Fresh Picked

Well, after a rough night last night we got off to a relatively smooth start this morning. The kids had pancakes and eggs for breakfast then went out to pick raspberries from the garden. We re-packed Nora and Otto, Lincoln chose to stay behind and hang out in Bay while the big and the baby headed to Fremont for their own special time with Grandma & Pap. Nora made sure to save some of the berries to bring and share with Grandma & Pap. After I dropped them off and headed back to Bay, Lincoln's first day of being an only child began. Admittedly we didn't do much because it was mid afternoon when I got back and he was really due for a low key day but he enjoyed all the extra attention none the less.

Bugging Out

Nora was up and at 'em this morning and went to Sunday school with the rest of the kids. While she was at church and Kyle was out for a run, Lincoln took advantage of some time out on the play set, where we found this cool Katydid hanging out. The original plan was for Nora & Otto to head to Fremont with Susan this afternoon but we had a little change of plans. Nora wasn't feeling up to going today and that mixed with the over the top level of tired that she is...we decided to take this evening to get a good night sleep and re-approach tomorrow. Kyle had to fly out of Columbus this evening so we headed that way to drop him off at the airport. After we said our goodbyes for the week we stopped over and Marty and Kristin's to drop some things off. We ended up eating dinner there and the kids had a chance to play some. We kept with the theme of the week and left there later than we'd intended and got home later than I had hoped. As I had anticipated the tiredness and lack of car napping caught up to Nora and to say bedtime was a disaster on all 3 fronts would be a large understatement. Eventually, thanks to the help of Facetime and pure exhaustion things settled down and everyone passed out. Now it's fingers crossed that there's some sleeping in and recalibrating done tomorrow!

Cousins Time

Our goal was to be in Bellefontaine in time for Kate, Will, Allie and Andrew's swim meet this morning but we didn't get on the road in time. Once we got there though, the kids got busy playing immediately. It was a really fun afternoon and this evening after a delicious dinner and before bed all the kids got to swim in the neighbor's pool. They all had a blast jumping off the diving board and diving after stuff on the bottom of the pool. Once everyone was showered off they had a s'mores snack and Nora headed to bed with Allie for their slumber party!

Revolving Door!

The progression of a night. Lincoln asked if he could snuggle tonight and then fell asleep in the sweetest way with his hand on my arm. Otto was up a bunch and ANGRY so eventually he came in and fell asleep on top of me. After I got him put back down in his pack n play in the other room I fell back to sleep but it wasn't long before Nora climbed on into bed having had a dream about something she didn't like. Sooo...I didn't get much sleep last night. Kyle got in this afternoon and this evening and tonight was the Ruth Street block party. The kids had a blast playing and so did Kyle haha! So much so that he's still over there playing.

That's a Big Duck!

This morning Nora, Otto, my mom and I headed over to Fremont to pick up Lincoln from his special time with Grandma & Pap. There were lots of hugs and kisses and then 5/6 of us hustled into the cars to head to the clock store! We wanted to make it by noon in case all the clocks were set the same and there would be chime time. Turns out, they weren't all set the same so it was actually more of a game to figure out which clock was chiming and to find it before it stopped because it could be 3 ding-dongs or 12 or 1 or anything in between! I have a hunch that a lot of Fremont trips are going to have clock store requests now! After the clock store Ken met back up with us for lunch at "the drink restaurant" in Fremont. After we stopped back and packed up we made our first stop just a couple minutes down the road. CARWASH! Fun fact, there is a fantabulous carwash with rainbow soap and all the fun things on 53 by Walmart! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the kids. If I'm being honest i'll probably go back before we leave. Haha! Next stop was downtown Sandusky to go in search of a giant rubber duck that was said to be hanging out in the harbor. It didn't take long to spot it and it is GIANT! I was surprised to see it's head poking up over the top of buildings! We snapped some pictures and then set off to find the Greetings from Sandusky mural - success! The kids weren't in much of a mood for pictures and exploring so we didn't hang out too long. Shockingly they were all on board with going for ice cream! We stopped at Toft's Dairy and their small ice cream cones are like 5 scoops high!!!! So much ice cream and so good! After our treat we headed home and all three kids fell asleep on the drive. Another successful adventure day in the books!! Tomorrow Kyle comes!

Adventuring with Grumps

Nora has been talking for months about how she wanted to take my dad to the top of the Marblehead Lighthouse while we were home this summer. He'd never been and she had and she wanted to climb the 77 stairs with him. So, we made a plan to do it today. First stop on our adventure with Grumps was the lighthouse and we did it! We climbed all the stairs, circled the top and made it all the way back down! Unlike the last time Nora and I did it, she was a little more leery this this time, but held it together and did it! I wore Otto in the pouch, he got a little antsy before we went up and a little antsy while we were at the top but he was VERY patient while we were doing the work of navigating the swirly and very see through metal stairs. It was a REALLY clear day and we were able to see a lot! It was also really comfortable out so it wasn't crazy hot at any point. After we checked out the lighthouse and the park we went over to Bay Point. Nora had a blast in the water and Otto couldn't get enough of bouncing in the waves and then scooting around in the sand. The kids showered off and then we headed to Dairy Dock for ice cream. It was a pretty perfect adventure day with both kids asleep before we even got to the highway - which is always mission accomplished!

Lincoln is still having fun in Fremont and every time I hear the clock ding I smile! I'm so happy he's getting special time on his own and having so much fun, but I'm also super excited to go pick him up tomorrow! I miss the little guy!

Out and Shout

There was a lot of Otto silliness this morning as Nora went from one outfit to another to another, determined to test out all of her new dresses. While Otto rested up after a morning of hard playing, Nora my mom and I decided to go and see if we could get some Kelsey Elizabeth Ice. The cart was missing again today so we asked and found out that the ice machine is broken so they had to abandon their little cart. Nora was disappointed but she did get a couple macarons instead. After that we went to the sunglasses store to try on sunglasses but that was our last stop. Things went south pretty quickly...I could have approached our visit to the store a little better but I think Nora was tired and it got the best of her. We eventually recovered and went on to have a fun rest of the afternoon and evening around the house. I wish we could have done more today but we have some fun plans for tomorrow!