New Hampshire in the Summertime

Once again it's been almost 2 weeks since the events I need to record took place. The wonderful week we spent in New Hampshire went so fast and the weeks since have just flown. The real reason for our summertime excursion was to be in attendance at the burial of Glenn's Grandpa Dan. It was a very nice little ceremony. One I wish I had been able to take more pictures of, but our little boy required some attention to keep very quiet. Glenn gave the dedicatory prayer, we had some time chatting with family I've only met once or twice, and a seafood dinner right next to the ocean, Tate got some love from his cousins. It was a full day. The rest of our trip we had had very few commitments at all. All Glenn wanted to do was go to one of the few lakes by his house every day. We didn't quite make it to a lake every day, but almost.
Tate has been enamored with the idea of fishing for quite some time but the poor kid had never been fishing. You see, while the lakes near our house do hold fish, they also hold snakes, turtles, and gators so Glenn told Tate that they were going to do some real fishing in a lake in New Hampshire. For weeks before our trip Tate was telling everyone from the check-out lady at the store, to my visiting teacher, that he was going to go fishing in a lake! He was in heaven. We took almost all the cousins to Elbow Pond one day and did some fishing off the dock. Tate's idea of fishing was smacking the end of the pole in the water over and over and over and saying loudly, "I'm fishing in a lake". Not the most conducive atmosphere for fish catching, but he was in heaven. When he didn't have a pole in hand he followed his cousins around saying, "Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?" until it was his turn again. Patience was really hard to come by when fishing in a lake! We did manage to catch just one fish. The time spent at these beautiful ponds and lakes was so therapeutic. So green. So quiet and still. Cousin Chloe was a favorite on this trip. Tate just adored her. When Brendaen's family arrived at the house to visit he saw her and ran up to give her a hug yelling, "Chloe! Chloe! Chloe!" Another time she was crying for some reason and Tate hopped out of my lap and ran across the room saying, "I want to make her happy!" and gave her a big hug.

Then of course he had a sweet connection with Nelson, currently his only boy cousin. And lucky for Tate, Nelson is a great cousin. He's so patient and plays so sweetly with Tate. They were buddies. Tate just lit up when Nelson would give him a little attention. It was darling. He would follow Nelson around saying, "Nelthon. Nelthon. Hey Nelthon." One day the kids were watching a bit of super man and then they went outside to play. Nelson put on a cape and Tate followed him around saying, "Nelthon is thuperman! Mommy, Nelthon is thuperman!"Of course Glenn couldn't let the kids have all the fun.

Watching Tate play with his cousins and just adore them was probably my favorite part of this trip. He was in heaven with so many friends to play with. Everywhere we went he would tell people, "These are my friends! These are my cousins!" One afternoon I kept Tate home to take a nap, while the rest of the fam went on what was supposed to be a shortish hike. It ended up being over 4 hours of climbing and bushwacking through the woods. With a couple of very little kids in tow, it was...memorable for the group and I'm glad we stayed home and didn't add another toddler to the group. Here are the kiddos, exhausted at the top of the mountain.

"Green Eggs and Ham" was a favorite bed time story that week and Tate would follow cousins around all day asking, "Could you? Could you...?"

We played at lakes, went for gorgeous morning jogs in the misty woods, spent a bit of time picking berries at Gramma Heather's.

After a week of wide open, dark green, 80 degree weather, cool evenings, delicious food, and great company, Glenn and I got off the plane pretty unsatisfied with our surroundings here in Texas, in the middle of a terrible drought. I mean seriously, look at this Eden where we stayed for a week.This is Gregor and Amy's house. They were so sweet to host us again. We love staying with them and getting in late night talks, letting our kids play all day in their huge yard. It was just perfect. Every time I drive through Glenn's home town, the lyrics to Camelot just come into my mind. They have every time since I first went to visit before we were married. And as cheesy as it sounds, they really describe the feel of the place. It just seems so idylic, peaceful and perfect.

"A law was made a distant moon ago here.

July and August cannot be too hot.

And there's a legal limit to the snow here (well that part may not be true) in Camelot.

The winter is forbidden til December (also, I'm sure, a stretch).

And exits March the 2nd on the dot.

By order summer lingers through September in Camelot.

Camelot. I know it sounds a bit bizarre. But in Camelot, that's how conditions are.

The rain may never fall til after sundown.

By 8 the morning fog must disappear.

In short there's simply not a more congenial spot for happy ever aftering than here in Camelot."

Making our way home was less than perfect. There was a lost wallet, a mad dash to the airport and a missed flight. We got VERY lucky and had to wait in line so long at the airport to check in that they changed our flights to the next day for us and we didn't have to pay extra. That gave us time to spend another day with family and locate the missing wallet. It was crazy hectic but all worked out in the end.

Glenn has said several times since we got back how much he prefers visiting his home state in the summertime as opposed to the winter. We usually make it back for Thanksgiving but this was a great visit and we may need to make the summertime trip a tradition. Thanks for hosting us Makechnies. It got up to 108 this week in Houston. Wish we were still there!!!

Sister's Visit

My sisters came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was just splendid. We stayed very busy, exercising every morning then heading out on an adventure before coming home for lunch and Tate's nap then we were off again for the evening right after he woke up. Every day was full and exhausting and so fun. It was great to have them here where we live and to see Tate open up to them a little more because he's here in his element. It was not so great having them go home at the end of the week, but I am confident we really made the most of their time here!

We were charged with doing some serious back to school shopping during their stay so their first few days here were filled with just that. We hit up the mall close to our house, the woodlands mall and market street, and also the outlet mall. We had fun finding unique things and Tate was actually a super good sport and was just so happy to be out and about with his Aunties. He had a big smile on his face the whole time.

We had a nice, relaxing Sunday. Just chilled inside and went to our late afternoon church meetings. On Monday we went for a run, did some shopping, then after naps we took a trip to the NASA space center. We did not leave ourselves near enough time to play around there. There was so much fun stuff to see and play with and we were really in a rush to get in as much as we wanted to in our three hour stay before it closed for the day. I wasn't sure if it would be any fun for Tate but he adored it all. He was thrilled to see real rockets and space ships and astronauts. We went in this one exhibit that had so many favorites it was an overload and he just kept saying, "That's a rocket! Those are stars! Space rocks! A moon!" over and over in a very animated voice while pointing to each thing.

This big Saturn rocket is just amazing. It is unbelievably big. Kenzie, poor dear, got sucked into the engine.

Tate, Mallo and Kenzie at the entrance to a space station model.

One of our favorite moments from NASA day was watching Kenzie stand in front of this series of mirrors that was supposed to represent what you would look like and what you would weigh on different planets. She thought it was pretty cool that she would only weigh 60 pounds on Saturn. She took pictures of herself in each mirror...including the one representing earth. Her complete fascination with the exhibit was so funny.

Tuesday we went swimming in the morning. It was a really nice chill time.

Then we picked Glenn up and went down town to the science museum to see the butterfly exhibit. We met some hissing cockroaches among many other nasty bugs.

Then went out into the butterfly conservatory. We carried cards to try to identify some of the different kinds. Mal and Kenz were a little startled by how friendly the little butterflies were.

Tate, however, had much more fun this time and would giggle when they flew close to him.

Eventually Mal and Kenz got friendly with the butterflies, even stepping in for some close pictures...as long as the butterflies were holding still.

Then, since it was free day at the museum, we wandered through the rest of the science museum too.

Tate is learning about porosity and permeability in the oil and gas exhibit. Glenn was very proud.

For dinner we showed the girls a fun little Cajun restaurant down town with delicious beignets. Oh my heart.

For their last afternoon we perused the aquarium. Such a fun place to visit. Tate loved every minute of course, but so did we.

The white tiger was especially frisky that day. There was a guy who tried to rile him up and the tiger got so mad he jumped on his hind legs, tried to paw the guy's face through the glass, and growled really loudly. Man, were we glad the glass was there. Those beasts are SO big.

I was selfishly glad to learn that the girls were as tired as I am during Tate's nap time. I was thinking my feeling of crashing at noonish was just due to my being preggers, but I think the morning jogs in the soul-crushing heat may actually have something to do with it. We were all so bushed! It was nice to have someone to jog with and complain with about all of the sweat and gross heat.

Oh it was such a nice week. We had an absolute blast together. We watched movies and Office episodes, ate skookies (a new favorite!) to our hearts (but certainly not our waistbands) content, played really hard, laughed at pretty much everything Kenzie said, and talked a lot. I especially loved little moments like these:Little moments Tate was able to spend with his Aunties. I miss those little things because we live away and it makes me so happy to see Tate love his Aunties. Tate loved reading stories with Auntie Mallo this trip. Once he even asked her to read to him AND sing his bed time song instead of me. I was thrilled that he was so taken with her.

We miss you ladies. Thanks for a wonderful visit and please come again!!!

For those who don't already know...

Baby boy Makechnie number two is on his way! It took longer than we hoped this time, but with some time, some tests and some lessons in patience with Heavenly Father's plan for us, he's finally on his way! In fact, we're expecting him in 20 weeks or so. His due date is January 1st, 2012. We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and were lucky enough to have two of his aunties there to say hi to him. He was a little shy. He had his hands up by his face the whole time, which we thought was darling.
He was not, however, shy about his gender. He wanted there to be no doubt that he is a little guy. We're incredibly excited! And Tate's just going to love having a little brother to play with. Eventually, if not right away, right? I just smile inside picturing the two of them playing together. Tate taking pride in showing him the ropes and little babe copying his cool big brother's every step. I hope they're best friends. I hope they realize at some point how great it is to have a brother.
The pregnancy is going well. The marvelous trimester of vomit is finally wrapping up and I'm feelin' much better! It might have been worse this time. It might just be that I've forgotten some details from last time and I didn't remember it being quite so bad...but either way, it's over now and life is great. I'm especially happy to be currently sporting an elastic waistband, which is oh so much more comfy than my regular pants rigged with a hair elastic.
Keep cookin' little boy. We adore you already!

Aunties

Tate is in love with his Aunties. He's having an absolute blast playing with them. I'm a pretty big fan of them myself. The first morning it was almost more than he could stand that they were here and he got to play with them all day! We still have four more days to play and we're both feeling super lucky.

Thus far we've been doing a lot of shopping. You know, these girls are both starting school again in a couple weeks so new school clothes are a must. The next few days we have some fun outings planned. Basically we're having a blast, working out together, eating too much together, watching funny shows together, and tickling Tate until he can't take it any more. No complaints here!

This video is especially for Nanna who requested a video of Tate giggling. So here it is. Kenzie was shooting foam darts at the ceiling and they hit her as they bounced back down. For whatever reason, Tate thought it was stinkin' hilarious.

Summertime...and the livin' is easy.

It's wicked hot here. We just try not to go outside for very long unless it's early morning or right before bed. On Saturday mornings we do yard and housework and sometimes Tate comes out with us and colors with chalk while we work. This was what he looked like after half an hour outside.Covered with chalk and his hair soaked with sweat. Poor boy.

A couple days ago we were watching Tate hit one of Glenn's golf balls around in the kitchen with a drum stick and we thought, "seriously, let's just take this kid golfing." So we packed up and went out to play mini golf. We all had loads of fun. Tate let Glenn help him swing the club just once or twice. There were way too many cool things to see and climb on to be confined like that for too long. There were all these animals that glowed in the dark, things floating from the ceiling, paintings on the wall. It was a magical land! He had to hug and climb on every animal we came across. Very fun outing.

Then yesterday Tate and I ventured out to Discovery Green, a big park right in the middle of down town. Tate thought it was pretty cool to play right by all the "castles". It has this huge fountain that kids can run around in and a big playground right around the corner. We tried to get there early but it was still just crazy hot. Tate had a blast. We went last year too. Look how little he was. Sheesh kid. Slow down, will ya? It was a great outing. Tate thought it was all so cool. He just ran and ran until the fountains stopped, then he'd look down the holes waiting for the water to come back out. A sweet friend who went with us even let him borrow their umbrella for a bit. He loved that.

In other news, I'm busy sewing like mad during Tate's naps trying to get my inventory up for a big craft fair in September. I'm really excited for it and hope I can do as well as last year. It's going to take a lot of work over the next month to get ready because I want to have more to sell than I did last year and...I'm no where close.

Glenn's busy at work and loving it, which is such a blessing. He's been looking for some good motivation to run and something to train for, and he found it. He signed up for a marathon on March 3rd. The guy's insane. He'll do awesome, I'm sure. I'm excited for him to have a goal that big. It will be good for him. Also, he came home from work yesterday and told us he has to leave this morning for 6 days. Major bummer. Hate it when that happens. Also yesterday, however, my sisters decided to make a last minute trip here. They're coming tonight for a week. So while Glenn's going to be out of town, at least they'll be here to keep us company! It's going to be a wonderfully busy week and will be so nice to have company again! Happy last few weeks of summer everyone!