Vacation 2012 and 40 Years!

A much needed update is in order.  So without further ado, here are some pics from our summer vacation and Mom & Dad's 40th wedding anniversary:

We headed to Hayward, WI for our vacation this year.  The van was packed full and this would be Owen's first vacation with Grandma and Pawpaw Myers.  We headed out on a Thursday with the goal to be in Hayward by Friday afternoon.  The ride was uneventful besides the various stops for food and stretching.  By Friday, we were there and ready to take full advantage of the house!

The back of the cabin on a lake.  It was a beautiful house and the people who owned it were wonderful.  They stopped by near the end of our vacation to pick up a few things and they were thrilled that we were having such a good time.  The house came with a pontoon boat that we could use, so we were out there on the lake almost everyday.

 Two boys hanging out in their jammies while we make breakfast.  We're already having a great time!

Owen's first boat ride.  He thought touching the fish was pretty cool. I don't think he was thrilled with the life jacket, but he was a good boy nonetheless!  Would have had a picture to post of Caleb's first fish of the vacation, but blogger started doing funky things to my pictures (as you will see coming up).

Gabe caught the first big fish - 17inch large mouth bass! Tom caught a big one too - probably about 15 inches.  We (okay, the boys) cut up the fish and we had a fish fry later in the week.  While Gabe caught the biggest, Caleb definitely caught the most.  He was the king of bluegill!

One of the days we went to the Wilderness Walk - which is a mix between a zoo and kind of an old-time Western town.  This is a picture I hope I never see in his adult life. :)

What? This was a nice family picture.  Not sure what happened!

If you can't tell, there is a deer in the video arcade...just walking around.  The ironic part was, that before he left, he was gnawing on the gun that is used for the shooting deer arcade game.  Haha!

Waiting for the boys to come back from fishing off the dock.  Good thing he had a couple bears to keep him company.

Two boys fixin' their lines trying to catch a few more fish.  Caleb has turned out to be quite the fisherman.  While he didn't catch anything too big, he did catch a lot and does a really nice job casting his line.

Hayward is the home of the National Lumberjack Championship - which can be viewed on ESPN.  We were about one week away from being able to attend the championships, but they had shows anyway.  Caleb thought it was pretty cool.  And after much coaxing, we finally convinced him to be a "junior lumberjack" during the intermission.  He has a certificate and everything.

Mini-golf was a must on this vacation.  We did it twice at Caleb's urging.

Then, this weekend we headed to Highland to celebrate Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary. We had a great dinner at Bella Milano in O'Fallon and then headed back to Amy's house for cake.

We had to take this picture of Mom and Dad with the grandkids, because Amy and I remembered the picture we took when we were little sitting on our grandparents' laps for their 40th anniversary.  It's tradition!

Cutting the cake (which Amy made  and it was delicious!).  No they didn't smash it in each other's faces.

A Quick Song

Before we left for church tonight, Caleb just decided to break into song.  He's been doing that a lot lately.  And while they are usually funny and make no sense at all, the following was so great, that I actually wrote it down after he was done.  It doesn't follow a melody.  Just imagine the ups and downs of a 4 year old singing his heart out:

"Thank you, thank you
thank you, God.
Thank you for this world.
And thank you for the best brother.
He is the best brother
and I love him.
And I love you.
And I'm so glad you're in my heart.
Thank you, thank you.
And I'm so glad that you are above me!"

:)

This kid melts my heart!

Meanwhile...

So we had Owen's birthday, but in the meantime we've been a little crazy around here.  I'll do my best to put our activities in some sort of order for you via pictures.

Caleb is making his way through 8 weeks of WeeBall.  They're learning to hit the ball off of a tee, catching, running the bases, etc.  He's having a good time and learning what it takes to do TeeBall if he wants to next year.

Both boys also finished up their swimming lessons.  Caleb loved being in the water, which was good because it was COLD!  Note the blue lips.

Clearly, Owen didn't need lessons, but we figured we had to be there anyway, so we might as well get him used to being in the water.  By the end I think he liked it, but he was skeptical of us dunking him in cold water every evening.

Other random photos:

I just love this pic of Owen discovering the world and wanting to share it.

Helping mommy with the laundry

 Look! It's Batman and Superbaby!

And sometimes you just have to make a Myers family sandwich.

Before I move along to the rest of the pics, we must pause to remember the passing of Gabe's kidney stone (ha!).  Yes, two Friday's ago, Gabe came up from the kitchen telling me that his abdomen really hurt.  He tried laying down but just couldn't get comfortable.  I was trying to assess the situation, and then he tells me that it kind of hurts in his back too as he's doubled over on the bed.  I quickly got the kids dressed and got everyone in the car.  Drove Gabe to the ER where they confirmed he had a kidney stone.  After 2 very painful hours, they were able to give him something to take the edge off.  Those poor kiddos had no idea what was going on.  Caleb kept saying, "I'm sad. I'm sad that Daddy doesn't feel good."  Many thanks to Karen for coming and rescuing my kids from the hospital so I wouldn't have to worry about them.  By noon we were on our way home with hopes that it would pass soon.  It did - and boy did he feel like superman after that!  We did take a picture of the stone, but I'll spare you. :)

The next day Gabe had a concert in Monticello, which he decided he felt well enough to play for.  So we took at trip over there.  Gabe had  a solo, so I had to snap a photo.

  Then we were off to Great-Aunt Candy's house to celebrate an early 4th of July.  Here is PawPaw, Simon and Owen playing on the iPad.  Gee, even at 1 and 2, they seem to know what they're doing.

The whole family!

Then we were off to Highland for actual 4th of July activities and to celebrate Sophie's 8th birthday.  Here is Owen "Bucket-head" Myers.  Keeping the tradition of bucket-head alive.  Although, with his big noggin, it probably won't last long.

Grandpa and the boys.  Caleb looks so GQ.

Trouble #1 and Trouble #2

Sophie is officially 8 years old!! I cannot believe it!  We fulfilled our roles as cool Aunt Laura and cool Uncle Gabe by purchasing a new Justin Bieber CD.  According to reports, she now has Bieber Fever. :) 

Just sittin' in a hay field waiting for the fireworks to start.

What a lovely couple! You never would have guessed it was 100 degrees that day.

A 4th of July tradition includes glow sticks and now glow swords.  Good job, Daddy! This kept the boys occupied while we waiting for the sun to go down.

Owen struggled to make it to sundown for his first fireworks show.  He was a tired baby.  Good thing Aunt Amy was there to snuggle with.  He stayed awake long enough to watch about 3 fireworks and then he was out.

Good buddies watching fireworks.  Ryan was comforting Caleb because Caleb thought they were too loud.  Cute!

Happy 1st Birthday, Owen!

Owen is officially 1! I realize this post is a bit late, of course.  But I am in disbelief that my baby was born one whole year ago.   Here are some highlights of his big day and his party!

We decided that the zoo was probably the best "outing" for a one year old in the middle of June, so we took the boys to the zoo. He loves to watch the animals and especially gets excited to watch the meerkats.  In fact, I think he could do it all day if we let him.

The next day was his big party! Great-grandma Osterwisch made the long drive up to celebrate too!

 Owen was cautious at first, but once he tasted that frosting, he had a huge smile on his face as he devoured the rest of his birthday cupcake.  (Decorated for his Curious George birthday party.)

 Lots of great gifts! Cars are always a hit at our house!

The three 4 year old trouble-makers!

To my "sweet, sweet baby" Owen,
     You may be my second, but you'll always be my baby, even as you turn 1 year old.  You are postively the smiliest baby on earth.  You can light up a room with that big smile, as your eyes grow squinty and small.  You can make complete strangers stop and smile with your happiness. Your eyes continue to stump me, as I can't describe them as blue, green or brown.  I adore every detail God put into you.
    You are curious and smart, and that often gets you into trouble.  We joke that you think your name is "Owen - no!"  You conquered crawling, standing and now walking, not to mention the stairs.  You think your older brother is hilarious and adore is attention.  But you are learning to fight back when things don't quite go your way.  You are strong for your little (okay, big) body.
   Mommy and Daddy love you very much.  We prayed for you before you even existed and we've prayed for you every day since.  You are a blessing to our lives and we love knowing that we've been given the honor of raising you and seeing you grow.
Love,
Mommy

The first half of June

Let's see, 3 of the 4 birthdays are over and Father's Day is over.  Now just a very important 1st birthday and a 7yr anniversary to celebrate and we'll be clear of June celebrations.  Here's where we've been:

Mom, Amy and the kids came to visit.  We had a great day of the kids playing together.  We even went to Safety Town and let the kids ride their bikes and play on the playground.  Ryan was so brave on his bike that it made Caleb braver on his.  Thank goodness! That was a fight we were losing.

What's summer without a carnival? That weekend we head to Tremont for the Turkey Festival.  Yes, we had turkey for lunch.  It was yummy!  Caleb got to ride on the rides and we promised Owen his time was coming.  Here is Caleb and Gabe enjoying the bumper cars...A LOT! 

A super-classy picture in front of a carny trailer.

 The absolute best reason to go the Turkey Festival is to watch the famed Bed Races.  Teams of 6 build a racecar that is shaped like a bed.  They have one "driver" who sits on the bed and then a team that pushes the bed down the road.  Halfway through they have to do a chinese fire drill and then complete the race.  Good times!

Owen is officially a big boy! He had his first haircut this past week.  I could have waited longer, but it was killing Gabe that the hair around his ears made him look like Peter Boyle from Everybody Loves Raymond.  So when he made appointments at Shorty's barbershop for himself and Caleb, I told him to go ahead and make an appointment for Owen too.  This is the before picture:

If you can believe it, this is the picture of him when it was all done.  He was sad that we took his sucker away, but never cried a bit during the whole haircut.

The final result.  Very well trimmed around the ears and back of the head.  Still a few sticking up at the crown, but they still need to grow a bit.

Simon turned 2! All the cousins playing on the floor with the loot!

Happy Father's Day! Don't my boys look so handsome!

Daddies are the best!

Watching and waiting for friends at the front door in jammies (and a Steak 'n' Shake hat).

Caleb is taking "WeeBall" this summer.  This is the first step before he goes to TeeBall.  He loves it! He's learning how to throw the ball, run the bases, hit a ball off a tee, and so forth.

And well, sometimes a super-hero just has to practice his fishing in the backyard.  Gabe took Caleb to the lake today for his first fishing trip.  Gabe caught two little fish, but Caleb didn't catch anything.  I think he still had a lot of fun though.

Oh, what a confused little boy we're raising! (But cute, nonetheless!)