Kent County Youth Fair

The fair grounds are less than mile from our house; so each year we have been able to go and check out the youth fair.  Its so fun to get up close to the animals!  Brie was VERY apprehensive at first, but warmed up quickly and began enjoying it more.  I took the girls by myself during the day once; it went great!  The hardest part was when Brie said she had to pee......so we went into the porta potty, I instructed her to touch NOTHING, I just hovered her over the seat, she peed and I just pulled her pants right back up!  Then we used a lot of hand sanitizer!  I HATE porta potties!

The cows were a big hit, they are HUGE.  I didn't tell Brie that 90% if the animals here are sold for meat.....

I found this amazing!  Puts me to shame!

French fries at the fair.....doesn't get much better....

Brie really liked the horses too, such beautiful creatures!  You can tell the kids that own the horses view them as their best friends.  We saw one of the riders come up to the horse, the horse got super excited and started pushing up against its owner.  The girl gave the horse some pets and a big kiss.  It was very precious!  We saw another horse that had gotten an injury during a ride, the owner was cleaning it off and was bawling her eyes out....that certainly is a special connection these kids have to their animals. I think it is SO cool.

Then one evening when Alec got home from work we headed over to the fair so daddy could see it!  Of course the country boy loved it.

We got to see some pig races, it was hilarious.  The pigs love doing it you can tell, and do it all for animal crackers.  Which I found hilarious.

The cows are my favorite :)

Muskegon

My parents and grandparents camped for a week at Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon.  It is about an hour from us, so not a bad drive at all.  Alec and I debated forever if we should pack up and try and spend a night or two there.....we went through like 5 different scenarios of what we should do.  Well, after debating between bringing our tent, getting a hotel, or just going for the day and then back home we decided it would definitely be best to just come back home.  Leah is such a stinker at night, I did NOT want to risk it.  And it was a great decision, that night we came home she was up for 1.5hrs in the middle of the night and would not go back down!  We made the right choice.

I ended up taking the girls out for the day once during the week.  And then Alec and I went both Friday and Saturday for the day.  Brie was able to spend the night Friday, which she loved and did great!

We had so much fun hanging out with the family.  We spend a lot of time at the beach, playing bags (of course), and just sitting around!

Probably the best part of the weekend was that Auntie Allyson and Uncle Mike were there!!  Brie LOVES them!

There is an awesome park there, Brie at first wanted nothing to do with it....but warmed up with the help of Uncle Mike showing her what to do.  He was climbing all over the thing with her, it was awesome.  A little girl (probably 4yrs old) started playing with Brie telling her to go down the slide with her, it was adorable.

The beach was where we spent most our time.  Brie and Leah both did great at the beach.  Brie plays in the sand, water, lays on the towel "to take a rest" as she says, and of course has tons of snack!  We tried to contain Leah to the towel since she just would eat the sand; but she took a nap every time at the beach either on me or my mom, and had some snacks.  

Brie went through some grouchy spells....she gets like that when there is a lot going on I find.  Over stimulated or something; but I was trying to get her to smile with daddy....this was the best we could do:

Mike built a pretty epic sand village!

Beach selfie!  Because the only way I am ever in pictures is if I take them of myself!

We buried Mike in the sand.  We were trying to make it super hard for him to get out, so they were packing in layers and layers of sand, then added water, more sand, than a huge piece of drift wood over top.  Super safe.....  Of course he was able to must out with minimal effort!  We have a pretty funny video :)  As always....we were a constant source of entertainment for the other beach goers around us....is it even possible for us to be normal in public just once?!  Nope.

We had such an amazing time.  Why does summer come and go in a flash!?  We have one more day camping trip coming up with my parents over the Labor Day weekend!

Cousin Love!

Emily (one of Alec's sisters) came over with her little dude, Philip.  We had such a fun time letting the babies play in the pool.  Philip is 3 weeks older than Leah, and he is way more mobile than Leah is, and that is saying something!  They were all so stinking cute together, I just love getting them together and having them interact.

Poor Phil forgot his dude hat and had to wear one of Leah's, at least it was blue even though it had a little frill on it :)  I don't think he minded, or felt any less masculine!

Snack time was their favorite, they liked that more than playing in the pool itself!

Leah 8 Months

Leah is getting so old!  8 months old already!

She is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up, and getting into everything!  I have caught her standing a few times not holding on to anything.  She certainly is a mobile baby, and she loves it!  Brie on the other hand does not love that Leah is everywhere, she is having a hard time with Leah getting into all her stuff :)

Leah still isn't the best sleeper, but I think she is getting better.  She takes 2-3 naps a day; just depends on when she wakes up in the morning and how long her naps are.  She is getting better at putting herself to sleep, slowly but surely.  She needs her pacifier (plug/pluggy) to go to sleep; and thank goodness she is getting better at putting it in herself.  Sometimes during the night she needs her plug put back in.  Leah usually goes to bed around 8pm, her wake up time is very sporadic.

She loves to eat!  She still nurses 4-5 times a day, which she gets very excited about.  And she eats 2-3 meals a day.  I would list her favorite foods.....but she eats anything!  Which is very refreshing for me since Brie is very picky.  Leah has been doing great with pieces of food, we give her some of whatever we are eating.

Leah is such a happy little girl!  She is very content.  She loves to play with toys, try and get whatever Brie is playing with, get into things she isn't allowed to have, and being held!  She is starting to be very vocal.  She says 'bababababa' all the time, and has started saying 'dadadada'.  It is so cute!  She makes all sorts of funny other noises too; we call her noises 'dinosaur noises'.  We call her dino all the time :)  Leah growls all the time, it is hilarious!  I love seeing her little personality start to show.

Brad and Jessie Visit

Our amazing friends, Brad and Jessie, from Wisconsin came all the way to Lowell to visit for the weekend!  They have 2 kids; Bennett is 2 (6mon younger than Brie) and Eleanor is 7mon (23 days younger than Leah).  It was a VERY fun weekend, it went so well considering we had 4 kids 2yrs old and younger in one house!

We went to their house this past February......it was bad news, Brie was sick and was SO off her rocker and behaved horrible. The weekend was amazing though, we had such a great time spending time with each other!

We really didn't do much outside the house; we spent a ton of time in the pool and on the deck.  Everyday, our goal was to get all 4 kids to nap at the same time!  2 out of the 3 days we were successful!!  It was amazing to have some adult only pool time.  And then we would take turns getting out of the pool and taking care of the kiddos.  We were in the pool more that weekend that I think I have been in the past 2 years combined!  So relaxing and just wonderful.  Both toddlers were so-so about going in the pool; they played in the little kiddie pool mostly......in their diapers/underwear usually!

The toddlers played really well together!  Every once in a while they would hoard toys from each other, but that is how they learn I guess!  The babies played well together too!  Eleanor is such a happy little girl, she is always 'talking' and looking for the next thing to play with.  Leah and Eleanor would sit together and play with toys and eat each others puffs.

We ate almost all our meals outside on the deck, which is very ideal with two messy toddlers.

I loved being able to get to know their kids more!

We went to Frederick Meijer Gardens for part of the day.  It was good to get out and have the kids run around for a bit.  They were very entertained by the boats, the large horse, and the fish pond!

Brie and Bennett both love TV.....so a couple times they did watch a show together.  Aren't they so cute hanging out?!

One of the days the babies and toddlers napped at different times, so we took Leah and Eleanor in the pool with us.  They liked it for the most part!  They both liked splashing.

Somehow it got started that every time we are together we take Alec's picture with all the kids.  More kids keep getting added to the picture!  So many little munchkins.

We are so grateful for wonderful friends.  They really became family to us while we lived in Wisconsin, we miss hanging out with them on a weekly basis like we used too! We are hoping to take a trip over to them in late October.  Hopefully it goes well!