Latest Rumblings

So what have we been up to lately? Here's a snippet:

Mae got her mop chopped, like four inches, and it looks awesome. When we went to see Josie mom and dad left it up to her and she wanted to cut it short and boy did she ever.

It's so cool, though, when she gets out of the shower and it's wet and she brushes it I told Dad she looks like a movie star.

I've been a bit wrapped up as of late.

Oh, and Pax? Yah, he's still eating cake balls for dinner. Kidding (kind of), he's eating that because he is officially potty trained. Just out of nowhere one day mom and dad bribed him with chocolate chips and that was it. Kid hasn't gone in his diaper since I don't think. And boy is he getting his fill of chocolate chips. Thank god for that huge bag from Costco.

Other piece of news is frog related. So we were out at Nana's and got a frog and Mae was really caring for it well. And then one day we decided to go to the park. I took my basketball and Mae took Sticky, her frog. She got the wagon all ready with some water in the bottom of it, leaves, grass, sticks, the whole nine yards, and off we went.

Well, as we were running around the park old Sticky hopped right out of the wagon and though we looked far and wide for him, he was a goner. So we headed out to Nana's a couple days later, blew some bubbles, ran around the yard...

And found Sticky's brother and took him home and now we're taking care of him (you might have to look closely to see Sticky Jr.)

So that's about it. Oh, that and check out the flyer for Grandparents Day at our school that is coming up. Hint: bottom right corner. Like I said - she's a star.

1st Day of School 2015

I'm a little late with this post but the first day of school went off without a hitch. Dad came back upstairs that morning to find me doing Mae's hair for her first day of Kindergarten.

And then we shuffled off to school, but not before we could grab some first day of school pictures.

And as you can see above, Pax managed to keep his clothes on. Here's a look and a laugh ack at last year when Pax got out of the sink from a bath and had a streaking party right through our 2014 first day of school pictures.

Pure Michigan 2015

Well, you can see some past Michigan trips here and here, but this one really took the cake. And here's why: we had our own log cabin with our own private fishing dock, and that really made for the whole trip.

We fed some ducks and then started casting.

But before the day began, Pax made sure mom's face would be completely protected from the sun... for the next three weeks.

Not long after, this happened...

And then Mae hit to casting and a little later on... jackpot!

Last was our buddy Pax. He was enjoying a little fishing fun when he felt a tug...

Boom! Three for three.

This pictures sums up the fishing nicely.

We also made sure to hit up some berry picking, as late August in Michigan is the perfect time and place for that.  As is the tradition, we bunked with Ana and Sid and their mom and dad, and had ourselves a blueberry pick for the ages.

At one point, we decided to start measuring each other. Sid is three but gaining on Mabel quickly.

And this is Dee. She owned the blueberry farm and was one of the sweetest ol' gals you'll meet.

On top of blueberry picking, the beach was a hot spot for us on Saturday morning. The ideal day from a weather perspective - 82 and sunny - and with really warm lake water to boot, the beach treated everyone well.

On our last morning we decided we had never been raspberry or blackberry picking and so we made sure to stop and got in a nice pick right before the rain.

This last pic is our "Goodbye Michigan" pic, but we'll see you next year, without a doubt.

Mae: A Two Trick Pony

So there are not a lot of things Mae can do that I can't, right? And to be honest I kind of like it that way.

However, there are two things she can do and let me explain them to you. The first is whistling. We've both been trying to learn to whistle for a long time, but me much longer than her. There's just been a lot of blowing in and blowing out. Well, she started to get close about 2-3 weeks ago and lo and behold, the kid can now whistle Dixie for goodness sake.

The second thing she can do that I can't is ride a bike with one hand. It's long been documented that Mae's bike riding skills are second to none. I remember even last summer people would stop mom and dad and they just couldn't believe the kid was off training wheels and just zipping up and down the block. It's kind of like potty training when I just learned to go on the potty and then she followed up a couple months later even though she is two years younger than me.

Well, the other night we were out front riding bikes up and down the block and she comes rolling through yelling, "GUYS, WATCH THIS!" She proceeds to take one hand off her bike and starts whistling at the same time.

At first I felt like she might be rubbing it in my face, but knowing Mae like I do I realized that was not the case and we all got a good kick out of it.

She might not be the smartest knife in the drawer and she's definitely still afraid of her shadow, but she's got me on the bike-riding-one-handed-while-whistling talent front.

Zaya's Milwaukee Birthday, Take 2

So a couple years ago we went to Milwaukee to celebrate Isaiah's birthday and, well, we all had so much fun that Zaya decided this year we should go back.

So we caravan'd up to Milwaukee and met at a small park right by the Lake and did our thing.

Climbed trees, played in the fountain, frosted cakes, blew out candles, gave Zaya his presents and cards (one of which apparently Eli got a pretty big kick out of).

Then we went down to this corner of the lakefront where you can fly kites. Even if you think it's not windy enough, when you get down to the point, it's plenty windy and you can get your kite as high as you want it to go.

Mae and Sophie took a turn...

Pax took a shot at it...

And then I did my thing.

And then as we were going through the pictures from the day dad had a thought and started sifting back through pictures. And sure enough, check this out - the first one is me from May, 2012, and the second one is me from a couple weeks ago.

Looks like a 2018 trip to Milwaukee to fly kites is definitely gonna have to get on the calendar.