Why Do We Love the Midwest?

Frozen Custard! It is ten times better than ice cream which I'm sure you find hard to believe, but trust us, it is. There are custard shops in every city and around every corner here in the Midwest. Today, we happened to visit the world famous Leon's. It may be our new favorite, and that's quite a feat considering we've had a lot of custard in the just over a year that we've lived in the Midwest. Things just keep getting better here in our world!

Budding Photographer

I love to have my picture taken if you haven't noticed, and lately I've developed some interest in taking other peoples' pictures, especially Ryan's. I still have a lot to learn, but part of the problem is my subject, at least that's my excuse. Say cheese!

Pomatoes and Strawberries

This summer we decided to dabble in a little gardening with the hopes of having a full fledged garden by next summer. Mom let us each pick out a plant and of course we each chose our favorite food...strawberries for me and pomatoes for Lily. Mom keeps telling us they are tomatoes, but after messing with her for so long I think we are starting to believe they are actually called pomatoes. We've been snacking on strawberries for some time now thanks to quick blooms from ours and Gigi kindly donating her plant to us, but the pomatoes took until today to grace us with their presence. Only two of them were ready, but last time I checked there are only two of us so this was fine by me. Neither of us hesitated to take a big bite out of our pomato and all we have to say is WOW! We have quite the green thumbs here in our world!

A Boat Ride, Fishing, and Sugar

We decided to break Gigi and Pop Pop in by bringing them up to the cottage with us along with Titi Nery and Uncle Tom. It was a weekend of firsts for all involved...the first time daddy had to launch the boat all by himself, the first time Gigi and Titi Nery went fishing, the first time we rode on a boat in the water, and the first time Lily and I caught a fish. I apparently had a lucky pole too because Titi Nery and Pop Pop had some luck with it as well. All that fishing made us kind of smell like fish though so Mom decided to bathe us in the kitchen sink since we detest showers. We're kind of big for the sink, but a little soap and water does wonders. We of course snuck in a trip to the best place in the world too, the candy store. Who wouldn't want to go considering we had all of the Grandparents and Titi Nery and Uncle Tom with us. Let's just say we didn't walk away with only lollipops this time! Boat rides, fishing, and lots of sugar...we love our world!

Promises

Sissy has been potty trained for almost two months now, and since then I've been dabbling in using the big potty when I feel up to it. I still don't really care if my diaper is wet or dirty, but I make sure to announce it every time I pee. I did go tinkle a few times last week all on my own, but otherwise I still don't have a whole lot of interest in the process. If you remember though, going back to June 24, I officially used the potty all by myself. Mom had promised me that when that happened I would get the Mickey Mouse underwear I'd been eyeing every time we went to Target. It may seem like I don't always listen, but trust me I am, especially when it comes to promises made. Well today, we finally made it back to Target and guess what I got...my Mickey underwear. In honor of the occasion I used the potty all by myself again and then Mom let me model my cool underwear. This is a huge step for me since last time we tried underwear a few weeks ago I attempted to rip them off immediately as if they were trying to eat me. Today though, I wore my underwear with pride, because I am on my way to being a big boy here in our world!

Twisty Twirly or Curly Whirly

Depending on my mood I am either Twisty Twirly or Curly Whirly. Can you guess why?

4th Annual Puerto Rican Party

After a one year hiatus due to our move, we brought the Puerto Rican Party back. This year we were able to help out a bit more and enjoy our guests and the food. I helped set up the dominoes and Lily helped Dad make Pina Coladas. We also loved having all of our friends over so that we could swim and play on our swing set. We ate enough limber de coco, sorullitos, and pastillos to last us until next year's party. Unfortunately, the rain brought an end to the party. We tried to stay dry by hiding under drink umbrellas, but we didn't have much luck. The daddies were crazy and finished their domino game in the rain though. Silly daddies! Rain or shine, we're counting down the days until next year's party!

The Raisin vs. The Rhinoceros

My exact words were "Mom, I have a bean in my nose." From the reaction on Mom's face I figured out pretty fast that I probably shouldn't have stuck a raisin up my nose. Mom tried to calm me down, but after her initial reaction I was pretty freaked out. At first, I don't think she believed me, but after shining a flashlight up my nose, sure enough there it was. She tried to tweeze it out, no luck; she tried to suction it out, no luck; she tried to make me blow it out, no luck; she called Grandma Jackie, no luck. After awhile, Lily started telling Mom that she had a raisin up her nose just so she would leave me alone. Only problem was Lily forgot that Mom didn't give her any raisins. Mom kept trying to get me to settle down, but she wasn't making any progress in that department either. After about 20 minutes, I finally settled down enough for Mom to give it one last shot. She kind of forcefully rubbed downward on my nose and that, along with all of the snot that was coming out, made the raisin fall out. Good thing too, or I would have been back in the ER. Afterwards Mom did a little research on the Internet to see what else she could have done. Just in case you ever get stuck in this predicament, here is a little trick hospitals use (caution - this isn't guaranteed to work):

*use a finger to plug the unobstructed nostril

*have child open mouth

* place your mouth over child's

*blow a quick, forceful puff of air into your child's mouth

*the raisin should come flying out!!!

I would recommend just not shoving a raisin up your nose to begin with, but in the case it happens now you can be prepared. When all was said and done, Mom lectured me again on how my mouth was the only hole I could put food into. She has told me this a thousand times before, and I guess for good reason. Lesson learned here in our world!

Fourth of July 2010

We could not have asked for a more perfect Fourth of July weekend. The weather was great which allowed us to take in all of the festivities. Saturday night we got to see our first real fireworks in downtown Milwaukee and stay up way past our bedtime, and then today we were actually in the Pewaukee Fourth of July parade. We rode on a boat and got to throw candy and stickers and wave our flags at all of the people on the street. Waving the flag was my favorite part, Lily's was seeing a dog in a tutu. We really didn't want to ride on the boat at first, but in the end Mom overheard both of us saying how much we loved the blue boat. We hope all of you had a blast this Fourth of July!

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

Today brought another new adventure to the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and our friends, Jackson and Payton, flew in from Arizona to join us. We had no idea what to expect, but while hiking, we discovered a really cool beach and the "ocean" (Lake Michigan). We had fun skipping rocks, burying our feet in the sand, and checking out all of the boats on the water. After all that exercise we came home for a yummy BBQ where my favorite was the watermelon. Mom and Dad even let us stay up late enough to catch lightning bugs. I wasn't a huge fan of the scary bugs, but Lily and Payton caught lots of them. Unfortunately, we were also up late enough to discover mosquitoes, but Dad quickly broke out the bug spray so there was nothing stopping us from having a good time here in our world!