Thanks papa and grannie!
He wasn’t terribly interested in it when he opened it…got a little interested when he saw it in action…carried it around but refused to put it on…until bedtime when he HAD to have it! Fast forward 15 minutes and he was out of bed so I went in there and he didn’t want it on anymore and HAD to give it to me (versus just putting it on his dresser).
I’m sure it will get lots of use in the future.
Here is the next outfit from my past that Katie got to wear…though, unfortunately, I waited a bit too long and it was too small for her so she just wore it for a few pictures! (I apparently am a very bad judge of sizes—and it’s a homemade outfit so there is no sizing listed—and of course Gramma Jean has no memory of what age I wore it!)
You can see how Owen likes to interfere with the photo shoot. 🙂
Thank you, Grandma Marsha. He LOVES it.
A Halloween onesie for Katie from Grannie Lin…
And with Sophie!
Skyping with Grandma, Owen is showing her all of his robots.
Then he decided to take Grandma Marsha on a walkabout. It was hilarious, because he doesn’t quite grasp what she can and can’t see and was in his dark playroom showing her a puzzle that makes noise when you turn the lights off.
This was one of MY shirts back in the day…homemade by my mom! She held onto it for almost 40 years on the off chance I’d have a girl so she could wear it! Also, be warned, this is the first of many hand-me-down outfits to come… And mom? Now you have to search all the old slides and photos to find a picture of ME in the shirt!
I love the belly button showing! Her first belly shirt! 🙂
I only remembered to give him his camera once while on vacation—and we were at Gramma Jean’s… I only found/remembered them now because I’m finishing the last of the unpacking (yes, you read that right—I hate unpacking).
So…3,000 miles in 14 days (6 long days of actual travel) and I’m done. I think that was the last of our road trips for a loooooong time. I hope everyone got their fill of us!
Grandma Jean was making brownies and let Owen lick the spatula. We made him stay in the kitchen (no carpet) but he still managed to get chocolate on the sliding glass door, the floor, and of course himself.
We spent the day with Grandma Marsha in Kalkaska and had a nice picnic get-together with Tom’s friends and family. Owen got to play with a lot of kids his age (though, honestly, he didn’t really play WITH them) and he missed his nap. When we finally got back to Grayling, he crawled up onto the couch with his B…
Earlier, between rain showers, daddy and Owen attempted bubbles (this also averted a meltdown, of which I can’t even remember the problem).
And Grandma with Katie…
We were getting ready to leave Grandma Marsha’s place when Tom came running in (from packing the car) saying there was the most awesome rainbow outside…so we all went running. Of course I had my phone, and tried to get a panoramic shot as it was starting to pour down on me… It’s a decent picture, but certainly doesn’t do it justice.
As we were driving away, I kept trying to take pictures through the car window, so Tom stopped in the parking lot of the hospital a few blocks away so I could get out and try for more pictures. It was the biggest and brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen! And it lasted a good 15 minutes–and probably would have lasted longer except the sun was setting!
Grandma said it was 38 degrees. I said it might snow. Owen claps his hands excitedly (SO not my kid!) and sticks his tongue out (as if he was catching a snowflake in his tongue) and says “Like this?” 🙂
We spent the day at Grandma Marsha’s place, and it just happened to be MSU game day! We all had our jerserys—and the boys played football and hot potato! I love Owen’s guffaw.
I caught Owen catching the football!
And I got to take a little nap with Maggie…
Oops! We were a day late…and we felt bad because we had actually been with Grannie on her birthday…but it was a busy morning as that’s when we were packing up to head back to Grayling.
Tom and Grandma Marsha took Owen to the fish hatchery—and he seemed to enjoy it a little more than he did last year.
Be careful when you lay on the floor with a little boy around…
Getting ready to leave Papa and Grannie’s house, squatting by papa’s hand print and Owen’s name. (Be sure to ask them the story if you ever see them!)
Cuddling with daddy after the long drive back to Gramma Jean’s house…
So when we were passing through Troy on the way to Grayling, we stopped at Costco for some formula (we hadn’t brought enough). Along the path to the formula, I saw the same Halloween costumes like we had in North Carolina, except they had a bigger selection…so I grabbed a Captain America for Owen. We didn’t show it to him right away, but saved it as a “poop reward” in case we needed the leverage.
Well, we brought it to the U.P. with us and he saw it. My dad saw it, too, and REALLY wanted Owen to wear it. Except…I had already deemed it a poop reward and things in that area were NOT. GOING. WELL. so it was seeming fairly unlikely that he was going to earn the costume while we were there (we have cleaned more than our fair share of poopy underwear in the few days we’ve been here). And Tom and I DO NOT go back on our word with Owen, so he HAD to poop in the potty to get it. I think my dad was more heartbroken than Owen was. 🙂
Well, long story short, he had a tiny poop that made it in the toilet (though, honestly, I think it might have been stuck between his cheeks and it just FELL into the toilet) but I really wanted to get Owen excited about pooping—and let my dad see Owen in the costume—so I counted it! Owen was GIDDY with excitement about the costume, and of course he had to put it on and parade around in it for everyone (he loves an audience).
And then with papa’s swim goggles (which came home with us—thanks, papa!)
Grannie Lin with the kids
Papa with the kids
I wanted to get all our blue eyes in a photo, but I settled for three of them. 🙂 I’m really happy we all have my dad’s eyes. ♥
Linda’s mom and dad, aunt and uncle, and a family friend all came over for dinner tonight. They all LOVED holding Katie and all threatened to steal her. 🙂
We didn’t want to haul a pack-and-play with us, and since Katie isn’t mobile while sleeping yet (other than maybe scooting a few inches one way or another) we weren’t too worried about just putting her wherever. The first night at the hotel she got put on a blanket on the floor. At Papa and Grannie Lin’s, she got a Rubbermaid box. 🙂
I love this sight:
We were surprised at the amount of tree color in the U.P. considering it was only September 16.
After what seemed like a short 7½ hours (after two long nine-hour days, 7½ felt short), we made it up to the Upper Peninsula to see my dad’s new house…MAN, that’s a drive. (Here is our total one-way trip from North Carolina.)
See that tiny point? That’s where we were—Eagle Harbor. We joke it’s Alaska.
The view from the back deck—I have to admit it’s nice:
And Owen having a blast playing with cars out there:
And Papa meeting and feeding Katie for the first time…
This is now one of my all-time favorite Owen videos. Oh. My. Gawd. It was all I could do while recording him NOT to bust out laughing…and at one point, you can see the video jiggle because I was trying to hold it in. I laugh every single time I watch it, and I bet you will, too. In fact, I dare you to only watch it once.
Katie got her first sink bath at Gramma Jean’s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4xkYEQT7jQ
I love the ending…I was whispering for him to say Happy Birthday again…but he says CAKE! 🙂
Owen helped with Katie’s bath tonight (if you can count touching her with the washcloth as helping!) and he counted her toes with Gramma Jean—he counted 7 on one foot and still came up with 10. 😀 He is getting closer to her each day and wants to keep her now.
Gramma Jean brought Family Bingo to try and play with Owen. He didn’t play so much as he found matches…which was close enough!
And wearing the swim goggles Gramma Jean bought him…he wants to wear them but refuses to go under water with them. 🙂
