Video Diary for Uncle Lyle, Kickball, and 4th of July Weekend: June 29-July 5, 2015

At the end of June, Daddy's eldest brother, Uncle Lyle, had a trip to Japan. While there, he sent some emails and videos about his experiences that he thought the kids would relate to. Henry especially enjoyed the video that had a horse in it. In response, the boys wanted to make their own "educational" video for Uncle Lyle. Micah was thrilled to be the cameraman. Their first installment was just to introduce Uncle Lyle to Henry's Japanese lamb, Komoko.

 Then Micah decided to grant Uncle Lyle a walking tour of the kitchen, living room and bedrooms. Watching this video may make one dizzy (or a bit sick to the stomach, if you're Mommy seeing how messy everything looks).

Next came Micah's tour of our patio container garden. 

 Then a tour of the mint growing in the backyard.

 And the videos concluded with a brief Japanese language lesson that was surely useful for Uncle Lyle on his trip.

 Our little film makers...

 Later, Mom's phone made this video highlights reel.

 Daddy was gone for the day to North Carolina so he missed out on all our fun, but not before discovering a bat in the living room when he was getting ready to leave at 4:30am. That explains the continuous poop that mom had been cleaning up and confirms her theory that it was definitely bigger than mouse poop. He hid again from Daddy so he remained with us, as he had been for about the last 3 weeks. UGH.

 Anyway, we entertained ourselves further that day with a rodeo show in the hallway. Note the lasso (jump rope) by the cowboy on the left (and the teddy bear in the pouch of the kangaroo to the right).

 Fancy lasso work!

A brief video of the rodeo entertainment.

 Our baby fawn stopped by in the afternoon, making its way around the house.

 Henry missed seeing the deer, though, as it arrived during his nap time. Mom went into his room to get him to come look at the fawn, but he was already asleep, snuggling his big dog.

 Tuesday morning Daddy went to Windsor (the NC trip was only for the day). On that day, his company Towers Watson announced a planned merger with Willis (or, as Mommy calls them, "The company that owns the former Sears Tower"). Meanwhile, we made our own fun at home. Micah and Henry took over the laundry room, creating their "house" inside the elevator. Creating houses has become there thing (though Daddy says it should just be called "creating messes" as they drag all sorts of toys and other objects together to create their little nests).

 Grandma Moldy and Aunt Naomi stopped by to hang out with us for a while. It was nice to have them visit! And after dinner Poppa joined us as well (he and Uncle Bob both attended the Michigan District convention in Ann Arbor; he stopped by our place to pick up Grandma). Unfortunately, Mommy forgot to take photos while they were here. But she did get some pictures of Helen wearing the dress that had come from Aunt Naomi.

 She is very proud of herself that she can stand up here on her own and look out her window. Next summer she'll want to get out on her little balcony!

 Dr. Henry provided some entertainment after dinner.

 A conversation with Henry this week...
Henry: Mom, these are your cleppins.
Mom: My what?
Henry: Your cleppins.
Mom: (Looking into the empty bowl he's holding) Cleppins?
Helen begins to clap, thinking we are saying "clapping."
Henry: Yes, cleppins.
Mom: What are cleppins?
Henry: They're in my hand!

 Wednesday we enjoyed more visitors. Miss Patty, Helen's therapist from Early On, came in the morning and Yumi Ito and her son Yamato stopped by later.

 Henry spent time Wednesday morning practicing his "H" - on the chalkboard with a wet Q-tip...

 and on his paper.

 After dinner, the boys decided to have a game of kickball in the driveway.

 Daddy pitching to Micah.

 Henry runs to second base.

 Pitching to Henry.

 Henry did a great job kicking the ball, but he didn't understand that he needed to run after kicking.

 Next it was Daddy's turn to kick, so Henry tried his hand at pitching.

 The ball went way up in the air!

 Micah was a great outfielder.

 They kept Daddy to just a single.

 We were back outside on Thursday morning. Mommy got a kick out of the way the boys parked their bikes. Micah laid down his two-wheeled "motorcycle," as it doesn't have a kickstand. Henry followed suit immediately and tipped his tricycle over to park it as well.

 Then they were off down the driveway!

 Helen enjoyed the afternoon sunshine in the dining room as well.

 After dinner, Daddy took us to the wooden playground in downtown Brighton.

 Climbing up the mountain, but watch out for the big grizzly bear on the side!

 And down we go!

 Friday, July 3 Daddy didn't have to go to work. We spent a lot of time weeding and planting. Helen dressed in her USA clothes for the day.

 "All American Girl"

She loves the feeling of being like the "big kids" by standing on her own.

 We invited Grandma and Poppa over to celebrate America's birthday. Micah insisted that we make a birthday cake (the same kind of dark chocolate and peanut butter no-bake cookie cake that we had made for Daddy's birthday). He appropriately planned that the decoration on the cake should be an American flag.

 Micah took great pride in being the one to plant the flag!

 Happy birthday USA!

 After dinner we headed out to our favorite beach at Island Lake State Park. It was our first time to get the canoe out for the season (mainly because we didn't think we could manage it with all three kids at their current stages). The boys took the maiden voyage with Poppa.

 Meanwhile, Helen hung out on shore with Mom and Grandma.

 But she didn't seem to mind.

 The boys had fun playing along the shore as well.

 They raced to the end of the sidewalk and "jumped" (or fell, as the case may be - if only Mommy had the video going for that first fall!) into the water.

 Two boys enjoying a summer evening at the lake.

 We didn't end up watching any formal fireworks this year. It seemed not to be worth the hassle to get the kids out somewhere, having them stay up way past their bedtimes, and being unsure how Helen would react to the noise. We figured they'll have plenty of years ahead of them to watch fireworks for the 4th of July. But we did get out to watch Brighton's 4th of July parade for the first time (thankfully, it was more exciting than the Brighton Memorial Day parade had been several years ago!).

 Grandma and Poppa came and sat along the parade route with us.

 Helen was happy - as long as she was being held.

 More star-spangled leg warmers!

 For the first time, the boys were introduced to the idea of sitting on the curb and receiving candy. This made quite the impression on them! Half a year later, Henry is still saying thanks for the parade in his bedtime prayers!

 And, of course, they loved looking for all the American flags.

 Little American baby!

 In the background was the hot dog eating contest... because Daddy thought it was important to introduce the kids to this particular 4th of July American tradition.

 They boys were fascinated (the girls were disgusted).

 Micah likes being the first one to go into Helen's room when she wakes up from a nap. He will climb into her crib and play with her while Mom finishes up "one more thing" before getting Helen out of bed.

 Helen loves her big brother! And he keeps her happy while she waits for Momma.

 Over the holiday weekend, Henry came up with a new drumming technique - drumming both sides of the bass drum.

 Unfortunately, he wouldn't replicate it for the video.

Then Micah joined him for a Roe Brothers duet. 

We went back to the beach in the evening on July 4. We took a picnic supper and then the kids went swimming. The idea of having a picnic at the beach was delightful to the boys.

Beach baby!

 First, Helen played in the sand, getting all dirty.

She enjoyed the feeling of the sand on her fingers and didn't mind the messiness of it at all.

 Then we moved her over to the water's edge to see how she would do. She still despises bath time, so we were surprised to see that she was finding enjoyment in the water at the beach.

 She even got into splashing! Mom was impressed and therefore took quite a few photos...

 Sunday evening, the kids went to Grandma's house so that Mommy and Daddy could head over to Windsor for dinner with Ted and Becca Krey (originally, we planned to bring the kids with us but then the Krey kids came down with some germs they didn't want to share). It was like reliving our first double date, 8 years prior, as we walked along the same river.

 A tasty Italian dinner, topped off with some ice cream, and the ability to chat without kids' interruptions. It truly was a lovely evening! Mommy was thankful to spend the time with her dear friend and former fellow missionary in Tisovec, Slovakia. A nice, yet international, way to top off our 4th of July weekend.