Me: Owen, you’re a smart kid.
Owen: Yes, I’m a smart kid!
Category Archives: Travel
Front seat rider!
We only had to travel about two miles down back roads so we were going to let Owen sit in the front seat. He has never even sat in the front seat alone (even just parked in the driveway). He was GIDDY with excitement, which you can sort of see here.
And here, he’s pointing to everything on the center console saying “Check! Check! Check!” 🙂
We never did end up driving with him in the front seat… But the scary part? Look at how perfectly he fits? The seatbelt is in the correct spot!!!
Snow = clapping
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?” 🙂
Game Day at Grandma’s!
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…
Happy (belated) birthday, Grannie Lin!
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.
Feeding the fish!
Tom and Grandma Marsha took Owen to the fish hatchery—and he seemed to enjoy it a little more than he did last year.
Playing on Gramma Jean
Be careful when you lay on the floor with a little boy around…
Beginning and end of day.
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…
Under the table
I’m not sure why he likes playing under things like this…but he often does it at home, too. And he ALWAYS hides under the bed when playing hide-and-seek.
Captain America!
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!)
Lots of family photos!
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. 🙂
Mini Katie photo shoot
She was cute in her first dress so I did a mini photo shoot (unfortunately you can’t really see the whole dress). She did pretty well until she rolled a little too far and bumped her head on the arm of the wicker chair she was in.
WANTED: Stinkeye Sawyer
Owen got a new Sesame Street iPhone app (The Great Cookie Thief) which allows you to make WANTED posters and save them. This is our favorite one so far:
Katie’s Box
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. 🙂
Welcome to the real North!
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…
Owen’s great behavior!
We just got complemented on Owen’s great behavior at a restaurant. Yay, us! Yay, Owen!
Roadside stores
I love roadside stores in the U.P.:
BEEF JERKY, SMOKED FISH, CURDS, FUDGE.
And PASTIES! How could I have forgotten pasties?!
Refusing to go poop!
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.
Happy Gramma Jean
Owen’s Phone Call
Using Grandma Jean’s handheld solitaire game:
Hello?
This is Owen Hudson.
I need a recipe. I forgot the ingredients.
Okay.
Thanks, Hon.
See you later.
Grauntie Rose meets Katie
First sink bath!
Katie got her first sink bath at Gramma Jean’s!
Welcome to Michigan. Did you remember snow gear?
Okay, maybe it wasn’t QUITE that bad…but it was 51 degrees and rainy as we pulled into Grayling. I expected cooler than NC, but not quite this close to snow.
Long (well, short) night.
Well, that was a long, sleepless night. I didn’t really fall asleep until 11, Katie was up at 2, Owen was up at 3, and Katie was up at 5…and they both made so damn much noise all night we barely slept.
Big jumps with daddy
One of the only good things about staying in a hotel with the kids on our road trip…watching Owen have a complete blast in the pool!
We have a backseat driver!
We apparently have a backseat driver:
“Nice turn. Go right. 45 miles. Red light.”
Happy 11th Anniversary
Eleven years. Wow. It just kinda sneaks up on you every year (and even moreso this year since we’ve been a little busy with Katie).
We didn’t even try to get a sitter to do anything this year, though I’m sure our friends would have obliged. Instead, we made a family trip to Wilmington to go to Costco…and have our traditional Chinese meal (we did lunch instead of dinner, though).
Katie was a complete gem, sleeping the entire hour ride down, our entire hour in Costco, and about 75% of our lunch…then took a bottle and slept the entire way home. Of course, Owen was just as awesome, sitting in the cart with stuff piled all around him, not even noticing really because he was having fun with daddy’s phone. 🙂
We had a slight brush with fame at Costco…we saw Keith from Top Chef Texas fame (we’ve eaten at his restaurant, Catch, before). That’s as close to famous as I’m likely to get living here. And he said hi to me in passing, likely because I was staring at him. 🙂
Our lunch was really, really good. I picked a place off Yelp pretty much at random…just going by reviews and proximity to Costco…and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. Everything on the menu at Double Happiness was tempting, but I ended up with the Dry Wok Chicken and Tom got the Coconut Shrimp with Candied Walnut (and we got a Double Steamer dim sum basket). And surprisingly good Hot & Sour soup—as close to mine as we’ve ever had. We definitely want to go back there to try more of the menu!
All in all we had a really good day. How can we not when we have such a great little family?! 😀 (The only downside is that I forgot to take a picture of us to celebrate the day!)
Road trip–Family, Cousins, and Water Country
We took a somewhat last-minute trip to Williamsburg, VA, to see family—and we also decided to go to Water Country USA since we were able to get free tickets for being military.
Saturday night we met with Stef & Al (my third cousins, I think—I’m bad at figuring out those type of family relations) and their kids for dinner and then swimming back at our hotel pool. It was nice visiting with them—I can’t even remember the last time we saw them!
Sunday it was off to Water Country to meet up with Lisa & Timmy and their kids for a day of fun in the water! They were visiting Williamsburg for a week’s vacation so we were more than happy to come up and see them!
I didn’t take my phone and didn’t have a waterproof camera, so we didn’t get a ton of pictures…but we did get a few. Owen took a little bit to get comfortable playing in the water, but once he did, he had a blast! It was enjoyable for me as well since I didn’t have to worry about running around to all the rides…sometimes being eight months pregnant has its advantages!
Also, major thanks to Timmy for splurging on a cabana…that really IS the way to go for a whole day at the park!
Taking a break for ice cream!
COUSINS! Of course, Owen is the beast of the group…he’s almost 3.5 while the others (from left to right) are almost 6, almost 8, and almost 4. 😮
Last-minute plans!
Ugh, last-minute plans…I hate them because I’m a planner, but I have to learn to go with the flow.
A few months ago my cousin said her family would be coming to Richmond, VA, for a vacation and would like to see us if possible. It’s four hours away but yes, of course, since otherwise we only get to see them at Christmas. And as a bonus we have other family there we could see as well.
I KNOW I put a reminder on my Google calendar but it’s not there now so it was a big surprise when she texted yesterday saying “We’ll be there June 9-15!”
OH CRAP.
Obviously we can only do a weekend and their dates only include THIS weekend… So do we go or not?!?!
First I have to see if our other fam is available. Then I have to see if someone can watch the dog. Then I have to see about hotel rooms. Luckily Tom has Monday off so that helps.
Sooooo…our Richmond fam was unavailable. But that was actually okay since we found out the visiting cousins weren’t actually staying there, but rather in Williamsburg…where we happen to have other family. And neighbors could watch the dog…
So hotel rooms (the hotel we really like) are stupid expensive so we were going to make it work for just one night. Until I thought “You know, military gets free tickets to Busch properties and since we’ll be RIGHT there…” So now we’re staying two nights AND going to Water Country USA…in just two days.
EEK!
I can’t wait!!
Wilmington Children’s Museum
We had been wanting to take Owen to the children’s museum, so Tom took today off and we headed over early. Once we actually found it (the address in Yelp was wrong, plus it’s in a quiet residential neighborhood with bad signage) it was pretty good.
Owen got to plant some basil with daddy:
He liked the circus mirrors:
And this mirror—“Look at all the Owens!”
Playing grocery store (he likes the buttons):
Here he got to be on TV with daddy via a green screen:
We had fun, but it’s not somewhere we’ll be rushing back to.