Outside Painting

Malcolm painted outside and had a great time using his hands and feet to cover a long roll of paper.


First, he started by making footprints. Since we were using really thick finger paints, it was pretty slippery.


Then he made handprints.






The masterpiece.

More Portraits

Here is a link to Dorothy's 6 month portraits.  I think they turned out really cute and don't know how we will narrow it down to decided what to order.  You will have to sign in with my email (tara@attackrabbit.net) and the password is "finn".

Farmer Malcolm

I guess the trip to Indiana had more of an impact than I previously realized.  Today in the car, Malcolm pointed out every single cornfield we drove by (several) an gave quite the monologue on how corn grows.  I can't remember the exact wording, but it went something like this:

There's corn on there.  I see it.  It's at the top.  It grows up, up, up, then splits (insert hand motions here) and then there's corn.  I don't like to eat it.

We also have a new shed and he insists on parking his tractor in the shed.  Tractors don't belong in the garage.

Down on the Farm

Over the July 4th weekend Malcolm had the opportunity to get up close and personal with several tractors.  First, he rode in a wagon behind the tractor in the July 4th parade.


Having a cheese sandwich before the start of the parade.


After the parade, we went out to the farm where he got a tractor ride and the opportunity to drive a tractor with Uncle Ted.


Driving in a circle and thinking he is the coolest pre-school-er ever.



Here you can see that he has perfected his parade wave and is now able to wave and drive at the same time.



After the tractor ride, Malcolm checked out the other equipment in the barn.


big riding mower



little riding mower. Don't worry, he's having more fun than his face shows.


new digger



Being on the real farm spoiled him. The day after we came home, the library had a special "Farm Day" with a tractor and animals. Malcolm was 1) unimpressed, and 2) disappointed that he couldn't get up into the cab of the "big John Deere." I did convince him to stand near and on the tractor though.





There were several animals at Farm Day too. He liked seeing them, but did not want to touch any of them. He even turned down the offer of a pony ride. There were roosters, baby chicks, a sheep with 2 lambs, horses, and a baby kangaroo. One of these did not seem like a farm animal to me, but I live in the suburbs. What do I know?

Up, Up, and Away

While at Conner Prairie, Malcolm and I took a ride in their replica 1859  helium balloon.  He was so excited and thrilled to go up.


Here you can see the gondola and about half of the balloon.  The gondola is a giant doughnut.  There are big wheels on the bottom and the balloon lowers down onto a cone.  The cone and wheels help to line it up and control the landing.




Malcolm was just tall enough to be able to see out of the gondola.  Once we were at the top of the tether, I picked him up so that he could see out even better.




The view from the top.  The bottom left is some of the people listening to the concert.




Just a few of the cars in the parking lot we had to wait with after the concert.




The view down through the center of the gondola.

Cousin Oliver

Malcolm and his cousin Olly were like two little peas in a pod while we were there visiting.  They got along really well and played great together.  In looking over the pictures we took, I realized just how much they were doing almost exactly alike.



At the 100 Acres exhibit in Indianapolis.  This one was a basketball court.  The red and blue tubes are arcs that represent how the balls bounce around the court.




More from the 100 Acres.  These are a couple of the "bench" installations.








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Road Trip!

We just got back from our first road trip as a family of four.  Despite the complete schedule disruption, both kids hung in there pretty well.  They are over-tired and we are all ready to get back to normal, but we all had a lot of fun.  We packed a lot of excitement in to just 6 days.  I'll be breaking off some parts of our trip into separate entries, but here is a quick summary of our adventure.

First, we drove down to Indianapolis to see Kevin's family.  On the way there, we stopped in Lafayette and had a picnic lunch at Purdue.  After lunch we took a short walk around campus to see some of the landmarks in a couple of Malcolm's books.


The seal in the main entrance of LAEB.




Engineering Fountain




Band Key



Malcolm loved playing with his second cousin, Olly, and his massive collection of trains, cars, and trucks.  While Kevin went to visit his Uncle Bob, Becky, Matt, and I took the boys to 100 Acres at the Indianapolis Museum of art.  They had a fabulous time climbing on and exploring the exhibits and throwing rocks in puddles.



Sliding on one of many "benches."





After a short nap, we were off to Conner Prairie  for a picnic, concert, and fireworks. 


Dorothy dinned on puffs, while the rest of us ate pizza.

During the concert, Malcolm & I went up about 387 feet in the helium balloon. 

Both kids really liked the fireworks, and it was the first time for both both of them.  Luckily, the fireworks were not too loud, and I think that helped.  Dorothy was asleep in the car before we even got out of the parking lot, which was good because that took a really long time.

The next day, we drove down to Greensburg, IN  and went to a cook out at Ted & Pat's.  Almost everyone from that side of the family was there, and many met Dorothy for the first time.  Aside from her new found love of shrieking, she charmed everyone.




Malcolm's second cousins, Macy, Jenna, and Jack, were really nice to him and tried to engage him in play.  He is enough younger than them, that he can't even begin to keep up, but they all went out of their way to spend a little time helping him play corn hole, swing, and swim.  Sorry Jack, it was nice of you to offer, but it might be a couple more years before Malcolm is ready to jump off of the diving board.

Grandpa Thornburg pulled me in a wagon in the 4th of July parade when I was about 2 years old.  This year, my kids were in the same parade.  The owners of the bed & breakfast that we stayed in were driving their tractor and wagon in the parade, but no one was riding in the wagon part.  They offered to let the kids ride and we took them up on it.  Kevin went with them, and they all had a great time.  About halfway around the square, Malcolm asked Kevin, "I just want to know what this is all about."  He still doesn't quite understand what the parade was, but was thrilled with his tractor wagon ride.





Just when he didn't think it could get much better, we went out to the farm where Uncle Ted let Malcolm "drive" one of his tractors.  He also got to climb up in the seat of the riding mowers, the combine, and got to see the new (to us) back hoe.  It was little boy heaven.



The drive back went really well since both kids were so tired, they napped most of the way.  Now to get them rested up and back to normal.