Gone Fishing

Jason and Papa Hodgins took Kaleb fishing for the very first time this past weekend. Kaleb has been wanting to fish since our camping trip. Jason's dad provided Kaleb with his own tackle box, bobbers, sinkers, etc. Uncle Mike and Aunt Dana gave Kaleb a little pole that used to be Janelle's, and he has been sleeping with both things for a week!

Jason said the day went great. Kaleb even caught a fish. By his account it was 2 feet long, but as I looked through the evidence, it doesn't appear that it was that big! Before long Kaleb will be joining Jason and Papa Hodgins on their yearly fishing trips to Houghton Lake.

During the past week

Here is a picture of me and the kids on my birthday.

Movie night for the kids. They settled down with some popcorn and juice. I'm not sure that Emerson made it far into the movie, but they thought it was fun.

On Saturday we took Jason's dad to the Tiger's game for his birthday. We had fun, except for the horrible headache Jason had, which was made worse by the loud speakers. I had a great time sucking down my 2 foot tall daiquiri, but that is story for another time!

Jason and his dad, Bob. I'm sure I said 'smile'?!!
Scenery shots throughout the night!

An almost picture of me and Jason at the game. Just a little blurry!

Family get-together

This past Sunday we had a great visit with my side of the family at Aunt Diane and Uncle Dan's house. They have a beautiful house on a lake so it provided a lot of fun for the kids. It was a perfect, all be it hot, day!

In this picture is Aunt Diane, Dylan, Derek, Uncle Dan, Dad, Uncle Charlie, Rene and Sarah all hanging out in Uncle Dan's cool Tiki Bar!

Dan, Jason, Emerson and Kaleb getting ready for a boat ride.

My little heartbreaker making the moves on Dylan. It was soooooo stinkin cute!Me and the kids on our first boat ride of the day.
Me, Jen and Sarah!
Kaleb, Papa VanDeven and Emerson

The kids trying to take the boat out for a little ride.
Emerson actually fell asleep on my lap during one of the rides.
The Family!

Sad

Well, the trip to Florida has been cancelled. Darn that tropical storm Fay. It was just too risky to drive all that way, not knowing which direction the storm would turn. Had it stayed out in the Gulf and then reached the area around Panama City where Anna is, it could have easily turned into a hurricane. While I would have loved spending a few days on the beach with Anna and her family, I just was too scared to take my kids into such an uncertain situation. Hopefully that storm decreases and they don't feel much of the effects where Anna is.
Off to unpack!

In happy news, my friend Mindy from college delivered her baby girl on Saturday. Her name is Rylee Paige (I hope that is how her name is spelled!) Congratulations Mindy and Gregg!

A wonderful birthday

Yesterday was my 29th birthday and it was fabulous! Kaleb really wanted to give me a card with money in it, but Jason got him to settle for some movie theater cash and that worked for Kaleb. They all know how I love going to the movies!
Jason replaced a few precious items for me. Earlier this year my necklace was ripped off by one of the monsters. It held a beautiful diamond pendant that they had gotten for me two Christmas's ago. The pendant has just been sitting in my jewelry box without a necklace to wear it on. I'm so happy I'll be able to wear it again as it was my 'daily' wear necklace!
Also, when Jason asked my dad for permission to marry me my dad gave him my mom's ring. Jason proposed using my mom's ring and after that gave me my own engagement ring. It was extremely sentimental to have my mom's ring as well and I always wore it on my right hand. One day a few months back I looked down at my hand and noticed that the diamond was gone on my mom's ring. I had no clue where it had fallen out and we never did get that ring insured so I was forced to put it away. Jason took the ring and went to the jeweler to have the stone replaced for my birthday. What a sweet man! I will have to wait a few more days to get the ring back, but I can wait.

As they do every year my parents took us out to dinner for my birthday. I decided that instead of the usual restaurant I always choose that this year it would be fun to take the family to a place they have never been. We traveled an hour to go to Osaka's Japanese Steak House and it was the best meal I have had in a long time. The kids were really into watching the food being cooked right in front of us on the hibachi. The fire freaked Emerson out a little, but she loved the rest. I have not seen my kids eat so much or be so well behaved at a restaurant before. It was a really great night. Thank you Dad and Rene for dinner!

Tonight Jason and I will be taking his dad to a tiger's game for his birthday gift. I have not been to Comerica Park yet so I'm really excited. I'm just nervous about driving in that mess and trying to find a parking spot!

Tomorrow we will be traveling to Aunt Diane and Uncle Dan's house for a family get together. I'm so excited. I love seeing my cousins and I haven't been there since February when Dylan was born. I can't wait to catch up. We'll have fun swimming in the lake and visiting all afternoon! Unfortunately Chris, Sarah, Clara and Carter will be missing. Sarah has been having preterm labor symptoms and the dr put her on bed rest since this little one isn't supposed to come until September. I wish they could be there too.

And for my next trick.........
The kids and I will be traveling down to Florida on Monday to visit Anna and her family while they are staying there for the summer. Anna lives in Alaska and I normally only get to see her once a year when she comes back to Michigan to visit. I really miss her. We had great times in college and I can't wait to have a few days to catch up. Of course you are all saying that I am crazy. I probably am. It will be 1200 miles and 18 hours of probable torture. I may need therapy when I return. I just can't pass up the opportunity to spend my last week of the summer with Anna! I can't wait for our kids to all meet. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures when I return!

Crossroads Village

Another fun outing with grandma. Is it weird that Kaleb now tells people "On our 'outing' we went to........."? Just wondering!

Yesterday we went to Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad located in Flint. Although it is a living museum with many things you aren't allowed to touch, they do a great job allowing you to experience the atmosphere. They make old wooden toys that you are welcome to play with, they leave one 'indestructible' barber's chair open for you to sit in, and of course the old train that you ride on. What a fun day! I'm sure the train ride was the highlight for the kids, but they really did seem to enjoy the whole experience. We would have also loved to take the boat ride but time restrictions set upon by Jason needing to get his car into the shop didn't allow us to. Next time.

Right when we walked in one of the men who works on the train told us to get on the caboose so that he could take our picture. Very nice since we usually don't get all 4 of us in a picture.

Side note: Emerson had her finger straight up her nose in the picture previous to this one. Oh brother!

Emerson and Kaleb checking out the old buggy. They played on this thing for 20 minutes!
Kaleb in the indestructible barber's chair.
Emerson relaxing in the rocking chair.
Waiting for the magic show to start.
The little conductors. Regretting my decision to let them buy whistles!!

Me and the kids, and all my shiny goodness! Don't mind me. I'm not wearing any face makeup while I'm trying out new medication to clear up my skin.

Grandma and Emerson enjoying the train ride.

We survived!

It ended up being a pretty good trip. Yes, there were moments of complete exhaustion (Jason and I) and there were frustrating moments, but for being our first camping trip I think it went well. Next year..... did I really say next year?..... we will do some things differently. Let's just call it a learning experience!

The first night: We didn't arrive until 8:30pm. At that point we just left the kids in the car watching a movie while we got to work on the tent. This ended up being a little harder than expected. We borrowed a very large tent from Jason's friend, Joe, so that we would have lots of room for us all to sleep. I was so thankful to have so much room in the end, but getting it together was a pain.

We start a fire and get our stuff set up. Before I know it the time is creeping closer to 11pm and Emerson will not go to bed. We tried a few times and she just kept jumping out of the pack n' play. So, I took her for a drive. Thank goodness for the guy who couldn't park his rv. We sat behind him for 20 minutes and during that time Emerson fell asleep. 1 down, 1 to go. Kaleb, of course, stayed awake in the tent until Jason and I came in, so he didn't go to sleep until 12 or later. Guess who was wide awake at 6:30 the next morning? My kids!

The following night was almost the same except Emerson did tell me around 10 pm "Night night" which meant she was ready! No fighting it on day 2! While at the campsite we played on their playground, took walks, went on the paddle boats and sat by the fire. Still, the kids were a little bored. Kaleb really wanted to fish so we promised him we would do it next year.

Here are the little monsters on night 1 refusing to sleep! The picture is blurry but I couldn't get a good shot in the tent.

Emerson was rearranging the chairs and so proud of herself. This is also the cleanest she was all day. She had a permanent black butt!Kaleb goofing around.
The kids having a great time on the swings.
Jason saying "Is it Sunday yet?"
Jason and the kids looking over the water at about 7am!

On Saturday we spent much of the day at Michigan's Adventure. From 11am until 3pm we played mostly at the water park. It was nice but very crowded. It took until the last hour before we even found a place to sit. When we did find seats we were in direct sun and burning up! Kaleb had a blast. He went into the wave pool and spent most of the time in a kid area going down little slides and playing under the sprayers. Jason tried to take him down a big slide but he chickened out at the top and they had to walk all the way back down. I think Jason wanted to do more there but he didn't and regretted it later. Emerson liked the wave pool until she fell and scraped up her knee. Then she was so exhausted she fell asleep in the wagon (thank goodness!).
Next year we plan to either get there right at the water park opening time to snag some good seats under an umbrella or we will shell out $60 to rent a cabana for the day. I think it might be worth it!
We then went back to the tent were Kaleb and Jason took a nap. We made supper and ended up going back to the park at 8pm so we could do a few rides before it closed at 10. Kaleb and I went on the log ride. We tried to take Emerson but she was just an inch shy so her and Jason had to wait for us. Then Kaleb and Jason did bumper cars. We all went on the train and carousel and I got to go on their new roller coaster right before close! In the end we didn't do a lot at the park, and actually spent more time back at the tent, but like I said. This was a learning experience and we'll do a few things differently next year!

Here is Kaleb on the race cars before we went into the water park.
Emerson didn't like this one much. They stopped to let her off!
Jason and Kaleb in the wave pool.
Emerson asleep in the wagon. We had to find ways of hanging towels above her to block the sun.

The Gods must be crazy

Or maybe it is just the parents!
Jason and I are taking the kids camping this weekend. No, not the luxurious camper camping, but good old rustic tent camping! We must be crazy!
We originally decided that for a weekend getaway we would like to go to Michigan's Adventure since neither of us have been there. They have a water park included with the ride park so that got Jason's attention. When I started looking for hotels, only one or two would pop up and they were running $150 a night. After seeing those prices I started looking at campgrounds hoping for a cabin. But at the last minute you aren't going to find open cabins. So tent camping it is. Ask me after the weekend if it was a mistake!
I just hope the kids stay within sight. I know that Emerson is going to want to take off the second we get there. Then comes the matter of Jason and I trying to put up the tent at almost 9pm. Oh yeah, and no baths. What am I thinking?!!
Wish us luck!