A Trip to Rend Lake

We tentatively set a goal of camping once per month this summer and our June camping trip happened to also fall on my birthday. Not a bad way to spend a birthday, at least in my opinion. Our campsite was a revolving door of sorts...first we camped with Grandma and Grandpa Lesinger. They actually arrived on Thursday, while we showed up on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, the Seneczyns arrived to spend the day and Grandma and Grandpa left. The Seneczyns left once the kiddos were ready for naptime and when Wade woke up, the Haarmanns were setting up camp. There were lots of fun people to play with at all times!

Wade is a little bigger than last time we used this backpack.

He loved playing and splashing in the waves at the lake.

Wade's First Visit to Grant's Farm

We walked over to Grant's Farm today, something we like to do at least once a year. We didn't make it last summer (gee, did we have reason to be busy?) so we made sure to go early this year. It was fun so we'll have to go back before summer is over. Plus there's nothing better than free fun!

The goats were fun until they got too aggressive.

 

 

If only this lil' horse had a saddle.

It was a good day and a great weekend. We are glad summer is right around the corner.

May Camping

We chose a May camping weekend several months ago and thought - the weather should be great by then! How wrong were we! The weekend of May 13-15 was dreary, cold, and rainy. We persevered and had a good time nonetheless.

We camped with our friends, the Ferchens and the Ungers, in Thousand Hills State Park in Kirksville, Missouri. This made for a good meeting point, since the Ferchens live in Des Moines.

Wade did a great job. Sometimes I thought he should have been too chilly, but he kept his hood up and got to sleep inside the cozy 70 degree camper. We tried not to rub that in to our tent-camping friends too much.

"Potluck dinners are the best!"

Cards Game

Taking your kids to the baseball game may be overrated. Some of you are probably arguing - you have had great experiences with your kids at the game, no doubt. Well Wade's a trooper, but I can't say that our wonderful Mother's Day trip to the game was really worth it. It was a sunny, beautiful day - but in direct sunlight, that still translates to HOT. And Wade got bored fast. I think Ryan is now content that he has taken Wade to a game for this season and we probably won't need to do it again until next year.

So, what to do when you leave the game early?  Duh...

A Happy Easter

Ryan realized it first - in Wade's first year he experienced two Cards opening days and zero Easters. Well, his first Easter finally came around. I'm not sure he really cared, but he did like seeing the bunny. We had a surprise sighting of him at Fazzoli's a few nights ago and a planned visit to see him yesterday.

On Saturday we visited Purina Farm's Easter Village with Grandma and Grandpa Lesinger. None of us had ever been there and while the farm was like any other farm, we really enjoyed the dog show.  Wade loved watching the dogs run and jump.

Watching the amazing dog show!

This bunny is nice and doesn't smell like breadsticks...

On Sunday Wade and I had our own little Easter egg hunt.

We had brunch at Grandma and Grandpa Brueckmanns' house.

Wade's First Birthday Party

It was easy to choose a theme for Wade's birthday party because he loves our dog, Annie.  She was the inspiration for the invitation and for many of the details throughout the party.

Even though Wade was too little to participate in games, I wanted to make sure there were some fun activities for the older kids at the party.  The first step when you got to the party was to visit the dog groomer.  This is where you received your doggie ears and face paint.

From there you went to the kitchen to make your dog tag which was made out of shrinky dinks.

Backyard games included: Bone Hunt, which was similar to an Easter egg hunt; and Feed the Dog, which involved tossing milkbones into a dog's mouth.

 Wade watched everyone playing games, as he sat on Aunt Chris's lap.

After games, it was time for cupcakes and ice cream.  Wade didn't take one bite of cake or one lick of icing.  He ate pineapple instead. 

It was an unseasonably warm day for spring, and while we might be biased, a very fun time.  Wade was a very good boy all afternoon and we hope the other kids (and adults) had fun too.  Wade is enjoying his new toys very much and while I had a blast planning his birthday party, I'm sort of glad it's over until next year.

Wade is One Year Old Today

Bear with me, it's 6 am and I haven't taken the "block picture" yet.  I am behind on blog postings though and I wanted to make sure that I got this one out here TODAY...not tomorrow, and certainly not next week.  I have spent too much of late March planning for Wade's birthday party (see next blog post, I imagine) and so I haven't posted anything.

Everyone says things like "I can't believe it's already been a year."  True.  "Are you surprised at how much you love your baby?"  Duh.  "Is parenting keep you very busy?"  Nah, we just stick him in Annie's kennel and go about our days.  So in some ways, I don't find anything too surprising.  What I am most surprised about is just how FUN Wade is.  Ryan and I have such a good time playing with him and coaxing belly laughs out of him.  It's always fun to watch him quickly learn how things work and to mimic the things we do.

And with that, I hear Wade waking up.  Soon he'll be off to the babysitter and I'll start my day of cleaning for the party.  Oh, and I hear there will be a lot of "Remember where we were this time last year..."  I'm already remembering the pain of 6 a.m. on April 8, 2010.  The joy didn't come until 9:15 p.m....which of course was worth all the pain and more.