Summer Fun and trip to Cincinnati (2.5 years and 11 months)

A few weeks ago Nana and Grandpa drove up here for the weekend.  They spent Saturday with us.  Like every weekend this summer, Brian was working on the swing set.  This weekend was building the slide.  It was wonderful that they were here to help us.  It took all 4 of us to put it together.  It was a project.  Austin and Sydney also helped.  It was great to see them.  Austin still talks about everything he did while we were down there.  In particular, he will call something "fast like a golf cart" when he wants to say something is moving fast.  We all had fun.

Austin's best friend Kaitlyn turned two that weekend too.  We went to her party.  Kaitlyn lives a block from us.  We see her and her parents also every night.  They walk around the block and then play outside until we get to their house.  Then Austin and Kaitlyn play outside for 15-20 minutes before we finish our evening walks.  We love our walks.  It is really the only time Brian and I talk.  Austin and Sydney enjoy their stroller ride.  Austin has become very talkative so sometimes Brian and I don't talk as much because he's talking too.  Kaitlyn's party was a lot of fun!  It was really hot but we still had a great time.

This weekend went went down to Cincinnati.  We left Thursday after work around 4 pm and drove down.  It wasn't too bad of a drive.  Austin is a good traveler.  Sydney slept most of the way which worked out perfectly.  We stopped for dinner at A&W root-beer.  Before kids, we use to go there all the time.  It was our favorite summertime restaurant.  Now we don't go at all.  It would be too hard with Sydney in her car seat.  This A&W had an inside though so it worked out.

We arrived at our hotel in downtown around 9 pm.  I was happy to finally get there.  Austin helped us get our things into the hotel.  We looked out our window and there were fireworks.  We had a great view.  It was fun to watch them with the kids.  We got settled in and went to sleep.

Brian had to work all day.  I was hoping to meet my friend down there but she had to work Friday too.  So I decided to take the kids the the children's museum.  The Cincinnati children's museum is very nice.  It is much better than Cleveland's.  We finally got there around 11 am.  First we dropped Brian off at work.  Then went to Walmart to buy Brian a belt since I forgot to pack one.  Austin was not very good in Walmart. I was nervous it was going to be a terrible day.  Then he had a poopy explosion so I cleaned him up and went back to the hotel for some "pink stuff".  Pink stuff is Pinxav which we think is the best diaper cream.  Then I nursed Sydney.  We were finally ready to go to the museum. Being alone with the kids in a strange environment is a little overwhelming at times.

We got there and it was a little bit of a walk from the parking lot.  Obviously I have to carry Sydney.  Austin walked until he got distracted and wanted to stop and look at everything.  I was getting annoyed since Sydney and the diaper bag where getting heavy.  Finally we made it inside.  There was an escalator going down but Austin was scared of it.  So we walked down the stairs and finally I had lost my patience and I carried him the rest of the way.  He was screaming.  I was thinking "Great I am taking the kids to this great museum and he's crying.  Why didn't I stay at the hotel".  But once he got inside, he loved it!  We had a great time.  We were there until 1:30pm. By that time, we were hungry and tired.  I thought about eating lunch there and going back but I did not want to do that alone.  I drove back by the hotel and stopped at the McDonald's drive thru and picked up lunch.  We went back into our hotel and had lunch and took a nap.

After nap we picked up Brian from work.  We came back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.  We were going over to a guy's house that Brian works with.  I was a little nervous about this because our kids are active and don't like to sit still long.  I was worried they would ruin something at their house.  Luckily the gathering was basically outside.  It worked out very well.  We had packed some balls so the kids played with them and everyone had fun.

On Saturday morning we were in the hotel and Sydney decided to take her first steps alone without holding on to anything.  It was so great to see her start walking.  We were all very excited.  She was 11 months when she started walking.  She is trying so hard to do everything Austin does.  And she will be soon!

We were suppose to meet my friend and her family at the zoo but it was raining so we decided to go to the Children's museum again.  Her son was sick and they could not come.  So the 4 of us went and had a great time again.  After the museum, we drove home.  We wanted to get home.  There was still a lot of work that needed to get done on the swing set.  Plus Melissa was coming into town.

The drive wasn't too bad but Sydney slept for most of it.  Austin is a great traveller in the car.  We hope Sydney will get better once her car seat can turn forward facing.

Brian has worked so hard on building this swing set for the kids.  I don't know how many hours he has spent on it but it's a lot.  For some weeks, Brian has been working on it after work in the evening, then he stops and puts Austin to bed, and then he goes back outside and works on it until midnight using spotlights to see.  Brian has basically built this swing set by himself.  My dad has helped on the weekends which was very nice.  And Brian's mom and Mike helped with the yellow slide which was great that weekend.  Jonathan helped for a weekend too when he was in town which worked out nicely for any heavy lifting that was needed. Everyone's help was greatly appreciated but Brian has been working on it everyday, many late nights, and every weekend all summer long!  He is exhausted but he knows it's for the kids so it will be worth it.

Happy 4th of July (2.45 years and 10 months)

This year we decided to take the kids to fireworks for the first time.  I was talking with some girls at work and they take their young kids to fireworks each year.  So we thought we would try it too. On Sunday night we went to Fairlawn for fireworks.  Brian and I use to go to them every year before we had kids.  We know exactly where to park and everything.  That makes it nice.  We arrived around 8:30 pm however fireworks were not until 10 pm.  We walked around the area.  They had a local orchestra playing so we listened to the music.  Austin loved the music.  After every song he would say "one more".  We were surprised at that.  Sydney seemed to enjoy the music too.  Austin also got a light up sword that he played with.  We walked around the park together too.

Finally at 10 pm the fireworks started.  There was a 10 year old girl near us that started to freak out when they went off.  We think that may have scared Austin.  Soon after, he started saying he wanted to go home.  He was not crying, but just kept saying he wanted to go home.  He also kept saying "I can't see the clouds" which we didn't quite understand (maybe he was saying that it was dark out and bedtime).  We started walking towards the car.  Austin kept looking back to see the fireworks.  He was on Daddy's shoulders and actually fell asleep on his shoulders before we got back to the car.  Austin was probably just tired since it was over an hour past his bedtime.  By the time we got home, both kids were out.

On the 4th of July, we took the kids to the parade.  We have always enjoyed the parade and we thought why not start a tradition of taking the kids to it.  We sat by the start of the parade so we were not waiting too long.  The kids don't have long attention spans.  We played with a ball until the parade started.  We knew there were a lot of sirens so we brought ear protection.  Austin likes wearing his but Sydney would not leave them on.  I covered her ears and she was fine.

We stayed for about an hour and half watching the parade.  The kids really liked it.  They handed out a lot of candy and Austin loved that.  He kept putting it in the bag and saying he was going to eat it on the car ride home.  He did not realize how much candy he got.  We all had a great time as a family.  It is a fun tradition we started and look forward to it again next year.  

Brian has been working really hard the building the swing set.  Thanks to my dad they were able to get all the walls up.  Austin enjoyed helping mix the concrete for the walls.  Austin has really enjoyed helping his daddy build the swing set.  Brian has been working all day on Saturdays and most evenings trying to get it done.  It is quite the playground.  The kids are going to LOVE it.  I am so excited for them.

Sydney is standing more and more.  She will stand more frequently and for longer periods of time.  She has not walked alone yet but she is getting close.  Sydney likes crawling around but you can tell she would like to be walking.  Sydney is able to clap her hands.  She has also learned how to crawl down the stairs however we still have to turn her around at the top of the steps.  She still prefers to go head first down stairs.

Sydney loves to eat.  She will eat almost anything.  Most nights at dinner we cannot cut up her food fast enough for her.    Sydney also likes to eat dirt and chalk.  It is really annoying.  We can't turn our back for a second or she will have dirt or chalk in her mouth.  I am so happy she eats but I wish it was only food.

Austin is a little more picky.  He likes macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, strawberries, yogurt, and chicken.  Austin is not a big fan of vegetables except corn (which he does love).  He also does not like pizza or hamburgers.  Many times he will say he does not like it without even trying it (technically he says "I can't like it").  I hope he will out grow that soon.

We have been busy with the swing set and planning Sydney's party.  This is going to be a very fun and busy summer.