FMG

Isn't it amazing how life keeps coming back around? This pretty well applies to my friend Allison. She and I go way back. We both attended the same church in Frankenmuth, shared rides to piano lessons, and eventually I was even her youth group leader. Coincidentally, shortly after Jason and I got married, Allison got a job over here and moved over to GR, too! Now that we're in the same town again, it's been fun to get back together.

Today, Hannah and I met up with Allison and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at Frederik Meijer Gardens. After having some lunch and walking around the grounds, we headed to the Children's Garden. Now that Hannah can actually play in it, I determined that playing in the sand first and then the water would be the best strategy. It actually worked out pretty well. Hannah got nice and dirty playing in the big sand area, but with the sun overhead we got hot pretty quickly. We then headed to the water. Apparently Hannah confused the Great Lakes Water Garden with a swimming pool. She ran right up to the little pools and tried to climb in! Since this is a big no no, we thought that the playing in the fountain would be a better idea (yes, this is permissible).


Initially, Hannah wasn't so sure about the spraying water...


After a little coaxing from Allison, Hannah almost literally dove right in!


It didn't take long before she was soaked from head to toe!

Before heading back to the car, we walked around the Kid-Sense Garden to dry out. She discovered that the little ledges along the gardens made perfect benches. As we walked around, she'd stop and sit down every few feet.

All of this activity wore Hannah right out. I'm now enjoying a very quiet house as Hannah is peacefully sleeping the day off.

First haircut

Hannah's hair has been getting somewhat long. It's super cute in pigtails, if only she'd leave them in. As this is typically not the case, I decided the time has come to finally get her hair cut. Today was the big day, and I must admit that I was a bit sad. One more step to her becoming a big girl and leaving babyhood behind :-( Since she's also quite a busy body these days, I was a bit nervous about how well she'd do sitting still. I am pleased to say that she did fantastic! My stylist was great with her, but I think even she was impressed with how well Hannah did. Hannah got to hang onto one of Missy's special treasures (a comb), and that was all it took to keep her happily seated on my lap for the duration of the trim.

Before:


During:


After (notice the comb in her hands :-) :


She didn't take off much but enough to get it out of her eyes and shape it up. Of course, I walked away with the souvenir clippings to remember her first cut. My baby is growing up!

Weekend happenings

Last Monday, I got a phone call in the middle of the day from our babysitter, who was at the doctor's office. Thankfully, Hannah was fine, but her boys had come down with hand, foot, and mouth disease - quite uncomfortable and highly contagious. Per the doctor's orders, we picked her up right away. Since our babysitter's house was on quarantine for the rest of the week, we were fortunate to have Jason's parents step in and take Hannah for the rest of the week.

While Hannah enjoyed her time with Grandma and Grandpa Davis, Jason and I enjoyed a night out to ourselves. We went to dinner at Louis Benton Steakhouse downtown, and although they are known for their steaks, I opted for their pot roast. All I can say is OH MY GOSH - THE BEST EVER!!!! Jason got prime rib, and although that was wonderful, we both agreed that my pot roast was even better. Sooooo good!!


After stuffing ourselves, we meandered down to the Art Museum where they had free live outdoor music and dancing. We even took part in swing dancing lessons! I don't know that we ever successfully completed any moves, but we had a great time trying.

Saturday afternoon, Jason's parents brought Hannah back to our house. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we headed to East Grand Rapids where Jason and his parents took his boat for a spin around Reed's Lake.


Hannah and Grandpa Davis in the park.


Daddy and Hannah exploring the boat launch.


Miss Pigtails

After enjoying dinner on the patio at Rose's, we came home and celebrated Jason's dad's birthday.

Trying on his new hat.

Sunday morning, we all went to church. It was finally warm enough for Hannah to wear this cute little dress. I just had to get her picture before she outgrows it!

Playing hide and seek

Isn't she just the cutest?!?

We're happy to say that Hannah never did come down with the illness, and we're now back to our normal routine.

Duck Boating

This has been a summer of firsts for Hannah, and today we added to that list. Actually, this was a first for all of us - a Duck Boat ride. Ducks boats are a cross between a truck-like vehicle and a boat, which actually travels on both land and sea. I believe they were used in WWII. For the past few summers, Jason and I have seen the Duck Boat tours travel through Saugatuck and always thought they looked fun. Today, we took the leap and experienced the tour for ourselves. It did not disappoint. Between the humorous driver and the ride itself, we had a great time!


Hannah and Daddy in front of our ride, the infamous Duck Boat.


Miss Wiggle Worm did not want to sit still, so it was a challenge to keep her on our laps.


Once we got going, Hannah ate it up. She was the loudest, rowdiest passenger aboard!

After our ride, we did a little shopping, people-watching, and ice cream eating. Between the ride and the rest of the days' activities, we had a very tired little girl. Needless to say, it was a very quiet ride home.

Berlin Fair

Since the weather wasn't exactly beach weather this weekend, we decided to do something a little different and check out the Berlin Fair. It's been quite awhile since either Jason or I have been to a fair, and now bringing Hannah along gave us a whole new set of eyes on the fair experience! It was a so much fun to expose Hannah to all kinds of farm animals. We started by stopping at the petting area to check out the sheep, goats, and llamas.


This little black lamb took a liking to us


Hannah drew quite a crowd when we let her feed the animals!

We then tapped into Jason's inner farmer as we wandered through the 4-H barns.

Jason's true calling

Hannah wasn't sure what to make of the bigger animals. She was really unsure of the pigs in particular, but she got into her element when we found the baby chicks and ducklings.

Enthralled with the chicks and ducklings

Hannah then got to go on her first carousel ride. I think she was a little unsure of the whole experience, judging by her death grip on the pole. She did manage to lighten up and enjoy it toward the end of the ride.

We wrapped up our visit by snacking on french fries and elephant ears. Ah, the perfect way to end the day at the fair!

16 months old

Hannah turned 16 months old this week. Keeping up with her is more and more challenging these days. She is a very active little girl, but we're loving every minute! Some of what she's been up to:

*She is a drama queen! If we do something that she doesn't like, or hurts her feelings, she will find the nearest wall, step, or anything else that she can put her head against, puts her hands up to her face and cries until she's picked up.

*She is becoming a little monkey. She's very good at climbing up and down the steps. In fact, the other day when we were downstairs she left the room that I was in for a minute. I thought she was just around the corner in the familiy room, but when I went to get her, she was almost to the top of the stairs!!

*She's starting to try to copy what we're saying. The sounds don't come out exactly as words but she definitely is trying. She particularly does this when we're counting with her. Maybe she'll be an engineer like us :-)

*She LOVES to play in the sand. After seeing how occupied she was at the beach, we're seriously thinking about getting a sandbox.

*She is understanding and doing more and more of what we ask - picking up and putting away her toys, getting her shoes, going where asked.

*She is getting more and more independent. If we take her hand to go in a direction that she doesn't want to go, she will sit down and cry.

*Her distinguishable vocabulary is gradually increasing, now including all done (ah duh), duck (duh), and grandpa (papa).

*Her hair is getting long and looking more ragamuffin-ish everyday. I just haven't been able to bring myself to actually get it cut. It looks so cute in pigtails and barrettes, if she'd only leave them in. Plus, she's getting curls in the back that are so darn cute. Yes, though, she does need a haircut!

Little stinker just won't leave those cute barrettes in her hair...

We are loving this stage in Hannah's life right now and can't wait to teach her even more new things.

Church picnic

Earlier this week, we attended our church's annual picnic. We've made it for the last 3 or 4 years, and they're always fun. We met up with our friends Eric and Jill and their little girl Claire, who is 6 months older than Hannah. Needless to say, between 2 toddlers, we were all very busy!


Checking out all of the activities.


Hannah LOVED her first taste of cotton candy


Hannah's going to be Grandpa Cramer's little point guard. She's already trying to dribble! (Don't you just love those curls!?!).


More sugar - LOVED her first snow cone!


Yes, life is good!

Mad

Our little swimmer not happy that Mama interruped her fun in her indoor swimming pool (JJ's water bowl).

I love West Michigan

Since we didn't spend much time at the beach yesterday, we made up for it today. After church, we headed out to Grand Haven to enjoy another beautiful summer day. This is one of the things I truly love about living in West Michigan. Only 30 minutes, and we're at an amazing beach on one of the world's most beautiful bodies of water. Awesome!


Our Coppertone baby (or little exhibitionist!)


Hannah would only wear her hat her way. What a goof!


Daddy and Hannah playing in the sand. She absolutely loves the beach!

Being adamant about Hannah wearing sunscreen whenever she's out in the sun, I must say that I've actually been really good about wearing it myself this summer as well. Unfortunately, even with the sunscreen, the few times I've been out in the sun this summer I've gotten some really odd tan lines. Normally, I'm not too concerned, but I am in my good friend's wedding in a couple of months, where I will get to wear a beautiful strapless dress. I really don't want to look like I'm wearing a tank top as I walk down the aisle! Today, I was determined to "fill in" my tank top tan by doing a genius thing and NOT wearing sunscreen in the tank top zone. Well, let's just say, I now have one of the most RIDICULOUS looking sunburns I have ever had! Not surprisingly, some sunscreen did spill over into the tank top zone, so I have areas of nice tan (where I had it originally) and beat red sunburn with occassional splotches of white. Lesson learned - ALWAYS WEAR SUNSCREEN EVERYWHERE!!!!!

After we'd had enough, we gathered up our things and then walked the along the boardwalk back into town. All of the sun and sand wore Hannah right out. Our little girl, who is normally an acute observer of all things when riding in her stroller even during naptimes, actually fell asleep on the walk back.


Beach dreams

Sand and sea

Jason and I fell in love with Pentwater a few weeks back when we had his boat photographed. Ever since, we've been itching to get back up there. With it only being an hour and 15 minutes from our house, it's the perfect day trip getaway. With the forecast calling for sunny skies and warm temperatures, we packed up the boat and all headed up for the day.

First on the agenda was boating on Pentwater Lake. Hannah's been doing really well going for rides in Daddy's boats this summer, and today was no exception.

Our happy little skipper

It just so happened that today was also the day of the Pentwater Art Fair. Normally, I'm not too big on those sort of events, but there really were a lot of unique items to browse. We actually came even came home with a couple of new purchases.

Our original intent was to go to the beach after boating, but the Art Fair took up so much of our time that we didn't truly make it a beach day. However, we did walk down to the beach for a bit. The beach on Lake Michigan is just a beautiful setting, with dunes all along the lakeshore. We will definitely be back to spend more time there in the future.

Hannah absolutely LOVED playing in the sand!

On our way back home, we made a side trip to Silver Lake. Since the weather was so perfect and we were in the neighborhood, we decided to take Hannah on her first dune ride!

Waiting for our dune ride

Stretching our legs along the lakeshore

Hannah's first Mac Woods dune ride

Our sandblasted family

Of course, a trip to Silver Lake would not be complete with stopping at Whippy Dip to have ice cream for dinner!

Amazingly enough, even with all of our day's acitvities, Hannah did not sleep at all on the way home. She's been down for about 40 minutes, and I think (hope!) she's just finally fallen asleep. Must have been winding down from all of the excitement of the day, or perhaps the ice cream sugar buzz has finally worn off!

Fireworks

What would the Fourth of July be without the obligatory fireworks viewing? We put Hannah to bed at her regular time, and got her up shortly before the show was to start downtown.


Hannah waiting for the show to start in her pj's.


Aw, you have to love tired baby snuggles.


Mesmerized by the fireworks.

Turned out that watching the fireworks in her pajamas worked out perfectly. Our normal 5-minute drive from downtown took us nearly an hour. Hannah zonked out in the back and didn't wake up until the next morning.

Look alikes

So maybe these cousins aren't exactly two of a kind, but I still think they're pretty darn cute in the matching dresses that Grandma bought them :-)



Hannah was very interested in checking out Kara...

tongue...


yup, nice, round head....


and a check of the vision.


Future heartbreakers