Water fun

Eli has been having a blast going in the sprinkler, going to the spray parks and generally trying to keep cool now that it has hit high 90s for the past 3 days. He especially loves to get wet with his friends!

Friends

This month, Eli had two friends over at night -- for playtime, bath and books before bed. Eli absolutely loved taking a bath with his friends Koren and Alex. Michael absolutely loved reading books to two boys at once on the couch. And Mama got the biggest kick out of Eli trying to hug his friends in the bathtub. All in all, they were great evenings!

A pumpkin patch!

Eli and his good buddies Koren and Elliot went to E.Z. Orchards Friday to pick pumpkins, pet some farm animals, eat pumpkin donuts, sit on hay and ride miniature tractors. It wore Eli out so much that he slept for 3.5 hours when he got home.

Eventful weekend...

Eli had a very full weekend. On Saturday, he watched his Mama run very slowly in a 5k race at Bush Park (it was Art Fair weekend). Then he went to the Salem Saturday Market with his Mama and helped her set up the Friends of SSM booth. He was great -- mainly because he was eating a delicious sugar waffle and drinking lemonade at the booth, and then wandering in the aisles at the market. He loves to explore -- particularly things that, to adults, don't look worth exploring. For example, he loves to check out all the different ways the vendors keep their canopies from blowing away. Some use buckets of sand, others have jugs of water hanging near the stakes and others have rocks loaded around the stakes. I am sure Eli will offer a full report on how sturdy each of these techniques are. I'll let you know. That night he ended up back at the Art Fair listening to music, dancing and eating dinner.

On Sunday, he went to Denison Farm in Corvallis to see where all of the organic produce from our CSA box comes from. He absolutely loved it. He was happy riding on my back while we walked around the farm. Then he really liked walking among the tomato vines and strawberry rows. He ate about 10 strawberries (huge berries!), 8 blackberries and several cherry tomatoes. It was fun to see him hunt for the fruit. And he even did a little experiment where he picked a whitish-green strawberry, bit the tip and realized that it tasted terrible. He stuck to red ones after that :)

Then Eli went to his friend Koren's house for a BBQ (that's where the photos are from). His friend Elliot was there too. The dump truck was a big hit and despite some of the wrangling over it, everyone had a great time.