You Better Be Sticking the Landing Up There...

So did I ever tell you that I thought our house was haunted after Henry was born? Totally.

The Sweet Spot

Weekends at the cabin are wonderful and also a little bit awful. They're wonderful for the lake views, for how the night fires make your sweatshirts smell, and for watching Henry squeal when he throws rocks, swims, rides in the boat or basically does anything else near that lake. But they're awful for the disruption they cause in my little guy's routine; particularly sleeping. He woke up on Friday night (Saturday morning?) around 1am and flopped around in his Pack'n'Play which is adjacent to my side of the bed. He kicked the wall, talked to his Puppy and poked me in the eye. By three in the morning, and with Dan somehow still snoring next to me, I really wanted to lean over and yell at him, "GO BACK TO SLEEP!", but instead I shrugged on my zip-up, lifted him out of portable crib and dragged us both out to one of the rockers facing the lake in the living room.

Each Peach Pear Plum

Besides this blissful weather we've been having in Minnesota lately, one if the things I love most about summer is the produce. I love how fresh and bright all the fruits and vegetables are, and how sweet and juicy they taste. Last Friday, Dan and I made fresh bruschetta topping with ripe Romas and basil from the Minnetonka Farmer's Market. We doubled my recipe and still almost ate the whole bowl while we sat by our fire bowl out on the patio. 

That tasty treat made me think of other summer treats, especially the ones with fruit.

Don't Ever Tell Me That You're Bored

I see my kid more than I see my husband these days. With summer still in full force, Henry and I spend a lot of time together, and have explored lots of places. I'll usually ask him, "Hank, wanna go on an adventure?" to which he always responds, "YEAH!" while simultaneously scampering off to find his shoes (although I asked him the other day if he wanted to do the dishes for me and he also said, "YEAH!" and ran away to go get something so maybe there's a communication gap there...). 

I've had a couple friends say that I come up with unique things to us to do, and have asked if I would share some of my ideas. Of course! Originally I was going to make this a three-part series, but I figured if you don't have kids, or already have a good routine going, you'd get sick of me fast. Instead, I've written a whooper of a post, so take a peek, bookmark it, and come back when you need fresh ideas because it's a novel. 

The Crowded Beach

Despite all the trees down in our neighborhood from last night's storm, today was a perfect beach day so Hank and I headed over to Shady Oak Beach to put our season passes to use. If you're in the West Metro area and haven't been before, you should definitely check it out (we have guest passes for this summer still if you want to join us one day!).

Forts Rule

This morning was super wet from the storm last night and it drizzled well past breakfast so we couldn't go to the park or even really go outside. 

Our awesome fort

ME: "What do you want to do Hank? You wanna play Legos?"
HENRY: *vigorously shakes head no*
ME: "You wanna read books?"
HENRY: *tosses Little Blue Truck into my lap*
ME: "You wanna go build a fort and read in the books inside?"
HENRY: "Yeah!"
ME: "With pillows and blankets?"
HENRY: "YEAH!" *instantly dropped the toys in his hands and plods quickly and unevenly towards the stairs*
So we made a fort to read books in on a rainy, gray morning.

Vacations are Hard Work

This week we took Henry to Duluth for his first vacation. Well, we took him to Milwaukee last summer to visit Auntie Allie, but he was barely 6 months old and spent most of the time in the stroller or car seat. This was going to be first trip that he could really experience and so I planned the crap outta it.