Trains, Blackberry Picking, Splash Pads and a Concussion

Dear Hannah and Nathan, 

This past few days have been so busy that I didn't even get a chance to make my usual Wednesday post. Well, let's go back a to almost 2 weeks ago. 

We've been consolidating bath times for the both of you and one of your favorite activities to do in the bath, besides sliding down the side of the pool and splashing water everywhere, is painting. Here, Nathan, you are painting yourself blue so you turn into Captain America. Hannah sticks to painting the sides of the tub, or Nathan. 

 On Thursday, we met up with Abigail at a nice shaded park. I really like this park because it's covered, has a really neat playground set up,

 and an amazing tree swing nearby.

 On Friday, we had our usual Chinese storytime play date. We read about scary things and made scary hats that turned out to be super cute.

On Sunday, we had a playdate with the birthing group babies kids and this is the best we could do at getting you big kids to line up for a picture. 

 But here's everyone with siblings. [Sigh] where does this time go?

 On Monday, we met up with Hannah's friend, Lucas at the Thinkery. On the way there, we all got a yummy treat, which surprisingly, you both didn't quite like enough to finish.

 Monday evening, we had a photoshoot at the park we found on Thursday. Hannah was a bit on the shy side, but I think we got some good pictures of Nathan.

Tuesday morning, we packed the car and headed for Dallas. Half way there, we stopped at Waco and visited a splash pad. You two had a lot of fun until Nathan slipped on the wet concrete and fell back, bonking your head pretty hard. You were down and crying for a long time, but by lunch time, you told me you were feeling much better and that your head only hurt when you run. Otherwise, you were your talkative and silly self. That evening, you threw up right before bed time and I became very worried that you might have a small concussion. I monitored you throughout the night, making sure you were breathing and luckily, the next day, you told me that nothing hurt anymore and you were feeling pretty good. Thank God.

So we visited another splash pad. It was super crowded with camp kids, but you guys had a blast running around, playing with various water fixtures. I wish these were around when I was a kid!

 Ama has a massage chair that I love to sit in whenever we are over. Nathan, you asked to sit on it, and while I thought you wouldn't like the pressure, but you really enjoyed it and spent quite some time sitting and enjoying the undulating movements.

That evening we drove towards UNT to duck creek farms to pick blackberries. I think this was everyone's favorite part of the trip. Nathan loved picking the berries and Hannah loved the eating part. 

We ended up picking over a gallon of blackberries and all had a nice farmer's tan afterwards because I forgot to put sunscreen on you two before we went out into the setting sun.

Thursday morning, we went to Ama's neighborhood pool to swim a bit. You two had fun playing with water guns and jumping in the shallow end of the pool. Nathan, you were particularly proud to be able to touch the 2 ft 6in side of the pool.

For lunch, we went to one of my favorite dumpling houses in richardson and had xiaolong soup dumplings.

On Friday, we rode the commuter train around town.

First we went to the interurban train museum for their storytime.

We even got to go see the inside of an old mail car that was used to deliver the mail.

Then, we rode the train downtown to a stop where they have these long escalators, and an escavator, an elevator that moved diagonally!

And then for dinner, I got a chance to meet up with one of my roomates from college and her little girl, who was born just a week before Hannah. You guys didn't hit it off well, with the snatching of crayons and chips from each other, and just played alongside one another, not really interacting. After dinner, we went to another splash pad right outside the restaurant.

Saturday morning, we went to a playground before lunch and then we headed back to Austin.

At lunch, we ordered meat dumplings for Nathan, and you had an allergic reaction. Not sure if it was from the soy sauce, or if they put peanuts in the dumplings, but I was able to calm the reaction down with some benedryl, which also knocked you out for most of the car trip home.

It was an exhausting trip for me, but I know you both had lots of fun and made some good memories with Ama and Auntie Momo.

Also, Nathan, you were able to keep your undies dry for the whole trip. When I asked if you needed to go potty, you would reply with, "I'll let you know when I need to go." and you followed through with it. Now that we are home, you are back to your old ways, leaking just a bit before you realize that you need to go. Hmm... what's going on here?

About 2 nights before we came home, both of you started to get homesick and miss Daddy. We came home just in time to spend Father's day with Daddy.

Today, we started VBS and it's Nathan's first year to be old enough to attend. I'm leading the pre-school crafts and Hannah gets to hang out in the nursery. It's exciting and I think Nathan likes it. I'll try to take some pictures.

Nathan and Hannah are also taking swim lessons twice a week for the rest of the summer. We've gone to one class and so far the teacher says that Nathan is the most advanced swimmer out of the group and Hannah is very comfortable in the water. I'm hoping that Nathan can learn some strokes and Hannah can swim by the end of the summer.

I'll probably skip the post for this week, since it will be pretty much filled with VBS and swim lessons, but I'll have another post next wednesday.

Until then,
Mommy