I haven't forgotten ERIN

Thursday, August 30:  So ... wee Erin is 10 weeks old already and I've barely posted anything at all about her! I haven't forgotten you, tiny granddaughter! It's just that usually when I come over, I am rather busy with the boys!

Dylan and Kelly co-parent very well I think. Dylan gets involved with every aspect of the caregiving. It's nice for me to see this! Did I tell you that Erin is NOT short like the boys? She is rather LONG actually! Perhaps she is just long in comparison to Aidan, who is super short--hard to say at this point! 

Erin smiled right into my eyes yesterday--for the very first time (for me). She is totally being nursed by Kelly (who is also nursing Aidan), she is gaining a nice amount of weight, has strong sturdy legs, and is a lot less floppy than she was! Who will you be, Erin Lucia? I can't wait to find out! I get to take care of her tonight for a little while--Dylan is taking Kelly out for her birthday! Hopefully, the boys will already be in bed and Aidan will be soundly sleeping. That's the hope, but I have no idea of this plan A is actually going to work. I may very well end up with three little kiddos who miss their folks and refuse to go to bed ... we'll have to see how it all plays out!

AJ's with Brendan

Thursday, August 30:  One-on-one's with Brendan are something I am very reluctant to let go of. Hopefully, I will NEVER have to! I love being with this child so much. He is a delightful little soul. It was a perfect weather day, so I decided to take Brendan over to AJ's. Kelly hooked me up with a thing called Groupon (amazing), so the entire 2.5 hour visit was $18 instead of $30. Thank you, Kelly!

We played mini-golf and had a riot. Brendan continuously called his golf club a hockey stick, and he wasn't terribly interested in playing by the rules. He had more fun chasing down his ball out of the most unusual places. He used his foot a lot, and his hands came in "handy" too when the ball just would not do what he wanted it to! We had so much fun. This is a very nice mini-golf course, by the way. 

 The new PGA champ!

 We played for quite awhile in the arcade, having the most fun with air hockey and Pacman but then it was time to race! We raced twice in a two-person vehicle with me putting my foot to the floor the whole way and Brendan telling me I was going VERY fast ...

 Brendan drove his own go-kart too ... super serious he was about the whole thing ...

 We also did the bumper boats. Brendan manned the squirt gun, and I steered the boat rather badly. I did give Brendan the opportunity to drive, but he was far more interested in seeing how far he could squirt that water.

 With our "tickets" Brendan picked out this Spitfire mini airplane. He was so cute putting it all together. It flew pretty nicely too ... we did, however, lose the prop in my car on the way home ... but that was OK!

I loved our time together so much today, Brendan! 

August is almost over ...

Monday, August 27:  It's the LAST week of August!!! Brendan returns to Trinitas next week as a full-time FIRST grader in a First/Second split ... so this will be my last Monday, for a little while, to have both boys. Sigh.  It was rainy this morning, so we drove to the E. GR Library for some playtime.

 It seems like MULTITUDES of caregivers had the same destination in mind because ... it was difficult to play with that many children all in close quarters ... sharing was super difficult!

Aidan, a natural enthusiast, was up for the entire thing ... he was so pleased to be there playing with big kids. He wandered around and entered into any and everything that he possibly could interact with--he's a highly social person. 

 Brendan, however, felt the frustration of too many kiddos keenly. It wasn't much fun to play at a small train table with a dozen other children (all conveniently cropped out of my photo).

 We migrated around the library and did find stuff to do that Brendan could do in a more solitary fashion ...

But then we decided to just play at my 110 degree, hot and humid house instead! Which was just fine.

Aidan fell asleep on the way home, so we opened all the windows in the car and let our baby nap for a little while--I parked the car so that I could peek in at him from inside the house. You know what cracked me up (and I should have taken a picture)? When Aidan DID wake up, he grabbed one of his favorite books, crossed his chubby legs and quietly looked at it. When I peeked to check on if he was awake or not, this was what I found. Darling little cutie.

 I brought him in, changed him, and plopped him in his little eating chair. I had made some gluten-free, garlicky pasta for him to eat. He did fairly well with it (he enjoys playing with it more than eating it however).  PLUS, he is a little "ham" and will pose for me whenever the camera points his direction.

 Isn't he the cutest little child?!?!

 Afterwards, we played some peek-a-boo with my swivel chair ...

 ... and just hung out for a little while. Brendan did request to see a "Buddie" movie, so we did watch a little bit about those five golden retriever puppies--a cute story for Brendan. I wish I could get him a dog!

AH--I'm not in charge of that whatsoever, and I fully understand Dylan's hesitancy (he wasn't raised with animals!) ... but still!

A few hours with the Saturday gang ...

Saturday, August 24:  Still re-cooping from my mini-vacation with Emma, I invited the Saturday crew over. We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and just hung out at the house for a few hours. Kaity and I built igloo houses for our pig family for a little while ...

 The boys played a few games of Chess, and were pretty evenly matched I think. I'm not sure WHY games have to be so ... competitive ... and it seems as if both the victor and the defeated are equally "bad" at the role they play! But I suppose this is a continuing life lesson ... how to be a humble winner and a respectable loser at a game, grow relationships, and build good things into each others' lives. It's a challenge!

 We continued our Bible lessons on the Kings and Prophets this week and talked about David returning Saul's captured spear to him, as well as King Saul's episode with the witch of Endor and how that played out for him. These are wonderfully rich Bible stories that tell us a lot about ourselves, even 3,000 years later! 

It is the following Friday as I "journal" this and I seriously cannot remember anything else that happened! I remember it being very hot, humid and rainy which prevented outdoor stuff ...

I DO remember, though, thinking how nice it was to have the kiddos here and that we had a nice time together. Emma was with us too, but not at all wanting her picture taken. I took note of that and complied!

Mini-Vacation: White Fish Point

Thursday, August 23:  Late afternoon.  I believe it was about 5:05 when we arrived out at the point. The tours had closed at 5:00!!! Rats. However, the grounds were opened until 5:30 as well as the gift shop (yes!) and the out-buildings. That certainly did not give us much time here.

I had used up 3GB of photo cards for my Cannon and was left with zero ... just my phone! I'm pretty lousy at phone photography, but this was the best I could do under the circumstance. I did erase 4 photos from one of my cards so that I could focus and take 4 camera pics--although I'm unsure now if any that I have posted here are actually from my camera. 

 So this is White Fish Point! The infamous site of the Edmund Fitzgerald's demise. Sad, sad piece of history--1975--and I remember it well. She was a beautiful ship. All hands were lost at sea in that terrible November storm.

 Here is a small monument to the Fitzgerald.

 The coastline up here, Lake Superior, is stunning.

 And another small memorial listing all on board who perished.

 Emma was pretty beat out by this time--I had dragged her too many places for one day I think! She hung in there, though, for the drive home--which was very important!

 Below is the keeper's house turned into a really delightful gift shop. We purchased quite a few trinkets there to treasure.

What a beautiful place! I MUST return soon ... no more 40 years waiting again!

PS   Our drive home began from this point at approximately 6:15 pm -- after I had walked up and down the beach taking every single angle I could possibly get of the lighthouse with my phone camera. We arrived in Mackinac City at 7:45--we did not get lost even once! We stopped in Mackinac because I had to pick up some fudge to bring home to my LOGOS class, we needed to gas up, and we were supposed to find a place to eat dinner. We never did eat dinner there, but got on the road at about 8:30 pm. Emma began recounting our trip bit by bit, each and every funny thing that happened. We ended up laughing so hard we were screaming! It was so much fun. We ended up eating in Lake City and I dropped Emma off at her house at about 12:40 am! What a wonderful time we had. Thanks so much, Jesus, for this dear granddaughter and for this trip we were able to share together.