Sunday, September 16, 2018

Hot, Hot, Hot

Burke Lake View. We spent a nice Sunday AM there.
Zach - Of Note
  • Lollipops at Trader Joe's have been discovered.
  • Zach really likes Stephen Kellogg’s Gift Horse album, in particular, My Favorite Place. He sang “days and days and days and days…” with me. 
  • Loves swimming underwater, tried out his goggles, finished swimming lessons, and spent a lot of time in the water at Lewes and in Michigan!
  • Zach loved swimming generally and the blue floating mat in particular in Lewes.
  • Early morning excursions in Lewes to Nectar and to the park and in Michigan to Charlevoix and Boyne City
  • Scooting and rollerblading together in Lewes and Michigan.
  • On the drive to Michigan, Zach played with my hair while we played his Monster Truck game on the Fire.
  • Zach loved the keyboard at the house in Michigan!
       
  • A bit of a fever after he got back from Michigan. I blame Celestine. She was super-snotty. 
  • This month Zach has read with me and asked me to go for walks with him. I told him that I loved walking him to daycare. 
  • We bought a pumpkin for fall decoration. He wanted to bring it inside. He named it "Athena."
  • New show is Leo, the Wildlife Ranger.
  • Zach is loving his Bourbon Street Band is Back book (thanks Auntie Em), and it has instruments in it, so this week we watched videos of people playing trumpets and saxophones.
    Zach at Soccer Shots
Zach - Potty Training
  • Still great; Julie put him in a diaper in Michigan because she didn't know he doesn't wear them anymore.
  • He's having more accidents with us, but nowhere else. He gets so much prompting at daycare, and with us, he isn't always telling us when he needs to go now.... Not sure what that's about, but frustrating. One night he laughed when he told us that he peed on himself and the couch. Not cool. His program privileges ended, and he had a timeout. 
  • I can see where if we were trying to potty train at 2 years 8-10 months, he would have been a lot less cooperative!
Zach's Words
  • Mommy and Daddy's (and Nancy's) age inappropriate words of the day: "damage," "windpipe," "belligerent," "succulent," as in he has "succulent toes," "inordinate," “appearance," "resilient"
  • Zach’s funny mispronunciation of hiccupping, hicking-up.
  • "Sure, I can do that."
  • At one point in Michigan, we sang the All About Firetrucks song, “...all you need is a hero...standing brave and tall all over this land. When darkness falls, all you need is a hero, an angel of mercy, a helping hand.” Zach belts it out! So cute!
  • He says things like “this is cool,” and “so exciting.” 
  • Zach is saying: “the potty and pacis don’t mix." (He dropped one of his pacis in the toilet a while back.)
  • “Knives are sharp.” 
  • “Did you see my trick,” even if it’s not a trick per se.
  • Zach will pretend to be barely hanging on and say, “I can’t hold on much longer,” like in Fireman Sam
  • I hate using the term threenager, but it seems to fit.
    • He now say's that he's "frustrated," and things are "so annoying."
    • “I’m ready to listen now” 
    • Zach says, “okay, okay, okay,” in a really exasperated way when we tell him something too many times.Angie told us that she has the best conversations with him. They chat when he’s settling down for his nap, and he’s like a “little adult.”
  • It's awesome when he says, “I love you so much, Mommy.” 
Susan & Frank
  • Super fun date night to Crooked Run, tacos, and a walk around Lake Anne.
  • So much fun in Michigan! Date night coming up next weekend. 
Good Food
Zach loves my
zucchini hash

  • Sam's awesome strawberry daiquiris in Lewes
  • Dinner with Auntie Em at Passion Fish
  • Summer salsa of cherry tomatoes and that tasty basil olive salt. The lefotver juice made a tomato juice that Mom would like, I think.  
  • Frank is trying to change his diet to help with his uppper endoscopy issues, and that's an interesting challenge to cooking.... 
  • Mushroom, fennel, green bean salad with balsamic dressing, walnuts, and blue cheese
Visits with
  • Grandad; he came right before and right after all our adventures!
  • The Uberbuddes and more Zach and Zahra! Thanks, Kate, and it was great fun to hang with Sam, Julia, and Kathleen. See all Lewes photos and videos here. 
  • Auntie Em. We see her most weeks at the farmer's market.
  • Gamma and Bob in Michigan. On our date night in MI, Zach kept asking where Mommy and Daddy were and Mom eventually told him we were riding unicorns, and he said, “Oh, okay.”
  • Thanks to Sara Gay, Nancy, and Edguardo for being awesome hosts as ususal.
  • Auntie Em. A sad week for her as our kitty, Bess, is not doing well. 
Fun Stuff & Not So Fun Stuff (Personal & Professional)
  • Emmy is so proud of Zach and us. She shared that she uses us as an example with other parents. She says, “Zach is just two and he….” She told me she tells other parents, “I didn’t think they’d just get rid of diapers, but they did!”
  • Lunch at Dogfish in Lewes
  • Kinda funny: Zach lost his balance and fell off the blue mat in the bay in Lewes. I dove under to "rescue" him. (He'd already grabbed on to the mat and saved himself. :).) I lost my contacts and then I got water in my ear again that did not go away. So, on the trip, I experienced not being able to see...not being able to hear....
  • A new season of Heartland released on Netflix!
  • Good books: First Impressions, Flat Broke with Two Goats, Once in a Blue Moon Lodge
  • Promotion and raise for Frank!
  • Terrific advice from Jenn
  • A great talk with Patti about The Field Ops Teams' Communications Skills Training
  • Salary study got me all preoccupied, but I was well-equipped to deal with it with help from Frank, Nancy, Katie, Candice, and Jeanne
  • It has been a challenging few weeks with two of my favorite volunteers experiencing really difficult and heartbreaking personal situations. I have thought a lot about them. To paraphrase Marilyn, she said, "Spend time with family and do the things important to you because you don't know how much time you have."
  • Boomer Works meeting

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Northern Michigan Vacation 2018

Relaxing for most of the family trip; a great vacation! See all photos and many videos here. 

Overall Highlights

  • Having Mom and Dad with us!
  • Bryan Lake and the paddle and row boats
  • Beach walks and rock art on the beaches
    A study in green
  • The Platte River Canoe and the German family
  • Traverse City and Left Hand Charley + lunch to go from Spanglish
  • East Arm Day: hike, Chateau Chantal, and Bonobo
  • Rollerblading
  • Downed trees and off roading
  • A visit to Tandem Ciders
    Love, love, love Zach
  • Watching Hoosiers on video tape!
  • Sara Gay, Nancy, and Edguardo!
  • Seeing Marilyn and the Fowles again
  • Rudbeckia and Burnt Marshmallow: the beers, ciders, car track for Zach, a huge bocci ball puddle, and a pig!

Funny 

  • The funny conversations re: White House Athletic shirts with the barista at Leelanau Coffee
  • The woman at the Market Basket who shared that her 20-year old daughter just texted to tell her about her impending wedding on Labor Day weekend (this was on Thursday before Labor Day) to a guy she's known three months. Her mom said, "She's impulsive like me." 
  • The salon being open at 6:51 am on a Sunday in Charlevoix with two women getting their hair done!
  • The two guys, donuts, chocolate milk in champagne glasses, and some sort of game at Boyne City Pavilion. We saw them first getting the donuts at the grocery. I assumed the dozen were for work. Oh, no just them.
  • There were really a lot of super-blonde and red-headed children in Northern Michigan!

Zach Highlights

  • The birthday party we crashed at the Lake Ann playground and the dinosaurs!
  • Jake from Memphis and his willingness to play with these random kids (Zach, Lacey, and Natalie)
  • A great time with Julie. He said on several occasions, "I love Julie's." He didn't learn as much good stuff (jumping, high fives, fist bumps) and possibly learned some attitude from the other kids....
  • Moomers excursion with Gamma and Bob. Mom thought he said he wanted "salted" ice cream, so salted caramel was what he got!
  • The keyboard at the Lake Ann rental house
  • Elk Lake picnic and rock throwing
  • Meeting and hanging out with Celestine
  • The bomberro
  • Loved Meli and she did not love him!
  • Charlevoix bridge, boats, pirate, and splash pad

Good Food & Drink

  • Pizza and Mackintosh cider in Lake Ann
  • Burgers on the grill
  • Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery's lemon lavender cookie and Oryana's cherry pecan cookies
  • The Hop Lot's mead
  • Mary's Asian Cuisine Food Truck
  • Edguardo's rice and fried garlic. He shaved with a knife and fried it. Yum!
Stormy Lake Michigan


Sunny Lake Michigan