Summer 2013 (is over already...)

Loving gummies and the USA in 4th of July gear!

So much for hoping to update at least once a month...now summer is already over...and I can't believe it.  We got out of school in mid-May and everyone talked of how long summer would be, but as usual summer went so quickly, too quickly - probably because I love being home with my two boys so much and wish I could be home all year round with them.  Here are the highlights of our summer!
Father's Day Pirates Game - Take Two -  Since our plans got rained out on Father's Day, we tried again a few weeks later, and had a blast despite the fact that it rained AGAIN!  I joked that we were going to the game regardless of the weather this time, so Papa came prepared with umbrellas and ponchos for everyone!  Before the game, we ate a local bar, and Colten was his usual silly self!

The McCutcheon Men (and Colten as a mustard-ketchup robot)

Grandma and Grandpa

Inside the stadium

Papa came prepared for the rain, and boy would we have needed that gear if we hadn't been lucky enough to score seats under the roof.  We weren't lucky enough to all get seats right next to each other, but at least we all stayed dry during the hour + rain delay.  So the boys only got to see 1.5 innings of the game and a long delay, but we all had a blast regardless!

A Vaca to Presque Isle - Colten began asking to go to the beach in early winter, so we knew that we had to take a trip there over the summer.  Since Daddy is back in college, we had to stay pretty close to home.  Of all these years living here, none of us had ever visited Presque Isle but had heard great things about it so we decided to take the boys to the beach there.  And boy are we happy that we did; in fact, I think it will become an annual trip!  We had so much fun, and it was only an hour and a half from home!  I can't believe we hadn't explored this gem sooner.
We headed up early on our first day of vacation and went straight to the beach - beach 11 to be exact.  It was perfect - calm, shallow water and only a handful of other families with whom to share the beach.

Colten and Ryan - hand-in-hand

Playing in the sand

Ryan dumping water and sand all over himself

Sara's Diner - This is the counter where we ordered.

After the beach, we stopped at Sara's Diner for lunch.  What a cool place!  I even felt a little bit like I was in the movie Shag! 

They are known for their ice cream, particularly the orange (which is what Colten has too hidden behind all of those sprinkles!)

Colten and Ryan outside of Sara's

Posing in a classic car cut-out

We ate at Cracker Barrel for breakfast one morning, and I just loved this highchair!

I think the boys enjoyed playing on the luggage cart just as much as they did the beach!

Colten had us bury him in the sand multiple times each day that we went to the beach!

Bringing water up from Lake Erie.

We were out quite a ways in the lake, and Colten practiced swimming back without his swimmies!

I love the joy on Ryan's face here as he plays in the water!

The McCutcheon Family!

While we were in town, we wanted to try eateries that were unique to the area.  So one night we stopped at Pufferbelly's.  It was one of the original firehouses that had been converted into a restaurant - so cool to see and such yummy food, too!

 

 After a long day of fun...

Ryan cleaned-up and ready to sleep

Another night we stopped at Boston's Bar and Grill and while the food was fabulous, our experience there was the worst restaurant experience I have ever had...thanks to Ryan.  In all fairness, he did not get a nap, and it was WAY past his bedtime, but we still needed to eat.  First, Ryan screamed at the sight of his highchair, so we tried a booster seat.  He initially seemed happy with that but then would not sit still to say the least.  When his food arrived, my usually fabulous eater, just wanted to play with and throw his food around and on me while screaming.  In the end, Tom and I had them box our food up just about when it arrived.  We headed back to the hotel, and I put Ryan to sleep.  Because we just had one room, Daddy, Colten and I had to huddle near the bathroom after I put Ryan in the pack-n-play so that he wouldn't see us and would actually go to sleep.  Needless to say, that is where Tom and I ate our dinner.  What an experience!  And what great memories now!

At Boston's - in a booster before dinner interesting...

On our last morning there, a cold front had come through and it was freezing.  Okay, it was in the 50's but it felt really cold and we had had plans to go on a lagoon ride and to check out the lighthouses.  I knew it would feel even colder closer to the lake so we headed to Walmart in hopes of finding sweatshirts.  And while they didn't have much, we were lucky enough to find something to keep us warm.  So we headed to Tim Horton's for special treats; Colten had never had a whole donut before, let alone for breakfast.  But he loved it!

Enjoying a double chocolate donut for breakfast!

Then we were off to the lagoon ride!

Ready to go!  And they even let Colten ring the bell to announce the boarding of the pontoon!

Enjoying the ride!

Looking for turtles

Ryan and Mommy - I was just happy he sat still for the most part.  The tour guide told me that I could let him walk around, but I know my boy and know that he would have gone right in the water!

Colten got to drive the pontoon for bit!

After the lagoon ride, we headed over to see one of the lighthouses.

I love this photo of Colten on a huge piece of driftwood.

Because we spent all of our beach time on Beach 11, I was happy to show the boys the real Lake Erie that I remember from vacations with my grandparents - the crashing waves, the dead fish on the beach, the shells to collect along the shore, and the sounds and smells that cannot be described in words.  

 

 We had such a fabulous trip and hope to go back every year now!  Every day we learned of more and more that we wanted to do so next year will bring more adventures!

10 Year Wedding Anniversary -  Tom and I also celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary!  I can't believe it! We have been together for 15 years (including our dating years), but it has gone so quickly; in fact, I can barely remember our life together prior to having the boys.  We had such a wonderful day together.  It began by taking the boys to the Summer Festival of the Arts at YSU.  We go every year and love it - the book sale, the art for sale, the ethnic foods, the kids crafts and activities, the entertainment - everything.

Daddy and Ryan waiting while Colten makes his craft

"All finished with my masterpiece!"

Trying is hand at paint spinning

After a fun afternoon with the boys, Tom and I headed out for a special night.  Grandma and Grandpa kept Colten and Ryan overnight so we had the whole night to ourselves - whatever would we do?  We started with a really nice dinner at Whitefire, followed by ice cream at Handle's (and we actually got to eat it without wiping dripping ice cream from children's faces and hands), and then we were off to Lowe's to buy a new facet for the kitchen (romantic, I know, but ours was leaking), and we ended our outing with a fun game of putt-putt!  We had a blast!  I wasn't anything extravagant but it was perfect.  We even got to watch a movie when we got home - Bridesmaids - that we both had yet to watch if that tells you anything!  Happy Anniversary, Tom!  Love you!

A Visit with Uncle Mike - Shortly after our trip to Presque Isle, we headed down to visit Uncle Mike in Columbus.  Every time we visit, I always try to pack so much into our stay, so this time Grandma and I headed down early with the boys and Daddy and Grandpa followed on the weekend.  We started our fun by stopping at Red Robin to eat lunch and then a trip to the Disney Store.  Later that night, we headed to the Moss Family home for dinner with KC, Greg, Braden, Ella, Aunt Joyce, Uncle Frank, Chris, and Liz.  It was so great to visit with everyone and watch the kids play together.  Thanks for hosting us!

Ryan and Uncle Mike!  It was the first time he heard Ryan call him "Mike" on his own!

On Friday, Uncle Mike took the day off and we all headed to the zoo (of course my mom and I had already spent the day at Easton the day before!)  We were all excited to see the dinosaurs!

Check out their matching dino outfits!  (I won't be able to do that much longer, but while I can...)

"Look out, Uncle Mike!"

Getting ready for the dino ride

On the boat ride though dino land!

The ride was so cool, complete with a huge variety of dinos and even some that spit (water) at us as we passed by.

The kids loved posing on all of the animal statues.

On Saturday, Tom, Uncle Mike, Colten and I headed to the Dublin Irish Festival!  One of the local TV stations took our photo against a green screen and imposed the Big Bang Theory cast - so fun!

We also found a park there where Colten, Daddy, and Uncle Mike played.

a modern merry-go-round - I was dizzy just watching!

We enjoyed great food (and some of us enjoyed some beer) and we even purchased a copy of the original McCutcheon Crest with a brief history of our family name.  And Colten had fun bouncing in kiddy land and making lots of crafts from a hat to a bookmark and scratch and color wand!

Colten showing off his creations!

 Shortly after the festival, we headed to the local splash pad where the boys (and Uncle Mike) had a blast!  Ryan was obsessed with this water gun but eventually ran through the water a bit too!

 

Colten was much more adventurous this time, even trying to stand under the buckets!

 

 

Leading Ryan through 'the car wash'!

 Before heading home on Sunday, we stopped at Schimdt's for a yummy lunch and their famous cream puffs - oh how I wish I could just taste one!

 

 Chase made the journey home with Grandma and Grandpa because Uncle Mike was headed off on a business trip.  No one prompted Ryan to do this so I'm not sure what made him think of it, but every time he saw Chase at Grandma and Grandpa's house, he would climb on him and yell "Ride!"  I guess he thought that Chase was his very own live horse like the Lucky toy horse he rides at their house!  Chase was such a great sport as you can see!

 

Other Colten and Ryan Updates -
We initially set up the sand and water table, but quickly converted it to a water table after Ryan insisted on eating and eating and eating sand.  Then Colten and Ryan decided that it was their own personal pool and would climb in it to sit and even stand - silly boys!  But they had more fun than I ever imagined every time they played in it!

Colten and Ryan in their matching Monsters U pjs

The first time Ryan uses a real toothbrush - I got tired of him biting me when I used the finger brush

Heading to Mackenzie's first birthday party - a Hawaiian theme.  The boys are actually wearing authentic Hawaiian outfits that Uncle Mike had as a little boy!

At the party - even if we were one of the few who actually dressed the part!

This summer Ryan also decided that he was done sitting in his highchair at home.  One more for breakfast he insisted on sitting at Colten's little yellow table in the living room, so I obliged.  Of course I knew that wouldn't fly with Colten once he was awake so I cleaned off the other red table in the basement and now both boys have their own tables where they can enjoy some meals.

1st time eating at his own red table!

And the first time he is using a booster to eat at the dining room table with the family!

Other than that our summer was filled with swimming - at least when the weather allowed!  Colten took swim lessons at the YMCA all summer and made more progress than I ever could have imagined!  My goal was to help him learn to swim without swimmies, and boy did he accomplish that and more.  He started out as a Pike, using floatation devices to help him swim and learning how to jump in.  It took him most of that three week class to jump voluntarily without holding anyone's hands, but once he jumped, he never looked back!  While I was thrilled with his progress, I wasn't sure that the classes were helping him learn how to swim so I wasn't going to sign him back up.  However, Colten loved going and asked if he could keep swimming.  Since he was so interested, we signed back up as a Pike and I am so happy that we did!  By the end of session two, he was swimming by himself!  During this session, the teachers divided the class into two, one with stronger swimmers and one with those less comfortable.  Luckily Colten went with the stronger swimmers, even though he was the weakest of those in that group.  However, this pushed him to make up ground, and he sure did.  By the end of that session, he had passed Pike and even tested out of the next Eel group.  Regardless, I kept him with the Eels for the last summer session just to be sure he felt comfortable and had good breath control.  By the end of that session, he had swam a lap unassisted and even learned to dive for dive sticks!  I am so proud of Colten and am glad he has found something that he really loves.  Initially he said that he didn't want to sign up again, that he wanted to take a break for a while; however, on the last day of class and ever since he keeps asking when we are going back to swim class so we are signing up again tomorrow as a Ray! I have some swimming photos below but all are from early summer.

Colten and Kayleigh ready to swim!

Playing in the water

Trying out his goggles

Big jump!

Into the water he goes!

And while I can't capture this with photos, I am also so proud of Ryan who is talking more and more each day!  Colten didn't talk until well after he was 2, but not Ry-bug.  He repeats or at least tries to repeat just about everything he hears!  And right now his two favorite things are Elmo and balls of any sort; in fact those are two of his favorite words as well!!!
I had a fabulous summer with my two boys and know I will shed quite a few tears in the coming days when I  have to adjust to leaving them again.  It's back to the grind for a while...