Fall has arrived

Got down to 35 lastnight and we built our first fire in our new home. Alex was screeming with joy as he watched me build the fire and pointed in glee. Another new experience for him is fire and now has a good respect for it. The deer in our back yard are also in the fall mood as three males were rutting like crazy. I could see them in the woods over our fence as I know better to get close to a male durring this time of season. And with that I need to get my bow in hand and get one to thin the heard as there are too many around here. A couple die every year durring the winter as there is not enough food for them and they simply starve to death. A nice fall fat one would feed us all winter. Yum!
Alex had a great second birthday and it was great to have his grandma here to celebrate it with him. Lots of little kiddos and food for the big day and here is a pic of the Birthday boy and his cake which was made by his grandma. Alex and her seemed to bond a bit and that was fun to see. His grandma will come again this spring for the arrival of our new baby in March.

Alex's grandma is comming to visit

We go tommorow to pick up my mother who is comming to visit for his 2nd birthday. I can't really believe it has been two years since we first saw Alex and now he is turning two. My mother is always fun to have come visit and Alex loves to see her too. We are also excited to show her our new home as she is used to staying at a hotel durring her visits as our old house was very small. It looks to be a very fun weekend and a fun birthday for Alex.

Meltdowns

Reciently our little Alex is having more and more meltdowns for the silliest reasons or so they are to us. We usually ignore them if all is well with him physically but they seem to last FOREVER! I guess this is why they call it the most challanging time of parenting and dealing with these outbursts of frustration. I know if we give in to his demands the periods of screaming will increase so we stay the course and continue the fight on the home front so to speak!

Canoe ride

Yesterday Alex and I went for a boat ride in my 15' solo canoe. It was a calm warm summer day and a perfect time for us to get out on the water. Alex did'nt like wearing his life vest and would only put it on when I put mine on. That is not surprising as he will only do things if I first do them. We didn't stay on the water long but it was long enough for him to stay still a relativley long time. He did love to put his plastic truck in the water and let it drag but I told him if he lets go it is gone. He was a bit nervious at first as the canoe wggles a bit if you try and stand but he got the hint that staying seated would be the best option for him. We paddled for about 30 mins and that was long enough to go from one end of the lake to the next. This lake we went to was a childhood favorite of mine and going there always brings back lots of memories for me. I used to go fishing their when I was about 9 or 10yrs old. Lots of fun and he liked it too I hope.

Fun Ride

I finally got out on my bike yesterday with Alex. We went to Burke Lake from our house and it was about 10 miles round trip. Not too far but I haven't been riding for awile and my legs were on fire! I felt very good afterward and I am desperatly trieing to make it a habit again to get out and exersise. Alex seemed to injoy the trip too as we stopped at the playground and he got to play with the kids there. I got some new bike shoes and pedeals about a week ago and they worked out great. I plan to go get my solo canoe out now and take the boy for a paddle. That will be my next blog on that outing. So many toys but so little time!