All Aboard

My mom lives at the Chehalis exit where the steam train is. So, for $3 and a part of an hour, you get to experience a real train ride!

William loves visiting Grandma and especially when we go on the train. My mom endures the event. She is 83 and uses a walker, but the ramps are excellent, and she gets aboard really well.

This year, the distance is shorter, as the big flood last winter took out much of their trestle at one place. They'll be fixing it this year.

Boy Toy

My brother has a fork lift and 2 semi trucks for hay. William was so stoked to help run the fork lift and go help make a delivery in the yellow truck. I have too much video of everything, so instead, we'll just show you the glee on his face as he gets to 'help' Uncle Arnold.

Hangin' with the Cousins

We went and played with Aidan and Thayer. They were AWESOME!!! They let William follow them everywhere. He LOVED being their shadows!

We all went to the zoo and became bugs.

Best of all, their driveway is on a slope, so it is easy to have hot wheel fun!

Crosby Days

William and I went to Crosby Days, a local parade and car show and logger exhibition. William got a ton of candy thrown at him, and when he saw the T said, "My Uncle Noel drives one of those!"



We met up with my friends, Donna and Barb. They are always at the parade, and it was fun to hook up and have a blast with them.

Okay, you may be saying to yourself, "That doesn't sound like that big of deal." And you'd be right. But, it is fun to support all the locals. We even had a band show up this year. They were having a lot of fun, as well.

A Different Kind of Birthday Party

We went to a different kind of birthday party. Mummi Kay (Finnish Grandma) turned 70!

We had to let William know that this wasn't like a kid birthday party where they throw water balloons and get treat bags!

He got to hang out with the neighbor kids who go to a Japanese immersion school in Eugene, so they can speak Japanese. William was really funny about it. He would use some of his Japanese words to impress them. They played along and 'oohed and awwed' over him knowing 'sayonara.'

We got to visit the piano! The piano player was excellent, and I thought it was cool that he played some of the songs that are in Tim's repetoire.

The funnest part for me was meeting some of the characters. Shuug (left) and Anne (third from left) were hilarious. Anne comes from Winlock but left in 1938. My grandparents showed up in the area in 1944 or so. She is also a Washington State College (now WSU) alum, and is a hip and with-it 92. Who else would claim to be having a 'good wig day?'

Cousins

I was looking for my good pictures of the 'cousins playing,' and realized that I'd gotten them on my sister's camera!

My niece, Lauren has the children closest in age to William. My sister got them all together to hang out while I went and 'played' with a friend.

They had a tractor ride, played with rocks, went on a picnic at a local park, trampolined, went swimming, played in the dirt, watched Thomas DVDs, and squabbled. It was fun to see them form family bonds.

I figure since William is an only child, he needs these types of relationships so he has alliances and friends with family later.

William got Odin to run around the circle drive with him. Now, that's good fun for a 4 and 3 year old. My sister got them to pick up rocks and put them in the largest of the driveway's potholes. They did a really good job of filling it up! Then it became clear to me what my sister was up to...

Reunions

William LOVES camping! He was ready to go and belted in and waiting for the rest of us!

Aunt Diane took care of us. We had s'more makings, and good food, and most importantly: good sleeping bags!

Each evening, William was one big dirt ball. He loved playing in the dirt. Not being one to risk the dread disease showers in camping grounds on a regular basis (yes, I'm sure they decontaminate and hose them down, but EWWW!), I used baby wipes to get the sediment layer of filth off of him before putting him in the nice sleeping bag.

Our camp site was the family fire campsite. When I put him down for the night, we were technically 6 feet away, laughing and talking and stoking the flames for heat. He would yell things like, "I need some dark in here!" "Can I get a little peace and quiet, please?" It kept the folks on that side of the fire pretty entertained.