Shiver me timbers! Bowden is three!
To celebrate, we had a pirate party, with a pirate ship cake, a lagoon-decorated front porch, a treasure hunt, and swords made from pool noodles.
There were eight little boys running around with their swords and in various stages of pirate dress yelling things like, "Blow me down!" and "Shiver me timbers!" and "AArrrr!!!!" It was mayhem, and it was really fun.
Bowden liked it all- especially "Gold, I tell ya!" (he just told me.)

Even Lucy got into the booty.

Happy Birthday, Bowden!

Thanks especially to Ashly Reeves and my mom and sister and Kristy Lewis who captained the ships.

Mondays are the day that the library has its children's hour, so we went. This week we read an exciting animals ABC book, and then all the kids- all boys but one- sang the alphabet song and stomped their feet. Then they lined up the kids and they were supposed to "follow the leader."
The whole lining up thing was new to Bowden, and apparently it was new to most of the other kids as well.

After we got back home, Bowden told me, "I like that library teacher lady."

We go on walks nearly every day- we leave Camp and head into Idyllwild town. We have a route that takes us past the Laundramat on our right and the Fire Station on our left. We cross the road and walk by one of the three hair salons in town, then past the tanning salon (why a tanning salon in California?) We cross Highway 243 and pass Country Farms, the Village Market, Village Hardware and a number of other places, taking care to check our favorite "found money" spots.

We all love these walks. Bowden's favorite parts are the fish pond up Village Lane (lots of Village names- Idyllwild tries to be quaint.) and the fake grass in front of the new shopping center.
In picture above I asked Bowden to show Grandma Tate a fish, and he did. Then he wanted to catch it for her, but that obviously was not an option. Village Lane has a number of benches that Bowden likes to "rest" on.

Lucy Gates enjoys the ride- sometimes in the stroller and sometimes in the carrier, which Josh always wears. In this picture I have just asked her, "Where's Daddy?!"

Today our adventures included saying hello to a toddler eating at a restaurant on the sidewalk, getting drinks from all three fountains, finding 38 cents and one fake million-dollar-bill, (Bowden said, "I see dollars!!!) keeping the children from noticing a girl fight in the parking lot behind the Fort, meeting a nice man with a mean-looking pit bull, and Bowden climbing the railing in front of the fort and falling off, with no injuries and a little loud crying, and a pleasant walk back home in the cooling evening.

And, as always, we walked back into Camp to find a rabbit in the field. Bowden is a bonafide rabbit chaser, an activity he refers to as his "job." He'll have to retire with warm weather here and rattlesnakes hiding out on the dirt...I'm sure the rabbits will be relieved.

Bowden has a great love of water fountains, and on our daily walk he knows of at least three that he must visit.
This fountain, in front of Mountain Tropic Tanning and a hair salon, has a surprisingly long reach- if turned all of the way, the spray will overshoot the bowl and hit the ground at least two feet away.
Trying to get a drink left Bowden a little damp, and when I tried to help, he just got wetter. (Every time he would lean in to drink, he would push my hand down and get water all over his face.)
Now, when Bowden takes baths, he cries and cries over getting his hair washed, because he does not want water in his eyes. This surprise shower was just entertaining, and I actually got him to stand still for a picture of his drenched face and hair.

After Bowden woke up from his nap, I took him down to the camp pool to cool off. The mountains are much cooler than the valleys, but it was perfect weather for wading.
Bowden loves the water, although he hasn't always, and he kept trying to convince me that he could swim. Hopefully by the end of this summer he will know how, but so far he is a sinker, not a swimmer...not that I gave him any opportunity to sink!
The water was a bit chilly when he first got in, and skinny-dippers always suffer worst from the cold.

Both boys were asleep, so Lucy and I had some alone time on the floor this afternoon. Josh was actually sleeping on the couch just a few feet away, but he sleeps so soundly, he was oblivious to Lucy calling out, "Dada!" every minute or so.
These pictures do not do justice to the mood that Lucy was in, nor do they capture the joy she found in these soft little blocks. She tends to whirlwind when excited, and my camera is not quite up to catching whirlwinds!