White Water!

Today was the first day that Little Man and I have experienced White Water! Hard to believe that after living near this attraction for almost 10 years, that this was my first time visiting! We had a blast!!!! They have so many areas for little kids. There are plenty of places to relax while you keep an eye on your little one! My only complaint is that they don't want you to take ANY food in! Thankfully, the bag-checker allowed me to pass with the snacks that I had brought for Little J. We did splurge and get a corn dog for lunch, but had I not had snacks, it would have cost a lot more for our meal.

Sorry, being my first time, I didn't want to bring a camera or my phone with me because I didn't know if it would get wet. I will try to get some pics next time though!

Mmmm! The Yummy Goodness They Call Blueberries!

I look forward to this time of year! It is usually warm enough to go take a dip in the lake on those hot, humid days, most of our time is spent outdoors, and fresh fruit and veggies abound! My favorite by far are blueberries and they are just now in full swing of their picking season! A local farm grows these delicious drops of goodness in huge quantities and ever June we make our way down there to pick as many as our buckets will hold. Sometimes we make several trips!

Little Man's great-grandma was visiting, so I decided that a trip was in order to the blueberry fields! We went this morning, before the temps reached our breaking point. (Actually the reached Little Man's breaking point about 20 minutes after we arrived!) Although, most of the blueberries Little J picked ended up in his mouth, we succeeded in picking about 14 pounds of blueberries between the 2 1/2 of us! Many trips were made to and from the car, the picnic tables, or under the shade trees! This is the nature of going with a young child as I'm sure any parent can attest! We survived the heat, and tiredness by making a visit to the little building where they sell Thunder Muffins! Yes, I said Thunder Muffins! They are the best blueberry muffins you have ever tasted! Not Kidding! You can even get them in a bowl topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and blueberries sprinkled. It is called the Cumuloblubus - (my new preference!) Little Man and I loved sitting in the shade eating this delicious brunch! We had a blast making THESE memories!

18 Months!

Wow! I can hardly believe that our little man is 1 1/2. Seems like these days go by fast, but not THAT fast! Here are a few things that he is doing lately.

• Loves, loves, loves to be outside!
• Enjoys getting wet in the pool, by the sprinkler, or by hose! (and likes to spray other people with the hose!)
• Says about 30-35 words. He has also mastered a number of signs.
• Loves his buddies (stuffed animals esp. his big blue bunny that his uncle gave him for Easter)!
• Sleeps about 11-12 hrs at night and takes about a 2 hr nap.
• Eats well (the kid loves foods like artichoke hearts, pickled beets, fish, broccoli, and brats or hot dogs from the grill - he despises hot dogs cooked in the microwave)!
• Loves puzzles!
• Loves reading books (we read every night before bed and many times during the day)!
• Says "plane" when he hears an airplane in the sky and makes an engine sound when he "flies" his toy planes!
• Enjoys walks (especially when he gets to push the stroller)!
• Doesn't really care for the car seat (can't blame him most of the time)!
• Is starting to potty train (this is going well and not so well depending on the day, but he is getting it)!
• Likes to help Mom or Dad garden!
• Climbs, climbs, climbs. (can get in and out of his highchair by himself.)
• Gives the best hugs and kisses!

Enjoying the Beauty

Here is a pic of some tiger lilies that we have growing by our house! They are one of my favorite flowers! I absolutely love the colors!

We also had a visitor after the rain. Little man was very interested with this guy!

Fun to be a Kid Again!

Ok. So I'm sure that most of you have at one time or another collected tokens, stamps, etc. to send in to a company and receive something in return. When I was a little girl, this is something that we did every once in a while. Our "prizes" if you will, mainly came from cereal companies. A box of "Cheerios" would have random advertising for some prize if you collected and sent in so many cereal labels from that cereal. Mainly these prizes were of some funky, kid gadget that was very cheaply made, but none-the-less, I was enticed! Many of you can probably relate, (or at least I hope so)!

One of our favorite cereals (and yes, I could live off cereal!) is Raisin Bran Crunch! Recently they advertised movies that you could receive if so many cereal tokens were sent in. Today, we received our first movie, "The Sandlot". Not only was it essentially free, because we buy the cereal anyway, but it is a classic movie from my younger days too! I can't wait to sit down and enjoy seeing it again soon!

And So It Begins!

Today marks day 5 of potty training in the Owen house. Yes we have started this tedious process and have thus far been pretty pleased. Hearing both the pros and cons of starting at this age (almost 18 months), we both decided that we, as well as Little Man, were ready for the change. We wanted to wait until after our big vacation, knowing that we could set aside the time necessary to focus on the training.

The first few days went pretty well. We pulled out the potty seat so Little Man could get used to the idea and we reinforced words to help him with the transition. Having nice, warm weather helped as well. We could be outside and experience the feeling of being wet without all the clean up. Since the beginning, Little J had been pretty open to the idea of sitting on the potty. His timing was off a little and would end up going and then say "potty" and go to sit on it. Today we had a breakthrough! He actually went #2 in the potty twice and #1 once. I can't believe that I could get this excited over poop!

We are hoping to have him going consistently during the day before we take the diaper off at night. So we will see how long this takes. Thankfully, it is Friday and both J and I will be able to work with Little Man over the weekend. It really helps to have two there to reinforce everything.

VACATION!!!

Oh what a trip! We were blessed with the opportunity to get away for a week and spend some time with a dear friend and then some family time on the Emerald Coast of Florida. The timing was perfect in so many ways! Both Josh and I needed a break from the daily grind and a chance to visit a friend was hard to pass up. I was a bit weary about taking a 17 month old on a drive that was 13 hours direct, but I don't regret it. The trip down was great. We traveled during his nap and all through the night. We stopped at a park just outside Little Rock, AR (which worked out perfectly), had a picnic dinner and a memorable walk in the rain. We drove through strong thunderstorms (they actually had a tornado touch down very near where we stopped)  and took shifts during the night. Little man slept great and we arrived early the next morning in time to catch a few extra hours of sleep before Little J woke up for the day.

My friend, who is in the Coast Guard, showed us around the aircraft she is and will soon be flying! Way to go girl! That was awesome! We also toured the Pensicola Naval Air Museum. Pretty neat (and free)! God blessed me so much with this time with my dear friend! Something that I had been praying about for a while!

After our time with her, we headed down the coast to Panama City and (thanks to my amazing brother) stayed in a beautiful suite overlooking the gulf! Love you bro! This was Little Man's frist time to the beach and he loved it. It was great to see his energy and awe for the waves and water! I pray that the oil spill doesn't make it to that area! Those beaches are so beautiful!

Unfortunately, I was a not thinking and went without sunscreen the first day we were there and had J smearing aloe vera gel on my back the rest of the week! Uhh! It was sad to have to return to the everyday norm but also good to get back to it in many respects.

The drive home was a little more arduous than the drive down, but we made it! Thank you Lord we made it! We are still recouping from that drive!

Here are a few pics from the trip!