What We Have Been Up To

So, I kind of neglected the blog a bit. I have to admit that I lost motivation for it. I had to remind myself that this blog serves as a our family journal as well.

Here is a brief recap of what we did in October.

We "ArtPrized' several times. Amelia and I made a few trips downtown. Allison and I had a special night out and visited a few sites.  Brian kicked me out of the house the last day and I was able spend some time wandering around downtown by myself. Three glorious hours later, along with a piece of chocolate cake and a fountain Coke, I felt completely rejuvenated. It was exactly what I needed.

Amelia turned four and we celebrated her birthday with the grandparents. My Dad gives each grandchild a glass piggy bank filled with pennies when they turn four.

I went on a field trip with Allison to the apple orchard. I also started volunteering at her school one afternoon a week to help during their lunch period. I am now known as "Allison's Mom". 

The girls took swimming lessons. 

Amelia and I spend quality time in the car every afternoon on our way to pick up Allison. Sometimes she plays her Leapster games and other times she is content with looking out the window. I love looking back and seeing her face.

I also volunteered at Allison's fall harvest party.  

We spent Saturday mornings relaxing. By the end of the school week, Allison is beat and makes it clear that she doesn't want to go anywhere on Saturday - all she wants to do is stay in her PJs and play. 

Art Graces the Sky

This past weekend we brought the girls downtown to a special event taking place at ArtPrize. One of the entries was the release of 15,000 - 20,000 Chinese lanterns. Due to poor weather the weekend before, they rescheduled it to the following weekend, which meant my Mom was going to be in town and could attend with us.

We didn't say anything to the girls that we were going until that evening at dinner time. We told them that the lantern launch would be just like the movie Tangled.  They were every excited. We arrived about one and a half hours early and kept ourselves busy with a game of Uno and taking funny pictures while Brian patiently waited in line to get a couple of lanterns for the girls.  After that, a long wait at the Ford Museum for the bathrooms kept us busy until it turned dark and it was time to light and launch the lanterns.

When it came time to light the lanterns, I was so busy watching Brian light them, taking videos, and watching the girls' reaction, I didn't even notice what was going on behind me. I will always remember turning around and seeing the sky lit up with the thousands of lanterns. It was one of the most breath-taking sights I have ever witnessed in my life. I was completely taken aback. I knew it was going to be a cool sight and I knew being the sappy person I am that I would probably get a little teary-eyed; however, I never imagined it would be so beautiful and emotional.

I still don't know what Allison thought of it. She was very serious about the whole thing - she watched but didn't say a word. It took Amelia a few minutes but then she was chattering away about how it looked like Tangled. Me? I was hyped up all night from the excitement. What I loved most was how the community came together for this event. I continue to  hear stories of how friendly everyone was; people sharing their lanterns with families who weren't able to get one before they ran out, or sharing their lighters. In watching videos that have been floating around (pun intended) on the internet, I hear people in awe at the sight. In reading comments on Facebook, people have been saying over and over that this will be a night that they will never forget and how much happiness it brought to their children. I also heard that the children at DeVos Children's Hospital were able to see the lights at they floated by - how cool is that! 

So to the people of Grand Rapids, I salute you. Thank you!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

On Labor Day weekend we went to a West Michigan Whitecaps game. It was the last item on our summer bucket list that I really wanted us to get to. The girls were excited to go. They went to a game last year with friends, but this was our first family trip to the ballpark. 

This is how I can best describe my trip to the game:

1st Inning  - Told the girls to sit down and that we would be getting their food in the next inning.

2nd Inning - Brian and I took the girls to get their free kids meal.

3rd Inning - Helped the girls eat their lunch (and ate Allison's unwanted hot dog)

4th Inning - Headed to the concourse to take Allison to the bathroom and for some cotton candy 

5th Inning -  Helped the girls with their cotton candy and took Amelia to the bathroom

Top of 6th Inning - watched the actual baseball game

Bottom of 6th Inning - Took the kids to the play area

7th and 8th Inning - Stood in the hot sun while Allison & Amelia waited their turn to get in the bouncy house

Top of 9th - Bought Dippin Dots

Bottom of 9th - Cleaned up after the girls

Post Game - Waited in line so the girls could run the bases

Exit out of parking lot - Listened to meltdowns by multiple members of the family

Halfway through the game, I thought to myself that I'm either annoying the heck out of the people around us by the constant up and down (luckily we had aisle seats) or there is some mom out there that is sympathizing with me. A few days after that game, I received a letter in the mail from my friend Andrea. Her sister-in-law Deb, who was our former daycare provider and the one who brought the girls to the game last year, was also at the game and had spotted us. She texted Andrea to tell her that she saw me at the game; however, I was never in my seat so she couldn't stop by our seats to say hello. She also sent Andrea this picture - of Brian sitting all by his lonesome, which I thought was hilarious. By the end of the game, most of the people sitting near us had given up on the game due to the heat, but it looks like no one wanted to sit near him.

Life as a Kindergartner

Allison started kindergarten this fall. It was a day I dreaded for five years, one month, and nine days. In reality, I was excited for her to go; however, I was a bit (a lot) nostalgic about the fact that our lives would be changing and she wouldn't be around on a daily basis anymore.

Leading up to the first week of school, Allison was excited about going. She expressed some hesitation though. The morning of her first day, she started off in good spirits; however just before we left, Allison became very quiet and refused to pose for pictures. So much for starting an annual tradition of the girls standing on the front porch with their backpacks (granted the pouring rain would have prevented that anyways).

When we arrived at the school, we realized we left our house about 10 minutes too late, which actually got us about 20 minutes behind schedule. By the time we made it through the traffic and the drop off lane, it was a few minutes past the start of school. I quickly ran Allison into the classroom and dropped her off. She gave me a hug and I ran out of there before she could get clingy.  I ran back into the car and we took off. It didn't take long for the tears to start flowing. 

At the end of the day, Brian and I left super early to pick her up so she wouldn't have to wait too long for us to get her at the end of her first day. Disappointed I didn't get my morning pictures, I was ready to take a picture of her coming out of school. I loved the look on her face. She was so relieved to see us. We celebrated the first day by going out to dinner.

So far, Allison is doing really well. She likes school and talks about her classmates. She told us on the second day that she was going to have a play date with Michael. A few days later she told us that while she still liked Michael, she was going to have a play date with someone else, so she can meet new people.  I love the innocence of this age! Brian and I showed up at her school fund racer to walk around the track with her. I tried to take it all in. How cute she looked running around the track; how willing she held our hands; the fact we had to encourage her to walk with her friends and not hang out with us the whole time; and how she held hands with her friends, even the boys. 

Vacation Time

Last month we took an adventurous family vacation to Sheridan, IL. We went to the same resort last year and had a good time, so we figured we would give it another try.

On the first day of our vacation we stopped off again at the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, IN. The girls enjoyed the train ride and our trip this year wasn't cut short by an impending thunderstorm, so we were able to see some parts of the zoo that we didn't get to last year. Mia's favorite spot was the prairie dogs. She plopped herself on the ground and watched them eat their lunch. I think she would have stayed there for an hour if we had let her.

On Sunday, we had a lazy day and enjoyed the mini-golf course at the resort in Sheridan and hit up a local park. The day was capped off with a movie night and some good treats.

On Monday, we headed north to Rockford, IL to visit their science/children's museum. Once we got past all the 'boring' science exhibits and made it to the younger section, the kids had a blast. I think we could have dropped Amelia off at opening and dragged her out at closing. We hope to make a return visit next year. In fact, the girls were asking about when they could return to that museum the rest of the vacation. The cutest exhibit was the auto mechanic shop where kids could change the oil, replace a rusty muffler, and other basic maintenance.

On Tuesday, we headed to Brookfield Zoo. We went last year and weren't planning on going back; however Allison kept talking about it all year, especially the polar bears. As we approached the exit for the zoo we noticed a billboard for the zoo that said "Kids Free Day" and listed some dates. We were really hoping that it wasn't for that day. I would have very gladly paid for a child's ticket, especially since we already bought three tickets on Ebay.  We arrived just as the zoo was opening and the lot was already filling up, so we knew we had come on one the kids free day.

The zoo was a complete madhouse! By the time we got to the penguin house, I think there were well over 100 strollers parked outside that building alone. Luckily the zoo is so big that it helped spread the crowds out.  Allison loved the dolphins and Amelia loved her shadow.

Allison had been saving up her money to buy a souvenir at the zoo. I thought for sure she would have picked out something polar bear related; however she was drawn to the pink penguin and was very proud that she bought it herself (with a little help from Mom and Dad).

On Wednesday, we had a low-key day and hung out at the resort. The girls loved the pool and Amelia really gained some confidence when it came to swimming.  We played lots of games and taught the kids how to play Uno, Twister, and Skipbo (or HIPPO as Amelia yelled out when she drew a Skipbo card).

On Thursday, rain forced us to change our plans of going to a children's garden, so we hit up the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, IL instead. I was hoping that if we arrived after lunch and during naptime, we would miss some of the crowds; however it was so busy. It was total sensory overload. 

On Friday, we relaxed at the resort. Luckily the cooler weather held off since they were predicating mid-60's. However, it did get up to the mid-70's so we were able to go to the outdoor pool one more time. We also took a trip in town to play at a local playground and get some ice-cream treats. We stopped off at a roadside attraction that we always had to drive past. It was in honor of those that survived the "agricultural crash" of the 1980s. 

We had a great trip. It was much more relaxing than last year. We only made one idle threat to pack up and head home, where last year, there were several times that Brian and I debated about actually doing so.  It helped that the girls were older and they weren't waking up at 5:30 am. On the drive home we already started planning next year's trip. Watch out Lake Geneva, WI, here we come!