Up North

My parents recently came over to watch the kids so that I could go into work for a day.  As luck would have it, I ended up getting sick that day.  Since I go in so few days, I stuck it out and went to work anyway.  Boy was I glad, though, when I got home and could crash on the couch.  I was soooo thankful that my parents were there to take care of the kids and me!

Between me being sick and Jason having class 2 nights that week and a class group meeting on the night in between, I figured it was the perfect time to go up north with my parents.  It worked out perfectly because I ended up being sick for our entire stay, so the extra hands were a total blessing.

Our first few days up there were quite chilly for June.  Still, Jack loved hanging out by the screen door.

Since they couldn't go outside to play, Grandma made Hannah a "castle" in the living room, which Jack also thought was very fun when Sissy would actually let him inside.

Even Papa attempted to hang out inside.  It was a bit tight.

Papa promised Hannah pink ice cream, so after we went to a bbq dinner at their church we stopped at Nibbles.

Jack even got his own baby cup of vanilla.  Watch out.  This boy LOVES ice cream!!  He couldn't get enough.

Is this lake not the prettiest thing you've ever seen??

Hannah made new friends with Mary and Joe from next door.  Hannah followed Mary around like a little sister.  So cute!

The weather did return to summer on the weekend, so my parents took the kids to the beach for some swimming and boating.

Trying to make a break for it on the boat.

What trip up north would be complete without s'mores?

Delish!

Sunday was Father's Day.  My grandpa came up with my aunt for the day, so she had us down to their cottage for dessert and to hang out with him for a bit.  Mark took his turn hanging out with Jack.  This was his one time holding each kid, as he says.

Neigh neigh ride from Papa.

Happy Father's Day Great-Papa!

Healthy Check-up

Jack went in for his 12-month appointment earlier this month.  He only got 2 shots, the first of which he barely noticed.   The second, however, got his attention.  He only cried for a couple of minutes and then he was back to his normal, happy self.  Thankfully, after our rounds of pink eye the previous week, he got a clean bill of health.  We have a strong, growing boy.  Here are the stats:

Length:  29 1/2" (30%)
Weight:  19 lbs. 14 oz. (10% - all that moving around dropped his percentile, but no need for concern.  The boy LOVES to eat!!)
Head Circ:  18 1/4" (50%)

Daddy's Day at the Zoo

Since it was a bit cool this weekend, instead of boating we decided to take the kids to the zoo.

This was Jason's first trip to the zoo with us this season, so since Hannah had been there a couple of times earlier this season with me, she got to play tour guide and show Daddy around. 

In the photo above, they were checking out this big guy - Big Mike, an abnormally HUGE alligator.  The name is no lie!

Hannah showed Daddy how to groom the goats.

We were all excited to see the bears were actually awake and moving around.  Seems like every time we come, we catch them at naptime.  Now we know they are not stuffed!

We went right during Jack's naptime.  Since he missed his morning nap due to church's later summer schedule, we thought he might fall asleep, but he held on through the entire visit.

Checking out the chimpanzees.

Taking a break, a rare site.

We couldn't leave without a good bang on the drum.  We are so happy that we got a membership.  It's already been so worth it.

Summer!

With temps well into the 90's last week, cooling off was in tall order.  What better way to beat the heat than to get wet?  For the first time this season, we busted out the water table and the kiddie pool.

This was Jack's first time playing in the water table, and he absolutely LOVED it!

He is definitely our warm weather water guy.  He practically hyperventilates when we take him out in the snow, but give him hot weather and water, and he's good to go.

While Jack went down for his morning nap, Hannah and I filled up the kiddie pool.  Can you tell we have an excited little girl?

Davis Fish #1

Side note here - for the first time this season, I also got to try out my new clothes line.  I am in love!!!  Yes, it's a little bit of a pain to go upstairs with wet clothes and downstairs from the deck to actually get to the clothesline (a walkout basement would work perfectly), but I love that I'm not running a hot dryer when it's hot outside.  Many thanks again to Jason and the kids for getting me just what I wanted for mother's day (yes, I really did ask for it), and to my dad for helping my very busy husband out and installing it.

Anyhow, back to splishing and splashing.  We ventured out to the pool later in the day, after the water had been warming up in the hot sun.  The thing was practically a hot tub, but Hannah did not want me to add any cool water from the hose. 

Davis Fish #2

I'm sure we'll be getting lots more use out of these toys this summer.

Pretty Perfect Sunday

Every year, we look forward to Festival of the Arts downtown.  It's the first big festival of the summer season.  Bands, dancers, choirs entertain on stages throughout downtown.  But really, who are we kidding?  We go most of all for the food! 

With over 30 different non-profit organizations manning tents of yummy goodness, it's always a struggle to decide what to try.  To better cover our bases, we split up.  Jason went with Asian and I went with Greek.  Neither would disappoint, and even the kids would agree.  Jack couldn't get enough of the cheese pie.

We cannot get Hannah to eat broccoli at home to save our lives, but she ate every. single. piece. from Jason's chicken stir fry.  Go figure.

Now that Hannah's a little older, she could participate in some of the kid-zone activities.  She had a great time painting (and chatting with the little girl next to her).

It was yet another hot day, so what better way to cool off than ice cream!  Actually, Hannah ended up with a ginormous cookie sandwich, which we thought had ice cream in the middle but turned out to be peanut butter frosting.  Delish!!

By mid-afternoon, the sun was beating down.  Perfect time for a boat ride on Reed's Lake.  No pictures.  Just trust me.  All four of us actually went out for a spin and were really wishing that we had our bathing suits to go for a swim.

After returning from our ride, we headed down to our neighbors' house for their little boy's birthday party.  It was so nice to FINALLY have a chance to socialize with our neighbors.  Everybody around here pretty much waves and says hello, but that's about the extent of it.  I have been LONGING for a way to better get to know our neighbors for years (sad, I know).  When our outgoing neighbor down the street invited us over, we jumped at the chance, and were we glad we went.  The kids had a ball and we had a great time visiting.  

When they invited us to a party, they invited us to a party!  They had a huge water slide/kiddie pool set-up for the kids, which we couldn't keep Hannah out of, a cook-out, pinata, and cake. 

Jack had so much fun crawling after the big kids.

Hannah took an immediate liking to our neighbors' babysitter from down the street.  Hmm... a new resource perhaps?  She also made fast friends with Maya, another neighbor down the street.

By the time we walked home, we had two exhausted kids.  A packed day?  I'd say so.  Worth it?  Absolutely!

Party Boy

It's so hard to believe that our little man is now one year old!  We couldn't let the big milestone pass without celebrating in proper fashion. 

The theme for the day was trains.  I made a train banner with his monthly picture in each of the cars.  It's amazing to look back and realize how much he's grown and changed.

I opted to make him a cake in lieu of ordering.  After quite a fiasco, something resembling a train did result.  I am pretty sure I will be ordering cakes for big events in the future.

We hadn't invited a TON of people but enough to make our small house pretty cramped, so we setup tables in the garage.  Little did we know 2 things - 1) It would reach 90 degrees.  2) Jack would come down with pink eye the day of the party, decreasing the number of guests we'd actually accommodate.  It all ended up working out just fine, though. 

The birthday boy, pink eye and all.

Regardless of the heat, everybody seemed to enjoy the meal - hot dogs and brats, homemade potato salad, fruit, chips, and broccoli salad.

Loving that even our recycle bin fit with the decor.  I planned that.  Yeah.  Uh huh.

Turned out having the party outside worked out really well for a couple of busy little girls.  Hannah and Kara played in the sun while the adults supervised from the relatively cool-ish garage.

Jack was showered with lots of great gifts. 

Diggin' his cool new ride.  Of course, he was most thrilled with the tissue paper.

How do we possibly have a 3-year old and a 1-year old???  Time flies!

The big moment of digging into the cake.  Well, not exactly digging.  He was actually rather methodical about the whole thing, picking away little bits at a time.

I actually thought he might fall asleep in his chair, between all of the activity, nap time, and a very full tummy, but he hung in there.

Having his cake and eating it too. 

Happy birthday Mister.  We love you and look forward to celebrating lots more birthdays with you.