Great Train Adventure

Will and Grandpa had a great adventure yesterday - they took the train to Holland! We woke the boys up at 6:15 and were out of the house by 6:45. We arrived at the AMTRAK station in downtown GR a little after 7am for a 7:30 departure. It was a chilly morning, but Will was in good spirits. Unfortunately, the train was delayed so we had quite a wait. The train finally pulled up around 8:15am and Will was all smiles as he boarded the train. Then Grandma, Alex and I got in the car and drove to Holland to meet them at the train station there. We beat them by about 10 minutes and then got to hear all about the ride. We had breakfast in downtown Holland and then did a little shopping before heading home. It was a really fun day!

Early morning... waiting for the train

Where is the train?

Alex got up early, too

Boarding the Train

All smiles

After the ride

Birthday Party Fun

We had an action packed weekend... as usual. On Friday night, we went over to our friends' house for dinner. There were 9 little kids and 8 adults. It was a beautiful night and the big kids had a great time playing in the yard: water table, cozy coupe, hammock, and relay races. The real little ones had fun sitting on the grass and staring at each other.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer's Market and then played around the house.  After nap time, we got to go to Charlie's 1st birthday party.  Ben and Hilary went all out.  They rented a tent for the backyard and hired someone to grill chicken, ribs and hot dogs.  They also rented a petting zoo complete with pony rides.  Will had so much fun feeding the animals and enjoyed his pony ride.  They also had an apple bobbing station, a pinata and other games set up in the backyard.  Everyone had a great time!

On Sunday, we went for a walk/bike ride in the morning and actually got a bunch of yard work done during Alex's morning nap.  He's been taking some good naps - all that crawling wears him out.  That and the fact that he hasn't slept well the past few nights (swollen gums... finally a tooth?).  Alex is a pretty fast crawler now and is even trying to figure out the step into the kitchen. 

I also included some video of Will at the playground last week.  He has gotten very adventurous! 

Garrett, Alex, and Evan (with Claire and Caroline in the background)

Cowboy Will

He loved the pony ride!

Feeding the animals

Backyard Set-up

Pinata

Birthday Cake

Bobbing for apples

Alex had fun, too

Splashing

Fun with Grandpa

Will and Grandpa have gone on a few fun field trips lately. They went out to Lake Michigan one day to play on the beach. Will had a great time playing in the sand and splashing in the waves. They also went on 2 fishing trips to Reeds Lake. The first day out, they actually caught a bluegill on Will's little fishing rod. They had a lot of nibbles on their second outing but weren't able to catch anything. Will got to hold the fish and threw it back in the water. He thought it was pretty cool!

"I don't have time to stop for a picture... I'm having too much fun!"

Fishing at Reeds Lake

Allie's Naming Ceremony

This weekend we went to Detroit for Allie's naming ceremony. We got in around dinner time on Friday night. Mimi and GBob were in from Cincinnati and we had a good time playing and having dinner at Grann's house. We took the boys for a walk/bike ride after dinner and they both slept pretty well. We decided they weren't quite ready to share a room (I don't think either of them would get any sleep) so Alex got to stay in the crib in the Kid's Room and Will slept on a mattress on the floor in Mom and Dad's room.

On Saturday, we played at Grann's and then packed up and went to a park in Northville.  It had a nice playground, picnic tables, a walking path, and a little river.  While we were there, Aunt Maran, Uncle Josh, and Allie joined us and the kids all got to play.  Then we went back to Grann's for nap time.  Josh had to leave to go to a concert with his family, but Aunt Maran and Allie stayed and we all went out to dinner.  There was a playground across the street and Will made some friends after dinner and spent a good 30 minutes running around.

On Sunday, we took Will over to Aunt Katie's new house in Royal Oak.  She and "her Will" graciously agreed to watch "our Will" during the first part of the naming ceremony.  We didn't think Will would be able to sit still and be quiet - especially since Phil and I were both participating in the ceremony.  We got to see their adorable new house and cute new dog.  We visited for a bit and then went to the ceremony.  Will had fun reading stories and playing in their back yard.  The naming ceremony was very nice... unfortunately, Alex did not cooperate.  He was getting over a cold and was overwhelmed by all the people.  He got a little fussy so Mimi took him out for a bit during the ceremony.  After lunch, we got on the road.  We were all a little worn out after the busy weekend!

 

Alex and GBob

Spinning the Rock

Alex and Mimi

Josh and Phil successfully fixed the TV

Playing at Grann's



Cousins!

Phil, Maran, Alex, and Allie

After the Naming Ceremony

Will refused to look at the camera

Busy Week

We've had a very busy week! On Monday, Will had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa that he couldn't be bothered to take a nap. Instead, he passed out on his play table at 5:45pm while I was cooking dinner. Big Lovey was on the table and Will didn't have the energy to move him to the floor or his bed. It was much easier to climb on the table to sleep. We have quite the collection of photos of Will sleeping in odd places.

On Tuesday, we took the boys to the Children's Museum's 15th birthday party. The museum is open late on Tuesdays and they had a room set up for members upstairs. We were able to have hot dogs and ice cream cake, do a few crafts, and play in the museum. Both Will and Alex had a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, Will woke up with a runny nose. But that didn't stop us from going for a bike ride into town and then meeting friends at the playground. Will had so much fun playing with the big kids on the slides. Alex loved the swings.

On Thursday, Will woke up with a cough in addition to his runny nose and Alex woke up all plugged up as well. Will still went to school (his teacher said they had several cases of the sniffles). Alex had some issues sleeping and taking a bottle in the morning but took a nice nap in the afternoon. The Vicks humidifier seemed to help a lot. After work, we went up to Taste of EGR in Gaslight Village. Will really wanted to go since he knew there would be a bounce house. Even though it had been raining on and off all day it looked like we would have a break in the weather. We drove up and loaded the kids into the stroller. We bought our food tickets and then Will got to play in the bounce house. We ran into a lot of friends in town. Around 6:30 or so it started to drizzle a bit. We hurried through to pick up food (I was smart and brought up plastic bags to put it all in) and then Phil joined us. We were able to walk around for a bit before the rain really started to fall. We ran back to the car (fortunately in the parking garage) and were able to tailgate and enjoy our food. It would have been nice to listen to more music and wander around a bit more but at least we got a yummy dinner out of it! Today we head to Detroit!

Sound asleep before dinner

It was too much trouble to move Big Lovey... it was much easier to climb on the table

Driving the Bug at the Children's Museum

Tunnel of Mirrors

Alex thought it was pretty cool

Alex and Lucy

Will, Alex, Lucy, Henry, and Sarah

Going for a ride

Bounce House

Enjoying Taste of EGR before the rain started

Fall is in the Air

Although it is mid August, it feels like fall is right around the corner. Friday was a cool rainy day. We went out for dinner and were all a bit chilled when we got home. We decided to have our first fire of the season. Now we are all really looking forward to football season and sweater weather!

On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market and ran a few errands downtown. We grabbed a quick lunch outside before heading home for naps. Will has decided to skip his naps... even though he clearly still needs one (see photo below). Then we took the kids to the playground for a bit and ate dinner in. On Sunday we went for a walk/bike ride in the morning and did a lot of playing around the house.

A few updates on Alex:

It looks like his first tooth has sprouted. He did not sleep well at all on Friday night and we noticed the little white dot on his gums on Saturday which explains it! He also crawled twice. On two separate occasions he took two crawls before plopping down on his belly. We haven't seen it since, but we know he's close! He seems to be enticed by Will's toys.  I've been reattaching our foam corner guards in preparation. He also wore jeans for the first time which isn't much of a milestone - just very cute!

Blue Jean Baby

This is what happens when a 3 year old skips his nap

Will takes his role as big brother very seriously

Some Recent Videos

Here are just a few videos we've taken recently:

Will is getting pretty good at T-ball!


Alex has been working on feeding himself puffs and yogurt melts.

Music and Trains and Puffs... Oh My!

We had a fun filled weekend. It started on Thursday night when I went to Brush Studio in Gaslight with some girlfriends for a painting class. My friend's sister opened the studio and we had so much fun painting our Traverse City Cherry Blossoms. On Friday after work, I packed up the boys and picked up pizza. Then we met Phil and some other friends at Reeds Lake. The Verve Pipe was putting on a free concert for kids. We had a nice picnic and the kids had fun running around. In addition to the group we went with, we ran into a lot of other friends and their families. Although Will didn't listen to too much of the music, he and his friends had a great time playing in the water, throwing rocks in, and in general being crazy.

On Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market in the morning. After lunch, we met up with Grandpa downtown to check out the model train show at DeVos Place. They had a lot of displays with running trains and elaborate set-ups. It was pretty impressive. Will had a lot of fun watching all the trains.

On Sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a walk/bike ride into town. We made pit stops at the fountain and the football field for Will. Neither Will or Alex took great afternoon naps, so we took another walk/bike ride up to the lake to play. We also went out onto the boardwalk and saw 4 swans and a frog.

Alex has moved into his big boy high chair (although he slumps a little bit) and has been eating puffs. He also upgraded to his "ducky tub."

Evening at Brush

Verve Pipe at Reeds Lake

Taking in the Show

Can't beat a free Popsicle

Grandpa and His Grandsons

Watching the Trains

Return of the Puffs

Beautiful day at Reeds Lake