Watervale

This was my family's 21st summer to make the 1,200 mile trek to northern Michigan, and the Peanut's 2nd trip (or third, if you want to get technical about it, as I was 3 months pregnant with him in 2010).  Just as we did last year, everyone else left on Friday morning to make the two day, 22 hour drive, while P and I stayed behind - catching a flight to Chicago and then Traverse City the next afternoon.

Here we are on the way to the airport.  We decided to buy P his own seat and take the car seat on the plane with us.  Best. decision. ever.

We arrived at the airport around 1:30, didn't have to wait in a line at security (thank you God), and made it to our gate about 90 minutes early (since our flight was delayed 20 minutes).  As we were waiting, I tried to pull up a video that I had downloaded for P, only to realize that while I had purchased it on iTunes, I hadn't actually downloaded it to my phone.  Fail.  Travel tip:  As of right now, DFW doesn't have free Wi-fi, but if you go and hang out outside of the Admiral's Club, you can mooch a connection. :)  All the classy people are doing it.

 

In our seat on the airplane...if I have time, I'll write a post about traveling with a toddler.

Of course he was awake for the entire flight to Chicago, and the second the wheels touched down, he fell asleep.

Fun fact: a lot of food courts at the Chicago airport (all airports?) don't have highchairs.  We took food from other eating establishments into the Chili's and just ate our dinner there and enjoyed some down-time.

Although it's hard to see it, the little contraption that is attached to P's car seat was my lifesaver!!!  The GoGo Kidz Travelmate let me wheel P around like a piece of travel luggage, which meant I didn't have to bring a stroller!  Also, this picture may or may not be taken in a bathroom stall.  Poor kid was up close and personal with his mama...more than once.

 

Made it onto the next plane to Traverse City.  Peanut really enjoyed the takeoff and the landing.

 

Just hanging out on the plane...

 

When we finally landed in TVC, we still had to drive another hour to our final destination.  You would have thought that P would have fallen fast asleep in the backseat.  But that was not the case.  When we arrived at our cottage, P proceeded to race around the place like he had all the energy in the world.  Thankfully, that was short-lived, and he finally crashed and burned.  It was definitely a long day!

 

 He woke up every morning ready to go!

 Hanging out on the porch.

 Enjoying some Michigan blueberries.

 And some more...

 Washing off the airplane funk in the antique bathtub. :)

 Hanging out on the porch swing with Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear.

 Peanut loves his Aunt KiKi.

 Rockin' the sunbuggies.

 "Well hello there..."

 This is SUCH a Peanut face! :)

 A vacation treat...popsicle snack after nap.

 P's curls were our scientifically accurate humidity indicator.

 Love those baby blues.

 Popsicle eating is a full-contact sport.  No shirt (or pants, seemingly) necessary.

 I LOVE POPSICLES!

 I mean really love popsicles.  :)

 The sunbuggies return.

 Sunset over the little lake.

 Sunset 2.

 Hanging out on the porch swing with Grammy Share.

 More with Grammy Share.

 One rainy morning, Grammy Share was CRACKING Peanut up by creeping up to him and then jumping and shouting "Kaboom!"  It was hilarious!

 Oh yeah!

We all made our way down to the big beach early in the week.

P had no idea what to expect. :)

 

Making our way down to the big beach.

 

Here we all are.  It was a beautiful day!

 

Playing in the water.

 

Snuggling with Grammy Share and trying to get warmed up after eating a handful of sand. :(  His daddy had to run him out into the lake and more or less dunk him under to get the sand out of his mouth.

 Listening to Grammy Share sing some songs.

 

J getting ready to go for a swim in Lake Michigan.  Don't be concerned...he's not really this white.  Thank you Instagram filter for making J look like a vampire. :) (Sorry, Buddy.)

 

K's rock hunting finds.

 Hanging out with Grandpa Ron and Grammy Share.

  

He loves them. :)

 Playing in the sand.

Looking for his toes!

Found them! :)

Besides the sand-eating fiasco, P had a GREAT time at the beach!

We began a tradition a couple of years ago of going to this little bakery in town and having breakfast.  Vacation is usually a time where you don't count calories, which is good - especially for this breakfast - as we probably couldn't count that high. :)

You've heard of an apple fritter?  Well, when you're in cherry country, you get cherry fritters. (Cue angel choir).

This may or may not be the box of donuts that we bought.  And we may or may not have consumed all of them.  Don't worry...there were six whole people responsible for making these disappear! (And P was not one of them...we tried to give him some bites of a cake donut, but he was not interested.  As a side note, he also really disliked the french fries that came with his dinner one night - so much so that he took one out of his mouth after taking a bite and had to take a big drink of water.  He also wouldn't have anything to do with the fruit snacks we had for him as a fun food for the plane.  I'm picturing a broccoli sculpture for his birthday cake this year.)

Walking with Aunt KiKi.

Pretty flowers in Frankfort.

As he tends to do at everyone's home, P quickly found the pantry, and spent a lot of time there grunting for saltine crackers (a culinary love he must get from his Grandpa Ron.)

Here he is with his saltines...one for each hand, of course, as he will have it no other way.

On Thursday we climbed Baldy - a 3 mile hike up through the woods and then down a huge dune and back along the beach.  This year we had quite the adventure on the way back.  There was a huge storm brewing, and the moment we ran down the beach, we were caught in a torrential downpour.  Not to worry - there was also some thunder and lightening, which encouraged us to go ahead and run back down the beach...we felt very hardcore.  Who am I kidding...we were very hardcore.

A new plaque at the top of the dune hike.

 Our last day there it rained in the morning, but in the afternoon the sun came out. :)  We decided to go and pick some blueberries - something everyone should do at least once in his life - at a little place about 5 miles down the road.

 We thought P would be all over it, considering blueberries are the kid's go-to food.  At first he was unsure defiant.  He picked a berry, put it in his mouth, and proceeded to take it out and throw it on the ground.  Just to prove his point, he picked another one, and simply threw it on the ground.  J and I were admittedly bummed, as we thought P would be in heaven!

 We were about to give up and go home, but we figured that we were there, so we might as well pick some.  So, we started filling our bucket, and then P became interested.

 Wait a second...what is this?

 A blueberry!?  Well why didn't you say so!?!!

And thus began P shoveling berries into his mouth out of the dirty bucket. :)  J was a poor sport and decided that wasn't sanitary, so he told P "no."  You can see how P took that in the next picture.

 He was seriously upset.

 Not to worry...J continued to pick berries and put them in the bucket.  I continued to pick berries and put them in Peanut's mouth.

 The blueberries cost $1.75 per pound.

 Love the honor system at work here!

 Our take-home bounty.

 Smile. :)

 The one piece of photographic evidence that we made the trip with P this year!

 Before dinner.

 On the porch swing.

 I love my little boy.

 Getting some sweet smooches.

 Sunset at the beach on Friday night.

 This is the most people I have EVER seen on the beach!

 Love my sweet sister.

 The original 4.

 Sister and Bear.

 On Saturday, P and I made our trek back to Dallas via the air.  Here we are watching the planes come in and cars drive around.  He loved it.

 We found a mini oasis in the middle of the Chicago airport.

 I love my travel buddy...even if he did have an epic meltdown before we got on the last flight home (I think his wailing allowed us to pre-board.) :)

As soon as I got his seat buckled in, P crashed and burned.  He slept almost the entire way home from Chicago to Dallas.

Here was our little family last year when P was 7 months old.

 

And here we are this year with Mr. Personality at 19 months.

It admittedly is not easy traveling with a young child.  In fact, when I got back, I posted on Facebook that if someone told me that they would pay me six figures to fly alone with a toddler several times a week, I would turn them down.  It's exhausting...even when your kiddo is well behaved!  And I'm sure that J might have other things he would rather do than ride alone in the car packed with P's favorite toys and books for 22 hours, but we do it because it's worth it.  P had the time of his life this year - playing in the little lake, going for walks down the sidewalk (multiple times a day!), going to the big beach, swinging at the playground, chasing the basketball around on the basketball court, playing in the sprinklers, eating breakfast at the Inn, hanging out with his family, (did I mention going for walks down the sidewalk?), picking blueberries, and thankfully for his mom and dad - taking great naps and sleeping well at night (a MAJOR improvement from last year!).  We look forward to all the memories waiting to be made in the years to come.

New Trick

Before I took P in for his 18 month appointment, I had looked online for "milestones" that I might be asked about.  One of them was walking backwards.  J and I talked about it and agreed that this was a ridiculous milestone.  Why would a kid randomly walk backwards?!  It's not like we go around walking backwards, so where in the world would he get the idea to do such a thing?  Well, low and behold, a week or so after his appointment, P started walking backwards.  For no apparent reason.  People are apparently wired with a desire to walk backwards from time to time.  Who knew?

I guess it seemed like we weren't impressed with the walking backwards after seeing it multiple times, so P had to come up with something new.  It involves spinning in circles - again, not a skill set that he has witnessed before- so I'm guessing we're wired to randomly spin in circles from time to time?   God has a sense of humor, doesn't He? :)

So here is some video footage of P's new trick...and yes, it almost always ends this way.

Next stop...Ironman.

Editor's note...just realized I never posted this.  If I compare this to teaching, it's like a kid doing their homework and not bringing it to school.  What's the point!?  Sigh.  Read on...
 
On June 3rd, I did something I had never done before - I was a spectator at a triathlon.  And not just any triathlon...a triathlon my husband was participating in.  Never mind that this is his second season to participate and that this was only my first time to see him.  Do you know what time you have to get to a triathlon as a participant to set up your stuff in the transition area? - normally like 5:30...in the AM, people!  And since triathlons include swimming, you also have to be near a body of water (a term I use loosely), and in case you didn't know, Dallas doesn't have so many bodies of water, so on top of having to be somewhere at 5:30 in the morning, that place you have to be is usually a decent distance away, which means getting up even earlier.  So needless to say, this wasn't a great option with a nursing infant last summer, but no excuses this year.  P and I went out to Irving to cheer J on.

 The "large body of water" I was talking about...

 Our dad's out there somewhere...

 Cheering is hard work.  Snacks are a must.

 Can you spot J?  Neither can I. :)

 After watching dad swim and transition onto the bike, we went and ran around in the grass.

 In fact, we were having so much fun, and J was so much faster than he had anticipated (definitely not a bad thing), that we missed him in the bike to run transition.  Boo.  Definitely need some more practice in being a race ninja.

 At the end, P had a complete melt-down, as I lovingly tried to document here.

Here I am with my buddy...so proud of him!

 

So, you ask, what's next for this guy?  Tomorrow at 11 AM, J will be signing up for Ironman Texas 2013.  

For those of you who don't know, an Ironman is an extreme three-sport, one-day endurance event.

2.4 mile swim

112 mile bike ride

24.2 mile run (a full marathon)

The race begins at 7 AM, and in order to be named an Ironman, you must finish by midnight...i.e. you have 17 hours to complete the course.

Needless to say, this is going to be an adventure...for our entire family!

I'll keep you posted. :)

Game of the Month

As soon as you think you know a kid, he changes on you.

A month ago, P couldn't get enough of his rings.  Now, he barely touches them...instead, our go-to toy is a bucket with plastic rings and such in it.  Not very exciting, you say?  Oh contraire, my friend...

 Here we are checking out what's in our bucket.

Here we are emptying out the bucket's contents.

Adding things back in...

 No, we're not spitting at the bucket.  We're making a noise while putting a ring back into the bucket.
  His Grammy Share taught him this, although in her version, she makes a noise that sounds more like,"Kichy-coo."  It's important for you to know that there is a technique involved here.  If P throws a ring in really hard, you have to make the sound really loud.  However, if he drops it in softly (which he will do while staring right at you to make sure that you're really paying attention to him), you make the sound softly.

 Continuing to reload.

Who knew this bucket of plastic could be so much fun?

"P" is for perfection...

There are so many ways that P is like his dad and me, and it's so fun to notice a new similarity - whether it be a physical feature, or a behavior, or an expression - it's just a nice reminder that we are definitely related. :)

Of course, everyone knows that P gets his killer baby blues from his dad, and his chin from yours truly (what, you haven't noticed that!? - Look more carefully next time! ;)) 

He's an extrovert like his mom but is also very thoughtful and takes everything in like his dad.

And thankfully for him (as we always said we'd give our kid back if this wasn't the case) he does appear to LOVE music.

As another example, a month or so ago P hurt himself and had a really good cry, and for the first time, I realized the he cries like I cried when I was little - which is characterized by an inability to catch your breath, which leads to a repeated sniffing sound (not pretty).  Of course, my first response was to comfort my hurting kiddo, but quickly after came the exclamation - "He cries just like me!"

And then there's this one...and I'm not necessarily proud of it.  It turns out that our child is quite the...ummm...how do you describe it...perfectionist.  What?!?  I know what you're thinking...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.  Well, if you really knew me, you would know that I would NEVER use the word "perfectionist" to describe me - as that would be taking it easy on myself.  Okay, I will admit it - I'm a tad bit perfectionistic, and I have been as long as I can remember.

Well, it turns out that P has inherited this trait as well (it truly is remarkable to see this as an inherited trait and not something learned!).  This perfectionistic side shows itself often - and in many ways - but as an example...when he was little and was first learning to stack his rings, he would begin, and if he put the first two on correctly but then messed up on the third one, he would take all of the rings off and start over.

He does the same thing now with his puzzle name bench.  Now, I'm not one to be super braggy to others about my kiddo (different kids develop at different rates, right?), but I'm pretty sure that most 18 month olds don't do puzzles the way our child does. (Of course, most 18 month olds probably speak more than ONE WORD like our child does, but we recently read that some children are late talkers because they focus all their energy on mastering other tasks - like puzzles and stacking objects and other things that are far more important to one's life than verbal communication.)

 He does seem to have a system and begins with either the last "r" or the "P" or the "k," as those are the easiest to identify and put in.

 There are 2 "r's" of course, and sometimes he decides that the colors really should be in rainbow order, so he'll dump out the letters and start over, making sure the purple "r" is at the end.

 Putting in the final "e," which results in us spelling his name while pointing at the letters and then cheering...

 Another round.

 He has a hard time with the "a" and will often dump the stool over to start over when he can't figure out how to get it in correctly the first time.

A completed masterpiece.

This sometimes ugly trait also rears its head while he's stacking a tower of blocks, and if a block falls off, he will more than likely make a growling/frustrated sound, pick up a block, and chunk it (we're working on this).  A phrase we say very often is, "P, you cannot throw something when you get frustrated."  And amazingly, I am already saying to my child, "It's okay!  It doesn't have to be perfect!"  Sigh...I can only imagine what it will be like when he gets to school... but I guess we have a few years to work on it before we have to find out.

Peanut's Sleepover

While J and I were off celebrating our anniversary, the Peanut got to go to Camp KiKi and Uncle Bear.  Thanks to Aunt KiKi, we have photo-documentation of the shenanigans that took place.  I'm shocked that P was willing to come back home with us after all the fun he had!

 Starting off right with an after-nap snack.

 Then it was off to the spray ground that is within walking distance from K & B's house.

 To say P loved it would be an understatement.

 We think he found his happy place.

 Here he is playing with the yogurt tubs' cousins...the Cool Whip tubs.

 K and B noticed that P would close his eyes whenever he got his face wet...and would continue to walk around...with his eyes closed...while veering to the left.  This may have resulted in bumping into some things...but there was no permanent damage.

 Falling down and going "boom" is just part of the spray ground.  Thankfully it's nice and padded.

 The "Rings of Fire" (as I heard several kids call them the other day when we were there).  

P was supposedly pretty tentative about this at first.  He had to watch some other kids do it before he would go...but as you can see, there is water spraying in his face- which means he closed his eyes- which means he veered to the left- which means he might have run into one of the rings...again, no permanent damage.

 This place also had benches to play with his tubs on. Life is complete.

 

The spray ground "after" picture...pretty awesome.

   

The next morning started with some yoga...

 

 And then came a visit to the park to swing.

 Silly boy.

 Loves him some swinging.

Here's a video of P playing on the slides...kind of. :)

 

 And home for a snack.

 Waiting for mom and dad at the window. :)

...thanks, again, to K and B for hanging out with P!  You all are the best! :)

This is where I disappeared to...

You may have noticed that the blog went silent for a few weeks...well, (this time) there was a good reason for it! My cousin, Audrey, got married over Memorial Day weekend, and I took the lead in creating a recipe book for her and her new hubby of family recipes that we have enjoyed over the years out at the ranch (which is where their wedding was).  After some searching, I found that Shutterfly has a template for a cook book (although we created a lot of pages on our own), and even though I knew that it would be the undertaking to add in pictures, I went with it...and I am SO glad that I did! :)  The entire family shared recipes in Google docs, and then with picture help from my Aunt Ann and help from my cook book side-kick, Cousin Whitney, in only 3 short weeks (!?), we had ourselves a cook book! :)  The best part is I was able to upload it to a Shutterfly family site I created so anyone can purchase one.  It's the gift that keeps on giving. :)  So below are a few screen shots of some of my favorite pages... The whole book is a little over 50 pages and is filled with memories and GREAT recipes! :)

 

 

Shutterfly did not ask me to write this post...but man, I wish they had!  I'd happily write a rave review of their custom photo book site for some free Shutterfly stuff! :)