Unemployed one day; Blueberry picking the next

Ok....so it official....I'm unemployed. Little Vincent's last day with me was last Thursday. His mom and dad found someone to rent their house so my guess is that they are moving even as I type this post. Saying good-bye was hard on all of us. Although I've known that this day was coming and in a way was looking forward to having time with just my kids, it was hard to see the little guy go. I think what's hard is after a year of taking care of him I know that in another year he won't remember any of us but hopefully he'll know that he was loved by the Curtis family. It was pretty cute when Lacy and Vince got in the car to leave Natalie climbed in too and wouldn't get out. Of course when you have two grown women crying their eyes out it didn't help the situation. We are thrilled for Vince and his family and wish them all the best. Here's a picture of us on Vince's last day:

Ok....so on our first Monday without Vince we hit the road bright and early and headed to Aaron's parents to pick up his mom and go blueberry picking. What an experience! Natalie had gone last year with Grandma and Grandpa Curtis, but this was the first time for Justin and me. We got to the blueberry farm and got our buckets and climbed up on the hayrack and they took us to a section of the blueberry farm and we worked our way down the row and found a nice little place and went to town picking blueberries. Natalie helped pick, however, Justin spent most of his time eating the blueberries. It was super hot out so after about 45 minutes we headed back and paid for the berries and got back in a nice air conditioned car and went back to the house and got cleaned up. Grandpa came home and took us out to lunch and then it was back on the road. Justin didn't make it out of town before he was asleep. It was fun, and the kids enjoyed themselves and I have a feeling that this will be a yearly tradition. Here are a few pictures:

So anyone that visits this house in the next few days will be eating blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins, blueberry crisp, or just plain blueberries!!!!

Summer of Fun

So when I looked through the Parks and Rec Summer Guide there were like a hundred things I wanted to sign Natalie up for...but my level headed husband advised me not to over book Natalie so we let her pick two things and she chose gymnastics and swimming. We decided to go ahead and sign Justin up for swimming during the same time just so he could have some fun in the water even though he technically isn't really learning how to swim just yet. Both have been a lot of fun.

Natalie has loved gymnastics and just had her last lesson today. She's just so cute out there doing bridges, somersaults, walking on the balance beam and swinging on the bar. I think she was a little sad that this was her last day but daddy surprised her by showing up for her last lesson so she was full of smiles all day because of that.

As for swim lessons, we are in week two and as much fun as the kids have mom and dad are glad this is the last week. We meet nightly Monday through Thursday so by Thursday we are pretty worn out. It also takes up the night so we haven't had much chance for anything else. However, Natalie is a "duck" and is doing quite well. We'll find out on Thursday if she will continue to be a duck or move onto becoming a "goose" when we resume lessons next summer. Justin is fairly indifferent about the pool experience. He doesn't hate it...and on occasion he smiles and even gives us a giggle...so I would say he enjoys it for the most part. I'm sure next year he'll do better because he'll be able to participate a little more.

The kids should now be ready to the hit the pool hard when we go on vacation in a few weeks! I'll keep you posted!

Roadtrip to St. Louis

So the Curtis Family headed down to St. Louis for a whirlwind weekend and had an absolute blast. We went down with some friends and packed a lot into about 24 hours.

We started out at the City Museum, which is an amazing place. There are a bazillion little mazes and things to crawl on and through and you can crawl from one floor to another. Natalie had a blast...and with dad following close behind I think they both got a pretty good workout. Since I never knew where they would end up, I let the two of them take off and Justin and I did some exploring on our own. We hit a few caves, climbed onto a big whale, and got up close and personal with a few swimming turtles. We met up with the other two in the toddler room which meant that the two kiddos could run wild. Justin loved the ball pit and the slides. He even liked playing hide and seek with me among the pillars. Natalie liked that she could interact with Justin and play together. The huge pile of blocks was a huge hit and Natalie rode the little train. We were there for about 3 hours and still didn't hit all the attractions, so I think we'll be headed back there again. Here are a few pictures of that part of our adventure:

We headed back to our hotel to attempt some naps for the kids which went ok..but not great..and an hour later we were off to the America's Incredible Pizza Company where we met up with our friends. I haven't personally been to the local Chucky Cheese yet, but from what I've heard this was about 3 times as large with miniature golf, go-carts, games, a toddler area, and was a big hit with the kids. We played there for several hours and then hit the pizza buffet and it was back to the hotel for some late night swimming. We all hit the pool and everyone had fun splashing around. Then it was off to bed for a good night sleep. We got up bright and early...at least by Curtis standards...and while the kids were waking up I went down and got some breakfast and brought it back to the room for everyone. After eating we got cleaned up and headed to the zoo and again met up with our friends.

The zoo was really nice and the kids enjoyed seeing all of the animals. There was a lot of walking so we had to let the kids take turns in the stroller. Natalie really liked the giraffes. Justin liked anything as long as he was out walking around. He wore himself out and fell asleep in the stroller around the camels. Natalie liked riding the huge carousel and chose to ride the rhino. I liked the hippos...it was kind of neat to watch them swimming around among all the fish. It's a nice zoo and the right price...free!!! So we had lunch and hit the road home. The kids did awesome during the trip but I think everything caught up with them by the time we got home....it was a chaotic night...but slowly but surely we are recuperating. A few zoo pics...

Gotta Love Summer

We haven't had a whole lot going on these days, although we seem to busy most nights. I've never been a big summer person, but I have to say that with kids this is turning into one of my favorite seasons. It's been so much fun to get out and enjoy being outside. I seriously am dreading winter. I don't know how I stayed sane this past winter while being home with the kiddos. Now if we get bored we just go outside and play, head to a park, pack a picnic, or hit the zoo. I'm actually tan (at least in Jamie world I am) and I'm not sure the last time that happened. Sad isn't it.

As for our happenings. I took Natalie to see Charlotte's web at the outdoor theater at Miller Park last weekend with her friend Nolan and his mom. They had a blast. I think Natalie enjoyed the intermission the best because she could be loud and run around acting silly. Then we went up to Aaron's parents to celebrate Jerry's birthday. It was fun, the kids always enjoy going there because there are new toys and things to do and they get spoiled. Natalie spent the night with them and they brought her home on Sunday. Therefore, Aaron and I were able to rent a few movies that didn't come in cartoon form and watch those after Justin went to bed. It was a nice weekend all the way around. Here's a picture of the birthday boy with the kiddos:

So this week was nice because it was a short work week. Mom and dad were in town so they took Natalie for the day on Thursday. She was so excited, they came and picked her up and while I was trying to talk to them she was constantly saying "let's go". She really enjoyed having some one on one time with them. After Vince headed home that day we took Justin over to the condo and they watched both the kids while Aaron and I had a lovely meal at the Pub II. I know...how romantic...but it was nice to go somewhere we could just sit back and have a beer without spending our time picking up everything off the floor that Justin could get his hands on, cutting up food in little itty bitty pieces, coloring whatever kids placemat was put in front of us, and keeping Natalie from talking (aka bugging) anyone that was in our immediate vicintiy that was trying to have a nice dinner. So...it was a great start to a holiday weekend.

On the 4th we headed over to my parents for a cookout. We planned it perfectly. We got there, let the kids play a bit, and then they went down for naps so we could actually have a complete conversation without interruption. When the kids got up we had dinner, played outside quite a bit and just enjoyed the nice weather. Here's a picture:

We headed home around Justin's bedtime and I stayed home with him while Aaron took Natalie out to watch fireworks. Aaron had a vision of this grand bonding moment with Natalie. He planned everyting very well. Found a great parking spot, packed snacks, got their chairs out and was ready for Natalie to be completely awestruck by the fireworks....however, much to his disappointment, Natalie didn't really enjoy them as much as we thought she would. She didn't like how loud the fireworks were and spent most of the time in the van with the doors closed playing her computer. Aaron, however, had a great view of the fireworks and enjoyed watching them. She was very captivated by the lightning bugs which is kind of fun because I can remember running around and catching them when I was a kid. Here's a picture that captures the experience well:

Today we got up fairly late and got ready and went out for breakfast. Then we headed over to the zoo which Aaron hadn't been to before. Natalie showed him all of her favorite animals and then we went to the park right by it and had a picnic lunch and played. It was a nice day that we rounded out with a trip out for ice cream. Again...you have to love summer!