1 berry, 2 berry, pick me a blueberry!

Blueberry season is in full swing in the valley!  The picking was excellent today - big, sweet berries!

 Blueberry bushes make great hiding spots. 

Temunet's First Masterpiece

Today Temu had his first adventure in painting. 

With his paint brush in his right hand and his left hand outstretched, 

Temu is saying,

 "Bootiful, bootiful!"

Towards the end of his painting time, Temu named his painting:

"Boom, Boom, Fiyuh-wuk" (firework)

A wildly successful first painting experience. 

he shoots...he scores!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

First, a couple of catch up pictures from June forgotten on the little camera.  The first is from our berry picking adventure, followed by pictures from a walk on the Smith Campus.

Now on to the birthday!  Temu turned two today.  He's packed a lot of activities and a lot of flier miles into just two years.  By the end of today, Temu had ridden his bicycle, had his car seat turned forward, and made a dozen jumps off the diving board.  It was a little sad to realize he's not baby Temu anymore.  Still, we're incredibly proud parents of toddler Temu!

Temu's day started out assembling then riding his new bike.

 

 

By late morning we had made it to the splash park at Look Park.  The water was COLD, but refreshing!

 

 

 

 

We then came home and napped.  Here's what Temu woke up to!  He was full of joy.

 

A shark robe for Temu!

 

A little nap on wheels.

 

Birthday cupcake with a rendition of "Happy Temu!", as Temu now refers to the happy birthday song. There were several requests for "Happy Temu!' by the end of the day.

 

 

  

Momma and Temu waiting for some birthday pizza at Pizza D'action, named because "everybody wants a pizza d'action".  We came home at 9 and all crashed out.

July 4 Fun

Today is Independence Day, and fortunately daddy is free from working today.  We did morning shopping and then went to Northampton Swim Club, where we happened upon a 50 year tradition of July 4 water events.  The first event was the "bubble race", which is one sideways pool lap for children that normally use floatation devices when swimming.  The winner was . . . Temu!  Actually, he was the only entrant for 2012, but he still swam like a champion.  Over 100 people lined the pool and cheered him on, and he loved it, especially once he figured out they were clapping for him.  He was great, completed his lap in a timely manner, and several times put his face in the water to blow bubbles.  He won the following certificate, which we did not read out loud to him so he did not know he could exchange it for ice cream.  Instead, it goes in his scrap book.  Since we had no idea this was coming, there is no picture/video of this event.

The last event of the day was the money dive, where hundreds of coins are thrown into the pool and the  kids jump in and race to collect it.  There is a staggered start, with youngest going first.  Contestant #1 was Temu, and because he requires a floatation device and cannot go to the bottom of the pool they put a dollar bill in a balloon for him to collect.  Here's how that went down.  The other kids all have their backs to the pool because they are not allowed to scout out the location of the best coins.

Here's how the pool looked about 3 minutes later, with total pandemonium.

Finally, here's a little bonus video of Temu and papa driving the mowie last week in Hartland.

Vacation Part II

We went fishing in Papa's boat.  Papa captured a frog living under his boat for Temu to examine.  Temu is already a prince (so he thinks), so he didn't need to kiss it.

Of course there were dozens of riding "mowie!" rides, but just to mix it up a little Temu pushed the push mowie.

Temu inspecting the Merton Fire Department.

We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary with fish fry at the Golden Mast, home to our wedding reception 10 years ago.

We had dessert at the Kiltie.

Next morning we went back to Madison and showed Temu the farmer's market.

Looking up at the capital dome.

Run!!!

We had pre-Rhythm and Booms dinner at Maple Bluff Country Club, which featured a bounce house and a balloon artist (who made Temu a fish caught on a fishing pole).  Temu loved it all, especially the ice cream sandwiches.  Temu ate his weight, 27.5 pounds, of ice cream on this vacation.

We watched the fireworks from the eighth hole.

Family photo moments before the fireworks started.  Temu enjoyed the show, clapping for his favorite fireworks and frequently popping his fingers out of his mouth to demand "More!".