22 month birthday breakfast

What a wonderful 22 months it has been!

Spring planting

Back in April Sam invited his Nona and Papa to the JCC Special Person’s Earth Day celebration and they planted a pumpkin seed.  Due to the delayed spring, we didn't start watering it until Memorial Day, but it sprouted and today we transplanted it to the yard.

 

"Beach baby, beach baby..."

Sam's hitting the water in the great outdoors (and a water park) in preparation for the beaches of Cape Cod next week.

 

Fire House

The annual open house at the Saint Louis Park Fire House remains a big hit with the family. (They let you "drive" several varieties of public service vehicles, including a snowplow and a police cruiser.  Sam's parents are not confident that Sam has the patience to wait in line to ride on a fire truck yet, but he enjoyed seeing his buddy Rafi take a ride and watching all the lights at the many trucks doing loops around the block with riders throughout the evening.)

 

Trip to see the Twine Ball

If you're not a "Weird Al" Yankovic fan, this video will probably be lost on you.  Cousin Isaiah, Switzerland, Sam's daddy, and Sam went on a road trip on Monday to Darwin, MN (60 miles each way) to complete a quest to see "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" (a 1989 Weird Al song). We marveled, lunched, played on a local playground, chatted with some local youth, bought some t-shirts when the gift shop/museum opened up (yay!), and then hit the road again.
Twine Ball Tribute - Youtube

 

Summer School / New Classroom

Sammy started summer school in his new older toddler classroom (Kavod Alef -- For those not in the know, like Sam's dad, we've been told that "kavod" means "respect" in Hebrew, but I see "honor" as a translation online).  First day pictures below.
Sam was full-time in summer school last week while his dad finished 4th grade, but from here on out he goes two mornings a week and is at "Daddy Daycare" the rest of the time. (For those keeping track, his summer JCC schedule includes Tuesday, which features swim lessons, and Friday, Sammy's favorite day, because of Shabbat and music with Laurie--who plays a sweet guitar.) [Yesterday it rained all day and Sammy and Daddy went to story time at the library, which was a first, and generally a success.]

 

Mother's Day...

Last month Sam treated his Mom to a very special Mother's Day.  She is now the proud owner of a pink cactus plant. (Tips on caring for cactus plants are welcome.)

Exploring the neighborhood / walking the dog (June 2)