Memorial Day Weekend , Part 1

As I posted before the weekend, Koen's holiday weekend had a jump start with the camp overnight with his school (and lucky Doug got to go along).  Here's Koen on Friday morning after a pretty restful night of sleep (except for one kid that caused some problems until about 9pm).  I think he looks a little run down, but content. =)

All in all, Doug did say it was a very nice time, especially how much Koen got to be outside enjoying the fresh air and the natural beauty in the woods up at the camp.  I was surprised that Koen didn't seem too tired and spent when he got home.  He's done quite well.  Saturday we had a pretty low key day to give Koen and Doug a chance to relax and catch up around here.  Since we are carless until Tuesday at least (the van's computer issue seems to be quite the conundrum for every mechanic in the metro area) Tavin and I had some walking errands to run.  I loved just being out with my middle guy.  I think he loved it too.  We managed to squeeze in about 45 minutes at the playground on our way home.  I brought his diggers since we weren't able to mess them up in the mulch the other night (remember, the thunderstorm?).

The afternoon flew by with more outdoor play, yardwork, lunch and naptimes.  Amidst it I did try to capture a new thing Penn is doing.  He falls apart in front of the camera, so he didn't really do it, but it's too cute not to include.  Oh, the thing he's starting to do is clapping!

In the evening we went to one of our favorite friends...Alex, Hilary, Delia and Huck's house!  We had a cookout (except mostly indoors since it's not that warm here this weekend!).  Koen and Delia played dress up ("old times" Delia called it).  They put on a show.  They included Tavin and Huck in the show. They had to play instruments.  It was hilarious.  I'm not posting the video as I'm afraid it could go viral. =)  But here's a few pics.  Koen and Delia made us sit in the back to watch.  

Here's an action shot and please note Penn in the background just eating his dinner staring at the odd performance going on before him.

The performance literally brought me to tears.  It was precious (and outlandish all in the same breath).  The whole night with these dear friends was so wonderful and overdue.  We had a great evening (thanks for the amazing meal, Alex & Hilary!).  On Sunday, since we were carless, we again walked to North Way East End. I believe the tally is now up to 8 weeks where we have not been able to go to Oakland. =(  We did have a wonderful walk and a great time there, so it worked out fine, we just miss our friends at NWO!  We got home in time for lunch as usual and then we just hung out until naptime a short time after.  This time did NOT go well.  Tavin and Koen have had major issues getting along the last few days.  A "calling each other a baby" has accelerated into a super annoying cyclical activity of name calling, mean faces, wrestling that turns too rough, etc.  It gets old fast, let me tell you!  So, after tucking Tav into his bed at naptime I made an executive decision that after nap/rest time that we would go outside until bathtime.  I was not going to spend another minute refereeing the ridiculous behavior that was this afternoon.  I figured if we were outside at a playground they would have enough fresh air, space, activity and distraction to keep them off each other's backs.  It totally worked.  I packed a picnic for them (and Penn) and we had a fantastic evening.  Here they are on the slides after their dinners.  Another attempt at some brother shots.  The first one captures some of the attitude I've been getting yesterday.  Koen is mad that Tavin gets to sit with Penn (meanwhile I was so thrilled that Tavin wanted to be the one to go down with Penn, he rarely shows big brotherly interest towards Penn).

Here's the closeup of Tav loving being big brother to Penn.

Next time down Koen got to hold Penn.  K is much happier as you can see.

Koen went back to riding his bike and watching some kids play baseball.  Tavin wanted to go down the slide next to Penn.  I think this was Penn's favorite.  Having me just help him down the slide on his own next to big bro, Tav.  Super special and sweet.

I had to catch a snuggle with Penn.  

So the playground/picnic was a total win.  We headed home just in time for bath and I decided that since I didn't get a chance to give Penn a bath yet today we would just put all 3 Melder boys in the bath together for the first time.  Koen has been waiting for this day for awhile and was thrilled with the idea.  I knew Doug would be home soon after I started the attempt, so I figured I was safe.  Koen and Tavin did awesome with their precious little bro in the bath with them and were calm and chill.  We even got some priceless pics!

On one of the pictures that wasn't great of all 3 I caught this adorable, precious 100% Koen face and had to share it.  Now, there, that's my Koen (as opposed to the mean-faced kid I had too many encounters with today).

Well, anyways, I was going to do just one big Memorial Day Weekend post, but this is getting long, so I'll post this part 1.  Stay tuned for part 2 after tomorrow's holiday festivities.  Happy Memorial Day everyone!