Vacation, Part 6: Enjoying the Lake House

Besides going out on the boat, there were other fun things to do at Nana & Granddad's house too. I think Elias' favorite of them all was riding on the golf cart that they use to haul things up and down the hill to the dock! Check out this grin!He also really enjoyed the little inflatable swimming pool that Nana had for him.
He liked it so much that we were inspired to pull ours out and inflate it when we got home!

We had thought that Elias would enjoy doing some fishing, since he really got into it the first time we went. But he just wasn't interested this time. I guess there were just too many other cool things to look at! This is the closest thing we got to Elias fishing - standing next to Daddy while he was fishing. :)So that's finally the end of all the vacation pictures. We had a great time, and we are so thankful for all of our precious family! We love and miss you all already!!!

Vacation, Part 5: Boating with the Family

Our visit in Kentucky was nice and restful, with our days spent enjoying the family and the beautiful scenery at the lake. We went out for a family boat ride, and that was fun!

The three of us enjoying the water and sunCousin Joshua driving the boat with GranddadElias was still a little shy with Granddad at this point, so he didn't want to ride on his lap to drive. He was more than willing to drive with Daddy, though!And he remembered where the button for the horn was from when we were there last summer! What a stinker!

Vacation, Part 4: Cutie Cousins

I was really pleased with how much Elias enjoyed playing with his cousins, both in Ohio and Kentucky. They're all older than he is, but they did such a good job sharing their toys with him and joining him in the things he was interested in!

Elias sometimes watched some videos of things like Wiggles and Thomas before bed. So one night when we were watching them, Patriot and Azlan joined in. How cute are these three boys all watching The Wiggles together???And here are Elias and Azlan swinging together on the double swing in Patriot & Azlan's backyard. Elias had never swung on anything like this before, but he enjoyed it and Azlan was good to not go to high!

Then in Kentucky, Cousin Joshua is really into Bob the Builder, and Elias enjoyed watching some of that with him and learning about his diggers and dump trucks. Joshua also enjoyed playing Thomas with Elias, too. One morning, we were sitting together reading one of Elias' Thomas books, and both boys just loved it! I read it over and over to them!
I'm so thankful that Elias has such great cousins that he can grow up with on both sides of the family!

Vacation, Part 3: Aquarium

The Newport Aquarium is only a short drive from where my family lives, and that was the special event we chose to do on the day when Dad was off work, so even he could come! It was fun and special to be able to share it with the whole family! When you first go in, they take a group picture that you can then purchase, and ours were so good that Mom couldn't resist buying them! (Click to enlarge.)AAAAAAAUGH! SHARK!!!!!!! :)Elias liked the tunnels where you were walking underneath the aquariums and you could watch the fish swim over and around you. Those were COOL!He got a little fussy after a while because he wanted to be able to run amok, and I wanted him to stay with us! So then we got him settled in his stroller with Cheerios and Thomas, and all was well again.
Watching a shark swim byIn the jellyfish roomThey also had a children's activity room with hands-on activities and a playground. Here are Patriot, Azlan, and Elias all playing Frogger together!They also had a room where you could actually pet some small sharks! Elias was more interested in splashing the water that was on the ledge than trying to put his arm in and feel a shark. The water was too deep for the kids to be able to reach them anyway, but I was able to pet one! I thought they'd feel smooth and rubbery like a dolphin, so I was surprised when they were slimy and velvety feeling. Cool!

So this was a special and fun day together. Thanks, family!

Vacation, Part 2: King's Island

King's Island is an amusement park in the Cincinnati area that we went to often when I was growing up. I've only been there once since I graduated college, and it was weird this time to be going back and taking my kid to ride on the rides I can remember riding with my parents when I was small! We did go to King's Island last summer when we visited, but Elias was too small to ride much, and he spent most of the day in his stroller. This year, though, he had fun and we were able to ride more.

The biggest hit, of course, was the big park train. It was a blue "steam" engine just like Thomas! We rode this first, and of course Elias loved it!

Then we went to the kiddie land and rode a helicopter ride, which he also loved. We couldn't BELIEVE how long the wait was for this ride - 30 minutes! That was rough trying to explain to a 2-year-old that the bajillion other kids in line in front of us have to ride before it's our turn. He enjoyed it, though, and I'm glad we did it. Once.

Then we met up with my sister's family, and they rode the kiddie train together. Elias loved this one so much we rode it twice! Speaking of trauma with waiting in line, though, the line wasn't long for this one - only about 5 minutes. But Elias SCREAMED in line for this one because you had to walk through a little "station" that blocked his view of the trains. He was ok as long as he could watch the train, although he was still pretty impatient to ride it, but if the trains left his line of sight, it was major trauma. What a silly boy!!!

Then it was almost time for lunch, so we went to my sister's house to eat, and Elias laid down for his nap. Justin was kind enough to volunteer to stay with Elias, and I went back to the park and met up with my mom, and we spent the afternoon together riding grown-up rides! That was fun, too! Special times with family!

Vacation, Part 1: Blueberry Picking

There is a blueberry farm (grove? patch? field? What's the right word for a place where they grow blueberries??) just down the street from my parents' house, so on Saturday morning we all went out and picked some! It was a beautiful day, and picking was fun! (It was really inexpensive, too... I would do this all the time if I lived near one!) I was blown away at how MANY blueberry bushes they had. This is only one small section where we were picking - there were at least 4 more sections of the same size.

Here is Elias watching Daddy pick.And then trying his hand with Cousin Azlan. These two were great at picking berries, but only about 1/4 of Azlan's made it into the bucket, and absolutely NONE of Elias' made it into the bucket... They all went straight into his mouth!
So as fun and tasty as that was, we weren't paying for those blueberries, so I decided it would be better for Elias to just run around while the others enjoyed picking.So we came home with lots of DELICIOUS blueberries, and we enjoyed them thoroughly! We actually only ate the last of them yesterday. YUM! What we didn't eat in Ohio we took with us when we went to Kentucky. My father-in-law used some of them to make homemade blueberry ice cream. Oh. My. Stars. It was SOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! We sprinkled chocolate chips on top, and it was amazing. Definitely going to get that recipe!

*Side note: Instead of pointing out to you ALL the pictures where Elias is holding a Thomas toy in this vacation series, I'm going to challenge you to see if you can find any where he's NOT holding Thomas. I don't think there are going to be any, but pay attention and you might find one...*

Vacation Teaser

We just got back from a great vacation, and I'm working on getting all the pictures ready to post. In the meantime, though, I thought I'd post a little teaser. We did a family tour where we drove to Ohio and spent a week with my family, and then drove to Kentucky where we spent a few days with Justin's family. The drive from our house to my parents' house was 11 hours and Elias didn't nap at all. However, he was GREAT in the car - no meltdowns at all! He just played with his toys and read his books - I'm so thankful for such a happy child and good traveler! Here's a picture of him wearing Daddy's hat:My sweetie boy! Stay tuned for more pics of our trip...

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year, we decided to make our zoo trip an annual event, because our zoo lets in fathers free on that day! (You can click here to remember last year's trip.) It's funny because we think that Elias was even LESS interested in the animals this year than he was last year. The bongos got a slight grin out of him:And he liked the elephants:Other than that, he didn't give a hoot. He did love the misters that sprayed water to help keep us cool:And the hit of the century was the zoo TRAIN! There was a conductor who said "All aboard!" and Elias was just thrilled!He heard the whistle blow from across the zoo and had no interest in anything but finding the train. So we took a ride on the train, and he LOVED it! His eyes were wide in awe.

He looks more scared than anything in the video, but I think he was just so overwhelmed with wonder! He was clutching his Thomas toy, and he had the sweetest smile when he said "Choo, choo!" This is the closest I got to capturing it:Precious!

So we had a really special day celebrating Daddy. I am so thankful that my son has such a great Daddy, and I look forward to seeing their relationship blossom as Elias grows. I love you, babe!

New House

I finished taking pictures of everything in our new house, and I've posted them for your viewing pleasure. I made it pretty detailed for my family who might not be able to make it for a visit soon. Now you'll see everything! Just click here to go to the album where the pictures are. Click on the first picture, which will bring up a large picture of the front of the house, and you'll be able to read my caption beneath it. Then just click the "Next" button above the picture, and you'll move to the next picture in the album. I have them in order like a tour through the house. (All of the pictures have titles and captions, but sometimes they don't load, so you may need to refresh the page to see the caption...) Feel free to make comments here or in photobucket where the pictures are. :)

2-Year and Family Portraits

The moment you've all been waiting for! Here are my favorites from our recent photo shoot for Elias' 2-year pics and some new family portraits. If you're family, you can expect to be receiving a couple in the mail (or hand delivered in person!) in the next couple of weeks. :) Enjoy! You can click them to see a larger photo.

No Way!

I've been MIA for the past week because we've moved! Just to a new house across town, but it was still a pretty major ordeal. Justin's parents came to help us with the move, and they were INDISPENSABLE! We seriously couldn't have done it without their help. They were here for an entire week, and I did not take ONE picture the entire time they were here. Sorry, Nana and Granddad! We'll always treasure your visit in our hearts!

We're getting settled into the new house, though, and we LOVE it. I'll be posting pictures for everyone to see our new digs hopefully in the next few days. I also have Elias' 2-year portraits and some new family portraits, so I should be posting those in the next couple of days too. So keep checking back for serious excitement on here!

In the meantime, though, I had to tell a story on Elias. We were watching the news the other night, and it was a commercial, so Justin and I weren't paying much attention to it. A commercial came on, though, and Elias immediately looked at it and said "No way!" I didn't catch on at first, but Justin realized that it was the Post Office commercial for their Flat Rate Shipping. They say "No weigh? No way!" over and over again until the postman says "Yes way. No weigh-ing."

We could not BELIEVE that Elias recognized the commercial as the "No way!" commercial before they even started saying it! I had seen the commercial as many times as Elias has, but I wouldn't have known it was that one before they said it! Just goes to show how sharp and attentive my little guy is!

On a related note, he can also identify which one of his DVD's he's going to watch by the FBI warning at the beginning. The other day I put in one of his DVD's, and he said "Einstein Show" as soon as the FBI warning popped up. Indeed, it was his Baby Einstein show, but why on earth did he recognize it from that?! Seriously, this guy is SHARP!

First Time Fishing

We had a fishing adventure today! This morning at our city park, they had an event where kids could come fish in the lake for free. They provided the worms, we brought the pole. They even had prizes for the biggest and smallest fish, but we didn't take any of our catches to be measured. We may have had some good competition for the latter category, though... :) I'd say we caught 5-10 small bluegill in the 30 minutes we were there. We saw a little 6-year-old girl that caught a huge catfish though! We couldn't believe it!This is the first time Elias had been fishing, so it was FUN! He laughed and laughed at Daddy casting that hook out there and then reeling in a fish! He was scared to touch the pole, which is strange to me, especially considering he thought nothing of touching the fish!After seeing Daddy do it several times, though, he got over his fear of the pole and helped him reel in a fish. Elias' first fish... What a whopper!Elias actually tried to grab that one out of Daddy's hand. Silly boy!So our first fishing adventure was definitely a success, and we can't wait to try it again when we visit Nana & Granddad's house at the lake next month!

Birthday shirt

As some of you may have noticed in the party posts below, Elias had a special birthday shirt in honor of the occasion! Not only is the shirt super cute in itself, but there is an awesome story associated with it.

I wanted Elias to have a cute shirt to wear for his birthday. So about 3 weeks before the party, I ordered one online. They said there was a 1-2 week turnaround between ordering and receiving, so I knew I was good to go. However, 8 days before the party, I received the shirt in the mail, but lo and behold, there was a mistake in printing. They had the name right, they had the number right, but they had sent me the PINK design instead of the blue one. Ummmm, not gonna work for me. Unfortunately, it was too late for them to print me a new one, so all they could do was offer a refund.

A refund is all well and good, but that means no special birthday shirt for my precious boy. However, a day or two before this, I had read this review on another blog about an etsy shop called For Your Little Monkey that does personalized shirts for babies and toddlers. So in desperation I emailed her and asked if there was any chance I could order it with rush shipping and get it in time. She was so quick in answering me back, and she assured me that it could be done. So I told her what I wanted, and she designed, printed, and SHIPPED it all in the same day! SERIOUSLY! I placed the order on Thursday, and I had the shirt in my hands on Monday for the party the following Thursday. How stinking awesome is that?!?!?!?!The shirt is exceptionally cute, and I can definitely vouch that the designer is great to work with! So for any of you that have littles (sizes newborn to 4T) that could stand having some precious personalized clothing, I can't recommend For Your Little Monkey highly enough. Her prices are totally reasonable too!

Side note: What's even better is that I actually won the giveaway on the blog where I first saw this product review... So we'll be getting ANOTHER sweet personalized shirt from FYLM for free! Score!