Tom – Page 40 – JTOK Chatter

Owen’s nighttime swim

Posted on July 25, 2014 @ 9:15 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

The community pool has two “night swims” a month where they open the pool from 8-10 (it normally closes at 8), turn the pool lights on, and serve ice cream for the kids. It would be past Owen’s bedtime, but I knew he’d love it—and I knew Tom would enjoy taking him, so I strongly suggested they go. 🙂

This was our exchange:

I’m pretty sure he didn’t really talk to anyone (ask names or anything) but it’s so cute that he calls everyone his friend and he’s so excited! Tom said he was REALLY glad he went and loved watching Owen. And they’re both eagerly awaiting the next night swim in two weeks. 🙂

Introducing our community pool!

Posted on July 23, 2014 @ 5:05 pm by Jen — 4 Comments ↓

We finally went to check out the pool today—and wow is it ever nice! It’s about a 10-minute walk (twice as long as at the last house), but it’s definitely worth it compared to the last pool. They have nice attached bathrooms and showers (which you have to walk through to get to the pool area), two lifeguards at the main pool, a kiddie pool, tons of lounge chairs and tables (some even with umbrellas) and a basket of pool noodles! Most of the pool is 3’6″ deep with the very center section being deeper (not labeled but I’m guessing about 5′).

We started in the kiddie pool where Owen tested out his new goggles and snorkel (he did really well!) and Katie splashed around (she was a bit peeved that it was too deep to walk around on her hands like she likes to do). After about a half hour, we moved to the big pool where Owen slowly but surely (but actually quite quickly for him) got comfortable in the deeper water—he clung to the edge for awhile but then was out and about away from the edge playing. There were some older kids (guessing 12-14ish) there that had brought water guns and Owen was having a blast just watching them…so imagine how excited he was when the kids started spraying him! The moms were in the pool, too, and warned their kids not to get him but I piped up and said “Oh no, he’s loving it!” Then they let him use a gun and he was in heaven! Katie loved being in the deeper water, too, because she likes being carried. She also liked “jumping” off the steps—which really means leaning forward and falling into my arms. 🙂 Owen was doing so well on his own that I actually left him in the pool by himself for about 10 minutes while I went back to the kiddie pool with Katie (I could still see him, of course).

I am sure we’ll be back quite a bit in the next month before it closes September 1.

IKEA with the kids

Posted on July 22, 2014 @ 3:15 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Katie loved the stairs because the rise is kid-sized and there was a kid-level handrail.

Owen wanted to stay and play at the kiddie center so we just had Katie with us.

Playing peek!

Waiting for daddy to come back with Owen (kids can only stay in the center for 30 minutes).

There’s nothing like ending an 11-hour road trip with a little vomit in a car seat.

Posted on July 21, 2014 @ 7:55 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We were about five minutes from home when we heard an unexpected and unidentifiable noise from the backseat, then Katie crying, then Owen telling us that Katie puked. Wait, what?

I unbuckled and turned around and HOLY CRAP did she ever barf. Ugh. So I was trying to clean her up as best as I could while Tom was trying to get us home (we had been planning on stopping to pick up dinner but then cancelled that so had to get back into traffic). We pulled in, stripped her down in the front yard, and I immediately took her upstairs for a bath. She didn’t seem any worse for the wear so we had no idea what caused it.

Then it was time to try cleaning the car seat. What a nightmare. I think I’d rather buy a new one than try to clean vomit out of one. Seriously. They do not come apart easily—and once you do get it apart, you still have to clean vomit out of all the plastic crevices…with a toothbrush and Q-tips. (I guess I’m lucky this is the first time it’s been this bad…?)

Not quite how I envisioned our return home…

A relaxing end to a busy vacation.

Posted on July 20, 2014 @ 9:06 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

We left Grayling a day early so we could visit and stay the night at my cousin’s house—and so the kids could play more. And we had fun… We pulled in and they said “Want to go on a boat ride?” Sure!

The kids sword fighting while we loaded the boat.

Ready to go!

On the boat!

The cabin where the kids spent most of the time playing and watching movies!

In the driver’s seat!

Proof we were actually in the water! Yes, I’m a geek. 🙂

When we finally got to the swimming area, Owen didn’t want to go in because he was scared. It didn’t matter that Tom was in the water, the other kids were in the water, and he could see that it was plenty shallow enough.

So Tom took Katie in first! And she loved it, of course!

Grilling. Off the side of a boat. Who knew that was a thing? Of course we had Timmy’s delicious brats!

Katie was having a blast in the cabin bed—she could see out the window which was right where we were sitting!

We finally convinced Owen to go out and he clung to Tom like a second skin. The guys were pulling the boat to a new location (trying to get in shallower water).

Friends of theirs came and moored with us and they had brought their dogs so Katie wanted to go over to see them.

Owen getting more comfortable in the water…

And when he saw they had a football water toy? It was GAME ON.

And suddenly he was having a blast!

He told Tom he was floating just like a balloon!

On the way home…

It was really fun and really relaxing…and the time really flies when you’re out on a boat—we left about 1:30 and were pulling back in about 6:30! Tom and I were exhausted after all that fresh air! The cousins introduced Owen to a new video game…and Katie had to sit there, too!

Then Owen was building with Nick’s Legos, and I heard one of the girls say that Owen builds such cool things! 🙂

Then it was time for Frozen! All the kids were enjoying it!

Our last night at Gramma and Grandpa’s house

Posted on July 19, 2014 @ 8:07 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

After the group photo, he commandeered the tripod to use as a cannon…and then actually as a tripod and was pretending to take pictures.

Sitting by the fire!

Not a bad spur of the moment family picture!

Making s’mores!

Eating s’mores—or in Katie’s case, eating the chocolate bar off the graham cracker.

Kaliseum, Day 2

Posted on July 19, 2014 @ 1:25 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Since we had the time, Tom took the kids back to Kalkaska to the Kaliseum for another day of swimming with Uncle Rob and Grandma Marsha! (I stayed back and went to a Parade of Gardens and lunch with my mom!)

This is how she’d navigate the water when it was too deep for her.

Heading up for the waterslide! He hadn’t wanted to go on it the last time, but then was sad he didn’t do it…so he was excited to go back so he could try again.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, and he came back down within a minute (the time stamps on both photos are 1:06pm). Oh well.

Fire, Fireworks & Stones, Part 2

Posted on July 18, 2014 @ 8:21 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

I got some of mom’s pictures of the day, but not until after I’d already posted…so I’m just putting her pictures in their own post!

Fire, Fireworks & Stones

Posted on July 18, 2014 @ 8:06 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Gramma Jean wanted to try out her new fire pit…so we all headed outside. The kids loved running around and of course Owen had to get out his new water gun. 🙂

Uncle Rob was nice enough to go in and fill up the water gun…but surprised Owen by shooting him! It’s blurry but I love Owen’s body!

She stayed pretty far from the fire once daddy yelled at her for getting too close. 🙂

Watering Gramma’s flowers.

Smoke bombs! They certainly didn’t last as long as I remembered them to…

Katie liked the pooping dog—except for the popping and crackling at the end.

In addition to Katie’s first fireworks (MUCH earlier than Owen’s first fireworks!), she also got her first sparkler. She was okay with it…but not thrilled.

And then we all went out to the front yard looking for Petoskey stones in the landscaping.

Pretend sleeping with daddy

Posted on July 18, 2014 @ 12:01 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Back to the city park

Posted on July 17, 2014 @ 4:26 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We couldn’t stay as long as we’d planned last night after Dairy Queen, so we took the kids back today. Of course, Katie was THRILLED to be swinging: “Look Owee! I’m swinging!”

Owen was playing Frozen with two older girls until they left…then he looked bummed and I asked what was wrong. “I need the two girls to be my archers!” Here, he’s “just resting.” 🙂

2014-07-17-kids009

It took some convincing, but we got him up there.

Then of course Katie wanted up as well.

Guys Gone Shootin’

Posted on July 17, 2014 @ 1:36 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

I forgot to post this on the 15th.

David, Tom, Rob, and Papa went shooting today before Katie’s party. Tom wanted to test out his new gun, David is always game to go, Rob was eager to join, and my dad thought it sounded good, too! I wasn’t going so I made sure Tom took a few pictures! 🙂

Tom’s target:

Katie’s pool and pizza birthday party.

Posted on July 15, 2014 @ 7:16 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Unfortunately, Gramma Jean was sick so she didn’t make it to the party—and we didn’t get a group picture—but Grandpa David, Grauntie Marge, Grandma Marsha, Uncle Rob, Grannie Lin, and Papa were all there! Even our dear friend Paul stopped by!

He bonked his nose diving in the shallow water.

Katie was having a blast splashing EVERYONE. We kept trying to redirect her to splash Owen but she kept coming back to us.

Tom turned the water on and she stuck her foot right in!

She has no fear—she jumped right into Tom’s arms!

She loved daddy pushing her around the pool!

Owen was not comfortable in the big pool and stuck to the steps and the side of the pool. He would NOT go out any farther, even though we showed him it wasn’t any deeper AND Grannie promised to hold him tight. Eventually, after maybe 30 minutes, he FINALLY let go…and of course had fun racing with daddy and Katie!

And then it was time for the party! Grannie Lin and Papa bought all the plates/decorations, the cake and cupcakes, and the pizza—and brought Burger King crowns for both kids!

Grandpa David would put a cheeze ball on Tom’s beer and Katie would eat it off. We did this a handful of times.

Papa and Grannie had bought this scooter for Owen for his birthday but then they weren’t able to come visit…so they brought it now, but he’s just a bit over the recommended weight limit so it went to Katie instead. You can see she liked being pushed on it. 🙂

But then we let Owen try it, just to see if he’d like it and would maybe want a bigger scooter for himself. He did like it, and Katie took to running in front of him saying “WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!” to clear his path. 🙂

Then it was back to the house where it wasn’t long before the kids were ready to crash. A good day!

A Wet Day in Kalkaska

Posted on July 14, 2014 @ 7:28 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We took the kids to the Kalkaska Kaliseum for open swim. Owen was there last year (and I wasn’t) so this year we ALL went. 🙂 Grandma Marsha came to watch and Uncle Rob came with us in the afternoon (as did Papa and Grannie, who happened to be in Kalkaska meeting people for dinner).

Katie had no fear of the water and kept wanting to go into the 3′ deep section (which is, of course, over her head). She’d hang on to the edge or bounce up and down to keep her head above water. Or Tom would hold her and she’d do this. 🙂

Owen likes to float (he’s about two inches above the bottom here).

Back to Grandma Marsha’s for lunch…and a nap before the next open swim time.

Grannie and Papa were arriving and the kids were excited to see them!

Len Christmas in July

Posted on July 13, 2014 @ 9:28 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

The family decided to have Christmas in July this year and the Besons hosted. It was a GORGEOUS Michigan summer day on the river spent with our AMAZING family! Timmy supplied about 32 different types of brats (okay, maybe only about 12) and we stuffed ourselves silly on them plus all the other good food everyone brought. A good time was had by all and I think we may officially be moving our holiday celebration to the summer from now on!

Owen was a bit shy at first, so he and Katie were both in Nick’s room playing by themselves.

Katie loved the boat. LOVED. LOVED!! She would have sat out there all day if we let her and kept wanting to go back.

Finally Owen wanted to play!

Owen is six months younger than Aubrey. I know, right?

Cousins Katie 2, Owen 5, Aubrey 6, Gracie 8, Nick 10, Alex 12, and Jess 15. We never actually got Owen back-to-back with Nick, but I think they were within a fraction of an inch of each other (with a five-year age difference). And Katie seems to be pretty close to Aubrey, who is four years older. I guess we really DO grow them big. 🙂

Last year:

Lisa B. made these AWESOME ladybug cupcakes for Katie’s birthday.

And these for Greg’s birthday. (I missed a pic of the ones for Aubrey’s birthday, but they were Frozen-themed.)

We did pretty good keeping track of Katie all day (when there’s so many people around, there’s always someone half watching) and then we failed right at the end. People were running around cleaning up and putting things away…and before I know it, Tom is carrying Katie back from the front yard. Apparently Katie was wandering down the driveway and Greg caught her and brought her back. Phew.

And before we knew it, it was time to head out. Katie didn’t make it to the end of the road before she fell asleep, and Owen lasted about 15 minutes.

Pool and playset time at the hotel!l!

Posted on July 12, 2014 @ 1:07 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Papa and Grannie are staying at the Ramada so we took the kids over to play today!

And then it was time for the playset! She has NO fear—she climbed right up! She was a little wobbly and didn’t make it all the way to the top before daddy rushed in. 🙂

And someone was NOT tired and did NOT want to take a rest. We MADE him lay down…and this happened.

Fish hatchery and fishing!

Posted on July 11, 2014 @ 3:44 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We wanted to introduce Katie to the fish hatchery—and I wanted to see Owen enjoy it (since I didn’t go last year when Tom and Marsha took him)…so our big group came in and asked if we could all get in on the free family admission coupon my mom had…and the guy joked that we were a circus and I said YOU HAVE NO IDEA. 🙂 He let us all in for free, so we bought five bags of food and planned to take Owen fishing…

Katie was fascinated and REALLY wanted to go in the water—so someone had to keep a hand on her most of the time. Owen had fun, too, but couldn’t wait to go fishing!

Owen loved fishing—but who wouldn’t, when it only takes a matter of seconds to catch one! We let him catch five (you pay by the inch) and he had fun with each one!

Katie thought she wanted to see the fish…until she saw them and then that was it.

Owen thought he wanted to hold one…until Tom held one out. 🙂

The family—and Owen with his catch!

Katie went bump in the night.

Posted on July 10, 2014 @ 10:17 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

So the kids were in bed, David was in the bedroom, and mom, Tom, and I were just sitting in the living room visiting and whatnot…when we heard a loud CRASH BOOM BANG. Mom thought David had fallen—but then we heard crying. Oh no! Katie had fallen out of bed!! (She did just fine the first night and during her nap, but she obviously was more of a wiggle worm tonight. We hadn’t taken any precautions because, well, we forgot, and because she HAD already done just fine.)

Tom sprinted down the hall and came out carrying a whimpering Katie. He said he found her laying on the floor with her legs against the closet. We figured she must have gone over the edge head first, flipping over so her legs hit the closet (which would account for the thuds and bangs we heard). Poor Katie. While Tom was comforting her, I was putting rolled up blankets in her bed (under the sheets) as bumpers and then he stayed in there with her for a good half hour. Other than being scared, she was no worse for the wear…thankfully.

Owen’s first fireworks!

Posted on July 10, 2014 @ 8:26 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We have been wanting to try some low-key fireworks with Owen for awhile now and just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve had sparklers for a year now—planning on using them on July 4th or after a party or something—but again, we just never got around to it. Until now.

We went to the local fireworks outlet and asked for the kiddie section and they were having a B1G1 free sale so we ended up with a bunch of little stuff.

And Owen LOVED it. LOVED IT. And everyone loved watching him! We only used half of the stuff tonight so we have one more night’s worth coming up. (And when I say a night’s worth, I mean about 10-15 minutes max, which includes sparkler time.) We made sure Katie was in bed so we could concentrate fully on Owen and not have to worry about Katie… She’ll be out for the second night.

The lady said the ones we got would go “telephone pole height” at most. She was right. 🙂

And I found my pooping dog! I had seen it on Facebook and loved it—and thought the kids would, too. I was thrilled they had it at the store! (And yes, Owen LOVED it.)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Katie—Part 2

Posted on July 10, 2014 @ 7:57 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We had planned to have Katie’s birthday party at the hotel like we did last year, but as it turned out, we could have had the party today since everyone was at the house! We will still have the pizza/pool party, but Gramma Jean still made a cake to celebrate her actual birthday!

This is the look we got after I stopped her from picking a chocolate chip off the cake before we all sat down.

Stripped down because she was covered in chocolate!

Fun in Gramma’s Back Yard

Posted on July 10, 2014 @ 5:23 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Potty break when dripping wet = going in the woods!

We helped save the Rialto!

Posted on July 10, 2014 @ 12:55 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We donated to the Restore the Rialto Kickstarter campaign and used our two free tickets today to take Owen to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.

The first thing Owen said when he sat down is “Where do I set my drink?” Spoiled kid, used to newfangled seats with attached cup holders. 🙂

I have an idea!

Posted on July 7, 2014 @ 2:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

This was taken on July 4 but I forgot to post it.

Owen went to Home Depot with Tom, picked up the lightbulb, put it over his head, and said “I have an idea!” 🙂

Lowes and Red Robin

Posted on July 5, 2014 @ 6:25 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

They love sitting together!

She was VERY excited about the ice cream!

Waiting for TiVo

Posted on July 4, 2014 @ 6:40 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Daddy finally hooked up the TiVo!

Early morning as we predicted!

Posted on July 4, 2014 @ 6:25 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Owen came in about 6 but just crawled into bed with me and didn’t even notice Tom until I said something. 🙂 Katie wasn’t too far behind at 6:15. She wanted daddy to read from Owen’s Lego Movie book.

A late night for us

Posted on July 4, 2014 @ 1:30 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Tom rolled in about 12:05 and we immediately started unloading the car. (We wanted the car empty since he’d have to park elsewhere with the U-haul since these driveways are so ridiculously short.)

Then we got the cats situated in their temporary overnight room (the utility room downstairs)…

And by the time we got in bed and chatted for a bit, it was 1:30. We knew the kids would be up early…so wouldn’t get much sleep.

Are we having fun yet?

😐

Loading, Day 2

Posted on July 3, 2014 @ 2:00 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

They are making the pony’s ride as safe as possible:

Doesn’t get any tighter than this:

The packers did not leave a box for the king mattress. Serge is doing his best.

Moving…on the other end.

Posted on July 2, 2014 @ 9:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Tom stayed to finish out the packing and loading. The two women were there until about noon (a little longer than they planned). Then after they left Tom got a call that they wanted to start loading today! Awesome!

By 3:30 Tom had most of our U-haul stuff loaded. By 4:00 the truck was at our house.

They weren’t actually loading, but just getting all the big stuff (like furniture and rugs) wrapped and packed and ready to be loaded.

“These guys are good!” They put plastic on the carpet and protection on the wood floor—something that’s never been done before! (We generally put down stuff ourselves.)

Then Tom lost Bella for awhile. He eventually found her IN the corner piece of sectional. Silly kitty hates the carrier.

Tom said “Wait till you see this load. Every piece of furniture is wrapped with blankets! And not only does every piece of furniture have a blanket, it also has cardboard taped to the front. Best. Move. Ever.” (So I rate the women packers a 6 and the packing/loading guys a 12.)

They worked until about 9 and are picking up two more guys in the morning to speed it up.

Lorton, here we come!

Posted on July 2, 2014 @ 4:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Well, me and the kids anyway. And Maggie. Right on schedule at 10:00. With the Prius packed to the hilt with a crap ton of stuff for two nights (pillows, air beds, sheets, towels, stuffed animals, blankets, sound machines, night lights, food, snacks, drinks, kids’ med kit, toys, books, iPad, laptop…and Maggie and all her stuff)! Katie is back there, too, but I was lazy and didn’t take my phone out of the dash holder to take the picture.

The kids were really good—Katie watched Despicable Me 2 on a continuous loop and was perfectly content…and Owen alternated between playing on his phone and just watching the road. He did enjoy watching my mapping app (Waze) and kept notifying me of “yellow triangles” (road hazards like stopped cars) and police. When this came up he was like “WOW!! Look at all that stuff popping up!”

Katie had fallen asleep about 1:00 and Owen was adamant he didn’t need a rest. This was taken at about 1:15. 🙂

There were a few slowdowns around Stafford (when aren’t there?) but we made it in good time, even with the traffic snafus.

Welcome home! Amazon packages were waiting!

And the kids had A BLAST running around the house.

And they saw COOKIE MONSTER in the garage…so it had to come in immediately. 🙂

It was hotter than hell (and humid) so unpacking the car wasn’t fun. Katie also kept opening the garage door and coming outside—leaving the door wide open with Maggie right there. We’re going to have to put some kind of lock on the outside of the door, I think. Probably on the inside, too. (I’m not sure why these doors are so much easier to open than ours were—she could only open our lever-handle door, not the knobs.) She’s going to be a 180 from Owen on just about everything, escaping included.

Dinner was an escapade. I’d been planning on PB&J…except I apparently forgot the peanut butter and the bread I brought was moldy. Panic! We were all STARVING since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was almost 4! I ended up pulling pizza bagel bites from freezer (that we brought up two weeks ago). There’s lots of pantry stuff but it’s all packed away in the hot garage and not immediately accessible. There’s always take-out but that will be tomorrow!

They were happy, though!