Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: baby bunnies, pulling weeds, black olives, swim lessons, playing with friends, lawn mower tractor rides, The Ting Tings, Elmo videos, macaroni and soy cheese, chocolate soy milk, climbing up the step ladder

Dislikes: Chucky Cheese's Rat, sharing his toys, being told no, getting out of the bath, the monster truck ride at Chucky Cheese

A bike trailer warning...

We had a bit of a scare at our house yesterday afternoon, but thankfully everyone is okay. We took Jackson out for a bike ride around the lake near our house. On one side of the lake, the trail is downhill and twisty, making it easy to hit speeds of 20+ mph. On one of the corners the bike trailer made its way off of the path a bit and upon re-entry, the trailer came up off the ground and rolled. It was incredibly scary to see, and could have produced serious injury if not for all the precautions we have taken.

We did a lot of research while shopping for the perfect bike trailer, and wanted the safest and most comfortable trailer for Jackson to ride in. We found the safest trailer on the market, and thanks to my dad's financial assistance we were able to afford it, The Trek Go Bug.

The roll cage on the Go Bug, saved Jackson's head from reaching the trail, though his helmet did make contact with the ground and rubbed a hole through the screen. The rest of the trailer that made contact with the trail is damaged, scratched and the fabric torn. Jackson did end up with a little scrape where his elbow made just a bit of contact.

While the event itself was incredibly scary, and caused us to spend the remainder of the day indoors getting through the emotions of such an event, everyone is safe. I wanted share this post with everyone, to encourage the use of helmet, even in a bike trailer. Accidents can happen, on the road and on a secluded bike trail. Jackson escaped serious injury because he was wearing his helmet properly!

This shows a bit of the damage to the trailer
And here is what he ended up with

The big cheese around town...

My mom scored us free Saints tickets a while back and we were lucky enough to have our friends Libby and Cory join for another summer evening with The Saints. The four of us have managed to have some rather crazy (read: slightly over served) times at Midway Stadim together. One year we road a bus from Bierstubes all over the Twin Cities to the stadium, provided with what else? Free beer the ENTIRE evening. Well, I am not one to let a good bargain go to waste and neither are my friends(this is another story, for another day, a day that shouldn't be recorded forever on the Internets).

So anyhow, it was fitting that the four of us should head off on another Saints adventure together. This night was a little more tame, as we've all gotten older and well, let's face it: lamer. But we did manage throw in a little excitment. Libby and I (Libby's idea) signed the boys up at Fan Services to do a cottage cheese toss! Poor Ron and Cory wanted none to do with this escapade but reluctantly participated. How was I supposed to know that the loser would have the entire 10 ft container of cottage cheese dumped over his head?? Poor Ron.

The weekend in photos...

We went to Como Zoo with my friend Jamie and her son Bodhi (inside butterfly garden)

Went on the Choo Choo Train in Como Town

We went to Canterbury Park to see the horse races (Learn more about this adventure over at ThriftyMama

Jackson rode on the horse even

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: new books, Elmo, horses racing fast, telephones, playing hide and seek, the butterfly garden at Como Zoo, treats, veggie cheeseburgers, radios, stereo cords, metal tongs, Grandpa Joel's tractor (I almost forgot that one)

Dislikes: being strapped in his stroller, going to sleep at night, being hungry, rain, petting puppies, staying in the bathroom with his toothbrush, being quiet in the library

Updates

Swim Lessons: Even as the son of the Head of the Program, Jackson does not want to do as told. This week was a little better, he participated in 3 out of the 5 tasks he was asked to do. I don't think he's ready to move on to the next level, and we'll be doing round two of Parent/Child.

Potty Training: Jackson is doing great going poopy on the potty. He does every morning, and if he has to go again during the day he will usually tell us. However we haven't worked on only peeing in the toilet, that will be our next step. For now, we are just happy to rarely have to change a poopy diaper!

Words: His vocabulary is expanding by the second, he knows lots of words and can point to them in books. He knows his animals pretty well, and is great at animal sounds. Right now we are working on colors. Grandpa Joel taught him "red" early on, and now EVERYTHING is red.

Sara: I have signed up to take another online course at Century for the Fall Semester. I'm taking Macroeconomics, I didn't have much to choose from, because I signed up so late, but I am looking forward to taking another class and learning.

Ron: It's Ron's busy time of year at work, swim lessons and beaches are in full swing. He's latest project at home has been to clean up the easement in the back of our yard. After years of overgrowth, it has been quite the task... Jackson thinks it's his new play area.

Repeat after me...

This morning while we were getting in a little play time before Ron had to jet off to work, Jackson surprised us again. I don't remember what it was exactly that prompted Ron to end a statement with "Oh My God" but he did. And like father, like son, so did Jackson: "ohmy ahd" or something close to that. I guess it's time to really start watching the words coming out of my mouth, because he's picking up on it, even when I think he's not listening.