Catching Up Part 1: Vacation Wrap Up.

Yes, I know... I haven't had a post in FOREVER!  Yes, I know... I've been slacking, but in my defense life has happened. Planning for my classes (including a brand new one) and trying to cram as much in with my family as possible before school started took priority over blogging. So to catch you up on all the Innes happenings.... I'll review our summer, staring with our vacation. Check out later posts for the rest.

VACATION WRAP UP

Our vacation to Grand Haven, Michigan started out with a bang. A huge derecho hit our town and all Central Virginia the night before. What is a derecho you may ask? It is a SEVERE storm -- rain, thunder, lightning and winds up to 80 miles an hour. It knocked down trees, houses, and took out power all over central Virginia (in some places for 11 days) -- 3 days at our place. Now this wouldn't be so bad except temperatures reached 114 degrees too.  But the joy for our family was trying to finish packing for our week long trip  with no power. Honestly most of it got done the next morning and we were a bit late starting our trip.

Here's a picture of our packed car. Yes, I know it looks like we are going for months, but with a toddler in a family of older kids we had had to bring things.  Duncan did really well in the car and handled most of the trip with ease. 

Hanging out sans shoes!! Really all of us took off our shoes as much as we could.

Once we reached Michigan and my hometown of Grand Haven a whirlwind of activity ensued. It was so wonderful to see my family--it's been two years since I've seen my mom and sister, more like 4 years for my nephews. The goal was as much quality family time and holiday celebration as possible.

First up a picture with Grandma Tenney. Check this off our bucket list. My mom had not seen Dunc since he was about 3 weeks old. She was "in love" and could get enough of his crazy funny antics. She kept us going with endless amount of watermelon, sweet tea, chicken nuggets, cucumbers, and hotdogs. 

Not only did my mom have a chair that was just the right size... she had toys and lots of them. Cars, trucks, school buses, tonka trucks.... Duncan was in heaven.

 A walk along the boardwalk and Pier were a must as well. Duncan really enjoyed watching the fishermen and seeing all the waves. He liked the boats and all the holiday hub-bub.

 More fun to be had at imagination station. What is imagination station? Well almost 15 years ago the residents of Grand Haven decided there needed to be an inclusive park for all children. What came out of it was imagination station--a huge playpark with swings, bridges, boats, soft play areas and lots of fun things to play with--and of course--it was a hit.

Duncan driving the "car" (left) and playing in his favorite tire swing (below).

The 4th of July dawned as a HOT, and humid day... so to cool off before all the festivities and picnic, a trip to the splash park was required. I truly think we have a water baby on our hands, Duncan played for two hours straight and wore himself out. But I was ok with it--because I knew he would have an AWESOME nap.  I truly love the expression on his face in these pictures--he was so excited about the water.  Oh and funny story... we lost a shoe on the way home, so daddy double-backed to see if he could find it. Nope, but he did find the sock? Who needs a shoe but leaves the sock?

A couple of visits to Aunt Beth and Uncle Jeremy's farm were also on the agenda. It was great to be able to see my nephews again, especially "my baby" Jonathan-- umm... yeah... he's not a baby, he's 18 and all grown up. Duncan really like the animals and playing on the farm with all the trucks and toys. We even got to ride Cricket, the horse, and play with the barn cats. 




I loved getting on a horse again. It's been forever. Duncan was a bit unsure at first, but settled in and really enjoyed it (especially after giving cricket a treat).

Even daddy rode Cricket!!! 

Having ice cream after riding the horses and playing at the farm our second night there. 

 My "baby" Jonathan.... all grown up. I really am proud of what he has been able to accomplish.










And of course... what trip to West Michigan and Grand Haven, would be complete without a trip to the beach? We met up with my childhood friend Rachel and her 2 sons and played all morning in the hot sand and warm water. Duncan make his first sand castle and once more had a ball in the water. 

 Building a sand castle with Xander and Heath. Duncan manned the shovel!

Playing with daddy in the water. They had such a good time jumping in the waves and floating. To be honest I wasn't sure we'd ever get Duncan out of the water.

Our trip home was uneventful. We did bring a small trailer home with us with some furniture from my mom's old house that I have wanted but have never been able to get to us. Duncan really didn't want to spend the same amount of time in the car on the way home (neither did I), but we made it back in decent time---just in time to go through our freezer to see what had spoiled. Remember, we left when the power was out.... for 3 days. That was a "fun" thing to come home too. All in all, we had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do it again.

Bucket List Update #1

This past week we finally crossed off one of our bucket list items. Swimming at the pool. The pool at our complex opened quite late this year due to repairs (can we say earthquake anyone?) So we had to make due with other exciting things (running in the park, daily walks, slides and swings) to tide us over until it was ready. And on a hot humid day we were ready to try it out.

To be honest, Duncan really wanted nothing to do with it. He fought us every step of the way getting his swim diaper and suit on, and lord, don't get me started on the shoes. We had to fake it and say we were going on our evening walk--early. What you say? You don't go walking wearing your swim suits and carrying towels, grapes, a new floatie, a waterbottle and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Well, we do.

As we got closer to the pool, you could hear other children playing in the water, and that pipped his interest, especially when he saw the large inflatable beach ball flying through the air (leave it to a ball to get my son jazzed about the pool). He went right for the gate and wanted to go in. A few minutes later after unloading all our stuff, getting shirts off and floaties on, we took our first tentative steps to the pool. Holy moo cow was the water cold, but my son looked around, and jumped into his daddy's waiting arms. From there it was all play time.The hubs and Duncan splashed around and I finally got in and used to the cold water. 

Checking out the turtle on my floatie.

Here I go!!! Jump!

Splash, splash, with daddy.

45 minutes later, both of us could see that Duncan was doing a bit of shivering (yes the water was that cold, which makes me think that our place needs to get a solar heater cover, but that's another time) and we started wrangling the boy to get out. You would have though we were sending him away for ever from all the crying and pleading to stay in. Thank goodness for the peanut butter sandwich and grapes--they made a great distraction. (Yes, I do have my moments of brilliant forethought) And after a quick bite to eat and drying off we headed home promising a warm shower, brushing our teeth--which is one of his favorite things to do-- and Thomas the Tank Engine on the Sprout channel before bed. Overall, it was a great memory and fun time for our first bucket list event. And... I think we might just have a real water baby on our hands.

Summer Bucket List 2012

It's time for summer!  Too often I make up a list of things I'd like us to do as a family and then {POOF} summer is over and I don't get to even half of them. Last year we were in the midst of a move, starting new jobs, and discovering a new city so our list got thrown to the wind. This year I am much more determined to do enjoy a summer filled with family fun. While scouring the web for ideas of activities near us, I came across the Happy Family Movement's Summer Bucket List Challenge. What an awesome idea and I immediately signed our family up. There are over 1000 families participating--how exciting!!! I'm looking forward to a fun filled summer. So without further ado, I present to you the Innes Family 2012 Summer Bucket List Challenge!

• visit Grandma Tenney
• visit Grandma and Poppa Tyler
• swim at the beach on Lake Michigan
• see the Thomas the Train Experience
• make homemade ice cream
• visit the water park with Felicity and CJ
• go camping
• attend a Friday at Five concert together
• have a picnic at the park
• feed the ducks at the local pond
• plant flowers
• go mini golfing
• go to the National Zoo
• go strawberry picking
• see fireworks together
• swim at the pool
• go to a carnival 
• ride horses
• visit a petting zoo. 

I will most likely update the list with more ideas and I will definitely add links to relevant posts as we cross things off.  Have a  great start to your summer everyone.