Maple Festival

Cranbrook had a Maple Festival this past weekend that we went to on Saturday. (Cranbrook is a Museum here in our area that we have a membership to). With the weather still being cool and knowing that we would be walking outside be busted out the backpack carrier. Maddie doesn't know what to make of it.At the Museum we started our walk by the Maple trees that they had tapped to get the sap out. I now way too much about how to make Maple Syrup. When they tap a tree, the tree has to be 10 inches in diameter, and for every additional 8 inches it can have another tap in it. A 'gusher' tap has one drop of sap every second, it take 3 hours to still fill a bucket. The sap only comes out on days when the weather is above 40', the sap travels up the tree and nights when it is in the 20's the sap goes back down. This upward/downward traveling of the sap is what allows the sap to come out of the tap's.Next we went to where the boil the sap into syrup. Sap is only 1.5 to 3 percent sugar, syrup is 68? percent sugar. So they boil the sap until it is 217'? to get the right mixture of sugar & water.They also had examples of games that Indians used to play to teach children the skills needed to do chores. Brendan was watching intently.Next we went to the Indians huts to learn about how the Indians made maple sugar. They would store it in the ground so that other animals wouldn't be able to get it.And this funny guy taught us some of the words that Indians used for different things. A maple tree means 'Man Tree' because it branch's out in pairs (like arms) instead of a branch and then another branch a little higher and not even.Finally we went inside for a snack and of course I had to buy some pure maple syrup.

No More Little Ceaser Land

When we went out on our weekly Pizza Night a couple of weeks ago we went to Little Ceaser Land but to our surprise and very much disappointment it was closed! So now we are left with Chuck E Cheese's, which cost more so we go every other week and doesn't have that large a play area-they have games. Of course games take tokens so you have to get those too!
Here is Madelyn on one of the kiddie rides. Once she figured out she was moving she wanted off, she doesn't like rides right now. Yet she likes to be tossed around like a rag doll, go figure.Here is Brendan playing ski-ball, he is dangerous with this game. The balls go flying everywhere.Here is Brendan and Daddy playing a fishing game, I don't know which one liked this one more.Finally here is Brendan again, this ride is a roller coaster. It moves up & down & side to side a long with a large screen that has a movie of a roller coaster ride. Brendan was yelling 'WHEE' the whole time!

Brian in the Kitchen

Brian and Brendan love to have fires outside. Brian know of a fire starter using cardboard egg containers, dryer lint & candle wax. You cut the top off the egg carton, place dryer lint in each basket and pour melted wax over, let harden and then cut the lines holding each of the baskets together. So you end up with 12 fire starters.

The first time Brian made these he used the double-boil method. He put the chunks of wax in a old soup can placed that in a pan with boiling water and waited. Well I guess he thought that took to long because the second time he made some fire starters he put the soup can directly on the stove to melt the wax. And that worked fine UNTIL, he poured the wax out and added more. There was still some wax on the outside of the can when he put it back on the burner, and once that wax made it down to the stove top, CA-BOOM we had a fire on my stove! Luckily we had a fire extinguisher under the sink. Warning those little fire extinguisher hold a powder stuff to put out fire, and it get everywhere!

Of course once the fire was out I had to get the camera out to take a photo of the mess that Brian had made.
Note: the fire was only on the 1 burner of the stove and wasn't tall enough to even reach the stove hood, even thought that was scary enough.

Maddie's Playtime

Little Miss Maddie loves her play time. One of her favorite toys right now are little people. She takes them out of the bucket and puts them in the bucket, takes them, puts them in. Now this doesn't mean she is a neat child, no no no, she can make one huge mess of these little people. We have them everywhere; in the kitchen, under the table, on the stairs, by the bathroom. They multiply at night I think. Well here are some shots of Madelyn playing in the dinning room today.
Of course she has to pose for the camera.
Thinking really hard.

Winter Vacation

I won a over-night vacation package from the local tv station a couple weeks ago to a resort up north. So with Brendan being out of school last week for his winter vacation Brian took monday & tuesday off from work to have some fun. And fun we did. The place is near Boyne Mountain up in the north west side to the lower pen. (by the ring finger of the Michigan glove). It is a full out ski, golf, spa, waterpark resort. We drove up monday after breakfast and spent the day at the Avalanche Bay waterpark, it was hard to get photos in here b/c the water was warm (85') and the air was also warm so everytime we got the camera out it would get damp in a couple of minutes. But here is one that I got of Brendan.They had two slides in the kids area that Brendan got to down all by himself and two tube slides that he went down in our laps. He loved it. They also have a slide that you ride down on a mat head first, of course Brendan loved it too! We had him (and Maddie) in a lifevest on the rides & lazy river. Maddie liked the kid's area where it was zero depth entry with little jets shoting water up about 10".
We stayed the night at the Grand Lodge Hotel and went to the indoor/outdoor pool after breakfast. It was cool swimming outside while people are skiing down the mountain.We also drove through Boyne City & Petoskey (both citys are on a lake shore). Then a stop at Brian's favorite sporting/camping store Jay's, of course the boys talked me into getting Brendan a real bow & arrow set since he likes the toy one that he got the Renessance Festival so much. A stop at Grandma & Grandpa's house for dinner then back home. We all had a lot of fun.

Daddy's Helper

This weekend was a weekend to work in the basement. We had set it aside for that. On saturday, when I started, Brendan was right there with me. It was very boring, so I was really surprised. So, I asked him "Are you sure you want to help me?" It was so cute, because he said "Of course, I'm your buckaroo." Also, if you want to hear about a recent hunting adventure, check out the story at my blog site here.

On Sunday, I had to crawl under the stairs. Now, the kid has flashlights galore, but he really likes using one of mine with a pocket clip on it. So, we share it. I asked him to go get it for me and he came downstairs with it. The next thing I know, I hear him say something about getting a hat, and he is off again. I have no idea where he came up with this, but he put the light on his hat, and was ready to go.

He went under the stairs with me the whole time, and held the light where I needed it the whole time. Here is the little goof.

Cardboard Ghost

Jen ordered a new background, and it came in a big box. Brendan kept putting it on, and calling himself a ghost. So, I cut him out some arm holes, and eye holes.

Oakland Mall/Snow Day

Yesterday Brendan had a snow day from school, which was sad because it was his Valentine's Day party. Hopefully he will have it on friday. What do you do with a 4 year old who has been cooped up and a almost 11 month-old who is no longer sick? You go to the mall to play. Here is Maddie playing at the mall.
How much snow do you need to close school in Michigan? A LOT! That is just what we got. I am thinking 6-8 inches (closer to 8) but judge for your self from the pictures.
The side walk going up the street.
Brian out shoveling.
Madelyn watching at the back window the WHOLE time that Daddy & Brendan are outside.
Maddie with Brendan outside in the snow.
We hope that you had a wonderfull Valentine's Day!

Nothing Too New

I wanted to up-date the Blog but we didn't do anything to take pictures of. On Wednesday I had a kindergarten information night and tomorrow I am registering Brendan for kindergarten. It is so sad to think that Brendan is old enough to start school. But I will be saying the same thing next year b/c with his birthday in Sept. I am going to hold him back and have him in full day kindergarten next year.
Brian went up to the Upper Penicula this past weekend with his friend Mike to check out some land that Mike bought up there. It was very cold but my have a camper top on his truck so they both sleep indoors and on a bed. His camper is pretty cool, it has a bathroom that is a toilet & shower too, a mini kitchen and table that turns into a second bed.
Brendan went to grandma & grandpa's Andrews' house since daddy was gone. Poor Madelyn has an ear infection & a lower respiratory bronchial thingie. The doctors took a sample of her throat & nose to make sure that it is something more serious. And of course with her sick I didn't get much of a break, but at least she doesn't pitch a fit yet when she has to take her medicine. With Madelyn sick I have a little cold too. So other than a trip to JoAnn's on saturday because we both wanted out of the house for a little while and on Sunday we met Daddy & Brendan at the mall.

We hope that you enjoy this next week and we will check in with you next wednesday after our Mid-Winter Vacation.

Maddie's Hair Days

One of the great things about having a little girl is you get to play with her hair. And now that Madelyn finally has a head full she can where clips and bows and all those girlie things. But that also means washing it. That part is a little harder, and her hair keeps getting longer. So to be sure that her hair is clean brendan likes to help me 'play' with it some times. And this is what we get.
And of course the after bath curls.

Rock Wall Climber

Last night we took Brendan to the local REI store where we have a membership that allows us to use the rock wall. Everytime we visit a store that has one brendan wants to try it. Last night was his night. Now how high do you think a four year old can climb, note that this wall doesn't have the pegs sticking out that you climb with - it has the cracks and grooves that you use to go up. Brendan got to go two times. The first time he went about 8 feet, just over our heads. The second time he almost got to the top! He is now really a spiderman. And of course what type of mom would I be if I didn't have the camera in the diaper bag? So here are his pictures.

First is him in his harness looking at how high the wall goes and telling us that he wants to ring the bell at the top.
Second Brendan starting to climb and learning where he needs to hold on to.
This is how high he got on his first climb.
This is Maddie watching. I don't know if she liked him doing this, wanted to do it herself, or just bored.
Finally, this is how high Brendan got on his second climb. So close to the top.

Snow Days

We finally have snow! It took awhile for it to come and now we have the white stuff everywhere. Brendan & daddy love to play outside while Madelyn & mommy like to sit at the back window and watch.
But of course Maddie has to get in on the outdoor adventure so I got her a baby sled. She loves it, and it is a good work out for me to pull her around the yard.
Brendan loves to play in the snow, snowmen, snowballs, snowangels, the boy loves winter. Here is one of his snow angels that he made for me.
With the Michigan winters the lakes and ponds freeze, what better play to ice skate than on a small pond. This past Saturday Brian took Brendan out for his first ice skating lesson. Brendan did pretty good at his first time out, had to be held with both hands the whole time, but I think that is pretty good give that this same boy has problems with walking sometimes. :)
And of course what goes with ice skating better than hockey! We got Brendan a small kid sized stick and he knew just how to hold it and hit the puck and everything! My boy's got game. Of course since he can't skate yet we just used his soccer goal for him to hit the pucks to in the drive way. He had a great time.

Ice Festival

This Saturday we went to the Plymouth Ice Festival. It was very cold and very crowded. I think the high was in the upper 20's. Brrrr. Brendan and Madelyn both took naps in the car on the way there, which ended up being a really good thing as I had no clue where I was going and the way I took the road ended up being closed for construction (Bridge closed in Winter type of thing!). But hey getting there is half the adventure and it Brian tons of new material for picking on me.

Okay back to the Kiddie's. We had both of them all bundled up so well that weather didn't bother either of them, plus a break at Starbucks for a hot chocolate break worked too. And of course here are our pictures.
First is Brian and Brendan all bundled up.
Maddie kickin' back in all her clothes.
The BIG ship. It is over 8 feet tall I am guessing.
And a small pirate ship. About 2 feet tall.

Finally

Okay, okay I am finally up-dating our blog. I know that it has been quite a while but it is hard to find time to do all of the 5 minute work that this takes. My goal this year is to up-date at least once a week and last week didn't count. We are all well and have had our flu shot so we will see how this winter/cold season treats us. Maddie has her first tooth and I am trying to get a picture of it, it is still little but is sticking out of her gums.

As for the kiddies here are some pictures from Christmas.
Maddie swimming in the pool on the way home from Georgia.
And of course Brendan being a ham and pretending that he is a scuba diver. Quite the imagination that he has.