Jonesie Bug & Freddie Bear: Lake Days

I'm *trying* not to take so many pictures.

Believe it or not, the fact that I only kept 95 shots from this past weekend at Lake Chatuge is proof that I'm getting better, though I still have a long way to go.

It's just that Jones and Freddie are so cute. There. I said it. I'm their mama, and I think they're so cute, and if that's tacky to say, then just call me tacky, because I can't get enough pictures of my babies. In fact, even when I'm away from them - sitting in a waiting room, laying in a bathtub, wherever - I most often pass the time by swiping through the thousands of pictures of them stored so conveniently on the Shutterfly app.

That's why I'm posting about another weekend at the Lake. In many ways, it was just like any other weekend at the lake - the boys got up way too early, we rode the boat and went to church; lather.rinse.repeat. - but in many ways, it was unlike any other weekend at the lake, and if those differences (and the pictures of them) don't warrant a post of their own, then I don't know what does.

For starters, my parents came out! They spent Saturday with us, after visiting Jeremy's office earlier that morning. By the time they got there, the boys were just waking up from their naps. We immediately boated it to the Blue Otter for a late lunch. While there, we learned that Freddie loves fried pickles, and Jones learned how to give a thumbs up sign.

This came in VERY handy throughout the rest of his day and even the weekend. Daddy'd say, "You okay?" and Jones would say, "I okay" and flash a thumbs up. In fact, Sunday morning, 18 hours after Mom and Daddy had gone back to Greenville, Jones fell out of his chair and busted his bottom on the deck. He immediately stood up and gave me the sign, saying, "I okay."

OKAY.

Naturally, Mack made the trip with us. Wahken rode along, too (of course). Jones continued the fascination that started late last week, playing constantly with the two of them. At one point, Jones was in our room jumping on the bed (if you must know). I said, "Where's Mack?" Jones answered, "He be deen (den)." "Where's Wahken?" I followed up, to which Jones replied, "He be deen. He cuckle Mack."

Of course.

Here's a video of Jones playing with Mack and Wahken on Saturday morning. I can't make out everything he says (could you?!?), but I'll write out what I CAN decipher below the video.

It cracks me up that Jones has gotten so totally attached to the character of Mack. Ever since this phase started, I'd been thinking that maybe an actual Mack toy would be a good birthday present come October, but the more I thought about it, I decided against it. To Jones, this red hauler IS Mack, and I love that he's using his imagination to make it so.

Wahken: "Oh, ???. Oh, ???, Mack. I gotta ???, Mack."
Mack: "???. ???, Wahkeen. I got. ??? race car?"
W: "I not a race car, Mack. ??? Here you go. See you, Mack. ??? Bye. See you later, Mack."
M: "See you later, Wahkeen."
W: "Oh, I want a kiss, Mam(a) Mack." (SMACK)
M: "I wah oo (I love you), Wahkeen." (SMACK)
W: "I wah oo, Mack."

Another video I took on this morning has Thomas paying ole' Mack a visit - not Thomas the toy, just imaginary Thomas. He showed up in dialogue only. Ironically, though, when I later tried to put Thomas on Mack's riser, Jones would not hear of it. That's Wahken's place. Thank you very much.

Oh, and somehow, Jones pulled the two risers off of Mack while Jeremy was at work (we came out Friday after work, and he went back in for the Saturday shift). As I struggled to put it back together, Jones was so concerned. "Oh, no, Mack" and stroking his little cab. At nap time - long after Mack had been reconstructed - Jones gave him a nite-nite kiss.

This picture, y'all. As they say: "I can't even."

Also, when his Poppy left on Saturday afternoon, Jones pitched the kind of fit that Sissy and I used to pitch when we had to leave Mayme. When he FINALLY settled down, as we drove back to the house, I said, "You okay, Jonesie," trying to get him to give me the thumbs up and say, "I okay," just as Pop had taught him. Instead he said, "I miss Pop."

Another new addition to this weekend's trip was the boys' newfound love of jumping on the bed in the room where Jeremy and I sleep. Since we refuse to let them have a trampoline, I can't come up with a single reason why they shouldn't jump on the bed. What better place to practice the "SHEEEMY"?

Finally, after church and naps on Sunday, we took one of my favorite rides on the lake - the one to Boundary Waters where they have the cutest gift shop around. It took us two tries to get there. The first time, rain required we head back to the dock. We got there just before the deluge started, and when I say "just before," I mean as soon as we got under cover, the sky exploded. Between the wind and rain, we were all soaking wet. Jones was a little skittish at the start of the rainstorm but warmed up to it pretty quickly. Freddie loved it from the very beginning. He'd run to the front of the boat and let the wind blow his hair back for a few seconds before running to the back of the boat, laughing all the way. When it stopped a few minutes later, we resumed our trip and made it there and back, a snack of chips, M&Ms, and a Good Humor Birthday Cake Bar tiding us over until we ate what's becoming our traditional return-trip dinner at Vito's in Franklin.