Even in the rain there were fireworks!

All day we kept an eye on the weather to see if it we would cooperate. So, with the assurance of the local meteorologists we headed downtown last night to watch the Celebration on the Grand fireworks. We met my dad for dinner first and then found our usual spot to settle in to wait for the fireworks to begin. Papa came prepared with popcorn for us to enjoy, although Joshua thought the popcorn was all for him! It was a beautiful night and the fireworks were only half hour away from launching. Then we felt some sprinkles of rain. The sprinkles didn't last but a few minutes, but the clouds overhead didn't look promising. The fireworks started and only a few minutes into it the rain started to come down. It poured pretty hard for a few minutes as the fireworks went on and then it quit almost as quickly as it had started while the last five minutes of the fireworks went off. Even with the strange weather, it was a fun evening!
Settling in at our favorite fireworks watching spot

Playing chase while waiting for the fireworks to start.

Joshua thought the popcorn was all his!

"Boom, boom, boom" was all Joshua could say as the fireworks went off.

Watching the fireworks under the cover of our umbrellas!

Camping at Brower Park

Over the Labor Day weekend we headed up to Brower Park to camp with Cory's parents and his sister's family (aka The VanWesep Clan). The park isn't exactly what we were looking for, but it worked for the weekend. If you like big boats, drunk campers and lot of noise this park is for you. We personally like a things a bit more on the quiet side, especially in the late night and early morning hours (I didn't appreciate the loud boat that woke me up at 7:45am on Monday morning). We did have a great spot in a quieter corner of the park, right across from the beach and a playground. Joshua spent lots of time playing with his cousins Nicholas, Gabrielle and Allison on the playground, the beach and their camper! Shawn and Erin even came out to visit on Saturday and brought a Seadoo! The only real issue we had was Joshua being a stinker and not taking a nap most days, which in turn made for a tired and cranky boy in the evening hours. A cranky two year old is not my idea of a good time! Overall we enjoyed our second camping trip and created some great memories. Check out all the fun we had in the video below!

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The Before and After Pictures of Our Trailer

So, I finally remembered to take pictures of the inside of our trailer. It is a 2000, but the inside looked like it was from the 1980's when we got it. With some white paint, new knobs, new carpet and vinyl flooring and a lot of new fabric in updated colors it looks like a totally new trailer. Even though it was a ton of work, it was absolutely worth it for the end result!

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!

A Day at the Museum

Today Erin, Owen, Joshua and I headed downtown to visit the GR Public Museum, thanks to Erin's bright idea! Joshua and I happen to have a Children's Museum membership and they do a "cultural exchange" with the Ford Museum, the GR Public Museum and the Frederik Meijer Gardens and the zoo. For the month of July the cultural exchange was with the public museum so we all got in FREE! We also bought the boys a carousel ride ticket and the guy who gave us our tickets also gave us a ticket for a free ride! The boys had a blast walking around the museum, looking at the exhibits and touching all of the kid-friendly things they have there. It's amazingly more kid-friendly than I ever thought it was. The animal exhibit was where we spent most of our time because the boys were just amazed by the big creatures they could see up close. They also loved riding on the carousel! We even ate lunch there looking out the window at the river and bought the boys little treats at the gift shop at the end. The boys had a fantastic time! Owen was so worn out he fell asleep in the car only moments after we got in and Joshua is peacefully napping now.

Oh Nuts . . .

or shall I say peanuts. I called the Joshua's pediatrician's office to get the results of his allergy test. His pediatrician is on vacation this week so another doctor had to review the test results before a nurse could call me back with the results. She called me back this afternoon and told me that Joshua tested negative for an allergy to milk, egg and soy, but has an allergy to peanuts. I asked how intense the allergy was. The nurse told be a 1.3 which she couldn't really explain the signficance of so it means nothing to me. Joshua's pediatrician will call next week to explain the results further. The results of the allergy test do explain his reaction to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had a couple months ago (he never had anything peanut until after he turned two - he has had other food items that have touched peanuts and had no problem). He hated it, cried and kept wiping his tongue and mouth. I immediately gave him Benedryl thinking he could be allergic, but I had a suspicion that it could be just a texture issue with this finicky boy too. A couple weeks ago Cory had some toast with peanut butter on it and Joshua FREAKED out! He didn't want to be anywhere near that peanut butter. Smart little cookie! I have a feeling he isn't severly allergic to the actual peanut, but rather a concentrated amount of peanut oil which you find in peanut butter, but I'm just going on what the nurse told me. Hopefully the pediatrician can clear up our understanding of this next week. I have a feeling a visit to an allergist is in Joshua's future.

Update

Yesterday Erin and I headed downtown to the Devos Women's and Children's Clinic for our second try at getting the boys' blood drawn. This time Owen went first, he didn't like it, but he did very well. Joshua was second to go and as soon as the cuff went on his arm he started screaming! The nurses were horrified at what the lady at Quest Diagnostics had done to his arms. They poked Joshua's right arm, but the vein kept rolling so she took the needle out pretty quickly (and left NO bruising- YEAH!) and went to the left arm. Needless to say, Joshua wasn't happy about being poked again and was screaming, crying, saying ouch and bye bye in between hysterics. It took a few seconds, but almost immediately the vial filled up. I felt so bad for having to put Joshua through this, but we need to know if or what he is allergic to. At least it is done and the results should be in by tomorrow.

Joshua's pediatrician also referred him to a dermatologist to get to the bottom of these bumps all over his cheeks. Today Joshua and I headed to the dermatologist's office, special thanks goes to Toni for working us in to today's schedule so that we didn't need to wait another month. After about a minute of looking at Joshua's cheeks and arms the doctor told me he had Keratosis Pilaris - it usually needs treatment for cosmetic reasons. She said Joshua just has very sensitive skin. She also prescribed a lotion that should clear his face and arms up. Glad we have some answers now!

BAD Experience!

Joshua and Owen do lots of things together, so today Erin and I figured they might as well get their blood drawn together too! Joshua's pediatrician ordered a blood draw for an allergy test to see if he is allergic to milk, soy, peanuts and eggs due to the weird bumps that have been on his cheeks and arms for the last 6 months or so. Owen had an order to have a test done to see if he is allergic to milk like we have all suspected for quite some time. So off to Quest Diagnostics we went (due to a program through insurance I was to go here). It was Joshua's turn first and he did very well through the lady finding a vein and then putting the needle in, but after about 2 minutes of her poking the needle around under his skin he started crying, HARD and saying "OUCH, OUCH". She then tried the other arm and poked the needle around under his skin for another minute or so and by this time he had had it and started screaming! She got a bit of blood out, but not enough for the testing that needs to be done. So, now it was Owen's turn. Smart boy that he is, he started screaming right away and wanted no part of any of it. The lady told us to come back on Monday when someone else would be there to help her. Ahh, I think NOT!!!!! We immediately came home and I called the insurance company and asked them if there was any way to have his blood drawn by a pediatric specialist (who can actually draw blood instead of fish around in his arm and cause trauma) in the DeVos Children's Hospital. Thankfully it can be done this way and the specimen sent to Quest Diagnostics for insurance purposes. We knew it wouldn't be easy to draw blood from toddlers, but that was ridiculous!!!! Joshua now has a bruise on each arm! Please pray with us that Monday things will go much better and the tests can be completed for both boys and our allergy questions answered. Note the progression of Joshua's expressions in the pictures below. He was not a happy boy by the end of our experience.

These Shoes Are Made for Walking. . .

Just had to share these pictures of Joshua I captured today because I thought they were so funny! Lately he has been trying on every one's shoes - mine, Cory's, he even put Owen's on the other night and ran around in them for a while. Perhaps he has an affinity for shoes. Hmmm, I wonder where that could be coming from?!?! It was just hilarious to watch him try to walk around in my big ol' flip flops today! He even had to show the cat!

July Birthdays

This weekend we headed out to the Pioneer park where Cory's parents and his sister and family were camping. We celebrated Allison's 2nd birthday! We had fun hanging out at the campground and look forward to camping not only with Cory's family, but extended family in a couple weeks!

Last night we headed over to my dad's to a little celebration for Phil's half-birthday. I think I'm the only one, but I've kept with the tradition of celebrating his half-birthday and not his real birthday. We gave him another beanie baby to add to his collection (we give him one every year). Joshua got to play with uncle Phil and Papa which just made his night!

A Trip To The Gardens

Today Erin and I thought it would be the perfect day to take the boys to Frederik Meijer Gardens to play. Neither of us had seen the chocolate tree exhibit either, so we thought we could check it out. Unfortunately the chocolate exhibit was very disappointing - it's sprawled all over the gardens and the parts that are supposed to be interactive aren't very interesting. Joshua and Owen had a great time in the children's garden! They loved getting wet in the water and playing in the sand. Below are a few snapshots of our time there today. Love a day at the gardens!

Catching Butterflies

So even though the temps were in the mid 90's today we spent a good portion of the day playing outside. The purple cone flowers along our front walkway have been attracting the butterflies frequently this summer. Of course every time an active little boy runs over to look, the butterfly flies away. Yesterday however there was a pretty slow-going butterfly. I was able to catch it and put it in Joshua's bug box. He kept giggling every time he looked at the butterfly. After a few minutes we told him the butterfly needed to be let go. He agreed and we took the lid of the bug box off. However, the butterfly didn't want to leave! So, I put my finger down by it and the butterfly crawled on. Then I had Joshua put his hand on mine and the butterfly crawled onto his hand. Joshua was awestruck that the butterfly was actually on his hand! After a few minutes the butterfly finally flew off. Who needs Frederik Meijer Gardens and their butterfly display when you have a beautiful summer day and plants that attract butterflies?!?!

Splashing at the Park!

Thanks to Brenda (one of my brother's good friends from high school) I became aware of a new water playground that was opening at Lamar Park today. So, Erin and I took the boys over to see what is was all about. It was jam packed with people, but we were able to meet up with Brenda and her daughter Emma as well as Brenda's friend Bradi and her girls. Before we could even get into the water we were approached by someone from WCSG radio and Erin, Brenda, Bradi and myself were all interviewed about our thoughts on this new attraction. Once we got to the water Joshua wasn't so sure of the water shooting everywhere and spent most of his time up on my hip, while Owen was walking around checking everything out and getting soaked in the process! It's a fabulous place! We'll have to head back some other time when it's not so packed with people.

Fourth of July Festivities

Hope everyone out there had a great fourth of July! We had a busy, but fun-filled day. We started by going to the parade out in Cascade with my dad, Shawn, Erin, Owen and Erin's mom and step dad. The parade was pretty good and lasted about an hour, but the amount of rude children around us convinced us we will be heading back to the Kentwood parade next year where all the people stay on the curb and don't jump in front of each other. It was so bad that someone throwing candy to Joshua and Owen actually yelled, "let the little kids get it!" After the parade we headed over to the Cascade library where they had tons of activities set up for kids to enjoy. Unfortunately, there wasn't a ton for little kids to do so Joshua rode the train with my dad and went and looked at and petted some animals. Then it was on to Shawn and Erin's house for a pool party, BBQ and fireworks with family. Definitely a good time was had by all, but we were totally exhausted today!

Excuse the GIGANITC picture below, blogger, blip tv, and our computer and I aren't getting along right now so hopefully I can shrink it later when I'm not so frustrated. Here's the bright side, the video at least plays in a larger frame!

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