Friday, August 27, 2010
An Ode to Lego
Oh Lego, how I hate thee.
You're continual existence is a royal pain for me.
Red, yellow, blue, green...
the amount of pieces is truly obscene.
Planes, tanks, towers and more,
you fall to pieces all over my floor.
You engender fantastic creations with great imagination,
But are a constant source of great frustration.
No matter how carefully we build with you,
You collapse and shatter and we must start a-new.
Small bits, large bits, teeny bits too....
I have sore feet and a messy house because of you!!
I've tried to organize, divide, and separate,
Only to find you scattered everywhere - renewing my hate.
I find you in the most unlikely of places,
Under tables and couches, and stuck to faces.
Stepping on you leads to quite a scene,
Hopping around in agony, while uttering words obscene.
So Lego we remain at an impasse,
I tolerate you for now.... until I throw you out - en-mass!
-----
Clearly, the great poets of the world have nothing to fear from me.
Feel free to add your own verse or three!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wrastlin' with an Alligator
At 17 months, Marin is starting to come into her own in terms of what she wants, and what she doesn't want. For some reason the child has decided that having her diaper changed is tantamount to torture.
When she - ahem - 'does her business', it's quite obvious. (no need to go into great detail here, but let's just say that certain facial expressions and umm... 'grunting' noises are involved. That, and the fact that her siblings have no qualms about saying: "Mummy - Marin stinks!!"). So after a few minutes I'll say: "Marin, did you make a poop?" To which she looks at me wide-eyed and solemn, and then nods her head yes.
Well, that's about the only thing that is easy about the whole process. I'll go over to get her, and she'll look at me, scream: "NOOOOOOO!!!" and then take off running as fast as her diaper-laden bum will allow her to. Once I catch up to her, I have to forcibly pick her up and then carry the thrashing wild beast over to where the change supplies are.
To say that she becomes possessed would be an understatement. The child writhes and squirms and thrashes about with the fury of an alligator wrestling it's pray (at least, that's what I imagine an alligator would be like when it's devouring some poor animal that's lower down on the food chain than it). She arches her back, she kicks her feet, she goes completely rigid, and then completely limp. She tries to roll over, she flails wildly, she screams so loudly I'm certain the neighbours are going to call child services one of these days.
By the time I finally manage to wipe the little stinker down and get a new diaper on her I'm usually drenched in sweat.
But how can you stay mad at a face like this?
When she - ahem - 'does her business', it's quite obvious. (no need to go into great detail here, but let's just say that certain facial expressions and umm... 'grunting' noises are involved. That, and the fact that her siblings have no qualms about saying: "Mummy - Marin stinks!!"). So after a few minutes I'll say: "Marin, did you make a poop?" To which she looks at me wide-eyed and solemn, and then nods her head yes.
Well, that's about the only thing that is easy about the whole process. I'll go over to get her, and she'll look at me, scream: "NOOOOOOO!!!" and then take off running as fast as her diaper-laden bum will allow her to. Once I catch up to her, I have to forcibly pick her up and then carry the thrashing wild beast over to where the change supplies are.
To say that she becomes possessed would be an understatement. The child writhes and squirms and thrashes about with the fury of an alligator wrestling it's pray (at least, that's what I imagine an alligator would be like when it's devouring some poor animal that's lower down on the food chain than it). She arches her back, she kicks her feet, she goes completely rigid, and then completely limp. She tries to roll over, she flails wildly, she screams so loudly I'm certain the neighbours are going to call child services one of these days.
By the time I finally manage to wipe the little stinker down and get a new diaper on her I'm usually drenched in sweat.
But how can you stay mad at a face like this?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Hold them close... and watch them.
This summer Quinn's swimming has really improved. He can go down the slide without a life-jacket and swim to the side with no problems. He's been trying to teach himself to dive and has just been loving splashing around and swimming in the pool.
Chris and I have been pushing him to go off the diving board without a life-jacket on. (at our pool you're not allowed to go off the board with a life-jacket on - you have to be able to jump, and swim to the side un-assisted.). He was jumping of the board at Karen's pool and swimming to the side with no problems, so we thought he was ready for the big pool.
Yesterday at swimming lessons he screwed up his courage and went of the board. It was pretty funny actually because I had just put my camera up to take the picture when he literally ran and jumped off the board! He swam to the side and got out without a problem.
We went back to the pool last night and he decided (after jumping off the side and the starting blocks numerous times) that he wanted to go off the board. So off he went, and jumped off and swam to the side. The swim to the side was a bit of a struggle but he did it. He was so proud of himself that he wanted to do it again - except this time he wanted to do a 'spin-a-roo'. (basically jump off the board and spin around in the air).
He ran, jumped, and spun around. When he came up he was sputtering - whether it was because he swallowed some water or was disoriented because of the spin I'm not sure. He started flailing around and then he made this 'whimper' sound. That was it - I tore off my glasses and dove in (fully clothed b/c I hadn't planned on going in) and pulled him out. It happened so fast the lifeguards didn't even have a chance to react.
When I got him out of the pool he was fine, a bit rattled but fine. Who knows if he could have recovered on his own and swam to the side if I had given him more time. I wasn't about to take the chance. The lifeguards were beside themselves that I went in after him - I think that the whole scenario really freaked them out, especially the fact that they really didn't react until after I went in.
Quinn and I snuggled for a bit afterwards, and then he decided he wanted to go down the slide. I was happy to hear this, because I didn't want the 'incident' to scare him from the pool altogether.
That being said, I really didn't sleep much last night and am still a bit shaken by the whole thing this morning. It just goes to show you how quickly things can happen, and it reminded me just how carefully we have to watch our precious little ones. In the blink of an eye things can go from good, to horribly wrong so hug all your babies (big and small) and watch them, watch them, WATCH THEM!!!
Chris and I have been pushing him to go off the diving board without a life-jacket on. (at our pool you're not allowed to go off the board with a life-jacket on - you have to be able to jump, and swim to the side un-assisted.). He was jumping of the board at Karen's pool and swimming to the side with no problems, so we thought he was ready for the big pool.
Yesterday at swimming lessons he screwed up his courage and went of the board. It was pretty funny actually because I had just put my camera up to take the picture when he literally ran and jumped off the board! He swam to the side and got out without a problem.
We went back to the pool last night and he decided (after jumping off the side and the starting blocks numerous times) that he wanted to go off the board. So off he went, and jumped off and swam to the side. The swim to the side was a bit of a struggle but he did it. He was so proud of himself that he wanted to do it again - except this time he wanted to do a 'spin-a-roo'. (basically jump off the board and spin around in the air).
He ran, jumped, and spun around. When he came up he was sputtering - whether it was because he swallowed some water or was disoriented because of the spin I'm not sure. He started flailing around and then he made this 'whimper' sound. That was it - I tore off my glasses and dove in (fully clothed b/c I hadn't planned on going in) and pulled him out. It happened so fast the lifeguards didn't even have a chance to react.
When I got him out of the pool he was fine, a bit rattled but fine. Who knows if he could have recovered on his own and swam to the side if I had given him more time. I wasn't about to take the chance. The lifeguards were beside themselves that I went in after him - I think that the whole scenario really freaked them out, especially the fact that they really didn't react until after I went in.
Quinn and I snuggled for a bit afterwards, and then he decided he wanted to go down the slide. I was happy to hear this, because I didn't want the 'incident' to scare him from the pool altogether.
That being said, I really didn't sleep much last night and am still a bit shaken by the whole thing this morning. It just goes to show you how quickly things can happen, and it reminded me just how carefully we have to watch our precious little ones. In the blink of an eye things can go from good, to horribly wrong so hug all your babies (big and small) and watch them, watch them, WATCH THEM!!!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
To the Hospital we will go....
Yesterday was a busy day for us. We were taking care of my friend Angie's boys for the day so we had two extra monkeys added to the mix. We were having a great time, and decided to go to the park for some fries. After we were thoroughly saturated with grease and ketchup, we went to the playground so the kids could run around a bit. I was with Marin on the play structure, when all of a sudden I heard the CRACK of a tree branch breaking, and then a thud. The next sound I heard was Aidan moaning.
I took off running and found Aidan slowly getting up from the ground. He was completely dazed and disoriented, and could barely walk straight. Turns out the tree branch he was on (yes, he is a climber) broke and he fell. I'm not sure how he fell, how far he fell (although I'm guessing it was about 4 or 5 feet) or what he landed on but he kept saying that his head really hurt.
We packed all the kids in the van and drove home. On the drive home Aidan kept dozing off despite our constant efforts to keep him awake. Once inside all he wanted to do was to lie down and sleep. He kept complaining about his head and kept saying: "I just want to go to sleep".
By this point both Chris and I were pretty sure that he had a concussion. After consulting with our medical expert Google, we were 99% certain that this was the case. A concussion is a pretty bloody terrifying thing when you're a parent. It's that whole "rattling your brain" thing that freaked me out.
We fed the kids dinner (which Aidan didn't touch) and then tried to entertain him by playing some Nintendo (again - he wouldn't even play that so we knew that something was DEFINITELY wrong!).
Then he threw up. You have to understand a thing or two about Aidan - he is a really tough kid. He never complains about being tired or hurt. And he is NOT a puker. So put together the fatigue, lethargy and throwing up and you have some pretty bizarre behaviour.
I decided to take him to Emerg just to be sure, and sure enough the Dr. said: "yep, looks like a classic concussion to me."
Out of that visit to the ER I learned a few things:
1) Apparently it's OK to let someone fall asleep when you have a concussion. It's a common response to head trauma.
2) You don't need to wake them up every four hours to check on them. As the Dr. said to me: "well, if you wake him up, are you going to be able to tell if he is coherant?" To which I responded: "Are you kidding, Aidan is the heaviest sleeper on the planet!".
But, because I'm anal retentive, I made him sleep next to me last night because I was so worried. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep because every time he moved I was up like a shot checking on him.
The long and short of it is that he woke up this morning and was back to his normal energetic self. Although, he was rather annoyed that I wouldn't let him do any dives at the pool today. I'm such a mean Mom!!
I took off running and found Aidan slowly getting up from the ground. He was completely dazed and disoriented, and could barely walk straight. Turns out the tree branch he was on (yes, he is a climber) broke and he fell. I'm not sure how he fell, how far he fell (although I'm guessing it was about 4 or 5 feet) or what he landed on but he kept saying that his head really hurt.
We packed all the kids in the van and drove home. On the drive home Aidan kept dozing off despite our constant efforts to keep him awake. Once inside all he wanted to do was to lie down and sleep. He kept complaining about his head and kept saying: "I just want to go to sleep".
By this point both Chris and I were pretty sure that he had a concussion. After consulting with our medical expert Google, we were 99% certain that this was the case. A concussion is a pretty bloody terrifying thing when you're a parent. It's that whole "rattling your brain" thing that freaked me out.
We fed the kids dinner (which Aidan didn't touch) and then tried to entertain him by playing some Nintendo (again - he wouldn't even play that so we knew that something was DEFINITELY wrong!).
Then he threw up. You have to understand a thing or two about Aidan - he is a really tough kid. He never complains about being tired or hurt. And he is NOT a puker. So put together the fatigue, lethargy and throwing up and you have some pretty bizarre behaviour.
I decided to take him to Emerg just to be sure, and sure enough the Dr. said: "yep, looks like a classic concussion to me."
Out of that visit to the ER I learned a few things:
1) Apparently it's OK to let someone fall asleep when you have a concussion. It's a common response to head trauma.
2) You don't need to wake them up every four hours to check on them. As the Dr. said to me: "well, if you wake him up, are you going to be able to tell if he is coherant?" To which I responded: "Are you kidding, Aidan is the heaviest sleeper on the planet!".
But, because I'm anal retentive, I made him sleep next to me last night because I was so worried. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep because every time he moved I was up like a shot checking on him.
The long and short of it is that he woke up this morning and was back to his normal energetic self. Although, he was rather annoyed that I wouldn't let him do any dives at the pool today. I'm such a mean Mom!!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Playing with photos
I was recently introduced to the site: picnik.com where you can edit and play with photos.
I took this photo of Shannon on Wednesday:
Then I went onto Picnik and played a bit:
LOVE it!!
I took this photo of Shannon on Wednesday:
Then I went onto Picnik and played a bit:
LOVE it!!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wow.....
The optimist in me thinks that this is fantastic, the cynic in me isn't so sure that it will ever happen.....
From MSNBC.com:
In addition to Buffett and Gates — America's two wealthiest individuals, with a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — 38 other billionaires have signed The Giving Pledge. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive Barry Diller, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, film director George Lucas and investor Ronald Perelman.
"We're off to a terrific start," Buffett, co-founder and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a conference call also attended by Bloomberg and San Francisco hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor, founder of OneCalifornia Bank.
Buffett said he and Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, and Gates' wife Melinda made calls to fellow billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans — in many cases, people they had never met — to try to persuade them to join the giving pledge.
"We contacted between 70 and 80 people to get the 40. A few were unavailable. We don’t give up on them. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. We’ll keep on working," Buffett said.
Bloomberg, who made the bulk of his estimated $17.5 billion fortune from financial news and information services company Bloomberg L.P., said it didn't make sense to leave everything to his children and have them go through life as members of "the lucky sperm club."
"You don’t want to leave them so much money that it ruins their lives," Bloomberg said. "You want kids who can look back and say, 'Yeah my family helped me but I did something on my own.'"
Added Steyer: "We need to support each other. I look at this as replanting your garden so that future generations will have a full bounty of crops."
The United States has roughly 400 billionaires — about 40 percent of the world's total — with a combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, according to Forbes. If they all took the pledge, that would amount to at least $600 billion for charity.
The 40 names that have pledged to date have a combined net worth surpassing $230 billion, according to Forbes. Several of them have said they plan to give away much more than 50 percent of their wealth. Buffett has promised to donate more than 99 percent of his wealth.
The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting one cause or organization. It's up to each person who signs the pledge how to divvy up their wealth.
In letters on the givingpledge.org website, the 40 billionaires explain what motivated them to follow in the footsteps of Gates and Buffett.
"I’m particularly thankful for my father’s advice to set goals so high that they can’t possibly be achieved during a lifetime and to give help where help is needed most," CNN founder Ted Turner said. "That inspiration keeps me energized and eager to keep working hard every day on giving back and making the world a better place for generations to come.”
“My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages," filmmaker George Lucas said. "I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education.”
Gates and Buffett hatched the idea of a giving campaign in mid-2009 at a secret dinner meeting in New York with a few select billionaires. The campaign went public this June.
Buffett acknowledged that some wealthy people may find it beneficial to donate more so they can avoid or write off more taxes. But he said that's not the reason billionaires are taking the pledge.
"Of the 20 or so people that I have talked to that have signed, not one of them has talked to me about taxes," Buffett said. "It may be a consideration but I think the motivation goes far, far beyond taxes."
And of the billionaires contacted who didn't join the pledge?
"There were a few people who gave answers that indicated their various dissatisfaction with government," Buffett said. "A few had dynastic ideas about wealth … an intergenerational compact with family to keep that going. And there were others who said, 'I’ve got a plane to catch and I'll have to hang up.'"
© 2010 msnbc.com
From MSNBC.com:
40 billionaires pledge to give away half of wealth
Gates, Buffett lead campaign to persuade America's wealthiest to donate their fortunes
Nati Harnik / AP
A little over a year after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began hatching a plan over dinner to persuade America's wealthiest people to give most of their fortunes to charity, more than three-dozen individuals and families have agreed to take part, campaign organizers announced Wednesday.
In addition to Buffett and Gates — America's two wealthiest individuals, with a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — 38 other billionaires have signed The Giving Pledge. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive Barry Diller, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, film director George Lucas and investor Ronald Perelman.
"We're off to a terrific start," Buffett, co-founder and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a conference call also attended by Bloomberg and San Francisco hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor, founder of OneCalifornia Bank.
Buffett said he and Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, and Gates' wife Melinda made calls to fellow billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans — in many cases, people they had never met — to try to persuade them to join the giving pledge.
Bloomberg, who made the bulk of his estimated $17.5 billion fortune from financial news and information services company Bloomberg L.P., said it didn't make sense to leave everything to his children and have them go through life as members of "the lucky sperm club."
"You don’t want to leave them so much money that it ruins their lives," Bloomberg said. "You want kids who can look back and say, 'Yeah my family helped me but I did something on my own.'"
Added Steyer: "We need to support each other. I look at this as replanting your garden so that future generations will have a full bounty of crops."
The United States has roughly 400 billionaires — about 40 percent of the world's total — with a combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, according to Forbes. If they all took the pledge, that would amount to at least $600 billion for charity.
The 40 names that have pledged to date have a combined net worth surpassing $230 billion, according to Forbes. Several of them have said they plan to give away much more than 50 percent of their wealth. Buffett has promised to donate more than 99 percent of his wealth.
The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting one cause or organization. It's up to each person who signs the pledge how to divvy up their wealth.
In letters on the givingpledge.org website, the 40 billionaires explain what motivated them to follow in the footsteps of Gates and Buffett.
"I’m particularly thankful for my father’s advice to set goals so high that they can’t possibly be achieved during a lifetime and to give help where help is needed most," CNN founder Ted Turner said. "That inspiration keeps me energized and eager to keep working hard every day on giving back and making the world a better place for generations to come.”
“My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages," filmmaker George Lucas said. "I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education.”
Gates and Buffett hatched the idea of a giving campaign in mid-2009 at a secret dinner meeting in New York with a few select billionaires. The campaign went public this June.
Buffett acknowledged that some wealthy people may find it beneficial to donate more so they can avoid or write off more taxes. But he said that's not the reason billionaires are taking the pledge.
"Of the 20 or so people that I have talked to that have signed, not one of them has talked to me about taxes," Buffett said. "It may be a consideration but I think the motivation goes far, far beyond taxes."
And of the billionaires contacted who didn't join the pledge?
"There were a few people who gave answers that indicated their various dissatisfaction with government," Buffett said. "A few had dynastic ideas about wealth … an intergenerational compact with family to keep that going. And there were others who said, 'I’ve got a plane to catch and I'll have to hang up.'"
© 2010 msnbc.com
Friday, August 6, 2010
Random Thoughts....
Here are some random musings - in no particular order:
Overheard: One of our friends very kindly gave Shannon all her old princess and Dora gear. Being the true girl that she is, Shannon absolutely LOVES every single piece of clothing, jewelry and toys that she recently acquired. Surprisingly enough, the boys also got right into things, dressing up in full princess regalia with (of course) the coordinating shoes:
The funniest part of all this is not the dresses or shoes. Rather, it was what I overheard as they were getting 'dressed'. I could hear them helping each other put things on, when Aidan pipes up:
"Those are my shoes Shannon - HEY! Who took my purse?!?!"
OMG - the blackmail possibilities are endless!
People say the most obnoxious things: Monday night Chris and I went down to play some tennis. The kids were in bed and asleep, so we hired our neighbour to come over and watch the kids (well, really he just watched TV - easiest $6 he's ever made!) while we went out for the first time in FOREVER. After the tennis we went and grabbed a drink. As we were sitting there, these three women who also played tennis started chatting with us. During the course of our conversation (really it was more them interrogating us) they realized that we were the house with the pile of mulch in the driveway (yes, we are THAT house. The one with the massive pile of mulch on the driveway, which we have been working diligently to remove now that the swingset is built).
Anyhow - I digress.
The women asked what we were doing, and we said that this was the first time in a long time we were able to go out without the kids so we thought we'd come down and play some tennis.
Then one of the "ladies" says: "Oh, you're out without the kids? Shouldn't you be working on that pile of mulch in your driveway?"
Screech, screech, screech.... that's the sound of crickets chirping. Because that's all you could hear after she made that insightful remark.
After Ipummeled her I mean, picked my jaw up from the ground, I sweetly responded: "Well, we have an extra shovel in the garage if you want to come help."
Seriously?!?! I mean SERIOUSLY?!?!? Are you freakin' kidding me?!?!?
I think they like it: So now that the swingset is complete (but don't forget - we still have mulch in our driveway!), I think it's safe to say that the kids like it: (video link here for you Facebook types)
Overheard: One of our friends very kindly gave Shannon all her old princess and Dora gear. Being the true girl that she is, Shannon absolutely LOVES every single piece of clothing, jewelry and toys that she recently acquired. Surprisingly enough, the boys also got right into things, dressing up in full princess regalia with (of course) the coordinating shoes:
The funniest part of all this is not the dresses or shoes. Rather, it was what I overheard as they were getting 'dressed'. I could hear them helping each other put things on, when Aidan pipes up:
"Those are my shoes Shannon - HEY! Who took my purse?!?!"
OMG - the blackmail possibilities are endless!
People say the most obnoxious things: Monday night Chris and I went down to play some tennis. The kids were in bed and asleep, so we hired our neighbour to come over and watch the kids (well, really he just watched TV - easiest $6 he's ever made!) while we went out for the first time in FOREVER. After the tennis we went and grabbed a drink. As we were sitting there, these three women who also played tennis started chatting with us. During the course of our conversation (really it was more them interrogating us) they realized that we were the house with the pile of mulch in the driveway (yes, we are THAT house. The one with the massive pile of mulch on the driveway, which we have been working diligently to remove now that the swingset is built).
Anyhow - I digress.
The women asked what we were doing, and we said that this was the first time in a long time we were able to go out without the kids so we thought we'd come down and play some tennis.
Then one of the "ladies" says: "Oh, you're out without the kids? Shouldn't you be working on that pile of mulch in your driveway?"
Screech, screech, screech.... that's the sound of crickets chirping. Because that's all you could hear after she made that insightful remark.
After I
Seriously?!?! I mean SERIOUSLY?!?!? Are you freakin' kidding me?!?!?
I think they like it: So now that the swingset is complete (but don't forget - we still have mulch in our driveway!), I think it's safe to say that the kids like it: (video link here for you Facebook types)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Weekend Escapades
OK - I know it's Thursday, but I'm just getting caught up on things, and finally have a minute to recap our weekend.
Last weekend we took off and visited Chris' sister Heidi, and her family in Harbor Springs, MI. The weekend started off well as we tried our new Nexus passes and whizzed past all the cars sitting in traffic on the bridge. We probably saved at least two hours by using the Nexus pass. The boys were hysterical - as we were passing all the 'parked' cars they were yelling: "see ya suckas!!!"
As usual we had another great visit with Heidi, Robert and Robert. Saturday we went to Thunder Falls waterpark, despite the overcast skies. We had a great time hanging out and getting drenched (both by the water at the park, and the rain that fell from the sky!). Aidan was a crazy man, and went down the MASSIVE speed slide, not once but four times!!
See that huge blue slide? That's the slide! Aidan kept asking me: "Mummy, do you want to go down the slide with me?" To which I responded: "Are you crazy? No way!!" But the little monkey just gave me his toothless grin, and climbed up the stairs to rocket down the slide.
The weather cleared up perfectly for an evening BBQ and campout. We had some serious badminton games going on between Chris, Robert and I, and the kids got into it to and had some impressive rallies.
A campfire wouldn't be complete without s'mores:
And the boys slept in the tent with Chris and couldn't have been happier about it:
We spent Sunday visiting a park, and then we hit the beach to do some boating and tubing. This is Aidan getting ready for his first tube ride:
Quinn screwed up his courage and went on the tube with me. He's so funny - he was giggling the whole time, but he held on to the tube as though his life depended on it!
I love this picture of Shannon - she has a goofy expression on her face, but the lighting is just perfect:
All in all it was a great get-away, and we loved spending time with the Hagen's. As you can tell from this picture, I think Shannon enjoyed snuggling with little Robert and Robert!
Last weekend we took off and visited Chris' sister Heidi, and her family in Harbor Springs, MI. The weekend started off well as we tried our new Nexus passes and whizzed past all the cars sitting in traffic on the bridge. We probably saved at least two hours by using the Nexus pass. The boys were hysterical - as we were passing all the 'parked' cars they were yelling: "see ya suckas!!!"
As usual we had another great visit with Heidi, Robert and Robert. Saturday we went to Thunder Falls waterpark, despite the overcast skies. We had a great time hanging out and getting drenched (both by the water at the park, and the rain that fell from the sky!). Aidan was a crazy man, and went down the MASSIVE speed slide, not once but four times!!
See that huge blue slide? That's the slide! Aidan kept asking me: "Mummy, do you want to go down the slide with me?" To which I responded: "Are you crazy? No way!!" But the little monkey just gave me his toothless grin, and climbed up the stairs to rocket down the slide.
The weather cleared up perfectly for an evening BBQ and campout. We had some serious badminton games going on between Chris, Robert and I, and the kids got into it to and had some impressive rallies.
A campfire wouldn't be complete without s'mores:
And the boys slept in the tent with Chris and couldn't have been happier about it:
We spent Sunday visiting a park, and then we hit the beach to do some boating and tubing. This is Aidan getting ready for his first tube ride:
Quinn screwed up his courage and went on the tube with me. He's so funny - he was giggling the whole time, but he held on to the tube as though his life depended on it!
I love this picture of Shannon - she has a goofy expression on her face, but the lighting is just perfect:
All in all it was a great get-away, and we loved spending time with the Hagen's. As you can tell from this picture, I think Shannon enjoyed snuggling with little Robert and Robert!
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