Zeke

The time was just before Easter 1994 and I arrived home from work.  Jynx told me she had a surprise but didn’t want me to be angry.  I agreed and she led me to the basement where I saw a small black animal in the basement.  I couldn’t quite make out what it was; I thought maybe a rat, until I heard a bark and knew it was a puppy.  That was Zeke’s first day in our lives.  I still remember driving in the car and holding her in one hand.  Jynx and I were married later that year and the dog Jynx got as an Easter gift for me quickly became her dog.

Jynx and Zeke were inseparable; if Jynx left home without Zeke the dog would go into a deep depression. Zeke would go to work with Jynx to her landscape jobs and while smelling the new homes out, Zeke always was close enough and had an eye on where Jynx was.  Jynx rarely had to put her on a leash because she would stay where she was supposed to. When Jynx would drive, Zeke would stand in between the seats and Jynx would say “brake” and she would brace herself. Zeke was very smart and knew many tricks. Zeke even canoed and kayaked with us. We eventually got into geocaching, a sport that uses a GPS to find a spot in the woods, after we would find the spot; Zeke would lead us on the same path out of the woods.  It was always amazing how she would track us back out.

Zeke was with us through several changes in our lives from our co-op in Park Forest to our house in Dyer.  She was there for our cat Presley, and they were good friends and Goofy coming only to stay for a few nights then gone and back again until she became part of the family.  Zeke was with us as we lost Presley, they would play together. I still laugh at the thought of Presley holding on to Zeke as she ran up the stairs.  Zeke was there as tons of other animals came stayed for awhile then moved on because Jynx would agree to be a Doggy Hotel as friends and family went on vacation or for other reasons. Zeke was there when Little Man came home with us for the first time.

We tragically lost Zeke and life is definitely different now.  We brought Zeke home to bury her in our yard close to her friend Presley.  She was pretty and at peace when we saw her. As we dug the grave we did our best to hold it together for Little Man, Jynx was doing her best.  Little Man saw Zeke and then ran into the house to get a book to read to her.  Later Little Man ran into the house and brought out a picture with him and a train.  Jynx asked if that was for Zeke and he said yes.  He sat back there with her until I came to get her. As I placed her in the grave with her genius dog collar and one of her patriotic scarves Little Man then began to cry “Zeke go no!”  The tears started to flow.  I knew how much Zeke had touched our lives but I had no idea how much she had touched Little Mans life.  Jynx mentioned that she knew she would never have a dog like Zeke again.  Zeke really was her first baby.  We feel Zeke sensed that Jynx would very soon have a lot more to care for with our newest joy and that after almost 18 ½ years of a good life, she was becoming tired and ready for her new adventure in heaven. Goodbye old friend, one day we will meet again. Love you.

Rt 66 and more

With a rare day off the Mother Road was calling.  Little Man loves the movie “Cars” and we thought he might get a kick out of being on the same road.  Jynx and I had made the trip a few years earlier and enjoyed the day; we even stopped off at an old gas station and bought a book on the sights on Rt. 66.  We loaded up the car and gave some friends in Bloomington a call and set up dinner plans.

We raced passed the Joliet Speedway and headed to the Lincoln National Cemetery.  We walked around a bit and looked over the memorials and tombstones.  The cemetery reminds you of the sacrifices that were made for our freedom.  We spent some time walking around but Rt. 66 was calling us to continue.

We then headed down to Wilmington, IL to see the Gemini Giant.  Little Man was afraid of the giant but when I went up to see the giant with him, he relaxed a bit.   Who could blame him, the guy is a bit creepy.  I’ve heard rumors that the giant may be in a bit of jeopardy as the owner has talked about selling him, the rumors were confirmed when I stopped into the restaurant to find a save the giant bucket.

As we continued our trip we made sure to stop at several parks along the way and let Little Man have some fun running around.  We even found a park that had a merry go round, I had not thought of how you don’t see these anymore.  I remember as a kid being spun around on the merry go round until you could not take it any longer.  Little Man sure enjoyed himself on the merry go round, his laughter is truly contagious.

As we continued our ride down RT. 66 we made several more stops at different landmarks and it was just great to see that RT 66 sign along the way.  We stopped at a couple of refurbished gas stations and it was fun to look in the windows and see the old décor and the old visible gas pumps out front.  I’m not sure if Little Man exactly knew where we were or where we were headed but he was having a great time at the old gas stations, he even started a little dance at one of the stations. 

We decided to make a stop in Pontiac Illinois because Jynx had read about a swinging bridge.  We made our way into the town and found the bridge and parked on an old brick side street.  As we made our way to the bridge Jynx was disappointed that it did not look like a swinging bridge but as soon as we stepped on the bridge we learned it was a swinging bridge.  Little Man wasn’t nervous at all and headed right across the bridge, of course it helped that there was a park on the other side of the bridge.  The bridge made for some great photos.  After taking a bunch of photos and playing at the park we headed back across the bridge and headed out again on Route 66.

We met our friends for dinner at a place I would go to when I would work in Bloomington.  We had a great time and it wasn’t long before the peanuts went flying across the table.  Little Man had fun with Mongo and Mrs. Mongo but of course, who wouldn’t have fun with Mongo.  After a great dinner we headed back up north with Little Man napping in the back seat hopefully dreaming of traveling on Route 66.

On the home front Grampy Rock still continues to slowly improve, even Little Man joins in on his therapy as he tells him to get up and to march.  I look at it as a win win situation as Little Man works on his speech and Grampy Rock can’t really tell him no.  Now that spring has sprung we have been spending more time outside improving what I refer to as Jame world. 

While heading out to a clients house, Jynx noticed a plastic playhouse someone had discarded. The house was put in the truck and headed back to our home at the end of the work day.  After a cleaning we put the house back together again.  We were missing a porch fence and a skylight but we ordered it the next day.  The house was also missing its wall phone but an old phone filled in just fine.  We also decided he needed a doorbell that we installed.   Jynx then decided it needed a path and a foundation so she put in a pad with a path to the house and then even added a flower pot outside.  I was in the process of changing our mailbox, so I took the old box and put it at the end of the path.

I was on hold for a job for the NATO summit but the job cancelled and rather than try to get another job and deal with the nightmare I took the days off.  During the couple of days NATO I built a huge sandbox for Jame World, I call it the NATO sandbox.  I think Little Man has been in it every day that he can since the NATO sandbox has been open.  I also took a look at his little sandbox and decided to move it but first I had to empty the sand.  After emptying the sand I moved it under the tower and then rigged up a lift to take the top off the sandbox.  We then filled the sandbox with blue sand; I’m not sure who liked the blue sand better Jynx or Little Man.  With all of this we then used rocks to form a border and started to mulch.

John was a friend who thought the world of Little Man and dropped off a lot of toys for Little Man including a robot.  John unfortunately had a heart attack at work and passed away.  We asked Little Man about John and he walked over and grabbed the robot.  We got a phone call from John’s sister, Amy;   she asked if there was anything from the house that we would like? We traveled out to John’s house and Little Man kept saying in the back seat “Go John’s House?”  We arrived at his house and got some rocks that we used in the border of Jame World and I stumbled across a beat up airplane swing, as I grabbed it, Jynx asked “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”  “Oh I have a plan.” I replied.  I like to go American Restoration on these things the only bad thing is I forgot to take a before photo but I restored the plane swing for Little Man and he loves swinging on the plane swing.  Also in Johns backyard was three white 55 gallon barrels that I also took this time I had to explain to Jynx that I had a plan to build a train out of the barrels that we could tow behind a lawn mower.  I have started to draw up plans for this project and hopefully soon I will find the time to build the train.  Thanks John God speed.

In the time since I wrote this and Jynx my editor got to proof read my work, I was able to finish the Barrel train.  If I can say myself, it’s awesome!  I painted two of them silver and one red to be the caboose.  I also added cow bells that I found to give the kids something to ring on their ride.  Before they were finished, I let Little Man pull two of them with his Jeep.  I had to wait for Uncle Walter to drop off another hand cart to finish off the caboose.  The other day I was able to give Little Man a ride along with Juno and a couple of teddy bears.  Now we need to get the trail ready so we can give rides at his birthday party, although I think Little Man may never get off the train.

With his love for trains, we decided to take Little Man for a ride on the train.  With my tough schedule this took a bit of effort for all the stars to align.  I had to work the morning show and then rushed home from downtown only to catch a train back to downtown.  We arrived at the Matteson train station where we are always able to park at Grandma Rose and Grandpa Jim’s house.  Jame loves going to see them but we had to go buy our tickets and headed onto the platform.  When the train arrived, Little Man took a few steps back.  As soon as the train stopped he headed right for the doors to board.  He was mesmorized out the window for the first few minutes of the train ride.  I handed Little Man our tickets to give to the conductor, I think visions of Polar Express ran through his head as he handed the tickets to the conductor and waited for the magical ticket punch.  Although it was not the same as the Polar Express he was excited when he got the tickets back.

When we arrived downtown we headed for Millennium Park and the Bean.  Little Man had a good time at the Bean and playing with his reflection at one point he even crawled as far under as he could get.  As much fun as it was at the Bean it was in the 90’s and standing near a big reflective surface was not the best way to keep cool on a hot Chicago day.  We then headed over to the fountain, not Buckingham but the faces fountain which is actually called Crown Fountain but nobody calls it that.  Little Man was a bit hesitant when we arrived at the fountain but he quickly got into running around with all the other little kids and he kept us running a few steps behind him.   He ran so much that other parents noticed and even mentioned what a runner he is.  We also noticed that he seemed to run with more of the girls than boys. 

After the fountain we then headed over to a park for him to play for awhile then decided to try and walk to Navy Pier. This failed miserably but our adventure found us another park and splash pad that we could take him to at a later date.   We finally gave up on getting out to the pier and Little Man started to fall asleep right on top of my head.  We found a restaurant with a booth that we could let him sleep.  We didn’t want to take the train home until he was awake.  After dinner we headed back to the train station for the trip home and Little Man was just as excited to be back on the train again.  He once again got excited when the conductor came around for tickets.  It was a long but fun day and we all slept well that night.

Still Here

I know it has been a bit since I posted but life has just gotten in the way.  Not only was there the usual problems that keep me from posting like work, work and more work but also Jynx’s dad Grampy Rock has had some serious health problems.  The biggest was a heart valve that had deteriorated and he had to go in for open heart surgery.  They actually used cow tissue to make a new valve to replace his.  This is simply amazing and a true miracle.  He is recovering but it has been slow and our lives remain hectic.

So much has happened with Little Man that I need to write.  His talking improves on a daily basis and he has been putting together two and three words.  He has also been learning to count and knows his colors.  His favorite color is green.  We have also been working on his ABC’s and he can even pick out the letters when you ask him and if he feels like it at the time.  His speech therapist is amazed at his progress and comments on how advanced he is with puzzles, problem solving, and even his being able to count to 10 as most kids his age know the difference between 1 and 2.

When Grampy Rock went in for heart surgery, I of course searched for restaurants in the area and found Snackville Junction.  Although it’s not the original one that I went to as a kid, I thought it would be fun to take Little Man.  When we sat down at the counter the waitress handed Little Man some toy trains to play with, we ordered and the train blew its whistle and chugged down the counter bringing out our food.  Although it was not the original and Tyler’s is closer to us with a lot more to do, I enjoyed the walk down memory lane and Little Man had fun too.

This St. Patrick’s Day was great.  The weather was the best it has ever been and I actually had the day off, so we headed down for the dying of the Chicago River and for the parade.  I am always amazed at how green the river actually becomes, it almost seems as if it is glowing.  It was a lot of walking but we had a great time and Little Man loved seeing all the buses and boats and we even took a ride on the water taxi.  He loved being on the boat but near the end of the ride, he could no longer fight off his nap and he fell asleep.  We had a great day downtown and Little Man enjoyed himself.

The other day for some reason we were running for something to somewhere and we decided to stop at the Oasis and get McDonalds for lunch.  I had almost forgotten how much we loved eating above all the cars and trucks as kids.  The same was true for Little Man, as he sat there pointing out the trucks passing underneath us.  Well, it appears we are going to have to add the highway oasis to our fine dining list.

A week before Easter was Dyer’s Easter Egg Hunt.  I have to compliment Dyer on their Easter Egg Hunt, they do a fantastic job.  We arrived at the hunt with Grandma Ruth and Mimi with us, Little Man took some time to play at the park, and then we went over to the pavilion, where they had the Easter Bunny.  Little Man was not too happy seeing the Easter Bunny and wouldn’t let go of Dad and go near the Easter Bunny.  We then headed over to the tennis court for the hunt, the hardest thing is convincing two year olds that they can’t run all over and have to wait for the signal.  When they finally blew the whistle it was hard to convince him that it was now okay to run and pick up the candy.  Once he figured out that it was okay to grab the candy, he had a great time. 

Easter Sunday was hectic as always, we did our best the night before to prepare for everyone coming over.  We were up early and I woke up Little Man by telling him that the Easter Bunny was there and had left cars and trains for him in his Easter basket.  He woke up and came out to see all that the Easter Bunny had left for him.  If you ask me the Easter Bunny got a bit carried away this year.  We then ran out of the house for Sunday service.  We had communion on Easter Sunday and Little Man came up with us and grabbed a hold of the bread and ate it up, we have homemade bread, so I can’t blame him there.  Next came the juice and his eyes lit up, he loves the drinks in little glasses.  He quickly drank it down then put his fingers into the glass, to get the rest of the juice.  Once again, Jynx and I found ourselves trying not to laugh in church.  At the end of church there was an egg hunt and the Easter Bunny showed up again, Little Man was still not sure of the Easter Bunny but he would go up to him. 

After church we raced home and shortly after our guests arrived and the house was filled, even Grampy Rock had been given a day pass from his rehab at the hospital and was allowed home for the day.  All the Grandma’s and Grandpa’s were at our house.  We raced around and got our normal huge meal on the table.  After we finished a great meal, Little Man had opened all his Easter Baskets, and then Uncle Wally brought out the big surprise for Little Man. 

A few weeks before, Uncle Wally called saying that he found a Power Wheels Jeep and all it needed was a battery.  I ordered a battery and we placed it in the Jeep and Little Man with a big smile on his face took off racing around the driveway.  Uncle Wally and Uncle Brett were guarding the end of our circular driveway just to make sure he would not take off down the drive to the street. The Jeep was fast but we noticed that one wheel was not spinning.  After he was tired of driving it around Uncle Wally and I started to take it apart and found that it was the gears on the one wheel.  I found a shop in Downers Grove to have it fixed.  Little Man loves driving in his Jeep, although I don’t think the dogs are enjoying it as much.

Now that Easter is over our lives are getting back to almost normal.  Grampy Rock is out of the hospital but continuing his therapy at our house.  April 15th meant taxes were due and Jynx was busy with those.  We also found out that our Dear Birthmother letter needed to become a scrapbook, so I took up that challenge.  We are still waiting for a sibling for Little Man and hopefully the new scrapbook will help and Little Man will have one soon.

CHRISTMAS 2011

I looked at Jynx and told her I felt like I was in the movie a Christmas Story.  Our Christmas this year was wonderful filled with all the wonder and magic of the holiday season.   We decided that with our  crazy schedule, we were not going to put up as many decorations as we have in the past, although we still could not help ourselves and put up quite a bit.

The first part of a Christmas Story came, when we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry.  No we did not go to see the Christmas trees from around the world, although we saw a few as we raced around the museum from train display to train display.  Grandma Ruth came with and enjoyed watching Little Man’s excitement at the trains; she bought him a toy of the Zephyr.  He would take the silver toy train and race it along the floor, just like Randy from a Christmas Story did with his toy.

We then took a night and went Downtown with Baley and her mom and dad.  First we headed to Navy Pier for their Christmas wonderland.  The kids had a great time running around on the inflatables and the rides.  They had a train that would run around the big Christmas tree and of course Little Man had to ride.  From Navy Pier we headed down to State Street for the Kris Kringle Market and to look at the windows at Macy’s.  I know that was Miracle on 34^th Street, not A Christmas Story.  We went into Macy’s and followed the signs up to Santa’s Toyland that was just their toy section.  Little Man noticed a toy train set and his eyes locked right on it and he just stared and grinned.  He was dropping a hint bigger than Ralphie and his Red Rider B.B. Gun.  We saw the tree at Macy’s; (although I still feel its Marshal Fields) Little Man looked but was not all that interested in the tree.  We then braved the cold at the Kris Kringle Market.  The kids had a great time and Little Man slept all the way home.

Little Man got to meet the Big Man, aka Santa, three times this year.  Little Man still was not crazy about him but at least it was not the crying fit we had last year.  The first meeting was after the Johnson Cookie Exchange; Santa was a bit late but made the effort and arrived to find Baley and Little Man still there.  After teaching Little Man that Santa says Ho Ho Ho and hearing him say it, I was very excited by this first meeting.  Little Man would look at Santa but made sure to keep his distance and when Santa did catch up with him Little Man showed him a growling face.  Santa did give him a tow truck and later when you asked where he got the tow truck he said “Ho Ho”.  The second meeting was at Santa’s house, Mimi and Auntie Jea Jea brought him to see Santa and almost the same reaction.  He tolerated Santa but was happy to get away.  Mimi gave him a pin to hand to Santa but after taking two steps towards Santa he thought it was better just to throw the pin, then walk all the way to Santa.  The last meeting was on Christmas Day when Santa actually came over to drop off some gifts and the reception was warmer but he was still not feeling the whole Santa thing.  I’m sure next year will be different.

Just days before Christmas we found ourselves at one of our favorite Chinese Restaurants.  Little Man is a good eater and will eat almost everything including guacamole, he actually loves guacamole.  Occasionally Little Man will not start to eat right away and to get him to eat Jynx will ask who is mommy’s puppy and he gives out a little bark and starts eating.  Once again, like the movie A Christmas Story, where the mom asks who is mommies little piggy?  Now thankfully he eats well off the fork and not like in the movie where the kid shoves his face in the food.  As we finished up our meal the owner stopped by and in her Chinese accent asked what our holiday plans were.  She then went on to tell us how she was planning on going to Chinatown and having goose at a friend’s restaurant.  The scene at the end of A Christmas Story popped into my head FA RA RA RA.

Christmas Eve we headed to Uncle Brett’s house for Christmas with the Johnson family.  After that we headed to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Rosie’s house to pick up the train play table they got him.  We placed it in the back of the van without him noticing.  Then it was off to church for the candlelight service.  Little Man was in rare form and all wound up at church, I even noticed the minister chuckling a few times.  When it came time for Silent Night he began trying to blow out the candles.  I have never laughed so hard during Silent Night. 

Christmas morning came and Little Man was able to open his stocking that Santa had hung on his bedroom door.  A tradition, I remember as a kid.  We were allowed to open our stockings when we got up, but not wake mom and dad until the sun came up.  We had to wake Little Man up early and he looked through his stocking and fell in love with a little toy engine.  We then headed over to Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick’s house.  There he opened up his ride, a Lightning McQueen car that took us a bit to assemble but once together, he took it outside for a ride.  I think he thought he was going to drive it home until mom chased him down the street and turned him around.  He then brought the car back and parked it right next to our van.  We then headed home and started preparing for the crowd that soon would be arriving at our house.  The turkey was frying and the house was filling up and things were extremely crazy.  Little Man was opening up his gifts when who should appear but Santa with a few more gifts for Little Man.  After Santa left we distracted Little Man while we brought in his train table and quickly covered it with a sheet and a bow.  When he got back into the room he quickly removed the sheet and his eyes lit up.  He has been busy with all the trains and train tracks ever since.

At the end of Christmas day I think we were all exhausted but it was a wonderful exhaustion.  I sat there looked over all the toys and wondered where they were all going to go.  The front room was a complete mess, the kitchen was filled with leftovers and dirty pots and pans, it was a wonderful Christmas mess.  All I could think of at that point in time was the words of Andy Rooney, “One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly."

Fall 2011

I remember as a kid dressing up for Halloween and heading to school having a party at school before heading home.  As we walked home from school we would start our trick or treating as we made our way back to our house.  When we arrived home we dropped our school books and the candy we had already gotten and headed back out again for an entire night of trick or treating.  I didn’t think anything could get better than those days, until now.

In all those toy boxes we received from a friend, whose name is John, was a dragon costume.  The costume was a nice one from Disney and I’m sure was very expensive for whoever first bought the outfit.  Little Man took a liking to it right away and ran around the house roaring when he tried it onto see if it would fit. We thought the costume might be too big for him this year but luckily we tried it and Mr. grows like a weed and fit into the costume just fine.  Since he was already an engineer for the Halloween party, we decided he could be the dragon for trick or treating.

Halloween was a very hectic day to say the least.  I had worked the night before and arrived home around 6 am, slept until 11 am and when I got up, the fun started.  After running a few quick errands, we headed over to Baley’s Grandparents house for his first doorbell of the day.  We got Little Man out of the costume and into the Dragon costume rang the doorbell and they were very happy to see him.  Then it was back out of the costume so he could fit in the car seat.  We repeated this at Grandma Rosie’s and Grandpa Jim’s, Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick’s, and then it was on to our Church for Trunk or Treat where Auntie Jea Jea and Mimi met us. 

We then headed out to Baley’s house for some good old fashioned trick or treating.  It was just as I had remembered as a kid, the streets were filled with kids running from house to house and people answered their doors with a smile and they loved to see the kid’s costumes.  Walking Little guy around and seeing him so happy as he and Baley went from house to house was truly better than the bags of candy I filled as a kid.

Just before Halloween we started Little Man saying, “BOO” he took to it fairly well and would run around the house scaring everyone.  His talking has started to improve and more words are coming, in, out dar for car and several others and he is now trying to say words.  We’ve started him saying Ho Ho HO and we usually get HO HO and he does point at Santa saying HO HO when he sees him on TV.  Hopefully Santa will get a better reception this year than he did last year.

Little man update / Fall

I know it’s been a bit since my last update.  The reason I have not updated in awhile is the same reason Little Man has so many daddy guilt gifts lately.  A daddy guilt gift is when dad has been traveling and away so much feeling guilty for not being around and buys a gift. 

Just before I had to leave on one of the many trips recently, Jynx was heading to fill in on Aunt Jea Jea’s bowling team.  I was not planning on going with but we were told that John, one of the regulars that   watch his sister Amy, was going to be there.  John is fond of Jame and just cleaned out a friend’s house and we were told he had a few toys for him.  He had his car stuffed with toys including a robot and a mountain construction set with a crane.  The robot is great and I think every little boy should have his own robot.

Little Man is doing great just growing way to fast.  We are continuing with the speech therapy.  The therapist tells us he is very advanced in everything (probably why he was potty trained before he was 2) expect for the speech.  I was able to be home for one of the sessions, he had just received a new truck from John and when the therapist was over he noticed a screw on the truck. He pointed and ran into his bedroom grabbed his toolbox, opened it up and looked through it and grabbed the right flathead screwdriver to fit the screw.  Needless to say I did not let him disassemble the truck but we were both amazed. The words do seem to be coming.  We get the lk from milk, Dog, Oww and he still says the word train but without moving his lips.

Friday September 30, 2011 was our now annual trip to Great America’s Fright Fest.  Our good friends get us in on this private party at Fright Fest the night before it opens.  This year Little Man was actually tall enough to go on a few of the adult rides with a supervising adult.  Not only was he tall enough but they also said that I qualified as a supervising adult (LOL).  We were trying to convince Little Man to go on what looked like a version of the scrambler but he kept shaking his head no until I asked if he wanted to go on those cars then we couldn’t hold him back.  After a quick measurement we were onto the first car and he climbed right in.  I sat there the first few minutes before the ride and started wondering if this was a good idea.  What if he started vomiting?  How do I handle that, do I just keep yelling sorry to all the other people on the ride?  The ride started out slowly and a smile grew on his face as a car moved along and then they ramped up the speed.  As we whipped passed the other cars in Scrambler style, I looked down at Little Man whose mouth suddenly opened wide and a huge laugh came out of his mouth.  Little Man loved the ride and laughed the entire time.  Later that night, we took him on the big tea cups.  Once again Little Man ran in and jumped right in and stated pounding on the wheel like a drum.  Once the ride started, he laughed but then in Fright Night fashion the lights went out and a light show started with strobes and lasers, he was in simple awe of all the lights and sounds that now filled the room.  Fright Night wore him out and we headed to the car with Little Man asleep in his wagon.

Sunday we headed to church some place we had not been to in a while due to hectic schedules.  Our church was having service with several other churches and the service was different as each church had their choir sing and the choirs were definitely taking it up a notch.  Little Man loved the music and even started patting his hands along with the bongo player in one of the songs.  He also now claps at the end of the songs and even at the end of movies now.

Halloween is quickly approaching and since I’ve started writing this post a lot has happened.  We had our annual Homecoming and bonfire.  It was a great success, we carved a trail though the woods around our house, the driveway was repaved, we rented a bounce house from a neighbor and I we even resurrected the Haunted Hunt.  Little Man dressed up as a train engineer and spent a good part of the night in the bounce house with the other children. He also enjoyed scarring people by saying, BOOO! The Haunted Hunt was great fun just to sit back and watch the teams struggle along from clue to clue, only at the end to tell us how much fun it was.

We made what I truly hope is our annual trip to County Line Orchard for pumpkins.  We met Baley and her parents Wendy and Duane, and the kids were filled with excitement.  The Corn Maze was a bit muddy but we got enough of it before we discovered an exit from the maze to the pumpkin patch.  The kids love trying to pick up the pumpkins and it makes for some great pictures.  Little Man did okay with the pumpkins but was more interested in the tractors, pulling wagons of people around the orchard.  Once the tractor headed our way there was no stopping him from jumping on and heading up to the front to watch the tractor. 

 Little Man’s close second favorite was the Moo Choo, a train made from barrels painted like cows and pulled around the orchard with of course, a tractor. I wasn’t sure we would be able to get him off the Moo Choo.  After getting him off the Moo Choo we headed over to the petting zoo, where he was extremely excited to feed the goats and the cows and he loved seeing the other animals but they meant nothing, once he saw the toy tractors to play on.  As we headed out the kids once again had fun playing around all the pumpkins they had for sale and of course, I started snapping pictures again.  I had over 2,000 photos to go through by the time we left.  I don’t think we made it down the street from the orchard when he fell asleep dreaming of all the fun we had.  Just when I think this whole dad thing has been great we have a day like we did at the orchard and it gets even better.  I can hardly wait for Halloween and trick or treating.

Birthday Number TWO!

Here we sit with all the celebrations over, and our Little Man is now TWO!  I think we did his second birthday proud.  On his actual birthday we had a small celebration dinner at his favorite restaurant then about a week and a half later a huge birthday bash.

On Little Man’s birthday we headed for his birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant, Tyler’s Tender.  We can hardly contain him as we pull into the parking lot and he notices where we are; all his focus is on getting inside, then he runs around not sure where to go first.  We had a nice dinner and Little Man tore into his gifts.  He loved all his gifts but I think his favorite was his toolbox with a hammer and some play nails to pound.  The next hard part was convincing Little Man to leave Tyler’s Tender.

We spent every spare minute in the next day’s planning and getting ready for Little Man’s party.  Additions to his play set, a sand box, cleaning up the yard and house, and that was only the start.  Then a phone call from Auntie Jea Jea who was passing through Rensselaer, IN and thought she saw a train sandbox but it was actually a train bed.  Of course we wanted it and Little Man loved it.

The day of the party Little Man seemed a bit overwhelmed as guest after guest started to show up.  The grill fired up and hot dogs and hamburgers began to fly off the grill and from time to time I was able to catch a glimpse of Little Man enjoying his day.  I finally was able to take a break from the grill and grab a quick bite, when some guests started saying their goodbyes.  OH NO! You’re not going anywhere until we hit the piñata and sing Happy Birthday!  We got the piñata festivities started, I wasn’t too sure how Little Man would take to hitting a Lightning McQueen piñata but he got right into beating his cartoon hero with a baseball bat.  Each kid got a turn until it fell to the ground one last time and we let them beat open the piñata on the ground.  Next was the cake, a huge monster of a cake with Thomas the train on top.  At some point Little Man had stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth and when he went to blow out the candles, drool came out of his mouth and right down onto the cake.  Everyone had a great laugh.  Little Man finished blowing out the candles then reached for Thomas who he tried to push on the tracks made of icing.

Hard to believe it has been two years since our race down to Florida but what a great two years.  Funny, how we can’t seem to imagine our lives now without him.  Happy Birthday Little Man. We love you so much!