Category Archives: Owen
How they roll at the playground.
Katie really loves her new scooter and we went in half on one for Owen after he tried his friend’s scooter and liked it.
Why not wear a mask?
Sparklers and smoke bombs.
Since we went out last night to watch real fireworks, we were just going to do some little fireworks at home. I went to the store to buy some and guess what? Turns out fireworks are illegal in Illinois so it was a pretty boring evening. We just had a campfire and neighbors came over so the kids still had fun with the sparklers and smoke bombs but we can’t wait to go to Michigan and do some real fireworks. (Get ready Gramma Jean and Grandpa David!)
When the Six Flags fireworks started we thought we might be able to see them from our front yard or the street but we walked all the way to the church and we could just see them through the trees.
Fireworks!
Six Flags has fireworks for four or five nights so tonight we went to a local parking lot to watch. (We could have watched from the Six Flags parking lot as we have free parking but we honestly didn’t want to deal with any traffic.)
It was a short and sweet 15 minutes. We missed some because they were below the tree line but the kids were happy so all was well. And we were out of the parking lot and home in 10 minutes.
Camp Cadillac
We spent the day in Cadillac with Tom’s extended family at a local campground where the kids enjoyed meeting new friends and playing in the pool.
Katie liked the animals. (Yes there were animals there. She especially liked the goats.)
Maggie didn’t bark once all day…until she got in front of the goats. At which point she thought she was ferocious.
After some visiting I just amused myself. There might have been margaritas involved.
The coloring crew.
Owen’s new hairdo…still no mohawk.
We convinced him to get a haircut last night but he still won’t get a mohawk. (He had one before but one person on his baseball team made fun of it so now he doesn’t want one again.) But he did ask for me to put gel in it this morning. #9goingon13
A find from the Salvation Army!
Battleship. Still in the shrink-wrap (circa 1996). They’re loving it.
Introducing the kids to Pinocchio.
Amazingly, they were entranced. It’s always a crap shoot with older movies.
Morning cuddles!
Sunday Funday bike ride
I love my little photobomber.
With a bonus sno-cone surprise after.
Dog n Suds
Tom has wanted to come here since we moved here. He hasn’t been to one in 25 years and I’ve never been—I’d never even heard of it before we saw it here. It didn’t quite live up to his hype, but it was passable. Nothing we had was terribly exciting but I’m glad we were able to take a trip down Tom’s memory lane.
Do you have a dictionary in your house?
Owen was just doing some summer slide work and needed a dictionary. I had to google a dictionary page. So it got me thinking and I asked on Facebook. I have to say I was somewhat surprised.
Whoever came up with slime needs to be shot.
Whoever came up with slime needs to be shot. 🔫 Whoever came up with GLITTER slime needs to be burned at the stake. 🔥
I told the kids we’d do it once. On a rainy day. And I already regret it. I’ve told them it’s going in the garbage in a few days. IT JUST STICKS TO EVERYTHING. How are you supposed to play with it without it getting all over every damn thing?! (I thought if you kneaded it more it would become less sticky. Nope. It doesn’t even come off your hands nicely when you wash them. #neveragain
Note: Just so you don’t think I’m a horrible parent, I did get some troubleshooting advice from friends… And it helped, but I’m still never making it again. A 5yo plays with it much differently than I touch it, and it still gets ALL over and is too sticky. I just don’t have the patience. Plus she plays with it for about 45 seconds and she’s done.
https://youtu.be/H1BKizRt0hA
8:58am
I had been up but in my room. I was impressed that the kids were being quiet. I went out and… Katie was so in bed (but awake). I asked where Owen was she she didn’t know.
I found him:
WHAT?! This kid never sleeps in. Maybe MAYBE until 7, but 9?!
Yeah, turns out he had been up earlier—he had been reading downstairs and even had breakfast!—but went back to bed!
And he had a guest in his room because my door had been shut!
When the weather is so great you change your plans and end up here.
We were a playground and the weather was really nice and I kept thinking it would be a perfect day for Six Flags…so we went! I texted friends and they were able to meet us there! Yay!
But first, a bit of backstory.
I love rides. Always have. I remember riding carnival rides all day with friends out at Hanson Hills. And Cedar Point with my dad and cousins (one of the best days ever was an overcast/threat-of-rain day where there were so few people there that we could have just stayed on the ride to ride again if they’d have let us). Tom and I even went to Cedar Point together back in the day. And then I gained weight. And gained weight. And then, shortly after we were married, Tom and I went to Kings Dominion and I had to get off a ride because the safety harness wouldn’t close and I felt so horrible that I gave up on all rides and parks after that. For 15 years. Until I recently lost the weight. So when we moved here—two miles from an amusement park—I was going to make the most of it. And I foolishly bought season passes for all of us because I was excited about it. Kind of forgetting that my kids weren’t big on rides. And apparently Tom isn’t anymore, either. 😭
So a trip to Six Flags isn’t as exciting for them as you’d think. And it’s actually a bit of a bummer for me because they don’t even want to go on the little rides (like the swings) so I can’t even go on those so I have to spend the whole time walking by rides I can’t go on. Katie likes the baby rides but we’re obviously not going to spend all day on those. And Owen is too big for those.
Now, our passes are also good for the water park—which they would love—but it’s so big that we would have to stick together and I’d have to follow them around… And that’s not much fun for me. I’d much rather go to our small water park where I can trust them to play on their own for hours at a time and I don’t even have to put my suit on.
So, needless to say, we obviously won’t be buying season passes again…but since we’ve already bought them, we’re going to use them. So here we are, waiting for our friends. I’d hoped that maybe being with a friend would get Owen on more rides… The sky looks a little threatening but it’s just the phone—it was gloriously sunny. Owen wasn’t thrilled to be taking the picture.
This is the type of ride Katie likes.
Owen did go on a teacup-style ride with his friend and said he might go on it again. Baby steps? Katie, on the other hand, loved it.
Both kids did okay on Justice League—it’s just a ride on a track on an “enhanced-motion vehicle” (it spins and moved around) where you get to shoot at things like a video game.
A ride I made Owen go on because our friends had to leave and Katie wanted to go on it. He survived.
The train. Which they both liked. Because of course it does nothing.
And then… Tom texted saying he was getting out of work early and was coming to meet us!! So he surprised the kids and was just standing there as we walked by. I wish I could have gotten Katie’s reaction.
We went on the mini roller coaster together and they liked it. BABY STEPS. 🙂
Yes, they like it, too.
When you get to the waterpark before it opens.
Carnival reward!
The kids have been doing pretty good on our new summer schedule routine (no whining, picking up, keeping organized, doing schoolwork, following rules) so their weekly family reward was a trip to the local carnival!
We met friends there.
Bumper cars!
Katie wanted to go on the little coaster. Owen did not. 🙂
Owen’s list of cars he wants.
He used to just have two on it. I’m not sure what happened recently. 🙂
Who wants to come for ribs Saturday night?
We might have just discovered that Owen left the basement freezer open. Who wants to come for ribs Saturday night? Not kidding. We have four racks of ribs in the sous vide.
Kidisms 47
We were out and about and Tom was revving the engine and taking the corners fast to make the kids screech and laugh. Right as we were getting off the ramp onto the highway, Owen started to say he didn’t like to go that fast and Katie, seeing no one in front of us, says “But look at all the room we have to go fast!”
“Look at Ray! She’s having a soak tub!”
Me: Katie do you need to take water for lunch?
Katie: Nah, I can survive without it.
At the playground, Katie showed me how she could slide down the pole. I said I’d never done that.
Katie: Oh that’s right. You might break yourself.
He loves to interrupt my selfies.
So I included him!
Katie’s shoe sorting.
I buy too many shoes (on sale) for Katie to remember what styles and sizes I have so I have to keep a photo collage to reference when I’m out shopping. Today we had to redo it since it hasn’t been done in about 2-3 sizes.
Owen is harder to buy for—here’s what was in his closet. 🙂
Look who we ran into at the park!
They were just getting done with morning camp and we were just arriving to go to the playground!
Katie loves the pole.
They still like the baby swings. The only rule is that they have to get in and out of it themselves because I am too old to be picking them up, putting them in, and trying to wrangle them out.
Tech-free summer is even longer now…
So Owen snuck into our bedroom and was caught using the iPad that had previously been taken away twice, including for the rest of the summer (and then lying about it). Owen was the actual guilty party but Katie knew he’d done it.
I want to take away the new Xbox they’ve been promised, but after some discussion with Tom, we’re not taking it away but the date they get it back will get pushed out if they keep making bad decisions. (Owen has had two major bad decisions since. I’m hoping he gets it by Christmas.)
We’re not even a week into summer break and I’m done.
The weather cleared so a bunch of this happened.
I love that she’s not afraid.
Waterslide!
Owen and Papa
Is he 9 or 16?
