Tynes Clan: On The Road Again

I was just telling someone not too long ago that we never travel anymore now that we have three children. Then while I was in Florida this past weekend for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party I realized that we were on our 7th trip out of state in a year. I don't know what I was thinking when I told my friend that. We really do still travel a lot. I mention that now because since my last blog entry we have been to St. Louis, Mo for the funeral of my Uncle John following a miraculous and harrowing 32 year battle with cancer, followed by a romantic getaway to Miami/Hollywood beach, Florida a couple of weeks later, and then this past weekend back to Sarasota/Bradenton, FL for the anniversary party. I have pictures of these trips below. Once again I am going to try to tell our story over the past month or so mostly in pictures. Stephen was off for several weeks during this time so we did a number of fun things to take advantage of the time we had before he hit the road 4 days a week in the now even more dreadful than ever, horrible, disgusting, vile, demonic city of New Orleans. Lucky him. . .

A story before I begin into the child-by-child news section of this entry. A few weeks ago my two youngest children decided it would be yummy . . . or interesting. . . or something unknown and mind boggling to me, to eat cascade for breakfast. That's right, cascade, the powder dishwasher detergent. I was cleaning up breakfast and rounded the corner into the kitchen in time to see that Harrison had monkeyed open the trap door and was eating the powdered cascade as quickly as he could. When I picked Him up to get the cascade out of his mouth and give him a glass of milk, I turned around to see Julia eating it. I could not believe it. Poison control said to watch for severe vomiting, but unless that happens there is no risk of burns or anything. I am just never sure what is going through a child's mind at any given moment. Lord, have mercy!

HARRISON:

*Is really starting to put two words together now. It is still mindboggling to me how much such a little guy can talk.

*Is beginning to run.

*Loves our dog Gus, trucks, running around on the play set and scaring his mommy to death, climbing, trucks, his older siblings, his daddy, the beach, food, TRUCKS.

*Now has a name for everyone in the family. Evan is Buddy. Julia is Du-ya, Harrison is Hay-Son. Gus, Mommy and Daddy are all pronounced just like that. Actually if you ask our kids the wild turkeys that live in the back yard are family members. He call them "Tookies".

*Hears the kids asking "why" all of the time so he is now always asking why as well. He doesn't know what it means or understand the answer, but he asks anyway.

Julia:

*Can now pronounce her R's and L's.

*Has figured out how to lock us out of her bedroom.

*I said to her recently, "Julia, you are such a sweet little girl". She says, "No, Baby Lara is such a sweet little girl". (Lara is Julia's best friend who she still calls "Baby Lara" despite the fact that they are the same age.) I said, "She is? What are you then"? She says, "I'm 2".

*Can count to 13.

*Can identify the color green, but is not so interested in the rest.

*Can now identify which people are boys and which are girls.

*If you have a secret, don't tell it to Julia. She will announce to the room if she just heard you toot. My parents drove them across the road to a park without their car seats and she told me about it as soon as she got home. . . so on and so forth.

*Has started enjoying short bits of TV here and there. Before now she had no use for it.

*Has plunged into the "why, mommy, why?" stage about everything.

Evan:

*Still asks "why" about everything. His questions really keep me on my toes.

*LOVES his baby brother and has started asking for another one.

*Caught a lizard with his bare hands that ran into the house one day while I ran and screamed the other way. He calmly carried it outside and set it free. He is the man of the house 4 days a week now.

*Will be 4 years old in less than a month.

*Really likes bugs and they don't scare him at all.

*Is definitely the boss. . . just ask him

This is a video montage of the last month or so. We have had a great time.

Butterfly art project

Indoor, rainy day fun with slides and playpens.

2nd cousins Nathan and Evan became fast friends in St. Louis.

Julia meets Grandma Ringsmuth in St. Louis for the first time.

Evan enjoys family fun on a trampoline w/ cousins Nathan, Emily, and Uncle Frank in St. Louis.
Lookout Mountain in Tennessee.
This drop off is as steep as it looks at Lookout Mountain. (note my hands)