Lock Keeper

Today Camden, Shelby and I met up with some friends at the Ballard Locks. What a wonderful place to explore with little kids! The weather even cooperated and the sun came out right as we began our lunch overlooking the boats pass through the one of the locks. We will definitely be going again.

Here are two tugboats about to go through...

Camden watches a barge carrying construction equipment go by
Shelby wasn't sure what all the hubub was about Here's all I could get of the construction equipment barge - I didn't whip out the camera fast enough. Shelby and Levi held hands for a little bit. It was so cute. They are one month apart in age (she's older).Camden and Grant watched Salmon through the fish ladder viewing windows. Those salmon are big! Grant is only four months younger than Camden. We are blessed to have found some friends with kids so close in age to ours (and especially because Camden and Grant have become such good friends).
Here is a little clip of Camden and Grant playing together.

I didn't know who Stan Rogers was, but I found a song for this blog and took a listen. He sounds a little bit like Roger Whitaker (just a bit...) and there's a beautiful chorus...

"Each day you tend this lock, you're one day older, While your blood runs colder."But that anchor chain's a fetter And with it you are tethered to the foam, And I wouldn't trade your life for one hour of home.

Transportation

While Halloween is still pretty far away, how could we NOT buy this costume for Camden? He's been pretending to be Buzz Lightyear daily for the past few months and now he can really play the part. Since he didn't want to take the costume off...it was fun to watch him ride his tricycle around the driveway in it.

I was doing a little cleaning today and got out the quilt my mom made for Camden's bed. He was very excited to see it and exclaimed "hey, that looks the same as those on the wall!" He had forgotten seeing it before when she gave it to him for his 2nd birthday. It's the right time of the year for something a little warmer on his bed and he's excited about it.

And, finally, for preschool he has a memory verse each month. Here's the one for September:

Rockin' Robin

This week didn't have anything terribly exciting to report. Camden had a good few days in preschool learning the letter A, the number 1, circles, and the color red. Each day the preschool personnel reported that he had a very good time on the playground! And those are number twos that he drew as well.
Both Camden and Shelby came down with colds this week so I guess it is officially time for me to get a cold too. As the weather is starting to cool down, the kids need some fall clothes so off to Target we went today. Since we were busy spending lots of money, we decided to go out to Red Robin for lunch. We don't go out as a family to eat very often (the weekly Wendy's drive through doesn't count) so this was a real treat and everyone had a good time.

Drive My Car

Today we went to the Supermall for a bit of shopping. Upon arrival we realized that the stroller was in the other car so we got one of the mall's car carts for the kids. They had a lot of fun and we got a kick out of watching Shelby use the steering wheel too. Sometimes you think these kinds of things are not worth the money....but it was worth every penny today to see them enjoy themselves and save ourselves some energy by not having to carry Shelby around the whole time.

The Diffendoofer School Song

School started today, both for me and for Camden. I had a good day and think my students will be pretty nice kids. Also, Camden had his first day of preschool. Matt took him and it was a day to get to know the teacher and parents so it was only an hour. On Thursday it will also be an hour but Camden will be on his own with his class as Matt sits in on an orientation. Before leaving, Camden didn't really want his picture taken, but then gave in.


At school they made fruit loop necklaces. Camden's was devoured shortly after getting home, but it seems from the pictures that he enjoyed making it.

Buddy will get to visit on the day they are going over the letter "B" as the kids get to bring in items that start with the letter of the week. He had a good day and is very proud of himself that he can say his teacher's name - Mrs. Kumasawa. Way to go Camden!

Pink Houses

So, we had a few minutes today and the kids were in a good mood...so we took some pictures. I think we're fortunate that we both like this hobby and Matt is so good at lighting and Photoshop.
Anyway, I figured we'd better get some shots of Shelby in this little hat and jacket before she outgrew them. They were knitted by my Grandma Cochran for me when I was a baby.


This is the smile that will be handy. Think she might flash this little smile and get her way from time to time?
It's hard to get good pictures of both kids together. However, these turned out pretty good!