Michigan Renaissance Festival

For Chris's birthday we went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. We had a good day. Most of what we did was planned around doing things as a family, since Chris and I enjoy a lot of the children's shows as well or more so than the adult shows. We started off the day watching the Ric Roc Zoo show. Eli was very intent on this show, especially the part where Ric tries to stand pieces of timber on end.


The next show that we watched was the Dragon Scales and Faerie Tales show. This is a very cute show for kids. We watched it with Asa last year and both he and Eli seemed to enjoy it this year.

At the end of the show they give the children the opportunity to go up and hug the dragon. I thought Asa was going to do this. He went over climbed the steps onto the stage and started to walk over to the dragon but then he turned and ran over to the side of the stage where Chris grabbed him and I snapped this adorable picture below.


Next we went over to the petting zoo area. Asa liked looking at the animals. On a side note, I was showing Asa some of the pictures of the animals tonight and did you know that birds say cocococo(all birds say this), donkeys say ooooooo (like a cow), goat say woowoowoo (like a dog), and horses are babies well at least in Asa's world they do and are.
Pony
A baby goat
Llama
Lorikeet
Donkey

Before going out to lunch we stopped to see the Enchanted Statue. Asa was intrigued by her but not willing to get to close. Although after she gave the little scroll to us for him, he would not let go of it until we got out to the van for lunch and only after he had food in his hand.


Eli also took his first nap of the day at this point. Chris carried him in his cloak and Eli fell asleep almost instantly once he was snuggled in next to his dada.


After lunch we headed over to see The Zucchini Brothers. This is my favorite show at the Renaissance. They used to be my second favorite until Don Juan and Miguel stopped coming to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Doesn't Eli look cute with his dada's cap on his head. Asa also took his nap at this time, needless to say he didn't see the juggling show. (I also took video of the juggling. I'll try to have this uploaded in a day or two and posted to the blog.)


After watching the Zucchini Brothers, we headed over to watch Sir Ryosis. He does a magic act that is rather enjoyable. I didn't get pictures though. We then headed over to have cake with Chris's family. Here we let Asa run around a bit and Eli got passed around, you see him here with his papa.


Following the cake, we headed over to the children's dell for more playing. Here are pictures of the boys as little trolls. Then we have Asa as the knight who slayed a dragon.


Before leaving for the day, we sat down to enjoy the celtic music sounds of Tartanic. This was very enjoyable and Eli fell asleep even though the one guy was pounding a drum two rows in front of where we sat. The poor guy holding that drum, kept saying how numb his arms were after he was done holding it.


As we left, Queen Elizabeth bid us farewell.


We had a very pleasant day out at the festival, this has not changed as we always enjoy our time out at the festival. The weather was pleasant although it did fluctuate between being a bit too cool at times and a bit too warm when the sun came out from behind the clouds. We spent plenty of time taking our jackets off and then putting them back on again. Upon arriving at home, I had to take one more picture of each of my boys in there "little pirate" outfits. Asa's was a gift from Uncle Kirk and Aunt Holly that they found on clearance and Eli's was one I found on clearance, so they were both able to be pirates for the day.

Mrs. Sweet's Birthday Party

Two Wednesdays ago we celebrated Mrs. Sweet's (our Pastor's wife) birthday at our youth meeting. Now this is the first time since Asa's first birthday that he was allowed to go at a cupcake by himself. I do not have images of Eli from this evening. But in all honesty I was focused on the kids at the youth meeting and Mrs. Sweet. Asa only got into the pictures at the end of the evening once the cupcakes came out. The evening wasn't about Asa but what good mother can't make their own child be the center of attention.

Howell Nature Center / Wild Wonders Wildlife Park

Back on Sept. 20th, we took a trip down to Howell to walk the trails of the nature center there. We also were able to see the Wild Wonders Wildlife Park while we were there. This wildlife park only shows animals who are injured and no longer able to survive on their own out in the wild.


In the first picture is a Wood Duck. This duck also shares his exhibit with a couple of beavers. The Black-crowned Night Heron is across the path from the beaver exhibit. This habitat has a total of three separate areas in it. The Herons are in the center exhibit with Barred Owls on one side and a Northern Harrier Hawk on the other. However the other pictures did not come out very well so they are not posted.


Here we have the Bobcat. This poor guy looks so sweet. But then most things look innocent while sleeping. There were signs posted on the cage stating the Bobcat will bite. The sad thing about the Bobcat is that someone had him completely declawed, most likely in an attempt to domesticate him. Some People. Anyhow next is the Snowy Owl. At this point in the walk, I started to feel very nauseated. I tried to push through but things got worse. I did see the foxes but did not get any pictures of them. I decided that it was probably best for me to head back to the car and lie down and rest. I think the combination of eating shortly before going and that it was warmer out than I expected made for my stomach to act up. I am proud to say that I did not actually get sick though.

The rest of the pictures taken in the park were taken by Chris, since I told him to finish the walk.

Here is the Turkey Vulture and the Red Tailed Hawk.


Asa and Eli in front of the Barn Owl exhibit, then a closeup of the Barn Owl.


Asa and Eli in front of the Bald Eagle exhibit, then Chris saw this sign that reads Critter Corner and couldn't resist taking a picture of the boys in front of it.


Looking at the little waterfall at the entrance to the Wild Wonders Wildlife Park. If you didn't notice I used the picture of both boys looking at the waterfall as my new header.


Finally, time to go home. Asa is such a great driver. He never blinked once at all that traffic. He got us home safe and sound. Hehehe.


For more camera critters click HERE.

Chloe, My First Baby

Here are some pics of my first baby, Chloe. I am also including a video of her chasing a ball around the living room. It was so nice to see her this playful again. She has been in pain with ear infections recently and we just can't seem to get rid of the infection and we don't have the funds to go back and get more meds right now. I think we have decided to get the surgery done to rid her of this but it will have to wait until we get our income tax return back next year. Enjoy the pics and video.

Nicholas and Audrianna


Claudia and Asa being held by Granny.


Trisha holding Alivia and Eli held by his dada.


Audrianna blowing out her birthday candle.


Eli playing in the saucer. Asa playing with Skylar and his Uncle Jim.


Josiah, Alaina, and Asa. Alaina and Asa.

After all the other guests left we closed the garage door and let the kids run around and play. It was nice to not have to worry about them going out into the rain. The plus side was that it was a warm day. Two years ago it was rainy and cold and last year it was warm and sunny. Fall weather is so unpredictable. It was a nice day. Nicholas asked me to go on a nature walk around the yard again like we had done on the day of Josiah's birthday party. We really need to get together and let the kids play more. I feel so bad but we have such different schedules. Although now that Chris is on days we might be able to do more things. Although not much will happen until after the holidays. Between birthdays and holidays the kids will see each other a lot over the next few months.

Rare Moments on a Typical Day

The other day I was in the middle of getting the living room cleaned up. Eli had started to get fussy, it was nap time. I thought okay I only have a few more things to grab then I'll go put him down. Well I don't even think it was a full minute later, I look over and there Eli was laying up by the gate. This is the first time that he has fallen asleep like that. He is my good sleeper don't get me wrong. He sleeps close to twelve hours at night and has two to three naps through out the day. He is my text book baby when it comes to sleep. Although he typically will not sleep outside of his crib. He wants to be in his own bed. This does not make for good outings to someone else's house. Although he will sleep in the stroller pretty well so it does not seem to affect our little outings that we take to the nature centers and such.

Now Asa on the other hand is my difficult child when it comes to sleep. We are lucky if he sleeps nine to ten hours at night. He will only take one nap a day. We try to be consistent. I try to get him down by ten at night and down for his nap by one in the afternoon. But as you know the best laid plans don't always work. He will not go to sleep in his own bed. If it wasn't for the fact that he and Eli share a room, I would be really tempted to put him in his room and do a modified form of the cry out method.

My days usually consist of Chris getting Eli and Asa up when they wake up. Then I get up. Eli goes down for his morning nap. I am lucky if Asa goes to sleep before Eli wakes up but usually Eli gets up from his morning nap and we have lunch. After lunch we play, read, just spend time together. Eli goes down for his second nap. This is when I really try to get Asa to sleep if he is not already down for his nap. If Asa will not sleep, we play and cuddle, watch TV what have you until I can get him to sleep. Then once Eli wakes up again, he has a bottle. If Asa is asleep this is when Eli and I get some good quality time playing together. Otherwise we all play together. Now sometimes Eli will go down for a third nap depending on how long he has slept during his other naps. I can put him down for a third nap as late as six and still have him go to bed for the night at eight. Now if Asa hasn't gone down for a nap by four then we have to keep him up or he won't go down until after eleven for the night. We have only had to keep him up once and he was down for the night that time before nine. It was weird to have both boys in bed before Chris got home from work. It was kind of nice for a change. Although the boys didn't get to have their daddy time just before bed. Well that sums up our daily lives. Some days are different, especially Wednesdays and Sundays, but this is how most days go.