burning energy

Hey friends and family,

Oma and Opa are getting back into the normal schedule of work since the school year is ramping up soon. Kendra prefers another adult goes with her for adventures with the twins to engage in what we call "man to man defense". However, the lack of coverage doesn't stop her from providing experiences for Easton and Layla.

She took them to the zoo today, which included a ride on the famous kid-sized train. The look in their eyes clearly shows apprehension, but once the train left the station it turned to joy.


The guy on the left side of the picture is "Leo", the conductor. The twins call him Leo because one of the Little Einsteins is named Leo and he had some special train episode they watched several weeks ago. Poor guy probably has a complex now because Layla was screaming, "Leo!" like a teen age girl on the front row of an Elvis concert. I know this is true based on my experience last week at the same park. When "Leo" walked by Easton pointed at him, looked at me, and said, "There's the conductor, daddy!" Then he looked at Leo, still pointing at him, and said, "You're the conductor!" Leo stopped in front of us and responded, "Yes, I am. What gave it away? The hat or the smell?" Of course Easton didn't know how to answer that question, but it sure was funny to see the light bulbs going on in Easton's head as he made connections between the conductor and the train and real life.


Yes, they still wear the puppies on their back when going to public places like the zoo. It's darn near impossible to keep them in line and moving forward. I believe the expression, "It's like herding cats" came from a mother of twins.

Here's a picture of the train coming by so you can get a better reference for the size of the functional mini-train.

After the train Kendra took them into the adjacent zoo for a full round of animal sights and sounds. She said every animal was out and active. That makes a huge difference in the enjoyment factor because NObody like to visit the zoo and wander from empty cage to empty cage.

I don't know the context of this next picture, but can imagine Easton calling the lion over with a sweet voice saying, "come here kitty, come over here" and Layla sternly saying, "Come. Here. NOW, kitty!" with pursed lips.


Each morning (and sometimes the night before) Kendra and I plot the course for the day based on answering the following question: "How can we burn the energy out of Easton and Layla?" Most of the activities are specifically designed to wear them out by having as much fun and as much activity as possible. We may have to enter a new budget category in our finances called, "wear out the twins" expense. The zoo came to mind for Kendra today so she took the opportunity to teach about animals and let our two monkeys run wild through the zoo.


Roooooooar!


Grrrrrrrr!


The bear with the pigtails looks much scarier. The handsome one looks like the kind of bear I would cuddle with and turn him into a house pet.

When I came home from work it was my turn to spend time with the twins. Over the past few weeks I created a substitute for the normal walk to the mailbox in AZ. We walk a few steps down from Oma and Opa's house to the near-by jogging/biking path. My job during this hour is usually to keep Easton from touching the dead mice and Layla from stomping on tiny beetles crossing the path. Neither of them understand the "sanctity of life" concept and I don't really care if they kill bugs either.

Layla ran way ahead and took a short break on the lonely park bench while Easton stayed behind inspecting every rock and weed along the edge.


They chased a dragonfly back and forth several times. Luckily they never caught it because I shudder to think what would become of the poor bug if they had. Lately I noticed Easton is able to run at the same pace as Layla. That wasn't always the case, but he's clearly caught her in this regard.



Both of our efforts to burn their energy were wildly successful and the proof is in the nap time and bed time.

last night we did what we normally can't do in AZ... We left the house spontaneously to spend time together. There are many advantages and benefits to living with Oma and Opa. One of them is the ability to say, "we're leaving to go have hot tea and talk" without setting up a babysitter and planning for days. Here's what this wonderful moment looked like from my perspective.


Most people ask how I can stand living with my in-laws for weeks at a time. I feel sorry for those people, but can't relate. I tell them, "if you knew my in-laws it would be easy to imagine spending weeks at a time around them." It's nice to know they can be themselves and we can be ourselves (warts and all) and still have great family meals and conversations.

On a somewhat sad note... GG has a boo-boo. :( She broke her wrist when she fell pool-side last week. She is still able to hang out with the 4 Webbs, but I just feel really bad for her.

And as a final thought, here's a video clip of Easton and Layla. For some unknown reason they separated all of their toys into his and hers piles on the couch. Easton's honest response of "I don't know!" is very true... He was just doing it because Layla did it. Layla's reasoning for her pile of toys was a "surprise" for Oma. Her reaction at the end when Oma walked into the room is priceless.



See you soon!