, we walked around town for a bit. We went into a couple of toy stores. We told Brooke that we would buy her a little something if she wanted. She and Camille both picked out some coloring books, Brooke's came with markers. Then at another place, there were a bunch of cars and trucks that Jack really loved; so we got him a little school bus. I wish I'd gotten a picture of his little face when we gave him that bus. He had the hugest smile on his face, and that smile lasted for a long time. He was so excited about it! It was adorable.

We couldn't leave Solvang without having some Aebleskivers, and I'd found this place online called the "Aebleskiver Cafe", and we had to do a little searching, but finally found it.... And then discovered that it was an asian place that happened to also sell Aebleskivers. It just didn't seem right. We had one order of Aebleskivers and sausage (which was pretty good), and then decided to try someplace else for Aebleskivers. We went to the Danish Mill Bakery for more Aebleskivers and some lunch. It was delicious, and so fun to go out altogether.

It was pretty busy around town that morning, despite it being Thanksgiving. There were a whole bunch of places open that morning, and people were just milling around and eating and shopping. It was fun! We really enjoyed our little trip to Solvang!

We drove out to Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob's house for Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon. David and Kira and their family, Steve and Inga's family were there in addition to us and Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob. It was so nice of them to invite us for their family dinner. And we always enjoy spending time with all of them. And the kids LOVE playing with their cousin. Every time we go there, Ava convinces all the kids to put on a little trampoline show for the adults. It's pretty hilarious and cute. Dinner was amazing, and visiting every one was even better. Plus, before dessert, they had a root beer tasting to discover which brand root beer is the best. That was super fun! And we were all a little surprised by the outcome.

 

 

We had a pretty awesome Thanksgiving, and it was so amazing spending so much time together.

Yesterday, we went on our first family bike ride. We hooked up the trailer hookups to the bike the Erdmanns gave us, and Jack and Camille rode in the trailer while Brooke, Daniel and I rode bikes. We rode along the wash trail by our house all the way down to Chic-Fil-A for some fries and water. We ate and then rode down to Barnes and Noble to look at books. It was a pretty fun family date, and Brooke was great. She didn't seem to get tired at all, even though it was a long bike ride. I, however, will be recovering for days. My sit bones are very tired and bruised. 😄

Sleepiness in the Household

Jack's been picking up a whole bunch of words these days. It'd be too hard to try and come up with a list of all his words; he's learning so many every day. But it's so cute and fun to see him learning and TALKING. It's so weird. My baby is not so much of a baby anymore.

Last week was a weird week. Brooke only had 3 days of school because Monday was Veteran's Day, and they didn't have school Friday for Parent Teacher Conferences. It was nice to have Brooke with us all day on Monday. I can't remember what we did (of course), it was probably nothing big. But I always like having my kids at home. I volunteered in Brooke's class on Tuesday of last week, which is always fun, and Jack and Camille spent the morning at Hillary Erdmann's house, playing with Olive. I think they like playing with Olive. At least, she and Camille seem to get on pretty well, which surprises me. Both of their little personalities are quite ... intense. And the littlest things can set them both off. But maybe that's why they get along, because they are so much alike.

Anyway, after I picked them up that day, I decided to feed them before putting Jack to bed, even though he was super late for his nap. I just figured he'd sleep better with a full stomach. He was doing so well, eating and talking and smiling and giggling. And I was doing something at the counter while chatting with him a little while he was eating and sitting in his high chair. I turned to focus on what I was doing, and then literally less than a minute later, I looked back, and this is what I saw:

He fell right to sleep in his high chair, poor little man. He was so tired. But, of course, carrying him up to his bed was the best part of that day, because he was all limp and cuddling up on my shoulder and sleeping. And I loved it.💗💗💗

The evening there was a Relief Society activity. We met at the church and watched a documentary about President Nelson. It was so good! It was so fun to learn about his life and his talents. I've had a soft spot in my heart for President Nelson for a long time, and I've only grown to love him more since he became the new prophet in February. When he spoke to the women of the church this last General Conference, I could just feel his great love for all of us. He's just so amazing!

Thursday was kind of a weird day. Camille was super out of it all day long. She slept through the whole of Brooke getting ready and our morning routine. Then, she came downstairs at one point and ate just a tiny bit of something. Then she went over to the couch, snuggled up with her blankets and pillow, and fell back to sleep. She slept on the couch like that all morning long, while Jack and I played together upstairs. After I put him down for his nap, she woke up and ate and was up. But she still seemed a little out of it, not quite her usual self, pretty low on energy. I couldn't see if anything was really wrong, though. She didn't have a runny nose or a fever or a sore throat. She didn't complain about a headache or anything else hurting her. She seemed generally fine, except that she was sleeping a ton and sort of low on energy. It was really weird.

Thursday was a half day at school, and I let the girls watch a little tv, even though it wasn't Friday, because of Camille not feeling very well, and because it was the beginning of Thanksgiving break for Brooke!

Daniel and I went to Parent Teacher Conferences on Friday morning, and Nicole watched the kids at her house. She sent me some really cute pictures of her kids and my kids playing together. She has 2 older girls and a couple of boys Brooke's and Camille's ages. But it was so cute to see the older kids playing with the younger ones.

Ms. Johnson had really nice things to say about Brooke. She said that Brooke is the cutest, sweetest most thoughtful girl, that she plays nicely and fairly with the other kids, that she follows directions really well and keeps the rules really well. She also said that academically she's right where she needs to be, and even excelling in some areas. She's in the highest reading group, and she's doing well in math. We were really proud of Brooke, and it's nice to be the parent that hears good things about their kid. Brooke is pretty low maintenance, though. She tries to be good and do what's right, and she doesn't require that much direction or correction (at least so far). She's pretty awesome, and I really like her. I suspect that bringing Brooke up isn't going to be very difficult.

After conferences and an errand, we came home, put Jack down for a nap (poor baby has been late for naps a lot this week), and the girls got to watch a little tv again. Lucky them. 😊 It was a pretty low-key afternoon. After Jack's nap, we all went outside to play and while the girls rode around on their bikes and Jack pushed the little stroller around, I followed them and walked and sat where they played and called my siblings. I had a really good conversation with Scott, who I haven't talked with for a while. He's up at BYUI, schooling it up and dating this girl and dancing on their folk dancing team. Sounds like he's doing really well.

I spent most of Saturday cleaning up the downstairs, which had really gotten out of hand during the week. And Daniel spent most of the day working. So, poor kids, they were mostly on their own all day. After the kids went to bed, Daniel and I were super lazy. And we were quite stupid. We watched 2 long movies back and back and didn't go to bed until 1 in the morning. Ugh. We enjoyed spending time together and making fun of the movies we watched. But we were pretty tired the next day.

Sunday was busy. I had choir practice in the morning, and then played the organ for Sacrament meeting, plus we did our Thanksgiving choir performance that day. It was really good! Daniel said it was the best performance he's ever heard from the choir. After church, Daniel went on a ministering visit while I hung out with the kids. Jack napped, and I played games with the girls. We had fun! And at one point, Brooke dragged me outside to play frisbee with her. She'd inexplicably found an old frisbee in the garage, and I taught her the basics of throwing it, and we played for a bit outside. It was fun! She's not too bad, for having just learned and for being such a wee child. I ended the day by Stake choir practice. We're preparing for the Christmas program, which is gonna be awesome! Plus, I just love singing in the choir. Especially at Christmas time.

Yesterday was a nice day. The kids and I ran errands in the morning, which put Jack's nap a little later than usual. But we returned some jeans I'd bought, and we bought some Christmas gifts and things for Thanksgiving.The girls and I played outside while Jack was napping. We played frisbee for a while, and then they ordered me to pull out this bike that the Erdmanns gave us (like, ancient and beat up, but still functional), and we rode around the neighborhood close to home. It was fun! I need to get the trailer hook ups on my bike so that the kids and I can do more bike rides together.

After naps, the kids and I went to the Delhoyos house to play. I haven't hung out with Heather in so long, and I just needed to see her. Plus, her kids love hanging out with my kids, even though they're all older. She was working on making about a billion rolls to sell for Thanksgiving, and I helped a little tiny bit and kept her company while she worked. And we talked. It was really nice.

Other than all that, we went to the park last week one day, I've been completely lazy lately watching old episode of Gilmore Girls (it still sucks me in, even though I've seen it all about a billion times), and I also worked on making plans for Christmas gifts for everyone. I really need to hop on it. Usually, I like to have most of the shopping done before December. But I've not really been thinking about it much this year. It's coming quick, though! And Thanksgiving is in 2 days! I love this time of year!

Thanksgiving Tree

It's hard to believe that we're already mid-way through November! This year has flown by! It's finally starting to feel like fall. The weather has gotten chilly (for California) and we've been bundling up in sweaters for the last week.

Last week, for Family Home Evening (which we didn't have until Wednesday, because we tried to wait for Daniel, and it didn't really work out) we had a lesson gratitude, and I told the Bible story about when Jesus healed the 10 lepers, and the one came back to say thank you. And we are doing something new this year for Thanksgiving. I drew a tree on the back of a big piece of wrapping paper, and taped it up on our door. And each day until Thanksgiving, we are writing one thing that we are each thankful for on a little paper leaf, and taping it on our tree. And hopefully by Thanksgiving, our tree will be colorful and bushy and beautiful, and we'll have thought about many, many things that we are grateful for. I'm hoping we'll be able to make this into a yearly tradition, but we'll see how we feel about it this year. So far, I'm loving it! And the girls love it, too. Brooke reminds us every night that we need to write on our leaves and put them up. It's so cute.

Also, on Wednesday, I made a couple of batches of rice crispy - type treats. Scotcheroos and Rice Crispy Treats. I'm trying to use up everything we have in food storage before we have to move (which will inevitably happen within the next few months, it seems. I'm therefore trying to use up the things we have in the house and not add to any of our storage), and we had this huge box of rice crispies in the closet. But, of course, I made these treats, thinking it'd be no big thing. And then ended up eating most of them. Apparently, I've forgotten how much I like Scotcheroos and Rice Crispy Treats! I made dinner for a family in our ward that day, and fortunately, I could take about half of the treats to them.

We went to the park after school one day last week. I asked the girls to clean up the loft and their bedroom before we went to the park. It took them over an hour, haha! But they were glad when they could play at the park.

Saturday was busy. I got up early and went to the temple, which was nice. And I got home and Daniel was deep cleaning the downstairs. I hung out with the family, played piano when they all left to go to the park, played piano at a baptism in the late afternoon (which we all went to together), and then came home, and got some Thanksgiving food in the oven. While it was baking, I went and laid down in bed, and watched as each member of my family slowly, and one by one, came and got in bed with me. We hung out in bed for like an hour, the kids coming and going, hanging around, jumping in and out of bed. It was fun!

We went to the ward Thanksgiving dinner that night, and we had fun. Jack would NOT stay still at all! Daniel and I took turns walking around the church building with him. And a bunch of kids all swarmed around him, watching him and playing with him. They thought he was so funny and cute. Which ... he is.

It seems last week was slightly busy, and slightly boring. We did stuff, but nothing too exciting.

But, as we speak, the girls have shut themselves up in their room, playing "Indians", which basically consists of them taking off their clothes, and taking smallish pieces of fabric to create loin-cloths and other indian-type apparel. Camille came downstairs to ask for another piece of fabric, and I about died! It's so cute and funny when they play make-believe like this. Lately, they've really enjoyed playing together, which I love. And I find it amusing that they go into their room and shut the door and play there for hours at a time together. It's kind of a new thing, this shutting themselves up in their room thing.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

A week ago is too long ago to remember. Every time I write in my journal, I have to rack my brain to remember how the week went.

The big thing that happened about a week ago was that Daniel and I had an all-day date and went to Universal Studios! Basically it was a birthday present for me. We wanted (or rather I wanted) to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter before we leave California (which could be any week now). So Daniel took me! We had arranged to go on Friday (the 26th); Daniel had arranged for Bailey to come babysit for half the day, he had our friend buy us discounted tickets, and I found someone to cover the rest of the day, and everything was worked out. And then ... our friend bought the tickets for Thursday (the 25th). So Wednesday, we were scrambling to rearrange our plans (because they won't change the date of the tickets for ANYTHING ... I'm not bitter). We got it all worked out, though, which was really great, because I would have been really disappointed.

Anyway, we went on Thursday and had a great day! We did mostly Harry Potter world, all throughout the day, and then went and did a few other things interspersed through the day. HP was first. We got there and did the rides and explored the village for a while. It was so fun! It's all about the atmosphere, and they really did a good job making it feel like Hogsmeade. The castle ride really made me sick; but the line weaves all through the castle, and it's all done up inside like Hogwarts, which is so fun. Later in the day, I wanted to walk back through the castle (more slowly, so I could look at things), which we did, and when we got to the ride, Daniel went on the ride and I just left. (It made me so sick.)

Other things we did at Universal: the Studio Tour, which was fun. We rode a tram all the way around the studios, and a tour guide told us a little about the studios and the kinds of things they've filmed there. We went to a Stunt Show, where we learned all about the different kinds of stunts they do in movies, and they showed us a bunch of cool stunts. We went on a couple of rides, and Daniel went on a 3D ride without me (cuz, barf). In the middle of the day, we went back to Hogsmeade and had lunch at the 3 Broomsticks, which was so good. We ordered pumpkin juice with our lunch and it was real tasty. And then at the end of the day, we had to go back to Hogsmeade for Butterbeer and Pumpkin Pasties. The Butterbeer was SO GOOD when it was hot, not quite as awesome frozen. We really liked it. And also, at the end of the day, we did wand buying at Olivander's (which is just a demonstration with "magic").

When the park closed to us, we walked around City Walk for a while, just looking at things, watching people, and then stopped at a crepe place for a little dinner before heading home. We had such a fun day together!

Saturday was the ward Halloween Party at the Halladay's. We dressed in our costumes: Brooke and Camille were black kitties (again, 2nd year in a row), Jack was Jack-Jack and I was Elasti-girl (Incredibles), and Daniel painted his face like a Day of the Dead candy skull. We had a fun time, the girls got lost in the crowd a lot and got lots of candy, and we all went home tired.

Halloween was on Wednesday of last week. Jack had a doc appointment that day, poor baby. He hated every minute. He's healthy, the doctor said he's on track with his milestones, and he's still tiny -- 2% for height and weight.

That night, we went to the Delhoyos for a little soup and rolls and hanging out before trick-or-treating the neighborhood with our friends. It's one of my favorite Halloween traditions. We've done that for the past 3 or 4 years, I think. I hope that when we move away, we can find some fun people to carry on that tradition wherever we live. Jack did not love it. I tried dressing him up the little blue monster costume we have, and he just screamed and tried to pull it off. So I took him out of it. He would've looked so delicious, though! Anyway, he did not see the big deal with trick-or-treating, so after walking up a few streets with everyone, I took him home to bed and let Daniel finish out trick-or-treating with the girls.

We got zero picture of the following events this Halloween: pumpkin carving, ward Halloween party, Trick-or-treating. I don't know what we were thinking, but, there you have it. But here are a few pictures of the girls in costume before Trick-or-Treating. Also, thank heaven for Heather.

This Saturday was a little busy. We did a lot of cleaning up the house, taking down Halloween, doing little things around the house, running errands. I took Camille at the end of the day to do some pictures, like I did with Brooke around her birthday. It was a fun little photo shoot. She was very silly and wanted to do a lot of "stick" and "rock" pictures. But I did snag a few good ones.

After dinner with the rest of the family, Camille and I went to a baptism. I had to play the piano for it, and Camille wanted to come with me. It was a really nice baptism. 3 sons of a recently converted family got baptized together, their dad baptizing them, even though he just barely got baptized himself. It was really special, and I really felt the Spirit strongly. I hope that Camille did too. She was so good, she sat pretty still for most of it and listened as much as she could. She got a little restless towards the middle right before the baptism, and then towards the end. But I held her and talked quietly to her about what everyone was talking about. It was kind of fun to spend a little time with her in that way.

Those are the highlights of the last two weeks. The other stuff that happened was pretty usual stuff, nothing too out of the ordinary.

Things to Remember:

• The girls ask for us to tell them a story every night after bedtime routine. And sometimes we tell them one, sometimes not. Neither of us LOVE to tell stories, and we often get tired of thinking things up off the tops of our heads. But one night, it seemed to be Daniel's turn to tell a story. And he usually tells stories about bugs (*shrugs and rolls eyes*). So one night, Daniel told a story about a lady bug living in a guy's beard. It was hilarious! I was very amused, and the girls were enthralled!
• Jack has been picking up a ton of words the last couple of weeks. Here's what he's been saying: Pumpkin (bumpy), garbage trucks (garj truk), ball, sunbeam (bee), twinkle (qwiqwo), "there you go" (gey go), doggie, strawberry (barberr), crackers (go-gi), cheese (sshee), car, bottle. He's also loving all things with wheels and calls almost every kind of truck a "garbage truck". We love his little cuteness.
• One day when I was running errands with just Camille, we went to Target, and when we rolled into the parking lot and she saw we were going to Target, she said, "Target!! I just love Target!!"

Birthday Weekend

It was a crazy week last week. Daniel's been sick with a slight cold this week, as have Jack and Camille. They've all been either snotty or coughing, or both. Brooke and I have inexplicably escaped this one, so far.

On Tuesday, I volunteered in Brooke's class for a couple of hours, which is always fun. Those kindergarteners are so cute, and Brooke really loves it when I come. After school, I took Brooke to get some new dresses in a bigger size. Her dresses are all a little short for her. The problem is, though, that the next size up is a little big for her, but the dresses are all still short. It's hard to find any knee length dresses for little girls.

Wednesday is our shopping and errand day, which I did with Jack and Camille while Brooke was at school. But after the little people had gone to bed, I took Brooke to Target to get Camille's main birthday present: a scooter. Ever since Brooke got her scooter from Mom for her birthday, Camille's been obsessing about it, trying to steal it and ride it whenever she can. So we thought it would be fun to get her her own scooter for her birthday, right when they are both into scootering.

Daniel and I took the littles to Brooke's school Friday morning. They have a flag ceremony every month where they salute the flag, sing the national anthem, sing the school fight song, and give out "Character Counts" awards. So, this time, Brooke got the award for fairness (the value they focused on this month). We were invited to the flag ceremony to watch Brooke receive her award, which was really fun.

That afternoon was the school Monster Mash Carnival. I took the kids while Daniel stayed home to work. The girls had a great time! (Jack, not so much) We dressed them up in their kitty costumes, and they ran around the schoolyard playing the carnival games and getting all kinds of candy, fake tattoos, stickers, spider rings and the like. After a while, they went to the big playground and played with some of Brooke's friends. Jack didn't love it. He kept wanting to play with the balls that they were using for games, and he was mad that I didn't let him do what he wanted. And at the end, he was really fading and looked like he might fall asleep. We made it home just in time for him to go to bed.

We had a girl from our ward, Nora Quiros, come babysit for us that night. After we put the little ones to bed and cleaned up the house a bit, I picked her up and Daniel and I went to an 80s themed party. Daniel had bought this costume kit with a mullet wig in it, and he looked so good! It was fun to see all our friends dressed up in crazy costumes and wigs. They had good food, crazy music, karaoke, guitar hero (a video game that I know nothing about), and we had a really good time.

Saturday was Camille's birthday. We decided to go to a pumpkin patch as part of our celebrations. We went to Gilchrist farms, where they are all decked out for fall. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, a hay bale maze, and other activities, aside from the actual pumpkin patch. The girls got to pick one activity to do, and they chose the pony ride. They loved that! Camille especially loved riding the pony. She had this big delighted smile on her face as she was going around on her pony. I wished I'd gotten a picture of that big smile. It was so cute!

After walking around, petting the horses and doing our pony ride, we went to pick out our pumpkins. The girls ran around looking at all the pumpkins and wanting to take them all home. Jack just waddled around, trying to pick up pumpkins or sit on pumpkins. He had a pretty good time. We got some pretty good pumpkins and came home.

The rest of the day was spent playing with friends. Elliot and Olive came over to give Camille some little presents, and they stayed and played for most of the afternoon. We had rice and beans for dinner (yes, that was Camille's own request), and then did cake and ice cream. She asked for a strawberry giant cupcake with sprinkles on top. And we'd opened most of her presents throughout the day, so she only had one left to open at the end of the day. She got the scooter, a series of early chapter books, 2 stuffed mice (from Mom), and a set of shopkins (from Mom Holbrook). I think she had a pretty good day.

To top it off, we had a movie night after Jack went to bed. We watched Ratatouille, and I set up a cheese and cracker platter to eat while we watched (because you can't watch Ratatouille without eating cheese. It just can't be done), and they actually really loved the cheese and crackers, and they really got into the movie. The story line is a little over their heads, but they loved the little rats and got really invested in their welfare. We figured, since Millie has been in this mouse phase for so long, that she would really like watching that movie. And she really did. It was cute to watch.

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a really nice day! Since it was Sunday, we did all our normal Sunday stuff: Choir practice, getting ready for church and going to church. My friend Heather gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread at church, which was so sweet. And people kept coming up to me to wish me a happy birthday. When we came home, I took a little nap, talked to my siblings and parents, and played with Jack. Daniel spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making the cake I requested and dinner. We had turkey burgers and fries, and pumpkin spice cake. It was all really good, but I think by that time, I was pretty sugared and junk-fooded out.

It was a super-busy week, but also so fun with everything that went on!

Jack has been obsessing over garbage trucks this past week. He calls all trucks and buses "garbage trucks", and every time he hears a truck backing up, he asks excitedly, "GARBAGE TRUCK???" It's about the cutest thing ever. I heard the garbage trucks coming this morning right when I was first waking up (Monday is garbage day), and I had to jump out of bed and rush to Jack's room so that we could look at the garbage truck out the window. We barely made it in time to see it going down the street. We caught the second truck and watched it come up our street and go around the neighborhood a bit. He LOVED watching it. This is such a fun stage with him. His "boyness" is really coming out now, with him obsessing over all things automotive and also balls. It's so cute and fun!