Week Thirty-Seven: Apple Orchard Tradition

This weekend it was so stinking beautiful outside! We took advantage and headed to a local apple orchard. This is the same orchard we visited last year, although last year the weather was a lot more fall-like than today!

At the risk of sounding extraordinarily cheesy, this is the kind of memory making tradition that I am so excited to make with my family. Imagining O taking the hay ride out to the orchard to pick apples year after year is so fun for me, and then imagining what kind of place in his heart these happy memories will have makes my heart smile. I just love it. Raising a kid you get to decide what kinds of traditions, big and small, you'll have and I think that is so cool. We are excited to have so many apple orchards nearby to help carry on our new tradition. :)

O was so happy to ride the fake animals. The real animals at the petting zoo {especially the goat that rattled his horns on the fence} made him a tad nervous. He did however delight in telling the animals "No! Down!"

Happy to ride the "baaaaa"

Oh hi! Just scaling a tire mountain all by himself. 

Weee!

Peek-a-boo!

Apple picking.

So excited to share with Mama. 

<3

Trying to Share with Daddy

What a difference a year makes!

Week Thirty-Six: Duluth for the Day

Last weekend we rather impulsively decided to go to O's cousin Addie's birthday party in Duluth. It was a whirlwind {arriving Friday night and leaving Saturday night} but we had a lovely time.

A side note: I feel my blog turning into an account of our adventures but not much beyond that. I intend to change that and get back to the variety I set out to have months and months ago. But for now...photos from our weekend up north!

Birthday Girl Addie going to town on her cupcake. 

O wanted Addie to share her birthday gift. In this picture he is showing her how to beep the horn. 

We visited my dad and his family and O was absolutely *tickled* to touch the frog that Nicole caught. 

We had a chilly morning playdate with the boys and Addie on their playground. O was a big fan of the steering wheel, climbing, and a wagon ride, but terrified of the 4 wheeler!

Before we left Saturday night we gave Owen a bath and Papa gave him a cool dude hair do. <3

Week Thirty-five: Plans are for Suckers

As we approached this weekend, the weather people wouldn't shut up about how it was going to be a TOP TEN WEATHER WEEKEND! Get outside. Make plans to be outdoors. Soak up the beautiful weather this weekend. {I could go on... but I think you get it.}

I started cooking up all sorts of fun plans for us to do outside. Walks around the lake, playgrounds, picnics...my mind was racing.

Friday night we went on a play date to the Children's Museum with some of my mom group friends. O was a little zoned out but we attributed that to a short nap at daycare. Then at about 6:30 he wanted me to hold him. And then he snuggled in like he does at bed time. I asked him if he wanted to go to sleep and he emphatically nodded YES.

So we hit the road a few minutes later and I'm pretty sure he was asleep before we left the parking garage. When we got home I scooped him out of the car seat and he was HOT. Like, burning-up-fever hot. We got him inside and took his temperature to find that it was a toasty 103.2. Our poor little guy.

Various things had us worried and ultimately we decided to take him to the walk in clinic in the morning. The doctor's office is typically where we go to find that there is nothing wrong with him and that we are crazy people. This trip was no different. His throat was red enough that the doc did a strep test to be sure, and it was negative. His ear was red but not enough to be considered infected. He was just a sick little baby.

Strangely enough, my fever baby didn't want to do all the things I had planned for our beautiful outdoor weekend. I should learn one of these days not to make plans.

I guess it isn't the planning I need to stop. I just need to lower my expectations. I planned on coming up with some great outside fun. Instead we had a feverish stage 5 clinger. So we played in the backyard for a few minutes instead, explored his new play kitchen, and let him snooze on my back at Target. Not really what I had imagined for a Top Ten Weather Weekend.... but it was alright. While he napped at home we even got a major cleaning project done!! {I was too embarrassed to even take a before picture of the office....so I'm not sharing a dramatic before and after. Trust me though, it was a year's worth of mess at least.}

By Saturday night his fever had broken and he was already feeling better. :)

-H

Week Thirty-four: So Long, Summertime

Ok, so summer for ME may have ended mid-August when I went back to work. But summer for most people ends Labor Day weekend. 

To give this summer a nice send off, we went on an adventure to the water park one last time. Instead of hitting Como Pool like usual, we met up with my mom, Jason, and Sydney at Cascade Bay. I think I still prefer Como, at least until O is old enough for the water slides at Cascade Bay. 

He had a great time on the kiddie slide, the lazy river, and the fountains in the shallowest part of the zero entry pool. Oh my gosh, the fountains. He was so excited to stick his face directly in the water over and over and over. I was a little shocked that we were able to go around the lazy river TWICE before he got too squirmy and kept asking to be put "dowwwwn!" 

Knowing that I have a little fish for a son, I'm definitely going to sign us up for some swimming lessons this winter. Very likely followed by a season pass to Como Pool next summer! 

Goodbye summer, it's been real. Feel free to come early next year. ;)

Now I'm ready for pumpkin patches and apple orchards and what is hopefully a loooong and beautiful fall!