Summer, Birthday's and More

 

July is always going to be a busy month for us and 2013 has been no exception.  We have the 4th, Jynx’s birthday, Little Man’s birthday, Hope’s birthday and finally our Anniversary.  All I can say is that it is a good thing my birthday is not until November.  All of this and we still managed to get a few more things in as well.

I had to do a bit of running on the 4^th of July, I drove from our house to Elgin (to direct a parade), then down to the cottage to celebrate for the 4^th with the family, left that night for home for some sleep then up early to head downtown for work, then back home, then back down to the river. I drove about 535 miles total.  Jame had a great time on the 4^th, the neighbors at the cottage had their grandkids in town and they were about the same age.  Jame had a fun time playing in the pool with them and may be getting better with getting his face wet, a bit of a problem during bath time and trying to teach him to swim.  Later that weekend the neighbors shared their fireworks and sparklers with us. 

After the 4^th we had to head back home for work but made plans to return soon.  We decided it would be fun when we headed back down to stop off at Fair Oaks Farm.  We had stopped there before with Little Man but this would be Hope’s first time.  We took the tour of the cows but they now have pigs as well, but decided to do that tour the next time we come.  Little Man is still amazed by the little cows they have.  The giant milking carousel only briefly holds his interest and then he’s ready to move on and so was Hope, I can’t say that I blame them, I can only watch it so long and then I’m ready to move on.  When we got off the tour Little Man was ready to run and play and that’s exactly what he got to do in their play area.  Auntie Jea Jea, Jynx and Hope took a walk around and found their way over to the birthing barn.  No live births while they were there but they watched a mother and a newborn from a couple hours earlier.  Little Man and I finally found our way  there but it can only hold his interest for so long knowing that there are things to jump on outside.  We had a great lunch followed by some of their famous ice cream and off we headed back down to the cottage.

At work someone asked if we went to Indiana Beach since we were so close.  No we haven’t and I thought it was about time to change that.  The neighbor boy’s were still in town so along with the neighbors we headed to Indiana Beach.  Indiana Beach had a great deal going, where you filled up a card with money and then used it through the day, each ride was only 50 cents.  I had a great time reminiscing about Indiana Beach and what had and hadn’t changed since I was a kid.  The Skee-ball room was exactly the same and Little Man and I rolled a game.  The old Haunted House had been changed into a pirate shoot up ride that was fun but I miss the bad haunted house! The only redeeming factor was at the end of the ride you turned a corner and were blasted by a loud truck horn and lights that always scared you even though you knew it was coming.  Jame once again showed that he loves rides by hopping on every ride with no fear and laughing the entire way.  I think he’s really going to be a roller coaster junkie, like mom and dad.

After the 4th holiday it was time to buckle down for the birthday celebrations.  This was Hope’s big first birthday and Jame turning 4.  We planned the big birthday party for a few weeks after their Birthdays to give us a bit more time to get things ready.  Hope had her own birthday surprise for us when she decided to start walking on her first birthday.  Now she is walking all over and keeping us on our toes.  On Little Man’s birthday, we took him to Greek fest a carnival supported by one of the local Greek Churches.  He had a great time on all the rides and wanted of course to go on the bigger rides that he is still not tall enough for but he still tries standing on his tip toes.

We also found time this summer to head on down to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum the world’s largest Children’s museum.    The Museum was exactly that large, we spent a good part of the day there and I don’t even think we scratched the surface of what they had there.  We started off with Dinosaurs, then trains, then a carousel, then a construction play, then an Indy car, and then onto an Egypt exhibit, then into an Avatar exhibit then on the way out they played on the castles and checked out the huge dinosaur looking into the top of the building.  We then headed out for some dinner at the Spaghetti Factory before heading back to the river cottage.  Needless to say the kids slept soundly that night.

After all that we then started the big push for the Birthday parties.  Good thing we only have a small party for them, two bounce houses, swimming pool, piñata, Hot Dogs, A new  360 degree seesaw and of course there was the barrel train.  I built the train for last year’s party but the kids didn’t seem too interested in it but this year, it had new life.  We bought a new tractor and attached the train to it and the kids loved the train and kept asking for rides on it.  The party was a huge success and Little Man had a great time at his party and Little Girl had a great time as well eating her entire cake and looking for more.  We spent the evening opening up gifts from everyone that wasn’t supposed to bring a gift, and once again the house was filled with gifts. 

The next day after the party the neighbor kids came by and asked if Jame could come over and play.  I said of course and had no idea Mom would have a hard time with her baby going off to play with friends.  Throughout the afternoon she kept asking if I could see or hear him and I had to let her know the moment he got home.  When he did get home they stayed and played for a bit and he had a great time.  His personality is really starting to show through everywhere we go now he introduces himself by saying “Hi my name is Jame and I’m four years old.”  He will also see kids when were out and yell “Hey Kids!”  Jame and Hope got invited to the neighbors birthday party, I was out of town so Mom and Jame went and it was at a place called Bella boos (a great place for kids under 9 to enjoy) and when Kayla opened the gift from them Jame began telling her how he made the doll for her; it was a Barbie. Little Man is filled with stories and a great imagination.

We often arrive somewhere to Little Man telling us how he brought his kids there one time.  He tells us how he has two kids and their names are Jame and Hope.  He also has dogs and a house in Floriddida that’s the way he pronounces it.

I arrived home from work the other afternoon on a beautiful August but fall feeling day, it was in the high 70’s.  We decided to take the kids down to Navy Pier; we wanted to take a photo with Hope in a cute sailor outfit and needed to do it before she outgrew the outfit.  We started to try and take some pictures but the sun was too bright so we had dinner sitting out on the pier.  We then headed back and took some pictures with the kids, then we enjoyed the rest of the evening riding the Ferris wheel, playing mini golf, Jame once again was asking everyone to watch him because he was really good at the game and everyone on the course knew his name was Jame and he was four years old.  We ended the evening with a stop for ice cream and headed home.  It was a great evening 

I still can’t believe the kids are already four and one and I know from now on I won’t believe how old they have gotten.  This summer has been very busy but a lot of fun and we’re not done yet. We have made a lot of memories this summer and I can only hope that we remember in our busy lives to keep building memories with them.