Yikes Ike

Last weekend Hurricane Ike decided to stop by, not that we needed to be graced by it. The house shook, shutters flapped, and we sat in the dark for a while. We were lucky in that we probably had the least damage compared to our neighbors who either were missing few dozens of shingles or lost the siding off their house. I still can't believe that our shutters folded in half!

But before the winds got out of control, we made our yearly visit to our amusement park, Kings Island. This year, we spent it in the kiddie land - getting run over by little feet and strollers. Cautious Owen loved the idea of the rides as long as he didn't have to get on them. Maybe next year, we'll warm up to actually riding them.

good bye stinky dogs

After our trip to sodus, I declared Owen needed some new shoes because I was ready to burn his current shoes which he loves. You'd agree if you had to sit in an 8 hr car ride with Owen. As his aunt Deetz can confirm, he had some stinky dogs. He quickly adjusted to his new shoes and I'm thankful for all the holes.

happy anniversary

Tom and I can not believe it's been 4 years! Our anniversay has snuck up on us and so we haven't yet figured out how we will celebrate. So our anniversary was celebrated by a game of soccer (we lost) and dinner at culvers - butterburgers and frozen custard...mmmm!

happy birthday Owen!

Yesterday, we celebrated Owen's birthday with a little grill out and Olympic TV watching. I know it sounds like we used his birthday as an excuse to have people over and that might very well be true; but, I figured he's been celebrating the Big 2 since the first of the month...

Aug 1-3: Lisa & Bob dropped by along with a gift for Owen
Aug 3: Julia had a gift for Owen since she wouldn't be able to celebrate his birthday with him
Aug 13: Owen gets a gift in the mail from Nana & Papa

Aug 14: Owen gets more mail - from Ryan & Dave Schnitter and from Gung Gung & Pau Pau. I think no more singing cards although it entertained him for a while.

...and of course yesterday there was singing of happy birthday (which he didn't appreciate) and cake eating! Then it took 3+ adults to get Owen's toy out of its box!!

riker-singerman drive by

The weekend passed too quickly! But in the short period of time, we did manage to create some driveway art...

...and enjoyed Dim Sum with a small group of 30 people! My initial thought was that Dim Sum (chinese version of tapas) was best enjoyed when there were a few more people, say 8-10. So I invited a few people to see if they'd be interested in joining us...I guess there was a Dim Sum craving amongst the group. On Thurs before Lisa and Bob arrived, I had 18 RSVPs and by Friday we were up to 30. I didn't know about a third of the people that attended.
We ended the weekend with more eating and invited our friends Kristi and Julia over for dinner. Julia and Owen are best buds, she can do anything to him and he'll let her get away with it that otherwise he normally wouldn't allow. Here they are hanging out in the tent together...

a taste of fame

A friend forwarded me an email where her group was looking for people with kids between 0-24 months to apply and have the opportunity for their child's picture to be used for something in the future (ads or package, etc). You had to submit a picture of yourself, your child, and the two of you together. If chosen, you compensation is a pack of diapers and a small gift card to Target. Of course, we know how cute Owen is so I submitted his pic (and mine too)...what I did forget to do is submit the application but nonetheless we were chosen to partake in a photoshoot.

The photoshoot was quite painful because Owen still becomes stoic in front of the camera as well as the last thing he wanted to do was sit still or listen to directions when we had this new place to explore. At the end of the hour (which felt like 8), I was ready to get out of there and I wondered how they did this all day long! I left there knowing, our pictures weren't going to used and knew when they said 'Owen did great today!' - it was probably something they said to all the parents that day. Last week, the photographer sent out a CD with some pics and they were actually kind of cute but I know we don't have a future in this industry!

dancing to your own beat

Owen's dance move resembles cow milking motion ... he balls his little fists together and pumps them vertically up and down to the music. He's trying to mimic us snapping our fingers to the beat.

Today we were filling up the big red beast at the gas station as part of our weekly shopping routine; Owen's dancing in his car seat and humming along to some techno music. Tom is standing outside Owen's window mimicking him and making silly faces. Well, the nice old grandma pumping gas behind our car is not aware that Tom is mimicking Owen and believes the guy has gone crazy making funny faces at his tinted window and dancing oddly (doing the Owen and transferring weight from side to side like he has to pee badly) to no music while pumping his gas. Eventually, she realizes that there is a child in the car and is relieved knowing she is not pumping gas next to some insane person...yes, kids have a way to make adults do silly things.