Locking Up Again

We were back at the Soo Locks yesterday. I think it is probably our favorite outdoor place in town. There aren't any swings or slides or other playground equipment, but Abby seems pretty happy just playing on the staircase by the fountain and waving to all the boats that go through. Yesterday she got to wave to 5 boats in the two hours we were there (okay... technically 4 since one tug boat/barge combo went through twice). The park is a great place to just lay in the grass and enjoy a picnic. It is the softest grass in town. So yesterday we joined our playgroup friends for some time in the park. Abby and I remembered our bubbles and sidewalk chalk, but we were the only ones who brought stuff, so we didn't get to play much with the bubbles. We did, however, make some amazing sidewalk art with our chalk. Lots of lambs, bunnies, and chickens. And Abby scraped her pinkie finger running on the sidewalk (and falling from going to fast). If you ask her about it she will tell you she has marker on her finger.



















Abby has become very aware of things that hurt lately. It seems like every five minutes she is coming up to me and pointing to something to tell me "it hurts mom." Most of the things are bug bites, since the warm weather seems to have hatched out like a million mosquito. Our backyard isn't terrible compared to most of our friends yards, but it is still pretty bad. She is also still working on getting her last four molars, so I'm sure that doesn't help with the hurting.

We are leaving for Fargo, ND and cousin Jack's house in 8 days. Abby is pretty excited! We are looking forward to seeing Glenn, Melissa, and Jack and introducing Olivia to more of her really awesome family. It should be a good crash course for Jack on what it's like to have a baby around 24 hours a day. He is going to be a great big brother soon!

Park Playdate

We went on a park play date with our friends today. Abby and Autumn (AJ) had a great time riding in Abby's wagon on the way to the park. I almost had a heart attack trying to pull two girls while wearing Olivia. They got a little heavy in the hot sun (it got to 79 degrees on my thermometer today - and the thermometer is in the shade).
Abby and Autumn ran all over around the locks. It's a good thing the whole place is fenced in and has only two exits. There were quite a few times when we weren't really sure where the girls had run off to, but since we could see the only exit available to them, there is nothing too dangerous, and no one else was around we figured we'd let them enjoy some independence for a little bit.
Olivia hung out in the shade of the wagon canopy, which thankfully is totally easy to pop on and off. She also checked out the newest foster child to live with our friends. He's a little boy who is almost two weeks old. It was almost like her first little play date too, since we let them play together after Patrick finished his bottle.

Abby has also been enjoying her little pool in the backyard and has been riding down the slide in her wet bathing suit. It has been beautiful outside. It has been close to 80 the last two days, which makes for some really wonderful outside time. Unfortunately it also makes Abby loathe nap time. She didn't even nap on Sunday or Monday. That is not something I am going to allow to occur on a regular basis.

Hello Old Friend

Abby wanted to take a walk after dinner tonight and we wound up down by the locks, since she has a little bit of her Great Grandpa Steve in her and loves looking for the freighters. While we were down there she ran into her old friend - the Rodger Blough. She has some history with the old guy and a very nice picture of the first time they met.Olivia wasn't quite as impressed with the freighters. She slept through our whole adventure. It's too bad since we ended up watching three huge boats on the lower river and saw two pass within yards of each other. We also got to see a little tug boat taking things off the Rodger Blough while it was moving and putting more supplies on. Maybe it was laundry, or food... Either way Abby enjoyed her boat adventure.

Visitors

We had some fun guests today - Uncle Jim & Aunt Ruth along with all their clan, Sarah & Wade, Debbie & Cody, James, and Joel. We saw a huge freighter and had lunch at The Antler's. All in all a lot of fun! Abby really loved having Joel around.

Manly Man & Girlie Girl Playdate

Left to right: Abby (Little Abby), A.J., Maddie, Abby (Big Abby), and Mackenzie

Last night Abby, Steve and I hosted a Manly Man and Girlie Girl play date for Abby's friends and their parents. We all had a great time and Steve and his friend Trevor did a little work on the plumbing. We took a chance to get a picture of Abby and all her friends before Mackenzie and her parents move to Kalamazoo - they are sure a cute bunch of little girlies.

Since today was a beautiful day (although a little chilly at only 67-ish degrees) Abby and I took advantage of the nice afternoon and walked downtown to get ice cream and eat it while watching a big freighter go through the Soo Locks. Abby is finally starting to recognize that the huge thing in front of her is a real boat, so it is a lot more fun. She had a great time pushing her stroller around the park at the Locks as well. I got lots of strange looks from people who just saw me and the empty stroller and couldn't see her walking behind it pushing with me. Oh well... she was happy and that makes me happy.

I've gotten the morning sickness down to just evening sickness, which is nice, but I'd still like to be done with it. It would be really nice to go to sleep without feeling icky. Abby and I are going to take a big nap this afternoon (I hope) after all that walking.

Tot Swim Class - Day 3 and 4

Abby was not too happy last Friday at swim class. She could see Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy from the pool and really, really wanted one of them to save her.

After a wonderful weekend of company (Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, Auntie Em, and Auntie Hannah) we are back to the normal routine, and back to updating you all on Abby's latest escapades. We had swim class on Friday and again today. Friday was a long class since Abby could see Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy during the class. She really, really wanted one of them to come and rescue her from the pool. But she did make it through the whole class with only a few whimpers and did everything that I asked her to do. Today's class was great - she was happy, smiled and waved to everyone, and was having a blast. She was being the star of the swim class show.

We had lots of great adventures with my family this weekend. Abby took them on a trip to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. We checked out the mall so that Hannah and Emily could have some new clothes for school that no one else would have. We also checked out Crystal Falls, a really beautiful fall right outside Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Abby went all the way to the top of the waterfall (on my back). We also checked out the casino buffet in town, watched part of the pow-wow, saw the fireworks, watched boats coming through the locks, took Hannah and Emily to stick their toes in Lake Superior, and saw the fireworks. Needless to say, we were pretty well exhausted by the end of the weekend. But it was definitely worth it.

"Daddy Day"

We try to make Saturday a day for Abby to enjoy lots of fun things with her dad, since he is at work during the week. Today Abby took her dad to the hardware store, to the park at the Soo Locks, and for a lunch date at the McDonald's playland. She had a whole lot of fun, especially at playland. She doesn't go into the structure yet, but she enjoys watching the other kids and walking around on the rubberized flooring.

We only got a couple good photos today - she was walking around so much that the camera couldn't focus fast enough (I was using my manual focus lens to try and get a softer effect. We saw our first freighter of the season today too, but we didn't stay long enough to watch it go all the way through the lock. Abby got too excited and was almost running, so she tripped and scraped up her little lip. We're going to have to try to get some more cute photos tomorrow.

When Are We Leaving?

Abby got mail today. She enjoys getting mail because she is too little to get bills. Today Abby received her very own U.S. Passport. We were amazed to receive it after only 1 week. And we didn't even have to pay for expedited service. Now we are ready to get vacationing. Maybe to some island in the Caribbean or Europe or Mexico. Hmm... lots of interesting options available to Abby now that she has a passport.

Abby has been enjoying her solid food feeder (see picture). So far she has eaten a slice of pear, a slice of frozen nectarine, a slice of apple, animal crackers, and a slice of pumpkin spice bread in her feeder. Based on that list she is sounding a lot like the very hungry caterpillar story. She really likes gumming up stuff in the feeder and giving her cold or frozen fruit seems to make her feel better and whine less, so we're going to keep trying new fruits, like bananas and honeydew melon. Yum.

We tried to get some cool fall pictures at the park by the Soo Locks today, but it was sprinkling and the ground was too wet. We'll have to try again tomorrow. But Abby did look cute riding around in her new pink hat in her big girl car seat. Now she is getting ready to watch her favorite football team - Go Blue!

Another Sweater and Abby's Second

Abby took Steve and I to our local Book World to pick out her very first children's Bible, which is her second Bible. She received a lovely Bible earlier this summer with illustrations by Great Grandma Jennie's neighbor, Nancy Munger Anderson. The first Bible even used Abby's Great Great Grandpa Ira as a model for some of the artwork, so it is a very special gift. But, the first Bible is an NIV and a little too advanced for such a young reader, so Abby requested a Children's Bible so she can have a daily Bible story time. We picked out the DK Children's Illustrated Bible because it had great pictures and lots of extra information along with a good retelling of the Bible stories.



















Abby also got her first homemade sweater - and this one actually fits her (for now). It is a very lovely blue with a yellow ribbon pulled through a line of sticthes to make a belt so she can tie her sweater on. We are looking forward to its debut tomorrow at church. I have some white yarn to make another sweater, but it may be a while before we start making that one. We have some baby afghans to get to work on.

We took Abby for another little walk down to the Soo Locks and around downtown this morning, but there weren't going to be any big boats and we couldn't find anything in the stores we couldn't live without. Now Abby is learning more about football - mostly how not to play it - by watching Michigan play Notre Dame. Abby is getting good at football.

Visiting the Locks

Yesterday we spend almost 3 hours at the Soo Locks watching the boats. This is Abby napping at the park. Grandma Jennie pushed her in the stroller until she fell asleep, then Grandma and I spend an hour watching the boats while Abby napped. Grandpa was up in the observation tower, but it wasn't stroller friendly and we wanted to sit in the sun.
This boat is the American Spirit - when we watched it leave the locks it blew its horn once, just like all the boats do. It scared Abby half to death and made her cry, but after a Grandma Jennie hug she was okay. We saw 3 big freighters in the locks, plus 3 tour boats, a sailboat, and a tugboat pulling a barge with a HUGE crane on it. And it was sunny and lovely.

Visitors and Wild Life in Sault Ste. Marie

Abby had visitors this week. Abby's Aunt Hannah and Uncle Dan stopped in on their way home from Minnesota. We had a good time visiting with them and taking them to the tourist traps down by the Soo Locks. We also took them to The Antlers and took Abby's picture with a deer in the background and by the polar bear.
This is a sample of the great collection at The Antlers - or The Redneck Zoo as I've dubbed it. There are lots and lots of scary dead things, but Abby is only afraid of sitting under the birch bark canoe. She likes looking around at the rest of the critters.
Here's Abby and her Uncle Dan with a polar bear and a golden eagle. Abby was looking at the two-headed calf rather than looking at the camera.
We went downtown to the Soo Locks park, which is bounded on all sides by shops and hotels and restaurants. While we were in the park we saw this porcupine, which Dan decided to chase so he could be in the picture with it. Another wild "only in the UP" moment. Today Abby and I are cleaning up and getting ready for Grandma Great Jennie and Grandpa Great Steve to come over! We are going to have a lot of fun.

Soo Locks and Beaches

We did lots of great things this weekend. These photos are from Friday night, when we walked down to the Soo Locks to watch some boats and to get a little exercise. We got to watch one boat head down into Lake Huron. It was a lovely evening, so we enjoyed just being outside. And, Abby had her first experience of laying in the grass. She wasn't too sure about it, or the freighter horns, but we had a great time.

Yesterday we drove down to Traverse City for a wedding. Steve's friend Greg Wagner from Steve's Tri-State days got married on the bay at the Bower's Harbor Inn. His new wife Stefanie looked beautiful, the weather was great, and we had a good time catching up with some old friends. Apparently the Inn is haunted, but we were pretty sure they were just trying to trick us. Nonetheless the wedding was wonderful. It was also wonderful to get to some stores - especially Sam's Club for lots of chicken and baby supplies. Abby loves to shop, so she really enjoyed that part. Unfortunately the big day created a little too much excitement for Abby and she didn't get a nap, so she was very tired and crabby by the end of the evening.

Today was perfect so we drove over a few miles to the shores of Lake Superior west of Brimley. We all enjoyed the beach, especially Maize. It was a "Maize Day" since she had to be home alone all day yesterday. She even managed to hold it all day - over 15 hours - so we had no accidents to clean up. She's a good dog. Abby wasn't too sure about the beach and couldn't quite nap, so we only stayed a couple hours before we headed home for a real nap. Tomorrow Abby's Aunt Hannah and Uncle Dan will be visiting, so it will be another trip to The Antlers so they can enjoy our best local cuisine.