Jacob following the older kids in the sack race at the church picnic. (See video below)

Balloon relay at the church picnic...

Slow and steady wins the race! (See video)

Playing outside with the water hose, and making mud puddles to jump in is still Jacob's favorite thing to do. I move Jacob's play area to a new part of the yard every night because it's been so dry this summer, and you can see the green patches where he's played. The other night, Nate tilled up a spot in the backyard just for Jacob to play in...his own mud box!

Jacob wanted to go camping in the living room this morning with Baby Fellow, but it was time to go. I suggested that maybe Baby Fellow could make the tent while we were gone, and we could camp when we got home. Jacob replied, "Baby Fellow doesn't have any brains to learn how to do it...nuffin!"

When I picked up Jacob at Grandma's this afternoon, Jacob laid down on the floor, and said he was going to read me a story. He opened up Grandpa's birthday card and said, "SO...Once upon a time there was a man. SO...his name was Joseph. SO...he was looking for a tall man with short legs named Jesus. SO...he found Jesus in the temple. Jesus was telling people that he was going to die on the cross for their sins so they could live in Heaven."

We went to Sam's Club tonight, and Jacob was a little crowded in the cart. He had a big package of paper towel that went up to his chin. He smiled over the top of the paper towels and said, "I'm so cute, I make people smile and laugh!"

At the lake this weekend: Jacob was making bubbles and decided he would use them to wash his hair. He liked that his hair felt crunchy when the sun dried his hair! Jacob likes to help drive the boat...he always wants to go around and around in circles.

Jacob came in wearing this, and said he was Goliath.
He even had the sword.

Batman was busy playing with the hose all evening tonight. He loves filling and dumping containers, making mud and puddles to jump in, watering the patio, etc. Playing with water outside is one of his favorite things to do. (See video)

On Friday, Jacob saw a garbage truck with a new garbage can on the back of it, and asked why the can was on the truck. I explained that maybe a new family moved into the neighborhood, and called to ask for a garbage can. I made up a garbage man voice to say, "Okay, we'll bring you a new garbage can on Friday, when it's garbage day". Jacob asked, "Why did you use a different voice?" Apparently, he didn't like my explaination, because he said in a scolding way, "Well don't do that anymore!". A few seconds later, I hear some famous words of wisdom from the back seat..."If you can't say something nice, don't say none words at all."

This weekend we went to Bismarck, ND to celebrate Great Grandma's 80th birthday. We spent the night at Joan and Melverns on the way there, and Jacob had fun seeing all of the old cars, tractors, and this steam engine. At the party, Jacob learned how to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey, which he really liked.

On the way home from Bismarck, Jacob wanted his window down. We tried to explain that the air outside the car is hot, and the air inside is cooler because the air was on. Jacob whined,
"But I'm still hot...I caunt even shiver...noth'en."

We went to A&W one night last week for dinner. Jacob got a little glass mug, and we explained what draft root beer was. Jacob took a gulp of his root beer, put it down on the table and said, "Mmmm...draft!"

Jacob likes to make up words a lot of times. A few weeks ago, we talked about what babble is, and how it's hard to understand what someone needs when they babble. The other day in the car, there was a new song playing that Jacob hadn't heard before, and he said, "The words to this song is babble Mommy" (because he didn't know the words). A few minutes later, in the song they sang, "I will shout it from the roof top!" Apparently, Jacob was really trying to understand the words because about 2 lines later, Jacob asked, "What's a vonna-loo-fap?"

We had watermelon at dinner the other night, and Jacob was so excited, "because water is very healthy for us, and we need to drink a lot of water when it's hot outside to be healthy, and there is a lot of water in this!"

Today Jacob got to "paint fireworks" outside by flinging paint at the paper! We also went to see the real fireworks tonight. They started just as we got to the top of the super slide at the carnival. Jacob likes the fireworks, but not the noise!

At the lake this weekend.

Quotes from Jacob in the car on the way home:
"It's way past my bedtime you know."

"I don't know if we're in Minnesota anymore...can I see the map?
What are these lines for?"

After talking for a really long time:
"My breath is getting worn out"

Thinking of words that rhyme, and Nate said "Car" and "Jar":
"Ohhhh, that's a a really great rhyme Daddy!"