Four Years

Well, it's official. We have a four year old on our hands. I'm not sure what will come in this new age, but I am anxious and dreading it at the same time. I must say his speech has improved so much. Considering that he has only been really speaking for a year he has come a long way. There are still some things he can't pronounce, but I'm sure they will come in time. He has been a lot of fun this last year - playing pom poms, bouncy balls, sword fights, water balloons and obstacle courses. He has been able to count past 10, write several letters, have a conversation, and is enjoying stories. On the downside, he is the king of self pain. He likes to show his dislike by throwing himself and other objects.Totally still love the stinker.

So, we attempted a birthday party. A small one. We invited two of his friends and their families of course. They both came and played. We had some food, a pinata, and little light. It was also a bit chilly; October after all. Turned out to be pretty good. Everyone had some goodies to take home. I made rainbow cupcakes/cake pops. The inside was rainbow and the icing was rainbow. I thought they looked pretty neat. He didn't open his presents until the next day. He was super excited and thanks everyone who came/ gave him a present. We had it at a little playground, so they were able to play until it started getting too dark. Overall, successful. Glad it worked out. Next year we will plan something a little more exciting.

Here's to another joyful year.

Grace Day

It is Sunday, the day of rest. Oh boy did we rest. We eventually left for lunch at our favorite (and only decent) restaurant in town The Scenic View. It sits atop of a hill and offers a lovely view of your wife and child, oh and of the lake too. With the best food in town, we stuffed ourselves. Headed home, and rest some more. People really never appreciate relaxation. Relaxing with family is so much more... relaxing, than doing it alone. So it was wonderful. And what a better way to spend a evening than with family made MEATBALLS!!! When dinner time came, all I asked for was grace and peace with my family for following week. And a damn spoon. With organic beef, love, and maybe a little bit of cat hair, the final product just melted in your mouth. Little did we know a day later, our beef came partly from Uruguay. Who knew? Thanks Europeans, for a day of appreciated fun. Next time though, I think we will stick to something more local. What times is it? POPCORN and Movie time!!!!!! Who's making the popcorn???

Pumpkins

Today we did something we were unable to do last year, go to a pumpkin patch. The local pumpkin patch was closed last year due to the building of a new highway by the farm. This year they re-opened and we were able to go. We walked throughout the vines and picked out 7 smaller, unique pumpkins. It's more about the time we spend as a family and the ability to pick out our own pumpkins. Lucian picked most of them out, of course. I think he picked very well. There were other kids there by the time we walked back to the barn from the patch. He played with them for a bit, rode on the toys, and checked out the petting zoo. One of the guys from the farm tried to get Lucian to sit on a donkey, but he wasn't interested. Then we bought some apple cider and the boys took a ride on the hay ride. It started to rain during their ride, so I got a good laugh out of it. Overall, a successful time. Then we came home, relaxed, and the boys made a veggie pot pie for dinner. Now we are just waiting to dig in. Great way to spend a Sunday.

Away From Home

Lucian has officially spent his first week away from Mama and Daddy and Hao. Thanks to Nana and Papa for giving him a break from us. He seemed to have a really great time. We missed the heck out of him back home. Hao thought something was wrong. It did give us an opportunity to work on one of his birthday presents, which was nice. Of course, we forgot to put it away the day he was coming home and he found it early.

I enjoyed hearing about their adventures. Going to the beach, playing in the leaves, seeing family, carving pumpkins... I wasn't sure he was going to come home. It was a nice surprise after a long day of work to see my baby boy. I got a well deserved hug. I'm glad he was able to spend time with his grandparents, get to know them better, and play with someone other than us. I know he enjoyed the attention. He told me he had fun. Now to plan his birthday.

Big Red and Sassy

We officially went horseback riding for the first time since finding out I was pregnant. Lucian and I rode a beautiful horse named big red, who used to be wild. Joe rode a little horse with a lot of attitude named Sassy. We did a one hour trail ride along the local forestry. Lucian seemed to really enjoy it for his first time ever. I wasn't sure if he would like it or not. Our ride included trots as well, which he was very vocal through. I couldn't stop laughing over his cuteness. In the end I think it was successful. He may even want to try again. I hope so at least. Even though I had to kill a lot of horse flies and my butt is potentially bruised, I would most definitely take him again. The place we went to seemed to really care about there horses and their best interests. I hope to find out more about there care through further visits. Maybe we can do a night or winter ride in the future (if it's not negative 10 degrees this year).

West Coast Fun

After a busy weekend of moving we headed west to Washington state. What were we doing out there you ask? well, we were visiting grandpop and grandma of course! We had a great time and Lucian made a new best friend, Ian. He asks about him a lot and would like to visit him again soon for hours of non-stop playtime. He even likes to invite Ian over to our house to play. We had a great time while we were out there too. Though we didn't make it to Seattle this trip, we did make it to the waterfront and to another really cool rock beach with a fantastic view. It was a good experience for Joe and Lucian to experience salt water life rather than fresh water.  There were jellyfish in the water too. Lucian liked seeing all the baby jellyfish. We all hung our heads over the edge of the dock and looked into the water to see the other various life. There were big schools of fish swimming around , oysters on the dock edges, tube worms, and other life. We didn't get to look for crabs on the shore this time around but that will give us something to look forward to next time.  The other beach was just as fun. The tide was low so we were able to walk down fairly far. There were oyster and clam shells along the different sized rocks.  We gathered some cool stones along the way.  Then we played in the playground area and picked blackberries.  I forgot how much I missed being able to pick wild blackberries and walk among really straight evergreen trees. It's just a different type of forest.

At grandpop's house Lucian played with Ian non-stop. They played in the pool, outside on the playground, inside every room, they had a dance party, a bath party, and watched cartoons together. They had a blast. They even did an excellent job taking turns riding the tractor power wheel. Lucian even had his first actual tractor ride sitting on grandpop's lap! The boys also got to pick out there own piece of pottery to paint at the ceramics place. I think they did a great job. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Needless to say, they had fun. I'm looking forward to the next visit.

Surprise Visit for the Fourth

Surprise! We took a trip up to Northern Indiana to visit Joe's family. We wished we could have stayed longer. Lucian had a really good time and was active nonstop the entire time we were up there. The first day was spent with Joe's grandparents, Lucian's great grandparents. He played with their dog, goat, and a little with the piggie. I think he really liked the goat. I can't blame him the goat was pretty cool. We also roamed through their garden, which is pretty big. It makes our potted plants seem minuscule. Some day we will have a big garden with, hopefully, less mosquitoes floating around. They were lethal.

The second day, the fourth of July, was spent with Joe's Dad and family. Lucian had a great time playing with the kids. He has a lot more independence too, which he rather enjoyed. I don't think he wanted to leave and would have been more than happy to return the next day. He played ball, ran around, attempted video consoles, went to the park, and attempted the pool that was really cold. It was a beautiful day. Though we didn't partake in fireworks, we still were able to grill.  Lucian was exhausted by the end of the day.

The last day was spent with Nana (Joe's Mom) and Papa. We took Lucian to the park with Nana in the morning. There weren't a lot of kids there but he still had fun. Then we went over to the zoo. I thought it was a cute little zoo. It wasn't very big but it still had some unique animals and a petting zoo. Lucian was able to brush a goat. I think he likes goats? After that, we picked up Papa and went golfing - mini golfing! Of course, that is one of Lucian's favorite pastimes, so he naturally enjoyed it. He picked out a golf ball color for each one of us. He even remembers who had which color ball. As per tradition, we ended mini golf with some ice cream and score tallying. Lucian won. He was a tough competitor. He even decided to try out the driving range with the boys. I think he did pretty good considering how much bigger the club was. After all that fun I thought he would be tired but he wasn't. Joe and I left him with his grandparents for a bit so we could have some down time. He was still awake when we returned! He had so much fun that he requested to spend the night at their house. So we did.

It was a great little vacation. We all had a wonderful time and it was really nice to visit with family. It would have been nice to stay longer, but we will take what we can get for now. Until the next adventure!