Safe Spot in a Storm

Poor My Bologna gets so scared during thunderstorms. At home, he has his safe spot where he goes and shakes until the storm passes. At Grandma and Gunker's house My Bologna found a safe spot in a corner right next to "easy dog".

Taking a Dip

Gunker took Ben, Dexy, and me out for a morning (and afternoon) dip in the lake.  It was the first time I had gone swimming in about 12 years and it felt great!

It was also (obviously) the first time I had gone swimming with Dex and I loved being face-to-face with him without having to bend down!

Gunker pulled us all on the Tsunami - Ben and Dex flipped it once but everyone had a blast.

Zoom Zoom

Dex also loved playing with the remote control car.

Interesting how he followed the car closely even though he was controlling it with the remote.

The grown-ups had as much fun watching Dex work the remote control car as Dex did working it.

Mississippi Magnet Blocks

Grandma and Gunker had a brand new set of magnet blocks for Dexter and some empty boxes so even in Mississippi he was building vehicles and structures...

and recording them in photographs.

Navigating the Lower Mississippi River from Illinois to the Rio Grande

Mud Island has a scaled model of the lower Mississippi River and Dex walked the whole thing from Illinois to Mexico. Despite the mid-afternoon Mississippi sun blazing down through the humid heat, the riverwalk was like a maze and Dexy was in heaven!

Some parts were narrow, some wide.

Some parts were shallow, some knee-deep.

Overlooking Memphis from the Gulf of Mexico.

Walking on water.

Monorail to Mud Island

Dex had seen a monorail on one of his vehicle videos but this was his first ride on one! He was obsessed with the facts that the rail was overhead and that the monorail was propelled by a pulley system rather than electricity.

It was a short ride over the Mississippi River to Mud Island but Dexy loved every minute of it.

Taste of Country Living

We visited our friends, Jonathan and Amy, and their young ones, Luke and Isaac, in Mississippi again this year. Unlike last year, the mini-ATV was out of commission. However, Dexy still got a taste of country living playing with Luke in the backyard. 

They put on a play for us - Dex came over to the porch and said, "Come on all you grown ups, we want you to see our play!" We followed to the trampoline and watched as they bounced off of each other. 

They fed and chased the "Mississippi chickens."

They ran and played in the sprinkler and








all over the swing-set.  As usual, Jonathan made us a lovely meal (Dex and Luke contributed to the meal by picking basil from the garden!) and the grown ups had as much fun hanging out as the kids did.

Made It to Mississippi

We kept ourselves occupied on the 10 hour ride to Mississippi with a scavenger hunt that Ben and I made for Dexter (he loved finding all of the items for the first hour or so), playing the sentence story game where one of us starts a story with a made-up sentence and then we take turns adding sentences to create a story, and looking for shapes in the clouds. It was a relief to get to Grandma and Gunker's where we were greeted with hugs, dinner, and a clean comfy bed! Despite his excitement about seeing Grandma and Gunker, and playing with the new toys that were waiting for him, Dex went to bed easily so that he was well-rested and ready for...

his maiden voyage on Sweetwater II!

 My Bologna tagged along for the morning ride.

 Gunker let Dex drive Sweetwater II and showed Dex where to go exploring all the lake's nooks and crannies.

 Dex quickly became an expert at driving,

and My Bologna was the perfect passenger.

Summer Depot Festival

Ben walked down to the depot with Dexter and Tabitha where they enjoyed the local summer festival activities including face painting,

 chatting with the high school football team's Mustang Mascot,

and pedaling to make electricity. Tabitha lit 5 bulbs, Dex didn't light any...

Summer Get-Togethers

This summer, Dex attended two work-related picnics. He and I made home-made cookies for a picnic with the students in my school program.







We were a little heavy-handed with the secret ingredient (wheat germ) so they were pretty dry but I blamed  measurement error. Dex was the only child at the gathering on the lakefront but he had a blast playing soccer and chatting with PhD students.


Ben, Dex, and I also attended my annual work picnic. The folks organizing the children's games were obviously researchers used to working with data rather than people. Dex seemed to be the only kid paying attention to the ridiculous instructions for the pinata.







After a few failed attempts to provide the little ones with complex instructions for how the pinata game was going to go, my friend Elissa stepped in and got the party started.

Caterpillar to ?

Butterfly!!!










Dexy's friend Tabitha had a milkweed plant in her yard and that meant lots and lots of monarch butterfly caterpillars. She gave one of these caterpillars to Dexter and we spent a few days watching it do nothing but gorge on milkweed leaves in its container. Then, we saw that it had attached itself to the top of the container and created its chrysalis. It stayed in that state, without any change, for more than a week. Ben and I were worried it might be a dud and we would be explaining this failed transformation to Dexter.

But one morning Ben noticed that there was a butterfly hanging from the top of the container and he and Dex took him outside and set him free.

Initially the butterfly did not fly away and clung to the top of the container. Ben moved the lid over some flowers and, eventually, that little butterfly spread those wings and took off.

Cleaning Frenzy

By no means am I a neat freak but I do love to clean the house top to bottom before we leave for a vacation - there's nothing like coming home to a spotless house.

This time, Dexter got in on the vacuuming action rather than hide in his room when the vacuum cleaner came out. It's amazing to see these little concrete examples of progress. He's such a great helper!

Reaping What We Sow

Yummy salad with lettuce from the garden!