24

That's the number of bug bites I currently have on my arms, hands, and neck. And I have two more on my torso. They aren't all mosquito bites, they are mostly from some small black flying bugs with hard shells that have been out in force lately (chiggers? I've never seen one). Most of these bites I got today, first while playing in the yard with Leo this morning and then at the Illinois Natural History Survey's Sesquicentennial celebration this afternoon. Here are some pictures.


Family portrait













The boys both got to learn how to cast a line and how to net fish ( toy stuffed fish). Mason got to wear the boots.











Leo and Mason discussing the pros and cons of being this close to a snake.












Leo liked all of the different bugs--there were dozens and dozens of cases of butterflies, moths, arachnids (this picture is in honor of our friend Heidi who raises tarantulas), beetles, and many other things I couldn't identify.









Leo and Mason both got to pet a fox snake and Leo really didn't want to stop!

They also got to see live and stuffed turtles of all sorts, frogs, mammal pelts, stuffed ducks, and lots of other cool stuff.







The boys in one of the air boats.

Mowering

Teddy Bears picnic

On Sunday we went to the Urbana Library for the Teddy Bears Picnic. Leo was very excited:

Impatiently waiting by the door.














Listening to the stories.












Eating the snack: Teddy Grahams, of course!

Conversations

Today in the car on the way home from daycare Leo and I had this conversation:

Leo: Papa's a teacher
Me: Yes, what's Mama?
Leo: Mama's a teacher too.
Me: No I'm not, what am I?
Leo: A librarian!
Me: Yes, what are you?
Leo: I'm a pirate! I want to "Arrr" some more...Arrrr....arrrrr....arrrrr.....arrrrr

We can't decide if he should be a pirate for Halloween, since he's one everyday!

The Mason and Leo Show

It was not a good night for taking pictures--it was getting dark and the boys weren't sitting still (like that's a surprise!) so most of these are a bit blurry. I'll try to add a video at the end.

Growing up

Sorry not to be more post-y these days, but it's been pretty quiet. We're all adjusting into the fall schedule of Jeff being back at work and more work events that cause me to have to work later on some nights.

Last week Leo started his music class at daycare. He had such a good time, his teacher said he was jumping up and down with excitement when he got back to the room to rejoin his class.

Friday we went to an evening play date across the street, in lieu of the rained out Meadowbrook Park Jazz Walk (which got rescheduled to next week). Saturday Jeff was gone from 6:45am-1:30pm to be a proctor for the ACTs at school. Leo and I ran errands and tried to buy him shoes without much luck. After Jeff got home and Leo got up from nap we tried again and spent too much on these. I wanted to get him these, which were less expensive, but Leo didn't like them.

Today it's been pouring buckets, and we all got wet doing the grocery shopping. Then Jeni and I got to go out to lunch and score good deals at OWB. I got Leo 1 fall/winter jacket, 3 pairs of jeans, one pair of pants (blue, of course), one pair of pajamas, 3 shirts, all for $35 (kind of makes up for the expensive shoes, I guess).

In the pictures Leo is having fun hanging out in the block bucket (gotta get better at wiping his mouth after dinner)... and helping papa wash lettuce in the salad spinner.

Long weekend

It was a long, water-filled weekend. Saturday morning we went to the Library and the Farmer's Market. Then Leo decided not to nap. That was lovely. Sunday we all lazed around and then decided to hit Crystal Lake Park for a picnic.


Here's the lake. You can rent canoes and paddleboats, but we didn't.













Here's Leo jamming.













After lunch Leo and Papa played frisbee. It was hot, so Mama stayed in the shade on a blanket and took pictures.











Sunday after nap was still really hot, so we got Leo's pool out (it was too hot to go to the real pool--which had its last day of the season Monday).










Monday we had friends over for dinner and the boys played in the sprinkler. Here's Leo and Josh playing in the fort. Josh is Mason's age (~6 months younger than Leo) but is about 2 inches taller than Leo.










Josh wasn't sure what he thought about the sprinkler, but the boys sure had fun.











Then tonight was regular Dougan-Gentry social club, and the boys played in the sprinkler for a bit (it's still hot) and then ate some ice cream. Jeff made really good mocha chip ice cream for the party yesterday--it was a big hit then and today.