Imagination Station

The other night after dinner, Paul was working, so I asked Rudy is he wanted to go out to ride his bike or take a walk. He wanted to take his bike over to school and ride around. So we loaded up his bike (and my roller blades) and headed to the school.
In the car on the way over, Rudy put on his helmet, and he had brought his light saber. These pictures are taken with my phone, so they aren't really clear, but he ran around the playground climbing and chasing and fighting. He is very good at amusing himself and creating big stories and battles that he's a part of!

Oh, and the bike? He took it from the car, rode it to the side of the building, parked it, and it stayed there, until the very end when he rode around a little. (This also meant that I could really only roller blade on the bumpy blacktop by the playground for most of the time.)

And just to show what a great mom I am, see the little plastic tie at the top of his helmet?

And also right in front of his forehead? That is from where the tag was when we bought this helmet - last year. I think on the way home from the store, Rudy must have pulled the tag off, and we never got around to removing the plastic part. I only notice it when we are out somewhere, and I don't have scissors with me.I think it adds character at this point. :)

Camping, Take 2

After last weekend's camping adventure, I was a little wary knowing we had plans to go camping again this weekend with other families from our church. The good thing was, we were only camping about 15 minutes from home, so I could escape to my dry house if it rained again! Luckily, Saturday was warm and sunny. We arrived at the camp site and set up. Some people had camped the night before also, so most of the kids were already running around and playing. Rudy got right in it.

This is our neighboring tent (and one we aspire to have), where three brothers that are a few years older than Rudy were staying with their mom. Rudy and one of the boys, Will, spent a lot of time together. Will seemed to really enjoy playing with, and helping Rudy.


Our priest organized some relay races. Here the kids and their partners are getting ready for the three-legged race.



Rudy and his partner- he didn't seem to really understand how to do this, so she was practically holding him up and pulling him along.

Another part of the competition was a water balloon toss. Of course, after that was over with, all the extra balloons were used to attack our priest. She should have known better than to make water balloons!

The competitors! Everyone won a ribbon!

And then there were still more water balloons! I think we encouraged Rudy to throw his at a nearby tree to practice his aim.

In the evening, we celebrated mass around the campfire, then had a potluck dinner.

Once darkness set in, Rudy and Will headed to the little pond to try to catch some frogs. We found a few, heard a lot, but didn't catch any. And yes, a nerf gun is a very important tool in frog hunting!

Some other highlights:

light sabers yet again (I think Rudy is forever going to associate camping with light sabers)!

and lots of dogs. Many of the other families brought their dogs, which Rudy loved.

He and Will took Drexel for a walk.

Max was an old dog who was happy to have a visitor and get a belly rub.

And then Rudy got to take Ricky for a walk all by himself. Because of Lou's size, we never let Rudy hold his leash by himself, so he was excited to walk Ricky around, but he didn't have any idea how to get the dog to go where he wanted. He kept needing help to turn back the way he came because as soon as the dog pulled a little on the leash, Rudy would follow the dog instead of pulling the dog to come his way!

So it was a much more successful camping trip this time, and we all had a great time talking with people that we never get to spend time with at church.