A boy and a Train

Being a mom to two children is always an adventure. The fact that they are six years apart and in completely different stages of their lives and that one is a boy and the other a girl only adds to the fun. For the most part they get along pretty well with each other but they can also rub each other the wrong way. With that being said it is good for them to have their own time and be able to do what they want. This weekend Lauren spent the night with my parents (where she has all her "girls" and gets to learn many new life lessons from my Mom) and had some new experiences.
While she was gone Austin and I hung out most of the day and then Mike and I took him over to see some train cars that Van Alstyne is trying to restore for a park. I love how such simple things excite my children! Austin was so excited to go see trains and that Daddy was going. When Lauren was in school Austin and I hung out all the time but he hasn't had a lot of time with Mike and I without Lauren. So yesterday was really fun for him.

He was so excited to stand by a train

He was more excited to get in!!

I'll let you walk through this little picture journey of him roaming around the trains and sitting different places on the second train...

Austin wanted to take a picture of us :)

As you can see he enjoyed his time running around a train and being a boy.  I love the little things that make a child so happy.
 
Until our next adventure...

All Boy

This past Sunday we had dinner at my parents house and Austin showed off his "Boyness".....we spent the whole afternoon outside which assisted in his adventures. It is so funny to think back to when Lauren was this age and how she was and then look at Austin. Lauren was such a sweet, quiet, clean little girl (I guess that should be a clue...GIRL)...she wasn't in to everything, she didn't like her hands to get dirty, she was pretty quiet for the most part. Then there is Austin......LOUD, into EVERYTHING, and exploring with his hands (getting them dirty) and sometimes even his mouth.......see for yourself......

To add to the backyard fun, Emily brought her baby Rocky and Steph and BJ brought their baby Leo. Austin has been around both dogs for a very small amount of time and he was not real sure about them......he didn't really have a choice on Sunday if he wanted to play but to get used to them. After a little bit of time he made new friends.




Here he is petting Rocky...just his size..

And here is is leaning in to give Leo an AAWWW (the noise he makes when he hugs). He still keeps a little distance from Leo....wouldn't you with a dog as big as you?

Although he made friends he would make this face whenever they ran by or came towards him
(gotta love that face..."there coming, they might lick me or knock me over")
As Austin was running around you can see Lauren was Ms. Cowgirl riding her horse with one of her "girls" Mary Lou (don't tell Emily I called Mary Lou Lauren's girl).

Here Lauren was using the bubble blower and Austin is trying to catch them (or eat them).

While roaming around, he had a run in with the screen door...he had figured out how to open the door from the inside and outside.....he was going in, opened the door and made his way in but didn't keep moving when he got in so the door smacked him in the rear and pushed him forward, he was walking with the bubble gun and hit his mouth when he went down....busted his lip (blood and all) but that didn't slow him down (except the few minutes of crying and putting ice on his lip.)

Here you can see his lip a little (right top..looking at him..and the mark on his chin)

Back to being a boy...he found some wood (imagine wood at Bapo's house) you can see he is going to help Bapo with the wood.

I'm helping Bapo.....

He wanted Rocky to play with the stick but Rocky wanted to give him a kiss.....

He is so happy with the stick...

Then he found the fire pit....Look, I can put my stick in this.....

Why use that silly stick.....I can get my hands in there and touch it.....Swish it around

HHMMM...what is this?

He was having such a great time playing with the old ash and burnt pieces of wood....

Look at my hands...this is fun...

How far can I reach to get this stuff...

Then Lauren came to check out what he was doing.....As you can see, she is using the stick (she's not getting her hands dirty)

Look at those hands....better get some more...

Lauren is still helping with her stick...

Austin had an itch....now there's stuff on his face...haha

Not quick enough with the camera but here is the yuck face...Yep, he tasted it.....

Then he decided he would share with Steph.....Look at this big chunk Steph..

(Wipe)...more on the face...

He is having so much fun...

This stuff needs a good look...serious inspecting here...

Good look at the dirt on the face...

Soon after this he wiped his face again and was getting it close to his eyes so it was time to clean up.

Once clean he went to his handmade wooden tool set (Bapo made him some wooden tools I will have to write about later....they are so cool).

So as you can see, he had quite the adventure and as I said, showed his "boyness". I know everything is going to be an adventure with this boy as he grows........we had lots of adventures with Lauren but they were much quieter and cleaner.......BOYS!!!!!

Austin and the tools

In my last blog I said I would wirte about Austin in Bapo's tool bag at a later time....well....here we go.
While Mike and Bapo were putting the rock wall on the swing set and moving the slide we were all outside playing also. Austin was roaming around being a boy getting into things.
First he started with the dirt again......
Look dirt.

Not eating it....SEE

Then he found Bapo's tool bag.....

I found something (such a serious face), what is it?

Nope, you can't have it....just look!!!

Maybe there's something better..

HA!! I found something else...

Whatever this is it is just my size...

Oh NO!! Bapo's coming....is he going to take it?

Oh, he's going to show me what to do with it...Bapo says See, it goes on the drill here.

This is serious stuff here....better pay attention.

I don't know about this .....

Here Mom, I'll show you....

Maybe it's time to find something else...

HHMMM...wonder how screws taste....

Maybe I should try this, too.

Look at my screws.....

See it?

Then he found Mike's box...

HHMMM...to pick just one...

Here's one...

Better try it like the other tools.....

You talking to me? I'm going to try the ladder now.

I can do it.....

I sure learned a lot about tools today........on to the next thing to get into.

Austin is such a little boy...he is so curious about everything and how it works and is into EVERYTHING!!! It is fun to watch him explore and discover, he is growing up so fast though....where is the time going? Sure not a baby anymore, growing right along.