The past few days, I've noticed Jacob trying to learn how to make conversation with other people. My sister had a house project that they needed help with, so we went to St. Cloud last night. Jacob and I talked about why we were going to see Auntie. Out of the blue at dinner, Jacob leans over the table and said, "So how's your pipes Aunite?" or "So how's your house?" Today, Jacob and I pulled in to the driveway as Grandpa was leaving. We waved good-bye to Grandpa, and Jacob said to Nate, "So how's your Dad?"

His other new line lately is, "Ohhhh...That's a great idea!"

This weekend was our annual family camping trip. There were 27 people in our "camping yard" this yar. Jacob helped crack eggs for breakfast, and rode the fire truck again this year, but said his favorite part was sleeping in the tent. Friday night he didn't even want to wait until it was dark (campfire, smores, etc). Jacob came and said, "Good Night Mommy!" I told him the sun was still shining, and we didn't have to go to bed until after the moon comes out. Jacob told me the moon was already out. None of us adults could see it, until Jacob took a few steps back, pointed at the trees and said, "Tah-dah!!!!"

Walking back to our campsite, Jacob was talking about the firetruck that the kids get to ride, and why it was red...

"The painter just had some red paint, and he said hmmm,

what should I paint?...I know, I'll paint this fire truck red!"

Jacob has been really interested in what letter words start with.
Snake starts with S.
Tree starts with T.
Tonight Jacob told me that cucumber starts with Q (makes sense!)
Later, he told me, "Emergency is spelled E...merge...and the letter C at the end of the word... E-merge-and-C!"

Today we went to "the cement factory" for a little tour, and to see them load the cement trucks. Jacob liked watching, and learning about how the cement gets to the truck, but he didn't like that it was so loud. Everyone was really nice, and Jacob got to see a lot of things. He talked about it several times tonight, explaining what goes on there, and how everything works.

Batman...as American as apple pie! (see video)

Happy Father's Day!

Our 2nd Annual Family Father's Day No Hands Pie Eating Contest!
Congratulations Auntie for taking first place this year!

Tonight at church, we had a pancake supper where kids served the adults. We've been talking about Father's Day coming this weekend, and every time Jacob brought a plate of food to the table, he said, "Happy Father's Day!"

Swimming with Cole, Jerett, and Kristen today.

Jacob drew this church with chalk at VBS tonight.
"It's a special church with no wondows for tornadoes"

When we got to church this morning, Jacob saw a bunch of square plastic crates they will be using in a drama for VBS this week. He said, "Oh look, they've already brought the cubbies for my preschool, because they're getting ready for me!" He is very excited about attending the church preschool program "In the Fall...when the summer is over...and the leaves start to change color...and it starts to get colder outside...and I can ride a school bus when I'm 5!" (I like how he runs every piece of information he knows into 1 sentence!)

The MN Zoo this afternoon with Papa, Nana, Auntie, and Mark.

Doing some "work" outside tonight.
Jacob reminded me of the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz with his big work gloves on and his big smile!

"Te amo Peanut Butter!"...(I love you Jacob!)
"Te amo Jelly!"...(I love you Mommy!)

"I doot you...that means I love you!"

Jacob made this pirate hat at school last week. We've been practicing, "Rrrrrr Matie!", and tonight we played pirates in the boat.

Yesterday we went boating for the third time. We've been to Coon Lake, Lake Minnetonka, and now Bald Eagle Lake. Last time we went out, it was really "bumpy" and we got splashed a lot, but today it was such a smooth ride. Jacob said it best when he looked over to me and called out, "It feels like we're running on the lake, or flying!!" We got rained on, but even that was pretty fun! Jacob loves the boat!

Tonight I started running some bath water as Jacob was putting on his pajamas. When he found out I was going to take a bath after he went to bed, he was all excited for me, and said, "Don't forget to put in the bubbles and the dishes to play with!...I'll go get mine for you!"...He is so sweet!

Tonight, we had a movie night. We popped popcorn, and watched the movie Bambi. Jacob hadn't seen it before, and seemed to like it, but he's initiated several conversations about it since then. He really tries hard to understand everything (no matter what the topic is). He kept asking "Why did Bambi shoot his mom?" We've talked a lot about hunting this weekend, and how some people like to eat deer, just like we eat cow, and chicken, and pigs. I also reminded him of the deer heads we see mounted on the wall when we go to Cabela's. He seems pretty comfortable with it now, and asked, "Does the hunter bake the deer in the oven like the gingerbread man?"