Joshua Tree Again

After a long fun day at Joshua Tree I have bumps and bruises and cactus spines in my hand, but I got to play in the dirt and hang out with my mom and dad!

Coleman absoluteley LOVES Joshua Tree and anything like it. All week he's been asking to play in the dirt. He carries his little bucket and shovel around everywhere. I finally broke down and dumped a bag of black beans out on the floor so he could dig without getting so dirty all the time (the problem with the diut by our apartment is that it's dirty -occasional cigarette butts, water bottles, wrappers, etc.) Plus, there are puddles around the diut and Cole LOVES puddles (almost as much as the dirt)!

Anyway - - -

Tyler had the day off today and after studying hard all weekend, we thought he needed a break. We took off this morning with our friend, Joe, looking forward to another great day of diut and playing with the shovel. Tyler was looking forward to the climbing too, but that was secondary to the excitement about diut!!!

Tyler and Joe climed a couple 5.7 and a 5.6 cracks. They looked bruital! I decided to just enjoy the outside rather than scrape myself along an 80 ft cheese grater. :) The guys did great. It was fun for Cole and me to watch them climb. Cole narrated the adventures:"Dad, Joe, up up up!" He enjoyed pointing out Dad and Joe on the rocks. The climbs were pretty tough and it took a long time, but we had the day. The last climb they did was right next to a 20 ft cliff. Cole was soooo curious that I finally took him down the trail to play where it was "safe."

I guess the great outdoors is anything but safe and we all learned lessons about that today. Thanks Cole for reminding us! Cole learned these important words, among others: cactus, no touch. I guess it's a phrase really. I stopped the wrong hand and he successfully grabbed a fist full of cactus spines with the other. Thankfully they were little and didn't hurt too much. He was very patient as I pulled them out. The best part was hearing him tell Tyler about it afterward. I was telling the story and Cole busted in with CACTUS CACTUS CACTUS! NO TOUCH! OUCH! I don't remember the exact order or number of times he repeated the words, but he got his point across. :) We have a very smart little guy!

Tyler's favorite part of the day (other than the climbing) was a proud dad moment. Cole was getting tired during the last route and Dad finally broke down and let Cole play with his (Dad's) "toys." Cole loves the rope and the rack. Tyler put his rack down on the rock in front of Cole to entertain him for the last few minutes. In response to my asking what it was, Cole responded in no uncertain terms - cam! (We don't do plurals yet.) He also learned het (hex) and nut to complete the rack. He can even tell the difference between the types of trad gear. He's so interested in everything, especially things he sees us do. It's a little intimidating sometimes to realize that we've been entrusted with such a special little guy. I hope we don't mess him up. We're doing our best to teach him what is right and he's learning so fast! We're so thankful to have him in our lives. We love you Cole!
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