We had a great weekend. As I said, we went to my family's place up north, our camper is currently parked on my dad's property, so it's nice to spend time with everyone but have our own space to go to. We left Friday morning when my husband got home from work. That was a packed car! Our truck is in the shop so we had to take my SUV. That normally wouldn't be a problem but Ryan puts on a huge firework show every year, so between fireworks, luggage, the car seat and the dog's crate, we used every inch of space. We had to move Emily's car seat over to the passenger side so we could fit the dog.
Normally I am too scared to have her anywhere but the middle. I know families with more than one kid have no choice, but as long as I do have a choice, she will be in the middle. But I figured since we were mostly doing freeway driving, the chances of a side impact crash were lower than driving around town, so I was pretty ok with it. But I certainly moved it back to the middle as soon as we got home. The dog was good, she is a great traveler. She barely made a peep on the way there and back, and she pottied nicely at the rest areas. The first time we stopped I went in to buy her some water and I came out to find a crowd around, playing with her and watching her.
She liked my stepmom's dog Baby, but Baby wasn't as fond of her. We mostly kept her on my dad's deck which is secure since she is still too afraid to go up and down a lot of stairs, or we chained her to a long chain so she could run around on the grass. I wished we could have let her off leash like Baby was, but we have no clue if she would run out into the road, so until we're absolutely sure (not sure I ever will be) she'll have to be chained. She wasn't in the house much, but when she was she didn't potty. And the last few days she has been jumping at the door to be let out, so we are finally making some progress on potty training.
I love the fourth of July for the fireworks, BBQ's and time with family, but it is also a special holiday to us since two years ago on the fourth was when we found out I was pregnant with Emily. So it's nice to be able to celebrate the day with fun stuff every year. When we got there we just hung around, got unpacked and had lunch. My dad and stepmom had fun playing with Emily. They are very proud grandparents. That evening we went into town for Mexican. Emily had a bit of an attitude and kept trying to smack me and Grammy, but every time a stranger would walk by our table she would give them a huge smile. She had a lot of fans at dinner that night.
My dad took her outside while we were paying and he said she was waving bub-bye and almost the whole restaurant was waving bye to her. She charmed the pants off of those people. She was up really late that night, my dad kept trying to get her to cuddle with him in the chair but she was like the energizer bunny, she just kept going and going. Finally at midnight (4 hours after her bedtime!) I decided it was time. So we went to the camper, I put her in the pack N play and she stood up and was being silly and running around. I gave her a bottle and just ignored her, going to lay down myself. A few minutes later I realized she was being quiet, I peaked around the corner and she was out. I figured as soon as she finally stopped, she would just pass out.
The next morning we got up early and went to the beach for Ryan's 5K. He did that run last year too. It is a really nice run, he said the route is nice, and it's just so beautiful to be at the beach in the morning and the weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. It's a very small run, so Em and I could sit on a bench right along where they start and finish. Ryan had a new personal record, so that always adds to the fun of a run. After that we went back to my dad's and had breakfast. Ryan had to nap quite a bit that weekend because for the first time since he started his new job, his sleep schedule was all out of whack. That afternoon my dad and stepmom went to the grocery and Emily was in need of a nap, so I took her to the camper. Ryan was napping so I figured hell, we might as well all nap.
When we woke up Ryan's parents had just arrived, so then we visited with them and then they got Emily's pool ready that they brought for her. My dad built a pergola a couple months back and he had some benches in there and that is where he hung Emily's swing. I figured that was a nice shady spot to put the pool. She loved it, she played in there for a while, and then when she was done we got dinner started. My dad was making like a big stew and we invited family over for dinner and to watch the fireworks. My FIL and my dad and Ryan went off on the deck and me and my stepmom and MIL stayed in the kitchen, talking and drinking wine. When the family arrived, a few of my aunts joined us for wine, and then we went on the deck for the fireworks.
We had a pretty good turn out.....two uncles, three aunts, and a bunch of my cousins came. Some of my cousins I hadn't seen in quite a while so it was cool that they made it. Emily sat on Papa's lap during the fireworks. I wasn't sure how she would like them since they would be so loud. She was only three months old last year and stayed in the house with Grammy. but it turns out she loved it. Some went off down the road before ours did and she frowned, wondering what it was. But she didn't cry or fuss, and she kept looking for it to happen again so I knew she was intrigued.
Sometimes it is hard for her to sit still with someone, but she just sat on Papa's lap, content as could be and when there was a short lull in the show, she would clap as if saying come on daddy, more more. The next day we were going to head to the beach but when we were ready to go, I came in to find Emily asleep on grandpa's lap. I really had no desire to go to the beach without her, so my dad said we should head into town, do the shopping we wanted to and he would bring her down when she woke up. We ended up going to two stores when he called saying he was on his way, so he dropped her off and then we went to the beach. The one store is a children's store and they have a children's theater with puppet shows. The next time we are in town I would love to take her to catch a show. It is so cute in there, the whole theater room is painted with murals on the wall....it's like a fantasy room for kids. In celebration of Shark Week, I bought Emily a book about sharks.
She wasn't such a fan of the water, it was only about 85 that day so the water was only 65. It's a beautiful beach, but the Great Lakes are often very cold. You either get lucky and the water is a little warmer, or it's just so hot outside that the cold water feels good. That day, neither scenario applied. So I took her out in the water and tried to set her down but she clung to me and wanted back up. So I took her back to the shallow water and set her down, figuring maybe playing in the sand would be fun enough to not care how cold the water was.
Nope, her teeth were chattering and her whole body was shaking, so we took her back to the towel. I went back in though. I hate wearing a swim suit right now so I figured since I had gone to all that trouble, I was at least going in the water. Usually once the shock wears off you can get used to it. The shock did wear off a little, but it was still so cold it actually hurt. So I went in up to my shoulders and called it good and went back to join everyone on the sand. My aunt, her daughter-in-law and her granddaughter, and another aunt were there too so we hung out with them. My dad had bought her a shovel and bucket set so she had a lot of fun playing in the sand. That will have to be her next order for my dad's place, a sandbox to play in.
When we got back from the beach we packed up and hit the road. It was a good weekend. Unfortunately Ryan's pesticide license exam was today, so the weekend was a little stressful since he was anxious about the test and he had to find time to study. It would have been nice if the test had been last week so we could have enjoyed the weekend more, but it was still good. I'm happy to say that he passed it today, so no more stress! It's such a relief, for me too. I was nervous and anxious for him, and I also helped him study and spent several hours a day for a week or more making him flashcards and study guides, so it's like wow, I have all this free time now. It reminds me of the amazing feeling that washed over me as I finished the presentation on my master's thesis....this is on a smaller scale of course, but relief nonetheless.
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