Annual Lake Vacation Recap

We are back from our annual summer vacation at my parents’ lake home. We had a great time and lucked out with the weather. We had one day of rain which was ok as that gave us a chance to take the boys to a local toy store and not feel guilty about ‘wasting’ a beautiful morning. When I am at the lake I feel like we have to soak up all the sunshine and beautiful views so it kind of nice to do something different. 

Here is a photo-heavy recap! During our week at the lake, we…

(Belatedly) Celebrated daddy’s birthday!

Taco especially enjoyed the chocolate syrup on his ice cream!

Went on lots of pontoon rides! The boys enjoyed driving with papa. 

The boys enjoyed lots of swing rides!

Lots of fish were caught. 

We roasted marshmallows and enjoyed s’mores.

A rare photo of all 4 of us!!

There was some cousin time! 

The boys had ice cream at ‘Granny’s Pantry’ which is a place I frequented a lot as a child.

And there was lots of beach time!

After Taco was in bed, Paul and the adults played Pictionary each night, which Paul loved! After Paul was in bed, the adults played rummy.

Of course it wasn’t all good - there was plenty of horse play and shenanigans… 

Phil did his annual swim across the lake (which we estimate to be about 1.5 miles). I kayak alongside/just ahead of him. Sounds idyllic, right? Well for me this is one of those things I do not enjoy doing but do out of love for Phil. This year we had calm waters to start but before long it was quite wavy. It is very hard to steer a 2 person kayak in choppy water so there were some terse exchanges when Phil took a break from swimming and would ask where exactly I was aiming the kayak. And then my wrist and forearm started to act up, I assume due to my RA. But Phil enjoyed himself and was just 1 minute slower than his previous PR.

But all in all, it was a wonderful change of scenery. And now Phil and I are back home without the boys as they will spend the week with my parents. It sounds like they’ve been on their best behavior so far. It will be nice for Phil and I to have a chance to reconnect without kids around and this gives the boys a chance to make priceless memories with their grandparents. I’ll head back to the lake on Friday morning to spend a couple nights and then will bring them back.

We have a busy fall ahead of us as I have 9 trips in the last 4 months of the year so we are going to soak up the silence and free time. The first night we were like - what do we do with all this time???

4th of July Recap

We had a nice 4th of July weekend up at my parents. The drive on Thursday was NOT good, though. Taco asked if we were almost there 5 minutes into a 2.75 hour drive… He was entertained by his iPad for about 30 minutes and then alternated between yelling very loudly and asking if we were there yet. Listening to Taylor Swift helped at times but it was not a great drive. We were all happy when we arrived at my parents. Had it not been 11:15 am, I would have otherwise helped myself to a glass of sav blanc but that seemed a bit aggressive. 

Taco was happy to dig into the toys of my childhood

It rained each day but we had dry periods each day. Phil helped Paul, Taco and my cousin’s son fish off the dock on Thursday. 

Friday was a nice for most of the day so the boys played in the sand and water quite a bit and my dad took us out on a pontoon ride. 

Paul and his namesake, Papa Paul 

This bucket is meant for washing off feet but Taco decided to make it his own little bathtub

My parents hosted a very large family party on Saturday with 50+ people. There is a big bean bag tournament which I passed on this year since my hand still hurts quite a bit. It was a gorgeous afternoon until the wind picked up and a big thunderstorm moved in. Everyone moved into the garage so it didn’t hamper things too much. 

Most of the kids at the party were much older than my boys. But Paul was happy to follow his cousin Matt around like a little puppy dog. He is so obsessed with Matt and has been for a very long time. 

How it started..

Matt was 10 and Paul was around 4 months old

How it’s going… 

Now Matt is 16 and has his license but he still has a special connection with Paul! 

We drove home on Sunday morning so we could get groceries, do laundry and prep for the week. 

I fly to Michigan this afternoon for a 2-night trip. July will be a bit of a whirlwind as I travel 3 weeks in a row. So much for a quiet July! Next week’s trip is just one night so at least that is a short one. The results of my MRI came back on Wednesday so I am hoping to hear from my doctor about next steps today. 

How was your weekend? 

Taco’s Birthday Weekend + Virus Part 2

Our baby turned 3 on Sunday! 

How it started

How it’s going!

The weekend was mostly all about celebrating his golden birthday on Sunday - plus dealing with another sick kid. I swear our kids don’t like lick everything they come into contact with but it might seem that way. 

But back to the birthday fun! We have an arbitrary rule of no kid parties until you turn 5 so we just had a family celebration on Saturday night. We took the easy way out and ordered pizza since that is Taco’s favorite food.

I made a GF cookie cake on Saturday morning. This is the birthday dessert of choice in our house!

We let Taco open a gift on Saturday morning because he wanted to wear a Mickey shirt and he didn’t have one clean. He was thrilled to get 3 Mickey shirts! He is so obsessed with Mickey.

My parents arrived in the early afternoon and my mom decorated the cake! It was easy to come up with a decorating theme!

The decorated cake. I over-baked the cookie. It was still good, though. Just crisper than I prefer.

Paul enjoyed playing garbage with my parents but then he wanted to quit because he was tired. Which is odd as this kid loves games - and he was winning. Sure enough, he was running a fever within an hour. Le sigh. 

So he went upstairs and stayed in his room so as not to infect his grandparents with whatever he has (probably the Adenovirus Taco had?). 

Reading with his grandparents!

Taco soaked up the attention. We were so happy to see our spunky Taco return after a week of illness! 

He got A LOT of trucks!

The black food coloring really left its mark…

Sunday was a more low key day. We laid low since Paul wasn’t feeling well although the virus seems much more mild for him. When he woke up in the morning he said ‘my brain hurts.’ But his fever was pretty short-lived and limited to the evenings. So far.

Taco opened the presents from us after lunch. We got him a Mickey safari truck, a Mickey camping LEGO set (that he’s a bit young for but Paul can help him), and Paul picked out a semi-truck for his cars. 

Opening his present from Paul

This was the first time we had Paul pick out a present for him. I took him to Target on Friday and gave him a budget. It was really sweet to see him pick something out! 

We ended the day by changing him into Grinch jammies he received from my parents and looking at photos on my phone from the day he was born. What a world we live in - being able to search my google photos for a particular date is pretty amazing.

These young kid birthdays feel like as much (or more!) of a celebration for the parents as it is for the kid. There’s a ‘wow we made it through another year!’

I’m not shy about the fact that the toddler stage challenges me and pushes me to my limits, but I know I’ll look back at aspects of this stage of parenting and miss the cute mispronunciations, singing you are my sunshine while rocking my kiddos before bedtime, and the way our boys melt into our bodies when giving hugs! 

Long weekend recap

We had a really nice long weekend up at my parents! It was a HOT weekend so the lake was the place to be! Taco and I hit the road around 7 on Friday and were at my parents by 9:45. It was probably the best drive I’ve had with Taco because he was entertained by watching little baby bum on my work phone for 70 minutes! Everyone is very enamored by my 3-month old niece, baby Amelia, who goes by Millie! She’s getting lots of attention from all of us. 

The excitement of the day was when my nephew and his friend caught a 42” Muskie! There is a Muskie that has hung out under my parents dock for years and they finally hooked him (and released him after taking some photos). 

That night we went to a pizza place that has lots of toys for kids in their gravel/sand pit. My kids came home filthy and covered with gravel dust but they were so entertained so it was worth it!

The boys slept until 7 the next day!! I ran 3 sweaty, humid miles and then we hit the beach/water. 

The main event on Saturday was Millie’s baptism. 

Taco was not into the cousin picture, surprise surprise.

He was happier later while eating a popsicle. This was a rare smile caught on camera! 

I enjoyed some baby cuddles that day, too. I’m happy to cuddle a baby - and then hand the baby back! 

That night, I took out a photo album to show Paul some pics of me when I was a little girl. It made me realize that Taco resembles me. 

I appeared to be team no smile for posed photography

What do you think? 

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday - the boys slept until 7 again and I fit in a hot, sweaty run. Then it was more family and beach time. I was able to lay down and read/snooze for a bit during Taco’s nap which was lovely. 

We hit the road just before 9 on Monday morning after saying goodbye to everyone! 

Hugging cousin Maddy.

Traffic was light which was a wonderful surprise! 

This is a big week as Paul starts Kindergarten on Thursday. Phil and I have busy days at work so my MIL is watching Paul for the next 2 days. My new hire starts today so it’s a big week, but a routine is in sight for us!

How was your weekend?