Summer Visitors

We've had some fun visits the last month from my parents and some friends. My parents came up for a week at the end of July. It was really fun to see them and the babes LOVED time with grandma and grandpa. Grandparents have a certain gift for playing with little ones. It was very sweet to watch all week.
They loaded up the car to head on on Friday, July 31st, and the next day we welcomed a new batch of guests. Four students from Steve's high school small group back in St. Louis made a road trip together before they headed off to college. We only had Saturday and Sunday with them, but it was great to see them. Steve and the boys went to the County Fair, played ultimate, saw a movie, and ate pizza together on Saturday. On Sunday Coop made pancakes for breakfast before they headed out to drive back to St. Louis. Ava and Owen were in total awe watching these huge teenage boys play in our house. They sat right in among them and joined in on the fray. Owen cried when they left. The guys were all so sweet and well-mannered! Good job, mamas!
After they left, we had 3 days before the Larsons came up from St. Louis. During those 3 days, Ava came down with a fever and sore throat. They doc said it was not strep, which meant that we did not have a magical antibiotic to make her feel better within 24 hours. We were worried that the Larsons not be able to join us, but little Ava perked up by Tuesday afternoon. The Larsons arrived on Thursday with their two sweet little babies and it was so wonderful to see them! Their friendship is a great source of encouragement to us, and we are grateful that they made the stop at our house on their way to family camp! The fellas had to work Friday, so Kim and I stayed at home while the girls played and the babies napped. On Saturday we all went off to the Wisconsin State Fair.
I have to mention that while I never really liked going to the fair or fair-type events in OK or MO, I really love them here. In OK, it's so disgustingly hot. Everything smells gross at the fair--a mix between fried whatevers and the over-heated trash cans placed on every corner. and sunscreen. I hate touching sunscreen in the heat and then it just melts on you all day. I think I have some sensory integration issues on that one. All that to say: I've never been too keen on going to the fair. But in Wisconsin, at least this summer, it's wonderful. It's in the 70's. There are nice little puffy clouds that block the sun. An occasional rain shower to make everything beautiful. It's delightful. So it's like I'm discovering the fun of the fair and outdoor festivals for the first time. And there are tons of them here. Every weekend there's another festival with all the trimmings.
This weekend, it was the State Fair, and we went with the Larsons, and ooh-ed and awed at the cows and the chickens and the bunnies, ate some food on a stick, and got to park our car on the race track, which seems to be such a smart use of space for an event like this.
Once we got home the kids got to splash in the wading pool and then Kim and I fled the scene while the dads put everyone to bed early. It was blissful. We were only gone for an hour and a half to run a few quick errands and pick up dinner, but it was so fun to get to spend time with a girlfriend. and converse. and efficiently run in and out of stores. without children. I forgot what it was like to carry a topic of conversation out to its completion. wow.
Once we got back with dinner we had a serene time of eating, talking, eating, playing some games, and eating some more. It was lovely. We're so glad they came to visit!
We have a few more guests yet to come in our line-up of visitors this summer, and we can't wait to see them!

A bit overdue...

Almost a month after the fact, I'm tossing up some photos from our trip to St. Louis over the Fourth of July weekend. We trekked back down to St. Louis because a pack of Steve's good friends put together a reunion weekend of sorts. The agenda included some backyard barbecues, some golf for the boys (which got rained out) and a birthday party for Ava and Papa Cooper. It was a great trip!
Here are some pics from a barbecue on the 4th with some friends and family.



Here are some pics from Papa Cooper's and Ava's birthday party! Ava had a princess cake and Papa Cooper had a frog cake.

I Love You! Wonderful!

These are the words to the song Ava made up. She sings this song all the time. When eating, when excited, when happy, whenever. "I love you! Wonderful! Wonderful! I love you!" I used to reply, "I love you, too." To which she would answer, "No, mom, it's a song."
The first time I asked her about the song, she said it was about Jesus. Today when I asked her about the song, she said it was about rocket ships. exactly.

Happy Birthday, sweet Ava!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our Ava girl!
We had a Birthday Party for Ava last weekend when we were in St. Louis with the Cooper family and some good friends. I'll try to get those pics up soon. But today is her actual birthday, July 14th. So to celebrate this day Ava woke up to a princess canopy in her room.

Steve and I made it last night and hung it from her ceiling after she fell asleep. It was fun to do and fun to see her reaction this morning! After breakfast we went to Ava's "Princess Ballerina Dance Camp" where the subject of study this week was Sleeping Beauty. It's such a cute program! All these 3 and 4 year olds in leotards and ballet shoes, prancing around with tiaras on their heads. cute, cute, cute! I also have pictures from this class...maybe next time.
Next we stopped off by the library and got some picture books about ballet and princesses and birthday celebrations.
After some lunch and a nap, Ava helped make birthday cupcakes, during which her daddy arrived home from work with a flower just for her. She grinned and got all bashful about it. So sweet!
For dinner, the birthday girl got to select the menu. So we had pizza and hot dogs, with cup cakes and ice cream for dessert. Then we opened presents and played with her new craft supplies from my parents, dressed up in a princess gown, and tried out her scooter.
It was a fun day. We love you, Ava girl! I can't believe you're 3 years old!

Ava takes on the ocean

Aunt Robyn took this series of photos when we were wading on the national sea shore.

Cape Cod

Steve's grandfather passed away this spring, and the memorial service was held for him in June. We were glad that it worked out for our family to go and visit Grandma H. during this time and be able to attend Grandpa H's memorial. All in all we were in Cape Cod for 4 days, with a day of travel on each end of that. The travel portion of this adventure is somewhat of a bummer. A 2-hour drive to the Chicago airport, a long flight with toddler and baby, and then another 2-3 hour trek in a rental car out to the cape. Lots of car-seat lugging, hand sanitizing, shh-ing, and tricking the babe into thinking he's having a good time. It's a long, full day. But once we arrived there, it all seemed worth the effort. During our first full day there we went to a little Cove near the house with Steve's sister and her hubs while Owen took a nap. Ava was more brave this year, and she had fun running up and down the beach and digging up shells and the like.
At this beach there were a few bridges over some inlets of water, and everything was so picturesque.
The quiet part of the beauty was lost to Ava as she bounded across the bridge while "singing" (yelling).

She got pretty excited about the waves tickling her toes,

and letting her feet sink down into the sand.

After more beach walking we headed over to the fish market to pick up dinner. Ava was well behaved.
After dinner we went to the Flats in Brewster, which is my favorite thing to do while on the cape. When the tide goes out, there's a mile or two of extra beach, and you can walk way, way out and look at all the little snails, crabs, and fish.

Pretty amazing for this Okie girl! This year Ava was old enough to really get into the action, and it was fun to watch her discover things in the water.


Owen came along for the ride in the baby carrier. He was a happy little guy the whole time.

The next day I got a wonderful morning nap in when Owen was sleeping. It was glorious. Owen was waking up at 4:30 Wisconsin time, so the nap felt really good. I think I got one in almost every day of the trip! Once we were all finally up and dressed we went into Chatham to peruse the little touristy shopping area and eat lunch at the Wayside Inn with Aunt Robyn and Uncle Cory. (Both of which, by the way, were super duper helpful with the babes the entire trip! They really went above and beyond the call of Aunt and Uncle duty during their vacation!) That night we drove to Sundae School for some frozen treats after Owen went to bed. Ava was excited to be included in the "grown up" outing. The kid loves ice cream. Maybe because she never gets any at home...

Other activities included making homemade ice cream in memory of Steve's Grandpa, who would always supervise the process when Steve and Robyn were growing up. We also got to take a nice walk through Nickerson State park with Steve's grandma, wade at the National Sea Shore, and tour a lighthouse. Ava loved reading with her Great Grandma, and Owen became better and faster at crawling, enjoyed standing up with support,

and ate his weight in avocados.

All in all a wonderful trip.

Recent Adventures

So much to blog about, so little time! We've been busy since the last post, and I'm not sure how to go about this update. Do I start with the most recent occurrence? Or do I try to hit it all in chronological order? My preference would be to start at the beginning and cover everything with lots of photos, but I never have the time. So I think I'll start at the beginning and just cover a little. ok.
The day after the 5k run/bike race event we went exploring a bit at the Kohler State Park. We hiked along the dunes on a cable path and then walked the shore of Lake Michigan. It was a unique setting for us and we enjoyed it.

Owen traveled in the Kelty Kids backpack carrier, which Steve carried, and Ava hiked the whole way on her own two little legs. Well, almost the whole way. Very close to the whole way. Here's little O trying on the Kelty pack.


He was very content with this set up and jabbered along the way. Almost all the way. Here's Ava on her two little legs:

She was a bit apprehensive at first about the boards and the gaps between the boards and the sand making the boards slippery, but her confidence grew as we went along. By the end she was running along without any worries.
We walked back along the beach and Ava loved "making hand prints" in the sand.

Near the end of our walk, Owen got sick of the kelty about the same time Ava got sick of walking. So here ya go:

Way to go, Coop!
After our walk we hopped back into the car and went down the road to Linda's Diner for some lunch. Or was it Rachael's? See, there's the problem of waiting too long to blog about your adventures. At any rate, lunch was delicious and then we went back to the national park for some playground action,

followed by one more short nature walk,

and then a scramble over a big dune for a last look at the beach. It was during this final scramble that Owen zonked out in Coop's arms.
He slept through the transfer to his car seat and all the way home. Lovely.
The next event which needs a blog update occurred the last weekend of June. The four of us traveled to Cape Cod for Steve's grandfather's memorial service. We stayed with Steve's grandma, and it was so nice to be able to spend time there with her and Steve's sister and her husband. A full report with pics will be the goal of the next post!