Michigan Summer

The iconic bear fountain at the Detroit Zoo

I had the opportunity to visit my home state of Michigan twice this summer. The first visit was unplanned, although not unexpected; when we flew home for my Grandma's funeral. It was obviously a sad trip, but we still managed to do some fun things and show the kids some cool Michigan sights. We (okay, mostly my parents) took the boys to a few different playgrounds - there are so many great ones in the area - and we made lots of trips to the library. And I must say, that while I do love our local East Coast libraries, the libraries that I grew up with are amazing. But don't just take my word for it, take the President's...last year, the WBTPL was the recipient of the National Medal, the highest honor a library or museum can achieve. (This year's recipient? The Mystic Aquarium. It's like excellence just follows me around.) Marc and my dad also took Jack to see some cars being built, because that's about as Detroit as it gets. So, even though our trip home was for an unfortunate reason, we still had some fun times.

Chillin' at "The Michigan House"

With Grammy Carol at Hess-Hathaway Park

So many yogurt choices at Hiller's Market

Spinning around at Marshbank Park

My second trip home was for a far more auspicious occasion, my lifelong friend Amy's baby shower. Marc wasn't able to join us since he'd taken a week off of work for our trip in June, but Jack and Sam and I, along with my mom, flew home again in July for a wonderful visit. I had a great time visiting with Amy and many of our other best buds, both at Amy's baby shower and her birthday celebration dinner the night prior.

Amy and I as mamas then...

...and mamas now.

I also got to spend some time with some other friends and family members, and Jack and Sam were able to play with some of their little Great Lake State buddies. It really was a perfect trip, I just wish we had more time to visit even more old friends and family members, and enjoy more of all the wonder that Michigan has to offer.

The butterfly house at the Detroit Zoo

Ty and Jack thought this huge snake was soooo cool.

Carousel at the Detroit Zoo

Swimming in Union Lake

Playing around on Grandpa Carl's boat

Visiting with friends at Indian Springs Metropark

My little water baby stayed pretty dry at the splash pad.

Spinning around at the splash pad

Bopping around on the playground

Niantic, Niantic, Niantic...A Cute Small Town

We recently had my mom in town, and while she was here, we decided to take the boys to Niantic, Connecticut for a morning of fun. We started our day at the Book Barn, a super cool used bookstore housed in (go figure) an old barn and outpost buildings. It's a really great place for book lovers of all ages, but they have some unique things for the kids that Jack and Sam really enjoyed. There are other surprises too, like a pet goat, and several cats wandering around. We had so much fun there, just exploring the property and shopping for books, and of course playing on the riding toys and pirate ship playground!

Little firefighters at the Book Barn

Saying hello to the resident goat...hope he doesn't like to eat books!

The playhouse at the Book Barn playground

Sam loves his slides!

Sam and Mommy

The boys had a blast at the playground!

After we left the Book Barn, we headed right down the road to the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut. It was our first time there, and we'll definitely be back. The kids had a great time both indoors and out, playing and learning at the various exhibits. Thanks to Grammy Carol for a fun day, and especially for the visit!

Captain Jack

Captain Sam

Little firefighters at the Children's Museum

Water table fun on a hot day! 

Grammy and Sammy making music

This is why big brothers were invented.

The Red, White, and Blue

The 4th of July was a very rainy day for us this year, thanks to Tropical Storm Arthur who was travelling up the coast. Cookouts and fireworks all over New England were cancelled and postponed. We managed to still have a somewhat fun day, dodging the rain all day and visiting friends that evening. 

Jack was a captive audience for the weather radio.

Marc and Jack discuss storm systems while the boys hunker down in their bunker.

Thankfully, the rest of the weekend was absolutely gorgeous after the storm passed. We went up to the lake and participated in the Independence Day boat parade, as is our tradition. Not too many others joined us this year, though, we were one of three boats! That evening Marc took the boys to see the fireworks down in Watch Hill, and I'm sad that I missed them because he said that it was very impressive...they could see the firework shows from Long Island, Block Island, Misquamicut, Weekapaug...all over the coast! We laid low the rest of the weekend and just worked around the house. It was great having my mom around to visit with us and help out with the kids, and it was so fun having Marc home with us for a 3-day weekend. 

I also want to give a special shout-out to my Grandpa Ovren, who passed away years ago when I was 21. He wasn't born on the 4th of July, but awfully close on July 6, 1914. His 100th birthday would have been yesterday, and that is so amazing to me. How much the world must have changed in those 100 years. I sure do miss my grandpa, and wish he was here to talk about life a century ago.

Now: Father's Day 2014

Shoulder Shirts: The official attire of Father's Day

Father's Day sure was a busy one for us this year! We got to spend a teeny part of it with my dad in Michigan...when he drove us to the airport at 4am for our flight back to Rhode Island. Still, it was nice to have been able to spend the weekend with him (although we were in Michigan for a sad reason - my grandma's funeral - we did manage to have a nice time visiting with family). The boys were really excited to give their gifts to Marc this year. For Jack's first Father's Day, we had made a photo book for Marc with pictures of the two of them. Sam wanted a similar book with photos of himself and Marc, so we made one for Sam to give his daddy this year. Jack had insisted that we go to the liquor store and buy some beer for daddy because he remembered the little boxes of wine that I stuck in Marc's stocking at Christmas, so Marc also received a gift of alcohol from his 3-yr-old, along with a new swimsuit.

We spent the afternoon with Marc's family at a cookout in his parents' backyard. Although we were tired from waking up at 3am that day, we had a nice time with the fathers in Marc's life, his dad and two grandfathers.

Then: Father's Day 2013

Marc's first Father's Day as a father of two was spent much like my first Mother's Day as a mother of two...at a cookout in our backyard with our Rhode Island family. Which really is one of our favorite places to be. In fact, we long ago started referring to our backyard as "Marc Park", so the boys got Marc a cute Marc Park sign for his Father's Day gift. I also had the clever idea of making a stepping stone from each boy with their little footprint on it. That turned out to be a disaster, the plaster dried before I could do anything to it, so no stepping stones for Daddy.

Some special fathers (mothers, too!)

Still, we had a fun day with our family, despite my foiled attempt at a homemade gift. I have said it many times, but I can't say it enough: Jack and Sam have an amazing daddy. We are all so fortunate to have him in our lives, and even though he can drive us nuts (well, maybe just me), we would not trade him for the world.

Twinsies in their orange shoulder shirts
(Guess who coined the term "shoulder shirt"? Not the toddler...)

In Like Finn

My first hat choice for Sam got vetoed.

This year, Sam got to experience his first Huck Finn Day. Last year, we were on a family and friends vacation to New Hampshire, so our boys had to miss the Huck Finn experience. I honestly love this event. I am a sucker for free entertainment for the kiddos, and this one is just so darn cute.

Biggest and Littlest

One day, our kids will be MORTIFIED that we are their parents.

This was the first year that someone in our family actually caught a fish...Kasey pulled in a whopper that had to be at least 4 inches long! It was also a successful year for the Huck Finn lookalike contest. I promise that I am not some loony pageant mom, but give me the opportunity to dress my kids up like a classical fiction character and I'm all over it. Jack really wanted to win "Best Looking Boy", as he called it, but our little Sammy won the prize (Cutest Huck Finn). It's okay, though, because Jack won the prize his first year. Jack received a fishing pole as part of his prize, but no such luck for Sam. That's okay, though, we had a very fun morning and made plenty of happy memories!

Jack's favorite part of the day was making a paper airplane.

Kate and her boys play a giant game of checkers.

Fishin' Family

Showing off his prize-winning fish (not pictured: the fish)

Horse-drawn wagon ride

Lookalike contest