Apple Picking

We went apple picking for the first time at an orchard in wisconsin last weekend. Bffs in the wagon getting ready to go apple picking.
working hard picking apples
He was very proud to pick his own apples

Enjoying the fruits of their (or mostly their daddies') labor.

Picking apples was actually really fun. The orchard was huge with dozens of different kinds, including asian pear trees! We must have each tasted at least 10 different kinds of apples. It is more expensive than just buying them at a grocery store, but it's so much more fun to pick your own, right? I think the kiddos and mommies would at least agree (maybe not the husbands).

Pre Pre School

Payton recently started "pre" pre-school, once a week. Isn't he so cute with his little backpack?



I was really anxious about it (and still am a little), since we've never left him in a "school" type setting. He was sad at first, but apparently ended up having a great time. After his first day, he kept talking about how much he liked it and what he learned there for the rest of the week! It's very bittersweet for me, he's growing up so fast! Soon, he'll be off to kindergarten (well...in 3 years)....

Fishing

Previously, I had posted about Payton loving to catch "fish" with his new fishing game we had gotten at a garage sale. Well, today, we took him real fishing, in the small lake across the street from us.

We didn't use live bait, instead, we had little plastic fish as bait (i'm no fisherman but i think they are called lures?). So, at first, payton was super excited to reel up his pole numerous times and see the "small fish" that he caught. Then, Mike actually caught real fish and Payton called these the "big fish" (see video below).

What's growing in our garden?

What's growing in our garden today? tomatoes. Favorite use would be on bruschetta or in a caprese salad.

eggplant, favorite use, stir-fried with mr. yoshida sauce.
cucumbers
broccoli

and...this odd looking plant? the tomatillo...we actually haven't harvested any of these yet, but we thought they look very interesting...

Big Rip!

Remember seeing all those funny home videos shows with seemingly a good portion of the material having to do with guys getting pegged in the nuts by some errant flying object (why do we find that so funny)? Well after this incident, I realized that sooner or later (hopefully much later), I'm going to be that guy in the video. Despite not practicing much, Payton's hitting skills and power are noticeably improved.

Is this odd?

We went to the zoo a week and a half ago, Payton just loved it. Notice the cutoff shirt, it was a nice day, a little hot for illinois standards i think, about 80 degrees.



Yesterday, this is what we were wearing (in the morning). Last night i think it was about 43 degrees. Just crazy in my opinion. Is our summer weather already over?


Also, i've been mulling over potty training payton for months now. But, things keep coming up (or rather I keep making excuses to put it off) so i didn't do it... except, at his 2.5 year checkup, the doctor said, I should at least be sticking him on the toilet once a day (even if he's scared, which he was at first). well fast forward 2 months. and 4 days ago, payton just decided to basically potty train himself. 48 hours of no wet diapers (even overnight), i was absolutely shocked! I was beside myself and couldn't believe that possibly, I wouldn't have to ever clean up accidents and make him run around naked with a potty next to him for 3 days and repeatedly ask him if he needed to pee?

well, since then, he has reverted back somewhat, and decided that sometimes he doesn't want to sit on the potty, which I'm completely ok with, since I hadn't really "trained" him. I'm just hopeful that I still won't have to "train" him using the no diaper method. And really I'm pleasantly surprised because I've never heard of a toddler "training" themselves?