Summer Vacation at Higgins Lake

Oh, summer, how I adore you.

Our annual summer holiday in Michigan was a stunning success. Every year I make a lame attempt to capture how much I love summer vacation, and never seem to do it justice. Its a small piece of my heart that expands tremendously with memories, hopes, contentedness and joy during the week that I get to suck up every moment of vacation. This year my happiness, our family's collective happiness, was nestled in my childhood memory stronghold of Higgins Lake.

Higgins Lake is where we went as kids to while away the summer hours. My mom's parents had friends with a cottage that we rented out every year, building the foundation of what I revel in as one of the most fantastic parts of my childhood. So, getting to come back here, FINALLY, made me both tremendously anxious (would it be as great as I remember as a child?) and exciting (imagine the possibility for my little boys!). To top it off, this year's holiday worked out to be during the 4th of July, setting the stage for a perfect trip. Sparklers, family, a beautiful crystal clear lake, and sunshine.

A recipe for amazing memories and tons of fun, if you ask me.

Higgins Lake Sunsets

So, we made our way from our home, to the long awaited destination of Higgins Lake.11 hours of travel, one overnight in Escanba, a happy baby and excited toddler, lots of potty stops, a few meals, snacks, songs, books read aloud and many tunes on the Ipod, landing us at 318 Cardinal Avenue.

Drew on the end of the dock, taking in the sunset upside down

Our travels went surprisingly well. As it turns out, Owen is great in the car, we barely heard a peep from him while driving, all happy giggles, ma ma ma mas, and coos scattered among a handful of naps. Collin to did exceptionally well, talking, looking at books, and save for the hourly potty stop, rode along like a champ. After leaving home on Thursday evening, we finally arrived in Higgins Lake on Friday afternoon, ready for vacation to begin.
While we were there, we were lucky enough to borrow my cousin Lee's boat, formally known as the SS Minnow. The boat itself is nothing to write home about, but, we didn't really care. A boat is a boat, so we fueled it up, attached a tube and spent a couple of lazy afternoons bouncing around the lake. Collin and Owen each got their first boat ride as well. Collin's first time out was right before naptime, and the soothing crash of the waves in the boat put him right to sleep. He wasn't on board more than a few minutes, and down he went to dreamland in daddy's lap.



Nearly every night we got to enjoy a fantastic fire, hosted right on the shores of the lake, which made for unforgettable sunsets. We really were very spoiled with how wonderful it was, the weather was amazing, the skies clear and sun warm, and there was lots of room to run and play. We even enjoyed a few fluffer-nutter and chocolate hobo pies (my own creation, thank you very much, and they were delicious!)
Mmmm, fluffernutters and chocolate!

As soon as we arrived Collin quickly found, and remembered Jayla. From that moment on, they were two peas in a pod. Playing together all week long. For at least a couple of nights we let Collin stay up later than normal to hangout by the fire and do a few sparklers. He loved it. As you can see, his bedtime was on temporary vacation.


The week was filled with fun around every corner and tons and tons of food. I don't think I've consumed that many calories in a week in years. It was outrageous (as any good vacation should be). We spent our time playing, riding bikes, swimming, boating, playing in the sand, volleyball, ladderball, euchre... (you get the idea). The most important piece of the week was that I didn't do any work. I barely touched a computer. It was fantastic (and rather strange upon returning to see how much I missed socially as a function of being disconnected).

For Owen, his first vacation was filled with many hands to hold him, hugs, kisses and happiness. He sucked up all the time he could with Nana and Papa, overcome with giggles time and time again each day. Now that he's 6 months old (which happened to occur on the fourth of July) we felt okay about taking him outdoors with sunscreen on, so the vacation was the first time he really got to spend a significant portion of time outside, and he loved it. We took naps in the hammock, woke up each morning to a smile from all of our family, ate his fair share of sweet potatoes and pears, and rounded out the week with teething, teething and more teething.




Owen had his first taste of watermelon, and true to form, he loved it. This little boy things food is the bees knees, so it was no surprise that he sucked on the watermelon for as long as he could. When we took it away he cried, which showed how much he really liked it, since he rarely cries for any reason. Owen also got to spend some quality time with his godmother, Auntie Andrea, as she was able to fly in from NC for a few days. It was great to see her and here about her adventures in North Carolina and Florida. Collin sucked up her attention as well, learning how to cast and use his first fishing pole before taking it to the docks.

The fourth of July arrived on Monday, with Andrea and Erik there to help us celebrate. The day was perfectly warm, allowing for tubing, playing in the sand and soaking up the rays, followed by an evening of sparkler fun. I love sparklers.









Owen also got to meet Uncle Nathan for the first time, which was great, since Nathan wasn't able to come to the baptism. Owen seemed pretty content to hang out with Uncle Nate, even if he was dressed like a swimming cowboy :) Collin took a page out of Uncle Nate's book and one night put on his cowboy boots to show off his dexterity. I think he made it about 3 steps before he declared he could

Nathan brough the vespa with him, and Collin found it fascinating. Anytime he could get near it he wanted to pretend to ride it, sitting on the seat, holding the handle bars and hanging out like the wind was at his face and he didn't have a care in the world.
Next to the Vespa, was Papa's motorcycle, which was equally entertaining for both boys. Collin and Jayla rode tandem while Owen got his own little ride.

But, when it came down to it, the only "bikes" the kids were riding was in the Burley behind Drew's bicycle. Jayla and Collin rode together and loved it.


Across the week we tried desperately hard to absorb every moment of happiness, and before we knew it, it was Friday night, and we were preparing to head home. Higgins lake was everything that I had hoped it would be, for me, as well as for the boys. Collin likely created his first memories that he'll be able to remember, and I took a walk down memory lane- visiting the old cottage and having deja vu moments again and again, remember, the feelings, sights and sounds of the Higgins Lake of my childhood.

So, to Higgins Lake, to the fantastically warm and clean waters, the happy boys and fabulous family, to make the most of a concentrated week, celebrating where our lives have lead us. Reveling in every moment, hanging on to the bits that represent sheer contentedness.

We will miss you.

Until we meet again.

90 years young

Are we in Michigan, momma?

On Father's day I had every intention of being home with the boys and Drew. Really, I did. I was just coming off a weekend of presenting away from home and looking forward to Sunday with my boys. But, in the back of my little brain there was a little nudge. I also knew that on the same day my Grandma Wackerle would be celebrating her 90th birthday with a big shebang where nearly all of the grandkids would be attending.

Now in a normal family this wouldn't be a big deal. It probably happens all the time, but in the Wackerle family, where there are something like 80+ grandkids, great grand kids and 4 great great grand kids, its rather amazing when we all show up in one location. I mean, you can't even have this party at a home, you have to rent space there are so many of us.As it turned out, my dad, one of the six boys in the Wackerle family, was the only one without any grandchildren going to be there. It just so happened that I was away at a conference, my sister was in Key West working and Nathan was in Indiana working. We were doing a crappy job of representing. I think every other family had kids there, and all of the immediate grandchildren would be there, sans four or five (three of which were us!) So, the little nudge in my brain encouraged me, at the last minute to see if it was possible. A whole series of things fell into place, I left the conference early, I found a flight that would work with the timing of things, my mom could come get me, I had enough frequent flier miles to purchase the ticket for free...it all came together. I just had to reconcile leaving Drew on father's day and feeling bad about being gone another two days.
But, as I already knew, I have an amazing husband, and he was so very supportive. Go, he said, we'll be fine. So, off I went, Owen in tow for a surprise visit to Michigan. Because it was so last minute I called my mom and had her keep quiet about it (which is no easy task for my mom!) and surprised my dad and my grandma for her party (which made her cry!). It was a great, but speedy little visit.
While we were there Owen got to meet the other 4 babies born between January and May of 2011, Owen being the oldest. Here he is with his second cousin, Grayson, my cousin Amy's son, who is about a month younger than Owen.
Here are the mommies and the babies: Amy and Grayson, Owen and I, Danielle and Chloe, Tracey and Reid and Amber and Cole. Busy busy busy.

Owen did fantastic during the trip, sleeping on the plane rides and having tons of fun at nana and papa's house while we visited. During the party I got to visit with a handful of cousins I had either never met, or hadn't seen in ages, making it more like a giant family reunion.

I sure hope to be as enthusiastic about life, travel and happiness as my grandma is at 90. She fairly amazing. Did I mention she just got back recently from a trip to Israel. You know, still jet setting at 90.

I think I'll plan a trip to Spain again, when I'm 95 and Drew's 98 .

Happy birthday, Grandma.
We love you.

Grand Old Day!

This summer has been BUSY. You'll hear all about it in future posts, but to start the summer off right, we went down to the Grand Old Day parade on Grand Avenue in St Paul. Its days like these that I am so thankful for where we live, St Paul is such an enriching community with so much diversity, entertainment and support for the development of little boys like ours.


The parade was on a perfect summer day, sunshine and happiness brimming from the streets of St Paul. Collin was very excited to see the firetrucks, police cars and floats, and as an added surprise there were dozens of dogs in the parade, and Collin was amazed that he could watch them all walk by and pet a few.

Grand Old Day is put together to celebrate the kick off of summer, and as a result, its a mish-mash of floats, cars, candy throwing vehicles, odds and ends, cats, dogs, pianos...the list goes on. Around St Paul there are a group of folks who are the real ghostbusters. I mean, really, they are ghostbusters. They have the car, the outfits, even the little boxes attached to their packs that trap the ghosts, and they show up for every parade in town during the summer. Here they are again...
This year in St Paul there is a public arts installment program that hosts pianos around town placed in parks for everyone to play. There are something like 40 pianos all throughout town, tuned and painted by donating organizations. Some are colored by kiddos, other painted with motifs. Here are three of them on a float before they reach their final destinations in St Paul.
Collin, when not chasing candy (that daddy ate), sat perched on Drew's shoulders, while Owen and I sat curbside enjoying the nice breeze and great views. Grand Old Day's kicked off the summer the right way, heading us toward oodles of fun in the coming months. Its days like these that I remember exactly why we live here.
I love St Paul.

Food!

Owen recently turned 6 months old (which is another post in this series) and a week or so before he did we decided to start some solid foods. With Collin I was so excited and anxious for this milestone, food, hooray, excitement! But with Owen I held out for as long as I could, I'm not all that excited about seeing Owen grow up so fast, so I'm hanging on where I can. Not to mention that giving foods before 6 months really doesn't serve much of a purpose for babies. Here's why to delay solids.

As it turns out, babies are born with an "open" gut, and it doesn't close until 6 month or so, which means that their bodies don't utilize food in the same way an adult's does- until the gut is closed. Anyhow, we were 5 days away from 6 months, and I didn't want to start while we were on vacation (which happened to be when Owen turns 6 months old), so, enter the pears!
Pears. Its true. We skipped right over rice cereal. I'm not a fan of the flavorless, bland, starch. It really doesn't add anything, nutritionally and there are a few new studies that link giving rice cereal with obesity later in life. So, we're sans cereal, and heavy into fruits and veggies.
The first week we just gave Owen pears and watched him carefully for allergies or issues with bowel movements, when all was clear we moved on the sweet potatoes, then carrots and now we are on to peas. Along the way Owen has been so excited. He admires food from afar- and constantly watches us whenever we eat as though yelling with his eyes "please, please, can you share some?!?"
After his first few bites, Owen quickly figured out that food is delicious and anxiously anticipated each bite. We started with 1/3rd of a jar at dinner, and now is to a 1/2 jar. He gets so excited for dinner, and yells at us in his sassy little yell when I don't get the food in his mouth fast enough.


Once we were confident in his liking of food we added fruit in a mesh bag to suck on-- he loved tasting watermelon, mango and banana.

So basically, we're halfway through a cornucopia of flavors with no end it sight. He loved the food, and as you can tell by his expanding set of chins, he's not missing any meals, solids or breastmilk.

Onward we go.
Begrudgingly on my part, but with exuberant enthusiasm from Owen. Its a simultaneous push and pull, I want him to slow down, and he can shovel in the food, and experiences of life fast enough.

Late.

backward, behind, behind time, behindhand, belated, blown, delayed, dilatory, eleventh-hour, gone, held up, hung up, in a bind, in the lurch, jammed, lagging, last-minute, missed the boat, out of luck, overdue, postponed, put off, remiss, slow, stayed, strapped tardy, too late, unpunctual.

Call it what you will. Blogging has gotten away from me.
I'm so far behind I've almost come full circle.
But I'm getting back on the horse.
I know you are all itching for new photos, so I promise to get back to blogging. Keep your eyes and browsers updated though, because I'll probably post six or so new posts this week just to catch up.

too-da-loo for now, off to write another post...