"Roughing It"

Our my Mom's way home she dropped us off at the KOA so we could meet Curtis to go camping (we've had the reservations since June.) Originally we were going to camp in our tent but when we saw that the forecast called for possible showers and high temperatures we changed our reservations. For $10 more a night we got a one room cabin with AC and beds. The cabins were right on the water so Curt and Lucas didn't even have to go very far to fish.

In the middle of the fishing lake is a bird sanctuary so there were birds everywhere. We saw ducks, geese, ibis, and swans. It was really cool.

Lucas was so excited to finally be camping and to be spending time with his Daddy. He kept asking for Jadie though (she had a vacation at my parents' house.)

The cabin had a set of bunk beds and a full size bed. Lucas was so excited to sleep on the top bunk in his sleeping bag. He slept up there both nights we were there. I hope when it is time for us to get him a bigger bed we can get him a loft bed.

The KOA had boats that you could rent for $3.00 and hour so we rented a boat. It was Lucas' first time out on the water in a boat and he really liked it but we didn't stay out that long so they didn't even charge us anything (Lucas wanted to go swimming in the pool.)

Lucas also caught his first fish all by himself. He reeled it in and everything. He proudly brought it over to show me and the fish flopped out of his hand in the dirt. Lucas got very upset that his fish was dirty and wanted me to give him a bath before he threw him back. Luckily we were able to convince him that it would be okay if he threw him back dirty. I was proud of my little guy for holding his own fish.

Curt and Lucas fished and fished until a duck came and ate their bait and a turtle broke their fishing pole. Even when they weren't able to fish they still had plenty to do. We went swimming lots of times, made s'mores, played pool and video games in the arcade and hung out with friends and family that dropped by.

I loved just watching the birds.

I think the swans were my favorite.

Lucas loved all the grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. Why does food taste so much better cooked outside over a fire? Right in front of our cabin was a sign that said "No swimming," we quickly found out why.....

This little guy and some other friends would always show up when we were cooking and eating.

Curt had a blast kayaking with my aunt. I didn't give it a try because I didn't want to take the chance of tipping over and swimming with the gators.

Lucas was a little scared that his Daddy was going to get eaten by gators (hmmm where did he get that fear from?) so he kept crying for him to "come back!"

Every night we were there at dusk the trees in the middle of the lake would fill will birds. It was so pretty to see. We had the best time at the KOA and all the staff were friendly. I know we'll be back!

Fishies!

Our playgroup today was at the Aquarium which is really near my Mother-in-law's house. Lucas got really excited thinking he was going to see his Grandma. When it was obvious he wasn't going to his Grandma's he started to get mad. When I asked him if he wanted to go see the fish he shook his head and said "uh-uh!" When we finally got to the aquarium and Lucas saw the turtles outside he perked up and got VERY excited. (The turtles weren't out when we went there this winter.)

Today was a small playgroup but Lucas still had fun. He followed around his older friend from tank to tank checking out the sea creatures.

One of the coolest creatures there was the baby octopus. Usually he is hiding but he kept coming out for us and it was HILARIOUS hearing Lucas try to say "octopus!"

The seahorses were pretty cool too!

When the kids were done looking at everything we headed outside for a quick picnic lunch.

When we left we got to stop by and say a quick hello to Lucas' Grandma after all.

Dear Lucas (98 Weeks),

Today instead of our normal morning walk we tried out the YMCA. I left you in Child watch and went and took a water aerobics class and then got in the sauna for a while. At first when I dropped you off you ran right in the room and started to play but as I walked out I could hear you calling for me "mama? mama?" and it was hard to leave you with a bunch of strangers. You are allowed to leave your kids in the child watch for no more than two hours and I came back before then and as soon as you saw me you started to cry again. I'm thinking about transferring my gym membership to the YMCA since they have free childcare and Curves does not but I am a little worried that instead of getting used to it you will hate being left there! The workers said you did fine until another Mom walked in the door and picked up their kid, they said you thought it was me coming to get you.

Once I picked you up you were so happy to see me. You weren't clingy just happy to be near me and we had the best day. On the way home you made me singe the alphabet song and each time I would finish you would clap when I was done and then say "gain!" and want me to start again. After singing the alphabet five times in a row I tried to sing a different song and you protested loudly so I had to go back to singing the alphabet. When we got home it was sprinkling and you held your hand up to try and catch the rain drops. On the way into the house you had a very hard time trying to walk past puddles without splashing in them.

Last week your poor fish died. Your Dad thinks it was my fault because I have a habit of doing things like forgetting to water the plants... or feed the fish. In my circular reasoning though I think it is your Dad's fault. If he knows that I sometimes forget to do these things, why doesn't he do them? I'm not sure if you realized that your fish died or not. Monday we went to the fish store to buy you a new fish. I had plans on just buying another blue fish but wouldn't you know they had every color but blue. I ended up letting you pick out the new fish and you picked out a red one. Hopefully this one will outlive the last one.

Today you ended up falling and getting a pretty nasty bruise on your head. I think you inherited your Daddy's accident proneness. You did let me put an ice pack on the bruise for a little bit and you ended up holding it on there yourself for a pretty good chunk of time. Every once in a while you would call out, "mama, cold!" until you finally gave up and went back to playing.

I can no longer cook a meal without you wanting to help. When your Daddy and I try to cook at the same time it drives me crazy but I love cooking with you. Before we start cooking I always try and get out everything we need before we start so I don't have to leave you on the counter unattended. Now you don't even wait for me to tell you what to do. If I don't watch you closely you just start picking stuff up and dumping it in the bowl. One day I should just let you go and see what you create.

Bugga, I love you to the moon and back,
Mama

We've Had a Sad Loss in Our Family Today

This morning I noticed Lucas' fish wasn't exactly swimming anymore. Thank goodness Lucas doesn't realize he is dead. Lucas just thinks his fish is night-night. He tried to wake him up by turning his fish tank light on and when his fish didn't move he said "sleeping" and kissed the tank. (I guess Fishie needed a night-night kiss.) I didn't know whether I should laugh of cry.

Fishie Hunter

In our Family from March 12, 2007-June 8, 2007

Fishie's final swim will be held this afternoon in our bathroom.

Instead of Flowers donations can be made to Lucas' piggy bank to the "replace Fishie before Lucas notices fund."

Dear Lucas (93 Weeks),

The biggest change this week has been that we got rid of your beloved paci over the weekend. I almost felt guilty about cutting off the end of your paci and giving it back to you like nothing was wrong. You totally knew I was the one that "broke it" because you would throw them at me and shoot me the dirtiest looks (I guess I got a free preview of what the teen years would be like.) It is nice being able to go somewhere and not have to make sure I have at least one paci packed in your bag. I'm just waiting for the day when you discover any of your old pacis that seemed to have fallen into a black hole and disappeared. Since getting rid of your paci you've been more attached to your sippy cup them before. Sometimes when you are tired you will cry for a "gee" just so you can hold your sippy in one hand and clutch your blanket in the other. You've also become more attached to me. If you realize I have left the room you have to run and find me and tug on my shirt saying "mommy! mommy!" until I either pick you up or give you my hand so you can bring me back to the room we were originally in together (which is so unlike you normally.)

Since the weather was so yucky today we skipped our normal morning walk and headed to story time today instead of going tomorrow. We had to leave early because you got a nasty attitude after a little baby pushed you on accident and you pushed her back. When I explained to you for the millionth and third time that you can't push and took you back to where I was sitting you tried to push your friend Sydney just because she was there. I ended up grabbing our stuff and leaving. You were excited about getting to leave story time early that I started to wonder if I should have made you stay there! We ended up walking across the street and looking at a Train that was sitting by the side of the road. Letting you be outside seemed to put you in a better mood.

You are obsessed with cars, trucks, and anything else that goes. If you get fussy while I am driving all I have to do is ask "Do you see any cars? Do you see any trucks?" and you will enthusiastically shout "cars! trucks!" and point out the window at them. When it is time to get you out of the car now most of the time you don't want to go out of your door. Instead you like to crawl up into the front seat and pretend you are driving before sliding out of the car. When we aren't in the car you will pretend to drive with anything that is round like a steering wheel and make the "vroom vroom" sound effects.

I know sometimes you get bored with the same old toys and books and you get frustrated when we can't go outside, like today. You just don't understand that no matter how many times you drag me to the door by holding my hand and begging "side, mommy, side!" we can't go outside if it is raining. Today I tried to distract you by letting you play with a bunch of dried beans. I poured them in the back of your TONKA truck because I knew it would make a neat noise and I gave you different size cups to scoop and pour with and you loved it. You were having a ball playing in the beans... that is until you realized how much fun it was to THROW them across the room. I immediately took them away from you and made you help me pick up the beans while I vacuumed up the rest. I thought you would have at least gotten upset that I took the beans away from you but you could care less.

I rearranged the living room this week because I just got so sick of it looking the same way for almost two years now. The first morning when you woke up and saw that things were moved around you got very upset because you thought your fish was gone. Things were okay when I showed you that we just moved your fish to another part of the room. He now sits on a table that has just enough room for you to squeeze between the couch and the table so you can turn his aquarium light on and off and on and off and on and off. This would drive me crazy except it is always daylight when you do this and you can't even tell the light is on. Tonight your Aunt Lori came over for a few minutes and the first thing you did when she walked in was take her to your fish tank and show her your light switch flipping skills.

Bugga, I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

Did You Pet a Fish Today?

Tonight we had dinner with Curt's sister Sam and his mom. I always love going to my mother-in-law's house because we just relax and talk and laugh a lot.

Lucas loves going to his Grandma's house too because he gets to do fun stuff like crawl in her cabinets, pet a fish his Daddy caught in the backyard and pet a turtle.

(The fish got thrown back right after Lucas pet it.)

Lucas liked the turtle at first.

When the turtle tried to run away he ran in Lucas direction and freaked Lucas out. It would have scared me too... it had the LONGEST toenails EVER!

Fishing With Daddy

Last night Curt decided that he wanted to take Lucas fishing this morning. I mentioned that he might still be too young and that it was supposed to be REALLY cold but we still headed to Bass Pro last night to get Lucas a Scooby-Doo fishing pole.

This morning we bundled up and headed to the park near our house for them to fish. We were there about 30 minutes when Curt decided it was too cold and Lucas was too young to fish since he didn't want to sit still and he kept trying to go in the water. I held back my "I told you so" that I was screaming in my head because it was sweet that he wanted to do something as a family and he can't wait until he can go on father-son fishing trips.

Lucas' First Pet

Last night Lucas' Dad and Grandma Andrea bought him his first fish and tank. He was so excited to go to the pet store and look at the the fiSHHH! He was so tired when we got home that I don't think he realized what was going on. While I put him to bed Curt set up his fish tank.

When he woke up this morning and saw his tank set up and his very own fish swimming around his mouth literally dropped open. He already understands that fiSHHH are for watching and looking at but not for picking up.To say he LOVES his fish would be a gross understatement. Tonight on his way to bed he gave his fish tank a kiss.

The fiSHHH doesn't have a name yet.