Opening presents

On Julien's birthday eve we let him open the family presents. He was very happy to receive several books and lots of good clothes (including shirts he has been wearing almost every day) from Grandmum and Grandad. Among other things, we got him a basic kids timex watch, since Julien is enjoying learning to tell time.

Sebastian relaxes with Grandad

Lotus in the Park

Saturday afternoon we hung out at Lotus at the park. We were all a bit tired from the night before so we didn't stay as long as we usually do. But it was nice and relaxing in sitting on the grass. Julien enjoyed playing with all the kids at the playground.

Funkadesi

Funkadesi was very fun. They are from Chicago and count Obama as one of their fans. They quote Obama as saying "Funkadesi really knows how to get a crowd going. I can't say enough how energizing this band is. There's a lot of funk in that desi!" They are a combo of Reggae and Indian music. Very fun, although they talked a little too much in between sets. The female singer was our favorite!

The crowd erupted with enthusiasm when they made a plug for the audience to vote for Obama.

Little Cow

We loved Little Cow at the Lotus. Hungarian ska mix. It was very fun and energetic!

Lotus

On Friday night we had Morgan babysit the kids and we took Kathy and Rick out to the Lotus Festival. It was great fun. Our favorite band was Little Cow from Hungary. Love the bunny ears.

Sebastian's school

Kathy also went with me to pick up Sebastian at school. He was happy to show us his sign in sheet and the water table.

Sebastian has a new teacher, who, it turns out, I know from several connections. Not only was her husband a member of the Windfall Dancers Board of Directors when I was the Artistic Director, but their son was at Hoosier Courts Camp with Julien and whole family was there for the camp-out.

First Grade Open House

Kathy and Rick were in town this last weekend. On Thursday night we went to Julien's first grade open house. We enjoyed seeing his desk and the reading area. Julien was happy to see his friends, including Jackson, who always seems to be wearing a colts jersey.

Kathy was impressed by the diversity at University Elementary. As the sign says, 35 languages are spoken at the school.

Bare feet

Sebastian loves to take off his shoes.

Swirling Fountain

We go to the Market on Saturday mornings. We don't get there very early, usually around 10:30 or 11:00. We get our vegetables and local meat, then we eat a lunch of local brats or tamales while watching Mitch and Eileen, musicians that are very popular with the five and under crowd. If the weather is nice, we then head over to the fountain. Usually there are some kids or parent we recognize and we hang out until it is time for Sebastian's nap time.

I will be sad when the weather changes and the market closes up.

Favorite Tree

We go to the park most days after dinner. Julien loves to climb his favorite tree when we get there. The tree gets lots of attention from all the kids. Sebastian would like to climb as high as Julien, but, thankfully, he has not figured it out yet.

Sebastian walks the dog

Sebastian loves to walk Emmett, which usually works OK, since Emmett is relatively well behaved. Sebastian also loves to feed Emmett his breakfast and dinner.

Creatures

We saw several small creatures on our hike. Julien noticed them first. A budding naturalist!

Sunday Hike

We took another Sunday hike at Griffy Lake. Sebastian walked most of the way. Julien talked non stop about all the Pokemon in the woods. Occasionally I would suggest a couple minutes of silence so we could listen to the woods, but every time I did, Sebastian then became very loud. Julien had a great hike and by the end was voluntarily holding my hand and putting my arm around hem when we were walking. It was very sweet.

We let Emmett off his leash very briefly during the hike and considered the benefits and drawbacks of letting him off leash. When we got back to the car there was a guy frantically looking for his lost dog. He had past us on our hike with both of his dogs off leash. A good lesson to be careful about letting your dog run free. He was still looking when we left.

Inventing Pokemon

Julien enjoys inventing Pokemon. He spent several days creating this group of Pokemon. I love that they were created to stand up. He's done with them now, so I am considering bringing one to work with me. The blue one with the yellow circle is my favorite.

Making mud

We put out the pool last weekend (before the storm came through). Julien scooped buckets of water and poured it into the sand box. They found the sandy mud to be more entertaining than the pool.

We took a long and sandy bath that night.

Portrait

Last night we had fun taking portraits of the three of us together.

Morning reading

First thing in the morning the boys like to read books. Sometimes Julien reads to Sebastian, but usually they sit side by side looking at their own books.

Marching Hundred

The IU marching band, called the Marching Hundred, performed at CCC, Sebastian's day care, at the beginning of the semester for an anniversary Party for CCC. Sebastian was very happy to watch the music from Morgan's lap. He LOVES Morgan.

Roasting hot dogs

Sebastian and I enjoyed staying out late with the campers. There were lots of other toddlers and babies and many adults that gave him lots of attention. Julien played capture the flag, which was lots of fun. He was the youngest kid playing, but he was fast enough that he held his own. Emmett thought the whole thing was great. He played with one of the other dogs. At first Julien thought they were fighting and got upset, but once he realized that they were playing everyone got excited and cheered the dogs on (they were running very fast).

We also roasted hot dogs and made smores.