Having Fun With James

We got to babysit James for a couple of days while Daddy was at a meeting in the area.  We had fun and he had fun.

Of course he had to check out the boat...

He helped Po Po put away her tools.  He loves to go into the shed and check out the power equipment. When he sees the cord he says 'pull - pull' and "Hi lawnmower".  He also gestures to put on his ear protectors.

Po Po bought him some gloves and he did not know quite what to do with them or his hands once they were put on.  It was quite comical.  His comment was "Ow Ow".

Po Po wanted James to take in the beauty of her Asian garden.

But he wanted to explore the garden on his own.

He helped vacuum.

He straightened out the throw rugs.

He tried to help with the dishes.

 Po Po makes a mean pineapple shake.  James was purring with each slurp.

They went shopping and James got a free cookie at QFC.

It helps that  Po Po knows the pharmacist.  He got several extra stickers.

Po Po got him a drink of water at Starbucks while she had the real stuff.

They went to Molbak's and he thought the bright balls would be a good addition to Po Po's garden.

Po Po took him to Talk Time, her volunteer night with ESL students.  Grandpa couldn't babysit cause he had to go to bed.   James played like mad at first but then he ran out of steam.   He climbed up on Po Po's lap and said "Bye Bye" but he was soon out after she started rocking.

Gardening Help

Saturday morning, Velda had her 'Talk Time' students (Xian and Ping and Ping's father) come over to help her plant her garden.  It was fun describing alot of the plants and vegetables that we grow here compared to China.

They worked hard to prepare the beds for the pumpkin patch.  It was great to have extra hands and energy to dig and help us haul the compost to the garden.

And plant the seeds.  We avoided hard labor for Ping-she made the plant labels.

Cabin Findings

We went to the cabin a couple of weeks ago.  Velda went to look for treasures.  She was wondering if any of the debris from Japan would be on the beach.  Thankfully, it did not.

However she found two bags of oysters where they use them to reseed the oyster crop on the beach.  The tiny baby oysters had a buoy attached and the medium size oysters were partially buried in the beach.

She also saw lots of drift wood and rocks to collect.  However most were too heavy to carry up the hill.

So she selected smaller rocks for her new landscaping to pour around the sedums (hens and chicks).  The larger rocks she needs her tired old sherpa to carry.  She can carry the smaller ones but you can only carry about one fourth full of a 5 gallon pail.  You have quite a climb to carry it up from the beach.  The one piece of driftwood by the sedums looks like it has a happy face on it.

And smaller pieces of driftwood. 

She was so happy to find a trillum plant- (a woodland lily) growing on our property.  It was the first one she found in 22 years of having the property.  The leaves are about 4-5 inches long.  

Young Mariner in Training

When James was over this weekend, we wondered if he would like the boat.  

Well, he loved the boat.  He loved climbing in...

 

As you can see, he is fine, but Po Po is a little nervous!

From ground to the captain's seat took less than 30 seconds.   

He loved playing with all the controls.  Luckily Grandpa had shut off the battery! 

And he get out just as quick.

He liked the boat - which he referred to as 'My boat!'  Now the pressure is on to get it ready for the water.

Time with G-G

On May 5th, Great-Grandma Ruth came down and James came over for a visit.  She got some quality time with James on a beautiful day.

He even helped fill up three buckets of compost for GG.

Since G-G did not see him at Easter, they had a small Easter egg hunt.  The plastic eggs were empty but they were very pretty and unique.  When James found the eggs, he would open them and said "No Nummies?"  After numerous times, you could tell he was disappointed with empty eggs.

James was very willing to show her all the outside toys he had at Grandpa's and Po Po's.

Little Helper

Weekends with Po Po and Grandpa means there is always something to do.  James is such a copy cat, that all you have to do is show him something and he will follow suit.  He helped work on the compost pile.

One wheelbarrow down and another 200 to go.

He tried with even a bigger wheel barrow.

He helped water the gingko plant and other flower pots.  He kept asking for more 'Wa Wa'.

He helped Grandpa put the tarp on the compost pile when they finished shoveling for the day.

Grandpa taught him about safety with equipment.  The battery was removed for safety reasons.

He helped walk his two dogs.  

And no - Grandpa and Po Po are not all work and no play!  Po Po played with him with a new nerf type rocket gun.  The red chair is from Velda's childhood home and must be at least 50 years old with the original paint that Great Grandpa Poy painted.  We told him not to chew the paint.

At the end of the day, he was one very tired and very dirty boy. Can you see the compost specks in his hair?   He did not fight a bath and he actually tried to climb into the crib. We were all ready for bed at 9.