A Camping We Will Go!

We are taking off to enjoy the holiday weekend camping! This will be our second trip out with our little trailer! Thanks to an amazing little white anti-nausea pill a fabulous pediatrician prescribed Joshua yesterday we have our old Joshua back!!! He hasn't thrown up in in over 24 hours and is back to an active little boy! His appetite is slowly coming back too. Hopefully all will go well this weekend and he will continue on the road to recovery so we can all enjoy our time away! I'll have to capture some pictures of the inside of our trailer as I realized the other day I haven't posted any. Enjoy the holiday weekend

I've never done those make and take meal things, but last night a few of my girlfriends from my MOPS group along with Erin and her mom all went to Alicat Kitchens to make some meals. The ladies in my MOPS group were making meals for ourselves, but also making a meal to give to a friend who is going back to work. Even though I hate the kitchen and would rather not be preparing food, Alicat was a very warm and inviting place that made food preparation enjoyable. Things are laid out very clearly and simply which makes your meal preparations easy. The meals are very much homemade with fresh ingredients and homeade sauces which makes them even more delightful. We had such a blast socializing and preparing our meals! We are actually thinking of doing a "girl's night out" every month at Alicat. Who couldn't use a night out with friends and bring meals home to their family?!?!? So for any of you skeptics out there who haven't tried one of these joints I highly recommend Alicat Kitchens.

Checking out the Metro Cruise!

Despite the weird sickness Joshua had on Saturday (he threw up once in the morning, but threw up later that night as we watched the cars cruise by) we headed out and met my dad at one of the huge car gatherings in town for the 28th Street Metro Cruise. It was fun to walk around and see all the old vintage cars. We even found a car very similar to my dad's first car that he paid only $30 for! Unfortunately, we had to call it quits after about an hour and a half since Joshua was getting tired. We did however meet up with Cory's parents, my dad, Shawn, Erin and Owen and Erin's dad and stepmom later that night to watch the cruise and eat some dinner. The highlight of Joshua's evening was seeing the firetruck that pulled in the parking lot we were in. The fireman who was driving stopped the huge truck, gave Owen and Joshua stickers and let them sit inside! Talk about making a little boy's dreams come true! The only downside to the day was Joshua's stomach acted up again toward the end of the night, but thankfully we had the puke bucket handy and he told us he needed it - we just hope it didn't gross any one else out too bad to have to witness it. The Metro Cruise just seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year and it's fun to see!

AARRGGHH!!!!

Excuse the absence from the blogging world, but we've been dealing with a sick little boy. Since when do viruses fly around in August?!?!?! Whatever he has caused him to throw up once on Friday morning, a few times on Saturday and numerous times yesterday. In fact yesterday he couldn't even keep water down for a while. We felt so bad, but there isn't much you can do other than cuddle and hug. Hopefully things are improving since he was able to keep liquid and some food down since yesterday afternoon. There is just so much of a sick, whiny child that I can take and I know he is tired of it all - he kept asking to go "bye bye" yesterday despite feeling so nasty. Poor guy.

UPDATE: He was keeping everything down for 24 hours when all of a sudden this afternoon we had another puking episode. AHHHHH!!!! We've had enough of the nasty bug!

Great Family Movie!

If you know me you know that I am not a fan of little children watching TV. Yes, I am going to step atop my soapbox for a moment. With my background in early childhood and all the research I have read and heard over the last few years I've never found anything that supports or has found the benefits of children under 2 watching TV. Personally, I would rather be playing with Joshua or reading to him than having him watch some junk (which is mostly whats on)on TV. Joshua didn't even have an interest in the TV until a couple months before he turned 2, which was fine with me. Of course even then he would only watch 5 or 10 minutes and this still rings true most of the time, although he has a few rare times once in a while when he will watch for 20 or 30 minutes. However TV watching for Joshua is not even close to a daily activity.
All this being said, I put the movie Charlotte's Web on our list on Netflix movies - I wanted to see it and thought maybe Joshua would enjoy it too. So, today it came in the mail and I told Joshua we could watch it tonight as a special treat. He did his share of walking around during the movie, but actually watched the entire movie. It was such a great movie! Unlike many of the Disney movies out there there was no violence or aggression to avert his eyes from or fast forward through. It was just good ol' clean fun! There is even some adult humor thrown in there for the parents watching. I'm sure by now almost every one with a child has seen this movie, but if you haven't be sure to check it out.

A Fun Day at Zoo!

Thanks to the cultural exchange the Children's Museum membership offers us, Erin, Owen, Joshua and I spent a day at the zoo for free! It was a beautiful, busy day at the zoo. Most of the animals were out and active, which isn't always the case. Our favorite part of the day was feeding the Budgies. It was such a great experience to have these birds flying right by you and eating right off the stick in your hand! After a fun morning we had a picnic lunch and Joshua got to play on the playground, while Owen headed home for a nap. Below are some pictures from our day, just put your mouse over the pictures and they will pause with captions (you may have to click you mouse once to use this feature).

A Beautiful Day at the Beach

Today Joshua and I met a few of my friends from MOPS at Millennium Park for a morning of fun. The kids ran around in the splash pad portion of the park for a few minutes before we headed off to sit on the beach and play in the lake. Joshua of course hated the splash pad the minute a sprinkler got him wet, but was happy to go splash around in the lake. He is still trying to get over the cold he got after we came home from camping last week so he was still a bit clingy. You'll hear no complaints from me as I cuddled him in a towel on the beach! It was so nice, as the kids played in the sand and water we moms had some time to catch up with each other. After a little picnic lunch we headed home so Joshua could take a much needed nap. If you've never been to Millennium Park you should give it a try. The beach is very nice, the water is shallow and warm and the beach house is clean. A nice little get-away in the city!
Ella and Joshua play while Zach and Emma play in the background


Ella and Joshua


Joshua chases a seagull

Dinner with the Jets!

It was such a beautiful night last night that we decided to head to the airport and have a picnic dinner and watch the jets. Joshua was a little to focused on the jets so it was a challenge to get him to eat (more so than normal). We had a great time watching the jets land and take off as well as spending time as a family!

Bakin' a Cake!

Last night Joshua kept asking for cake for some unknown reason. Of course we don't just keep cake around. So, we went to the grocery store and Joshua picked out a cake mix and frosting to make a cake with. So, today after much anticipation Joshua got to make his cake! He had a ball pouring and mixing the cake batter. Our little chef was at it again! Below is a short video of his baking experience.

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Camping at Myers Lake

As I said in an earlier post, we are back from a wonderful vacation of camping at Myers Lake. Myers Lake is a campground in Byron, MI (about 25 minutes from the Howell outlet mall). It was a very nice campground which was well taken care of. Shawn and Cory each hauled a trailer while Erin drove Joshua, Owen and I up. We arrived Sunday afternoon to set up, which meant that Joshua skipped his nap. My dad went to the outlet mall and then met us at the campground so he could watch Joshua and Owen and we could set up in peace. Papa spoiled the boys with a bike ride on a very unique bike! Other families started to arrive and were surprised and shocked to find out that we had purchased a trailer! Our first night did not go smoothly as Joshua woke up at 3:30 am thinking it was time to play. We couldn't let him cry like we would at home because he would've woken the whole campground up. So he looked at books and played with toys until he finally crashed at 5:30 am (with the help of a little Benedryl). Thankfully the rest of the week the sleeping went a bit more smoothly, Joshua just got up earlier than he normally does. Overall we spent the week playing in the lake and enjoying the sunny weather. We did take one day to go to the outlet mall and found some great bargains for Joshua for next summer. We had a great time swimming, eating, socializing and creating some great memories! Check out some pictures of our vacation below.

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Happy Birthday Dad!

Since we were camping on my dad's actual birthday we celebrated Sunday evening. We went out for dinner to celebrate. Joshua enjoyed helping Papa open his cards and gifts! Happy birthday to my dad! Dad, you are an amazing man with great faith from which we have learned a lot. We are thankful for your many years of life! Thanks for being such a blessing in our lives!

Back From Vacation

We arrived back home yesterday afternoon from a week of camping at Myers Lake with Cory's family and some of his extended family. It was a fantastic little United Methodist campground with a great group camping area and very clean bathrooms and showers. The lake was perfect and was enjoyed morning, afternoon and evening. Joshua just couldn't get enough of the water! Since we are still trying to finish up the last of the laundry and getting the rest of the stuff out of the trailer the posting of pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll leave you with just one photo or our new trailer - a 2000 Trail Lite Bantam. Yes, we purchased a trailer about a month ago and kept it a secret from Cory's family, except for Shawn and Erin as Erin was the one who found it for sale on the side of the road and encouraged us to buy it. We did a cosmetic overhaul of the inside of the trailer over the last month (since trailers seem to all look like they were made in the 80's). Needless to say, Cory's family was surprised!