#1 - National Wildlife Week (March 15-19)
I read about this in Family Fun a few weeks ago and marked it in my calendar as a good opportunity to go back and visit the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge again. Too bad the weather didn't really agree with me. I planned on a short hike and maybe another walk through the lodge to see if they had anything special going on. Apparently they were unaware of this prominent occasion and so we kept our visit brief.
On the drive there, we talked to Will about wildlife in our area. He was sure we were going to see deer, coyote... and a jaguar like on Diego. He kept telling me Diego lives at the animal center. Hehe.
It wasn't raining, but it was a little windy and occasionally misty. Once we got into the woodsy area, it was much calmer.
Looking for fish or muskrats.
Will ran most of the way... which is good because that's only slightly faster than our walking pace. Otherwise, we feel like we're dragging him. And every time we came to an intersection, he would turn to ask if he should go right or left... and then proceed in the correct direction.
Will is also suddenly interested in "racing". You'll see why in the latter part of this post. So he and Craig raced down the boardwalk.
Checking out a bald eagle...
...and... baby eagles. (Note to self: look up what a baby eagle is called in your free time. Hatchling, perhaps??)
Admiring a depiction of our beautiful seasons here in Ottawa county.
A fun, neat fact about our little family: we have a birthday to celebrate in every season! We were explaining this to Will in this picture (though he's heard it before). We talk about each season as well. Mommy's birthday is in the winter. Then Sophie's birthday will be celebrated in the spring. Will's birthday follows in the summer. And daddy's birthday rounds us out in the fall!
An aerial view (this picture is much larger than what I photographed) of the county. We found our house on this map! Ha! Kind of reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad used to point out (in jest) our little town on a picture of planet Earth as viewed from outer space. Haha! 
Scoping out the birds-eye view from the observation deck.
Okay, moving on...
#2 - I can't give an appropriate (or politically correct) name for this "holiday" because my blog is G rated. But let's just say that a certain female friend of mine enlightened me on the custom of the "man's Valentines Day", celebrated on March 14th exactly one month after the real Valentine's Day. The celebration consists of steak (and my man likes his steak!) and... well, you get the idea. Happy Valentines Day, baby!
Not the best picture of meat I've ever seen, but hey, I hate grilling and the steaks were pretty good. And finally...
#3 - Pi Day (March 14th)
Pi. Get it? As in 3.14... today's date is 3/14. I actually learned about this last year from the ladies in my online mom's forum. Math geeks (and other people who just want an excuse to bake... like me) honor this "holiday" by baking a "pie". So ours was apple... served warm with some ice cream while we watched a movie. That first piece cut out was Will's. He ate the ice cream around the pie and that's it. Ha! I'm not that big of a pie fan myself. My personal dessert of choice would always be cookies. But every now and again, pie just sounds good. Oh, and can I just say how much I LOVE my food processor? Pie dough is an absolute cinch in the food processor!
So there you have it! Happy National-Wildlife-Pi-Valentines Day to you all! :)Here are some other randoms from last week and this weekend.
This was after work one evening while Sophie was catnapping and Will was trying to burn some energy. The kid's got good form for a two year old! Too bad he thinks the ball is supposed to go UP through the hoop. Ah well. He's got time to learn and I'm sure his daddy and uncles would love to teach him.
I love this picture. My boy and his dog. This is what I was referring to with the "interest in racing" comment from above. Will and I started a silly game last summer of racing from the garage to "the bricks" (by the front porch) and back. He and I raced several times on this day and then tried to get Brutus involved. Brutus is always such a good sport (but man, he needs a haircut!) and he would sit behind the starting line until I said go each time.
Will loved it! This was probably race #4 and Brutus was getting tired of the cake walk. I think he was just letting Will win to boost his confidence. Look how happy Will is. Oh, and somehow they crossed paths almost immediately. See how Will was on the opposite side of Brutus above? I think my kid must run crooked while he's trying so hard to watch the competition. Silly boy... that's a lesson mommy will teach him when he starts to run competitively. NEVER look behind you!
Sophie's new workout challenge: doing pull-ups on her high chair. She's doing this constantly lately! Don't worry, her feet don't leave the ground... yet.
Check out her super cute, new, owl shirt from Aunt Casey! I love it! Thanks Aunt Casey. Oh, and do you notice she's rockin' the cheerleader move? That was just for you, Case.
After nap on Saturday, we went over to check out the progress on Kelly and Steve's new house. They're expecting to spend their first night there this week! Good thing, 'cause Kelly is having frequent contractions on a daily basis. Baby Celia just might make an early appearance!Oh my gosh! There has been no detail (or dime!) spared on this monstrous house. Everything is exquisite. They have granite and marble, hardwood and heated flooring, walk in closets the size of my kitchen... all packed into a measly 4000+ square feet. It's enormous. Here's Will standing in the master shower. You may not notice, but there's a giant glass wall between him and my camera. And right behind me is a bath tub fit for MTV Cribs.
Sophie's deciding what her sleep number is on Kelly and Steve's bed.
Watching the trains go by from the balcony doors of the master bedroom. 
This picture was taken after I'd read Sandra Boynton's "Hey! Wake Up!" and Karen Katz's "Counting Kisses" at least three times each. He was soooo into reading books today! We read a ton... all day. So I suggested he read to Brutus. He went over to where the dog was laying down and began "Hey big guys! Open your eyes. What do you say? It's a brand new day!" The rest he kind of ad-libbed, but it was adorable... and funny.
We haven't exactly adjusted to the time change like I had hoped. My goal was to inch bedtime ahead by 15 minutes for the few days leading up to the change... but that never really happened. So although they both fell asleep surprisingly early on Saturday, they also both slept unusually late on Sunday and therefore we're doing everything exactly one hour behind today despite my best efforts. Oh well. Will fell asleep a little after 2 for nap and we ended up waking him at about 4:45 so as to keep bedtime on track.
He was happy to see daddy and find out what kind of fun game we'd been working on for him while he slept. (But you'll just have to wait for the next Tot School post to find out what it is.)
It was a family affair waking Will up from nap! :) Sophie brought toys for reinforcement. Haha!
I hope everyone is feeling adjusted this evening. It's a busy mom's worst nightmare: a weekend with one LESS hour when we're always begging for two or three EXTRA!!! Drats. But hey, it's light out when we eat dinner now and we have the promise of spring ahead.
Sophie's deciding what her sleep number is on Kelly and Steve's bed.
Watching the trains go by from the balcony doors of the master bedroom. 
This picture was taken after I'd read Sandra Boynton's "Hey! Wake Up!" and Karen Katz's "Counting Kisses" at least three times each. He was soooo into reading books today! We read a ton... all day. So I suggested he read to Brutus. He went over to where the dog was laying down and began "Hey big guys! Open your eyes. What do you say? It's a brand new day!" The rest he kind of ad-libbed, but it was adorable... and funny.
We haven't exactly adjusted to the time change like I had hoped. My goal was to inch bedtime ahead by 15 minutes for the few days leading up to the change... but that never really happened. So although they both fell asleep surprisingly early on Saturday, they also both slept unusually late on Sunday and therefore we're doing everything exactly one hour behind today despite my best efforts. Oh well. Will fell asleep a little after 2 for nap and we ended up waking him at about 4:45 so as to keep bedtime on track.
He was happy to see daddy and find out what kind of fun game we'd been working on for him while he slept. (But you'll just have to wait for the next Tot School post to find out what it is.)
It was a family affair waking Will up from nap! :) Sophie brought toys for reinforcement. Haha!
I hope everyone is feeling adjusted this evening. It's a busy mom's worst nightmare: a weekend with one LESS hour when we're always begging for two or three EXTRA!!! Drats. But hey, it's light out when we eat dinner now and we have the promise of spring ahead. 
1 comment:
I LOVE the cheerleader picture!
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