Happiness: The Rich August happs

It is often made clear to us that Duncan came to our family as the first and oldest child for a reason. Here's just a small sampling of why:

He'll offer to help feed Charlie if he knows that I'm trying to get things ready in the kitchen for mealtime. You'll notice here however, that there was a discovery made.

Helping Charlie also means he could help himself from time to time.

What a goose.

Our friends gave us a "new/old" bike for Duncan to use because they had extras to share.

It's the next size up bike and he now prefers it over the smaller one when he rides.

Duncan offered to let Charlie ride on his old small bike and ride bikes with him. Knowing how much Duncan loves when someone races him back and forth we decided to give it a go.

Here's Charlie on his newly inherited bike, we're pretty sure he likes it.

I'm so glad that we have this cement area in our backyard for playing, chasing, and even getting a few bumps and bruises. These boys LOVE to get outside.

One Saturday morning, we decided to have a family exercise outing.

We ventured to a new park that had jogging trails, brought along our jogging stroller (and funny enough forgot the handle part), some workout equipment, water and snacks, and some music.

We had a good time getting out and being active together.

While Charlie took a nap one afternoon, Duncan played in the kiddie pool and I did some work in a chair next to the pool.

This is cute little Duncan...asleep in the kiddie pool.

I guess that California sunshine made him pretty tired.

Fingerpainting!

One of my friends from high school (and college roomie) messaged me on Facebook and said that she had some time off of work and wanted to meet up and play! Her and her husband only live a couple of hours away and sadly enough, we haven't seen each other since at least since Bobby and I have been married (of course we have moved around a lot and she's been on adventures herself during that time but still!).

We both drove an hour and met in the middle - Vacaville. There we ate lunch together and played in this outdoor mall play place. We had such a good time visiting and catching up. Our kids instantly warmed up to them (Abby and her husband Harrison are quite the kids at heart).

We rode the train twice that was there in the play area, the second time the conductor gave us all a ride for FREE because Duncan smiled and waved at her while she was doing one of her train ride rounds.

Abby and I posing for her Instagrammy.

This is us spending time at our ward BBQ.

Bobby played ping pong and managed to win every time, that's my babe!

Duncan appreciated the military airplanes landing close by and rolling down hills.

And Charlie and I had a good time relaxing on the blanket and chatting with friends.

Park play!

I love this picture.

Duncan and Charlie playing with the sprinkler.

They realized it was OK to actually drink the water that came out of the sprinkler and from then on it was just fun trying to quench their thirst.

The freakishly LARGE caterpillar that had a sharp horn on it's tail.

I had dreams that it would become a massive beautiful butterfly and wanted to keep it in a big mason jar to watch it all unfold. I was even willing to let it eat away at our tomato plant so that it could become it's beautiful self.

Until...

We looked the caterpillar up on google and found out that not only does it turn into a nasty humongous MOTH, but it gives birth to tons of little larvae babies.

My stomach churns just thinking of larvae wiggling around.

Reminds me of the time we accidentally bread 60+ flies in our own kitchen due to old wheat and my own oblivion to what larvae and pupas look like.

Anyway, before we all lose our meal to this disturbance of larvae talk, I'll move on to the next happening of August.

Ok, one more look at Gigantore.