Jamie and Liam Chew's Blog: 2009-08-22

2009-08-22 23:44 (Kristen) Liam slept a slightly unsettled night, waking up and needing me to come down with him until he got himself back to sleep. I vaguely recall John taking him to the bathroom at some point too. He was awake by 7:30, and woke everyone else up soon after that. We went for dinner at 8:30, and then down to the water for a long canoe trip up the river to the rapids, where a number of people were fishing. Mr. Sasaki let Jamie use a fishing rod, as Jamie was about to expire from his desire to try it out, while John and Liam walked around and climbed on rocks. Liam got a few tries with a rod (I was doing most of the work for both boys), and then it was time to go back. We made it back without too much difficulty, then played at the beach until lunch. After lunch, we went to the "suika-wari" (watermelon bashing), which is like a pinata contest but with a watermelon on the ground. Contestants are blindfolded, so it's not as easy as it sounds. The boys ran around, and John took Liam for a ride in a kayak. I was worried, as Liam forgets that he's not supposed to stand up, but he was very mellow out in the kayak, trailing his fingers in the water as John took him around. It was Jamie's turn next, and Liam was just melty as I tried to get him back to the cabin for some quiet time. I ended up taking him on my back, and we saw some lovely monarch butterflies in the milkweed as we reached our cabin. The other children staying in our cabin came back with their parents while we were doing homework, and Liam was playing with the DS. The DS was a hit. Dinner came at 5:30, and Liam's head hit the table at 5:50. He's been asleep ever since, and I'm making plans for an early morning tomorrow. If he sleeps to 7, I'll be over the moon. Jamie is probably back at the dining hall with John, making him play yet another game of Battleship.

Jamie did, indeed, make John play some Battleship, and he played some Jenga, as he'd had a rousing game of it with another boy earlier in the day. They came back in the rain, and it turned into an evening of games. We played Concentration and Go Fish, then Go Exploring (a version of Go Fish with cards printed with planets on them). Then Jamie initiated a game of "Daruma-san" (a game that involves making the other person laugh) with one of our cabinmates and his mom, and then we read a book about animals with them. Jamie was very giggly and very very tired, so I read him some Pokemon manga and put him to bed around 9. It's 9:30 now, and I realize that a) Liam's been asleep for almost four hours, and b) John is asleep too, so it's Really Quiet. A very strange state of affairs for our family at this time.