More vacation pics

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Vacation at Grammy and Grampy's

Over Labor Day weekend we made the long trip (in two days) up to Upper Michigan to visit my parents in their new home. They moved from Maine to Laurium, Michigan to be closer to my 87 year old grandfather. It was great to see their new house and to introduce Fiona to some of the fun places I visited as a child. Here are some photos chronicling our trip.

Sunday, after Mass we drove to Eagle River where they have a nice sandy beach. The weather was unseasonable warm (lower 80's) so nice weather for going to the beach. Although it was cooler by the water, and Lake Superior is ALWAYS cold, it didn't stop Fiona from plunging right in.

Fiona's first experience with wading in Lake Superior (or any large body of water).

Unfortunately she did fall a few times due to the waves and was done wading after that.

She was fascinated by the sand and liked digging in it with her shovels.

Family photo

Playing with Daddy. I can lift this heavy bucket of water! Luckily she didn't pour it all over Jeff.

On Wednesday we went to visit my Grandpa at the nursing home. The week my parents moved to Michigan, he fell and fractured his pelvis. So, he's been in a nursing home since then recovering and doing physical therapy to strengthen up so he can go back home.

Four generations: Grandpa (Steve) 87, Mom (Theresa) 61, Me (Jen) 35 and Fiona 15 months. Fiona wasn't sure what to make of him and is at a stage where she does NOT want to sit still so getting a good group photo was difficult. This was the best of the bunch! She did enjoy helping push his wheelchair around.

Playing with Grampy.

The highlight of Fiona's trip was walking around the block. Usually it involved Benny, my grandpa's poodle. Fiona just loved helping hold the leash and a couple times a day she would go out on their porch, grab the leash and bring it to us indicating she was ready to take Benny for walk. However, my mom picked up a doll stroller for her and Fiona had a lot of fun pushing that around as well. All in all it was a great vacation (exceping the fact I came back with an awful cold/ear infection). We can't wait to go back up to spend more time in such a beautiful area.

We got a chance to go to Swedetown (ski area) to hike. My parents picked wild blackberries while Jeff, Fiona and I took Mollie for a walk. We got to use one of Fiona's birthday presents, a backpack carrier from my mom's sister. Fiona loved being in it. I think that she liked being up so high! Mollie liked that she got to run and stretch her legs (and that Jeff threw sticks for her!).

Fair Time

We spent last night at the Indiana State Fair. It was hot and humid, but so much fun. We went last year, too, so it was interesting to see Fiona's reaction to the animals, since last year she was too little to really get into it. She wasn't a huge fan of the animals. I think their size really scared her, which isn't surprising. Some of them were quite large!

Fiona with sheep

Baby piglets. I'm very glad I'm not a sow having to nurse that many children. One was quite enough!

Best friends

Fiona was NOT sure about this duck. She did pet it a little, but it kept moving which didn't sit well with Fiona. I can't remember what kind it is, but it's one that stand upright and looks funny running. It was a beautiful duck, but unnerving for Fiona.

She wouldn't get too close to the pigs either. But they did fascinate her.

Mom and Fiona walking through the swine barn.

More sheep

Mom, that cow is looking at me. Make it stop. Get me out of here!

Miss Independent

I love my yogurt.

I don't need any help, Mom. I'm just going to chew a hole in this end.

I love the look of concentration on her face. She tries SOOO hard.

Mom, really, I can feed myself.

See?

Summer Fun

Bubbles and Baba, what more could one want?

I LOVE my swing! (seriously, she would spend all day there if she could)

And I LOVE my wagon! (She loves that she can open and close the door, climb in and out, and go for rides. She's easy to please)

And I LOVE my slide!

Fiona loves to be outside, whether swinging, going for wagon rides, trying to climb up her slide or just playing in the front yard. It's so much fun watching her explore (and easy entertainment on my part!). She even lets me get some gardening done while she plays (until she wants back in the swing. I haven't yet figured out how to push her on the swing and pull weeds at the same time. I need two of me!)

Other Updates

In other news, Fiona had her one year check up finally. We were without regular health insurance for one month after Jeff started his new job, so we had to move her appointment from June to July. She's doing great. She weighs 20 lbs 7 oz and is 31 1/8 inches tall. This puts her at 25th percentile for weight, but 95th percentile for height. She doesn't look that unproportioned to me, but that's what the charts say. It was a relief to have the doctor unconcerned about her lack of interest in solids. She said it's probably just teething issues as there are a bunch of new teeth coming in and to just keep offering the foods and eventually she'll start eating more. She also wasn't concerned about her not eating table food. Fiona has a strong gag reflex that kicks up as soon as something lumpy hits her tongue. This includes soft fruits, bread, puffy treats, etc. She's interested but can't get past the texture thing. I'll be glad when she gets over that!

Here are a few pictures from a June trip to White River Gardens.

Bathing Beauty

I lucked out and had the day off work today so Megan and I decided to take Fiona to Riverside Park to go swimming. We got her all ready, coated her with sunscreen, got her stuff together and drove over to the park only to find it closed. I'm not sure why it wasn't open, but it meant we were a disappointed group. Luckily I have a wonderful neighbor who happens to have a pool and she graciously allowed us to use it. Fiona had a great time both at Annie's pool and back home with our own small wading pool.

She still has her quirky tongue moves, although they aren't as frequent as they once were.

Even though it's as big as she is, she insisted on carrying it over towards her wading pool. I'm not sure what she thought she was going to do with it, as it's almost as big as her wading pool. Unfortunately it dropped before she got there so I wasn't able to find out.

She never really got into the wading pool today. I think the water was still too cold, but she had fun splashing around in it.