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.
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!
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!
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.
We bought the kids a $6 Slip & Slide and finally got it out today. The water from the hose here is COLD so it took a bit for Owen to actually get into it and get wet. And Gramma was peeling corn for dinner and Katie wanted some so she was wandering around eating raw corn on the cob and LOVING it. 🙂
Daddy cooked Owen’s fish and Owen even tried a bite! He was SO proud of his fish!!
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. 🙂
We had invited everyone back over today but no one could make it…so I was glad that I had talked to another pre-k mom at the end-of-year party and had invited her and her kids over. Owen loves the slide, but enjoys it SO MUCH MORE when there are other kids to play with. 🙂
Izzy (Owen’s classmate) and her sister, Cory:
After awhile I convinced Vicky to go down the slide as well. She agreed it was a blast!
Yep, we splurged on two days of the waterslide—why not? (Yes, it was mostly guilt—I still feel bad we have no back yard (per se) at the new house and they lost their playset.) And what fun is life if you can’t spoil your kids now and again? 🙂
Unfortunately, Katie was NOT into it today…this is all she wanted to do:
Then Katie climbed up this far then stopped and wanted help getting down. She refused to go up and refused to go down and wouldn’t let Owen help her. I wanted her to figure it out herself so just left her there for awhile while I watched Owen play.
I eventually had to go up and get Katie down because she would. not. move. And then it was time to go inside to rest for a bit before more friends came over for a waterslide play date! 🙂
We decided to have a going away party before we left—but I called it an “Until We Meet Again” party because I HATE goodbyes. It was also a perfect excuse to rent a huge waterslide for Owen because he loves them and our new house has zero place for one.
As it was being set up, the kids were VERY excited watching out the window. Katie was saying “Slide! Katie slide! Katie slide please!” 🙂 I was busy getting the last few things ready for the party and Tom was running our last errands so I made the kids wait until he got home…but then it was game on! Owen had no issues with it, of course, but Katie was a poop. She loves climbing on things but put her on the slide where she HAS to climb (and can pretty much climb without much caution) and she wanted NONE of it. This is where she’d stop:
Even after Owen went down a few times, this is the farthest she’d go:
Finally I had enough of trying to verbally coerce her into climbing up, so I got on the slide with her and basically pushed her up each rung of the ladder. Once we got to the top, she didn’t want to go down…so I put my arm around her and we went down together—AND SHE LOVED IT! And immediately went to the ladder…and climbed up all on her own (the little shit!)! I did go up again behind her to make sure she didn’t slip backwards, but she did it just fine!
And then at the top of the slide…I realized my phone was still in my pocket!!! @$&#%! I obviously hadn’t planned on going on the slide (I was still wearing clothes, too) but got caught up in the moment of being frustrated with Katie. 🙁 I yelled at Tom to come get it and instead of coming up the ladder calmly, he was a bit upset and wasn’t being careful…and instead tried to come up over the side of the slide and pulled a leg muscle while getting back off. Like pulled it badly enough that he was limping. 🙁 But the slide was a blast and I knew I’d be on it more throughout the day…so I just gave in and put my suit on right then. And since Katie was still going up and down, I put her in her suit, too.
This is where she liked playing the most. And she was pretty good about moving out of the way when you said “Katie, watch out!” She’d go wait on the side until Owen came down, then she’d go back in the water. 🙂
Even though the slide was fun, I thought it might be out to kill me. After the kids had been playing for a bit (while I was working on party prep), Katie refused to come down (it was her naptime but she didn’t know that—she was just being stubborn). I told Owen this was his one chance to push his sister down the slide—and he tried but he said she was too strong and he couldn’t do it…so I had to go up the slide again to get her down. So I climbed up and we came down together—and I smashed right through the end buffer and landed on the ground with Katie on top of me! HOLY CRAP. I knew it was possible (other adults have done it before) but I had already gone down “successfully” a handful of times so definitely wasn’t expecting it. Katie wasn’t hurt (or crying) so that was good, and for the most part I was okay, but I had actually smacked my head on the ground. Ugh—instant headache. Then Katie was trying to get back onto the slide so I had to grab her…and I slipped on the wet tarp while carrying her! Thankfully she wasn’t hurt and I wasn’t really, either, though my butt and back hurt. Good times, right? I handed her off to Tom and took some pain pills. AND THEN…I was going down the slide with Owen and we were having a blast…and he was excited and wasn’t following the rules (waiting for the area to be clear before sliding down) and just rammed his feet straight into my side. Needless to say it was time for me to take a break.
Once the other kids arrived, things got a little more hectic. Pool toys came out and were part of the slide and kids were going down together (as you can see here)…and the “rules” kind of went out the window. 🙂
The girls loved Katie and basically thought she was their own little doll. 🙂
Ursula was the first adult to go down and she went tandem with Virginia! She agreed it was a blast!
Everyone had fun and the slide was (of course) a hit. There were a few minor bumps and bruises once all eight kids were on the slide at the same time and Owen ended up with a sure-to-be bruised eye. But it was super fun and it all went really well. The only minor bummer was the weather—in the middle of the party we had a downpour just long enough and with just enough thunder and lightning to send everyone inside…for 15 minutes! So then it was back outside! It started to threaten a storm again about 7:00 which sucked because all the adults were going to get on the slide (and I had planned on being able to use the slide most of the evening)…so we just sent the kids inside and a few of us went down a few times in the rain. There’s even video of me catapulting over the end (which may get posted privately) but I’ll gladly post the one of Tom! 🙂
Once it started storming and we were all inside, the kids were watching a movie and the adults were visiting and snacking…and Jacqueline was doing my dishes. There was plenty of room in the dishwasher but she actually LIKES doing dishes so who am I to stop her? 🙂
It was a really great time and I am so glad we did it…and it wasn’t until everyone was gone that I got really sad thinking about how much we’re going to miss everyone. (It’s always sad leaving, but the last time we left, we were just going to be missing two families…this time, we have more friends that we’ll be missing so it will be even harder.) But at least we have some great memories!
Friends of ours are moving (one of my mommy group friends; her husband retired from the USMC) and had a retirement/going away party…with a waterslide for the kids! Owen started sliding shortly after we got there at 4 and only stopped for about 10 minutes total to eat a granola bar and a few bites for dinner before we left at 7:45. This kid loves waterslides. 🙂
Tom was power washing some equipment on the back deck while the kids were riding around. Of course they liked the mist, and eventually got out of the car to run directly in it…then of course daddy started spraying them directly and that was even more fun!
We were outside and Katie wanted to use the pool but it was empty. She was smart enough to know the hose needed to go in the pool and she kept asking me to turn it on.
A mommy group friend invited us over after school to play on their waterslide (that Owen LOVES). Katie enjoyed it, too, along with the swingset and the trampoline.
Owen also ate a Popsicle—almost. He ate about half of it then wanted to save it. He was a bit upset when I said it wasn’t possible (it was about 85°)!
The kids love water so much that we broke down and got a cheapie $10 pool to use until we move. I had to help Katie in the first time, but she quickly figured it out for herself and she was in and out, in and out, in and out. 🙂
I asked Owen why he was sitting like this and he said “Because that’s how the kid on the box is sitting!” He even put the box up on the deck box so he could see it. 🙂
Jumping in! Normally he lands on his knees—I don’t know how he doesn’t get hurt.
Washing off her feet…but then liking standing in the bucket.
Just like big brother did in the big pool! 🙂
She took the chair into the pool and this is what happened when I told her no.
One last cute picture before I took the chair away!
After yesterday’s water fun, we told the kids they could play outside in the water again since it was going to be nice—they just had to wait until after Katie’s nap. This was actually Katie’s first ever time in a sprinkler—and of course she LOVED it!
All three kids waiting to go outside! (Later, the cats were both sitting at the door!)
I didn’t really want to get wet, so I ran inside to get my telephoto lens. Ahhhh, much better!
It was at this point that Owen accidentally broke the sprinkler—he was attempting to jump over it but instead landed right on it. He wasn’t hurt but we told him that he had to be careful. Then Tom went over and determined that yes, it really was broken, so he turned the water off so he could unhook it while he went to look for a new sprinkler. And Owen lost his shit. He started crying and screaming uncontrollably. We tried to get him to tell us what was wrong (Was he really hurt? Was he mad at Tom? Was he just upset the water was turned off?) but he wouldn’t even quiet down enough to hear anything we were saying. We assured him he wasn’t in trouble and that it was an accident but he just wouldn’t settle down. We had about 10 minutes of what you see below. Tom did find another sprinkler and hooked it up and Katie kept trying to get Owen to come over to it, but he was still being a poop. It took another 10 minutes or so before he was finally back in the groove.
Someone loved playing in the mud puddles created by the sprinkler! 🙂
I was putting Katie to bed and heard running water. Huh? Turns out she had come upstairs on her own while Tom and I were outside (unloading the pod) and turned on the water in the jetted tub. It’s a good thing it just held mostly dirty towels and bath toys…but there was a new hair dryer (still in the box) that got soaked that I’m hoping will survive. Best I can guesstimate it was running for at least 20 minutes.
Lesson learned: Owen cannot be trusted to keep an eye on Katie—especially when he’s watching TV!
Gramma Jean wanted to go to the ocean and take the kids, so we picked Owen up from school and headed out! I knew Owen hadn’t eaten much lunch (the menu for the day was mostly stuff he wouldn’t eat) so he ate turkey rolls and cheese on the way. We were going to the beach on base since we were already part of the way there from picking Owen up. So, it occurred to me to call the commissary and find out if they had fresh lobsters (the last time mom was here and we wanted them, no place had them). And they did! So we stopped off there first—and what should have been a 10 minute or less stop turned into at least a half hour since no one was in the meat department to help me, no one was answering the buzzer, the sushi guy went off to find him, and then it still took a good 10 minutes for him to come back, then he had to catch the wily critters. Then the traffic was pretty bad (even though we were going the opposite direction)…so we finally got to the beach about 4:00 (we picked Owen up at 2:30!). GRRR.
But all was well because Owen was very excited:
Owen: Where’s my suit? Can I get my suit on?!
Me: I didn’t bring your suit. It’s too cold to swim—but you can get wet because I brought a change of clothes.
Owen: OKAY!
Off and running! No looking back!
Okay, maybe a little looking back. 🙂
The weather and water were actually pretty nice for it being November—both were warmer than we had in Myrtle Beach in March!
Katie had NO fear of the water and went right for it. Unfortunately…the ocean got the better of her…a few times. She just lost her footing and was rolling around in the water and then would get up and fall over again. The water wasn’t deep and she wasn’t in any danger and never once made a peep! Mom and I were both recording her, but mom’s video is better:
So, we weren’t at the beach for more than five minutes before she was completely soaked. 🙂
She loved grabbing handsful of sand and carrying them around and giving them to grandma!
We were only there about a half hour before we needed to call it quits—damn time change has it getting dark at 4:30 plus the kids were both wet and sandy.
Unfortunately, we then had a looooooooong ride home in after-work base traffic so we all got to experience what Tom goes through every day. One hour and 15 minutes to drive 26 miles (but really one hour to drive 15 miles because the last 15 minutes was smooth sailing).
But both kids had a great time and before we even got home Owen was asking to go back!
I’ve been waiting for a stretch of nice days to take the pool down so it can dry out nicely, but it’s been raining for a week with rain forecast for the next week, too…so I decided to just start since I had help (both for the pool and the kids) and we had a few hours of sun.
I actually started yesterday by draining about half the water (to hopefully lessen the muck around the yard by letting it dry out for 24 hours). So today when I let the water start draining, I told Owen it was his last chance to get in the pool. (Papa had hoped to go swimming with Owen, but it just didn’t stay hot quite long enough.)
Helping me drain the water a little faster.
Then someone else joined the party…
Almost empty…
Hanging it up after a quick scrubbing…and Owen helping rinse it off (he even went inside/underneath to rinse the inside!).
The weather was cool enough today to actually want to go outside…so we did! The kids managed to stay on the deck for awhile, but then Owen got interested in the hose and wanted water…
Thank heavens for friends! (I could actually say that a lot, but today it’s about Roger coming to look at the sink.) 🙂
At first he was afraid it was inside the faucet with the hot water lines—which would require a plumber—but then he said “Hey, let me check this quick…”
And bingo! It was the pull-out handle—it was loose and the water was dripping from there. A quick tighten and it’s fixed (and he could find the tool he needed right away thanks to Tom organizing everything before he left!). He also moved the hose to a less-constricted space (away from the dishwasher line) so it’s easier to pull when necessary (and will create less stress on the part).
I never would have thought to check that, but now I know if it happens again!
Phew! I was envisioning $$$ for a plumber and/or $$$ for a new faucet.
And I think it’s pretty good that I didn’t need a fill-in hubby until a month in to the deployment! 🙂
We had an invite for the beach today, but I just am not ready to take Katie and Owen to the beach. Owen would be fine, but I have no idea if Katie will be a content to sit and play in the sand baby or if she’d be a run up and down the beach baby—and didn’t really have the energy to find out today…so I passed…but invited others over for the pool. One mom came over (the same one who went out to dinner with me on my anniversary) and it was great.
Getting ready for the sun:
This is what happened when I asked the kids to pose. She did and Owen looks like he’s attacking her! 🙂
Unfortunately, Katie was a total crankypants—the first time since she’s started this recent teething episode. But she liked the watermelon (and wanted to share, as you will see in the video).
I finally got out the baby pool we had when Owen was little (Tom just found it before he left):
And it was HOT. And with the running around with the kids and getting the air compressor out of the shed, yada yada yada, I really wanted to go in the pool. Ruth said “Sure, go ahead!” So I did! I spent about 15 minutes in with the kids—and Ruth even got Katie into a swim diaper and then brought her to the pool with us! Then Ruth even got in up to her knees to cool off. It was really, really great and I appreciated it immensely!
