Grannie had bought a ring/horseshoe toss game so they played that. I wrote in the sand. Katie played in the sand. Owen and daddy played with the glider. I took some artsy fartsy pictures. The men sat in chairs.
Tag Archives: Grannie Lin
Haircut, Katie, and cool spoons with ice cream!
Okay, a bit of randomness that I didn’t feel like composing separate posts about… 🙂
We decided to give Owen a haircut. We had asked him before we left if he wanted it cut or if he wanted to try and grow it out (with the condition that if he wanted to grow it out, he had to let me put gel in it for school) and he said yes, he wanted to grow it out. Okay, fine. Fast forward a few days and he decided yes, he wanted it short. That was fine by me, so Tom cut it. I didn’t get an actual after picture, but stay tuned until later in this post.
More cool color-changing silverware from Grannie Lin!
And notice the haircut!
And notice Katie in her ballet shoes that she HAD to put on after her bath. 🙂
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Cookie Monsters and playing catch on the beach!
Playing catch on the beach
Grannie finds the coolest things!
She found color-changing straws so everyone had ice in their drinks at dinner! If you look closely, you can see Katie’s pink straw is turning purple and Owen’s blue straw is turning purple!
Sleepy snuggles with Grannie Lin
Katie wasn’t thrilled to be up from her nap…but Grannie sucked up the cuddles.
The kids like the pool better than the ocean.
And I wasn’t going to complain because that meant NO SAND. 🙂 We had lots of fun with the grandparents!
Katie had quite the aim with the water gun! She was a sneak, too—she’d hide it under the water until she got close enough to you to spray you! 🙂
How did she know I really needed this?!
It had been a loooong day, so imagine my happiness when Linda arrived for dinner prep with a big, chilled bottle of one of my favorite wines! Yay!
More grandparents!
My dad and stepmom are also in Florida for a few months—about six hours away. Since we couldn’t take enough time to stay with both sets of parents, my dad and Linda came over to stay for the week. After they arrived and came to our room, we decided to head down to the beach…
Katie building her castle. Yes, it’s just a bucket of sand, but to her it was a castle!
This is one of her favorite things to do—fling sand. 😐
Katie was so excited to see them coming she had to run to meet them!
Owen was a bit tired so he tried to rest. 🙂
CHEEEESE!!!!
She loves saying cheese!
This is a new 4T outfit from Grannie Lin—the top fits perfect and the pants are too big (she’s swimming in the waste). But oh so cute!
Sweatshirt Twins
It was chilly in the house this morning (daddy was back to work so there was no one to turn the heat on in the morning) so I put the kids in their new hoodies from Grannie Lin and Papa! They’re definitely big enough to grow into—for both of them!
Opening presents via Skype!
It’s at times like this that I love technology!
My ornament hanger!
Katie LOVES hanging ornaments on the tree! As it happens, we’ve actually received a few ornaments since we initially decorated the tree, so she’s gotten to hang a few. This one today came from Grannie Lin and Papa and she had to run right to the tree to hang it! She does a pretty good job, too!
And a closeup of the Michigan ornament. I think the UP has grown since we’ve last been there. 🙂
Clingy Kids
Grannie Lin sent Christmas window clings in her care package…the kids LOVE them! We don’t have that many windows on the first floor so they’re all covered!
My three cookie monsters…and other family pics.
Waiting for Papa, Grannie, and daddy to bring Owee back from the bus stop (she slept in today!).
My three cookie monsters!
All smiles with the grandparents! It helped that Tom was behind me making faces! 🙂
A rare family pic (since I’m always behind the camera!).
Six birthday celebration!
Any excuse for a cake, really…we celebrated all of our birthdays!
Papa was elected to blow out the candles since I was still sick, Tom and Grannie Lin were getting sick, and Owen and Katie would likely spit on the cake. 🙂
Having fun with the party horn/birthday whistles, which actually THANKFULLY didn’t make any actual noise. 🙂
Owen helping Grannie make apple pies!
Wheeeee!
Little Helper
T-5 days until the pool closes…
Papa happened to call right as we were walking in, so I Skyped them back so they got to watch Owen do a few jumps and watch Katie swim around.
He kept doing this and I finally asked what he was doing… You’ll never guess. He was trying to do a somersault! 🙂 I told him I’d help him when we were in the big pool!
Katie saw Owen holding his nose, so she was trying to do the same thing!
The kids she had been playing with in the kiddie pool were going home, so she was at the fence saying “Guys! Guys? Where are you going?”
He loves just floating like this.
If you didn’t know he liked to do it, it might freak you out because he looks…well…dead.
This is how Owen moves across the pool when he’s not actually swimming.
And then it was time for the special surprise! Not only was daddy at the pool with us…but we ordered pizza for dinner! Poolside! (Ever since Owen saw the signs and saw someone have pizza delivered, he’s wanted us to do it. Since the pool season is almost over, today was the day!)
She loves being tossed in the air…but can’t quite manage to count to three. 🙂
My turn with Katie. The video isn’t that great (meaning Katie doesn’t appear to be having that much fun) but she really was…and it’s rare for me to actually be in a picture or video with the kids. So here it is. 🙂
I finally got a video of Katie getting out of and back in the pool. However, she only did it once. The other day, she just kept going up the ladder then back into the pool—time after time after time.
And the bonus to the whole day? I started talking with a girl at the pool (she was there with a little girl who Katie was playing with in the kiddie pool) and long story short, she’s a babysitter and lives in the neighborhood! WOOHOO!
And the funniest thing of the day? While I was at the kiddie pool talking to the girl, Tom came over to tell me what Owen had just said. Tom said they had a race across the length of the pool and of course Tom won, but when Owen finished, Tom asked if he was tired or if he wanted to go talk to me. Owen’s response? NO! I’M PUMPED UP! LET’S GO! 🙂
Teaching Katie about mirrors.
Katie had just gotten up from her nap and was cuddling with Grannie Lin while Gramma Jean curled her hair. She was very intrigued by the mirror—especially when she realized she could see Papa and Owen behind her if the mirror was put in a certain place.
Papa + the iPad, matching outfits, a ball, and Star Wars
Owen showing Papa ABCMouse on the iPad.
The boys in matching outfits courtesy of Grannie Lin. 🙂
Kicking the ball around.
Showing Papa his Lego Star Wars book. Owen saw me with the camera and immediately gave me a good smile. I love that he’s somewhat trained. 🙂
Then we had to have Papa look up for a good picture, too!
Outside with Grannie Lin
Matching Girls
Grannie Lin showed up in the same basic outfit as Katie—so of course we had to get a picture!
Katie’s pool and pizza birthday party.
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
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!
Pool and playset time at the hotel!l!
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!
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!
Owen’s first fireworks!
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.)
Fun in Gramma’s Back Yard
Potty break when dripping wet = going in the woods!
