Just Random

Oops. Sorry about the sideways picture! I can't figure out how to fix it w/out deleting the whole thing....so it's staying crooked.
The weather has been pretty yucky here. But we've snuck outside a few times between rain showers. Otherwise we've been playing with trains a lot!
Alex is the king of complete sentances now. During lunch today we had some music on and he announced that "this music is fun!" He also is getting better at the proper usage of "I" vs. "me" or "my".
We are trying to reduce/eliminate processed foods from our diets......this means we have to learn how to cook. Ok, stop laughing now. I haven't bought anything with high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils for quite a while and now we are working on some other unpronouncable things that show up in packaged food. I successfully made from scratch whole wheat pizza crust this week - I was sure it wouldn't rise right or would be nasty after all that work but I turned out great and wasn't actually that hard! It is really discouraging though that a person can buy so much "junky" food for so little money and to buy whole, healthier food costs more.
Alex had said he wanted to be a "puma" for halloween and we settled on a tiger instead. I borrowed a reversable lion/tiger costume from a friend and now he says he scared of it and won't wear it! So we'll see when the time comes. The lady who works in the childcare room at the gym is going to have a little party for the kids on halloween and they can wear their costumes there.

Adventure!

Yesterday Alex and I drove to Grand Rapids for the day. We left at 7am and went straight down so we could attend the Grand Rapids NINO meeting at 10am. We got there a little early but not as early as we thought due to some road construction. A GPS that gives you directions is a wonderful thing but it doesn't know about closed roads!
Meeting the leaders and seeing their meeting was great! Alex had tons of kids to play with and had a blast. We had lunch and met some more people and played more before we headed home.
We took a "scenic route" home thru Muskegan, Ludington and Manistee. We stopped at Lighthouse park in Manistee for a picnic dinner and to play on the playground for a while. The downtown "riverwalk" area of Manistee looks pretty cool.
We got back home around 7pm.....fun day!

Alex Hikes!

Saturday was gorgeous here, warm but not hot, little breeze, no bugs...so we went hiking at Sand Lakes Quiet area. Alex hiked just over a MILE by himself! He loved to look for the next blue trail marker on the trees and run from marker to marker. Then he rode on Daddy's back for the rest of the hike. We went a little over 4 miles.

WISHLISTS

I am adding some Christmas wish lists on the right hand margin since around this time we start getting the questions coming in! We are really trying to keep things simple, and reduce the amount of toys around here! There are some things that Alex plays with all the time and a lot of things that just sit.
As the weather continues to cool down and I get out his fall/winter clothes I will also post a list with his clothing sizes and what types of things he might need for winter.
If/when we come up with ideas for Ben and I, I will add lists for us as well!
Any family members reading this...please start giving us ideas for all of you! I NEED to start shopping now! :)

Some ramblings...

Alex started swim classes yesterday thru the county park and rec dept. It's a mommy and me type class, I am in the water with him. The teacher leads us in games and songs that teach the kids blowing bubbles, kicking, paddling and floating!
Last saturday after the open barn trip we went to an NHL prospects hockey game. We saw the prospects for the Minnesota Wild vs. the prospects for the Dallas Stars....not bad for $5 a ticket!

As we head into fall, Ben is busy with work and we're both trying to fit in exercise. Alex loves to go to the childcare room at the gym now, which makes it a lot easier for me.
I have also been busy trying to start a playgroup and also a local chapter of an international babywearing education/advocacy group. I've been meeting a lot of interesting people in the process!

Meet the cows!

We went to the "Open Barn" day at a local family dairy farm this weekend w/ some friends. There were goats, mini horses, regular horses both foals and adult and then calves and adult cows to meet and pet. Plus there was a hayride and tours of the barns. Behind the milking barn there was a pig pen too, with baby pigs which Alex like much better than big pigs we saw at the fair! 

Likely our last real beach day!

We've had enough cool nights now, the water is pretty cold. I don't think we'll have any *real* beach days anymore. This was a little over a week ago.