Happy 1st birthday Lucas!

Happy birthday dad!

Happy 35th birthday dad! We had a fun weekend celebrating with cousin Jon and Myra visiting from Chicago. 

Months, not yet years

It is very bittersweet, but I am finally am able to admit that we no longer have an infant. Lucas is 11 months old and quickly approaching his 1st birthday. One year ago, time couldn't move quickly enough for us to meet our 2nd little guy. Now time seems to be moving far too quickly, especially with working full time and missing so much while the kiddos are in daycare. 

Lucas continues to amaze us with his ability to be such a "chill" and wonderfully easy child. We now eat at the dining room table as a family. Lucas completely skipped (aka refused) pureed foods altogether, and is eating many table foods better than his brother at this point. It has been so much fun to see a real relationship forming between Henry and Lucas. There is truly love between the two of them, and Henry can do little wrong in Lucas' eyes (at this point).  

(And yes, the the Trader Joe's Charles Shaw wine box is embarrassing... we no longer drink 2 buck chuck... but definitely used to). 

Lucas and Henry go to the Minnesota State Fair

Lucas is 11 months old! He has started a very unique 3 legged, sitting up version of crawling and is getting everywhere and into everything. He hasn't quite mastered pulling his own body weight up, but he's getting very close. He has 6 teeth and is eating any finger food we put in front of him, but still refuses to take anything pureed (or anything from a spoon for that matter). 

Matt's favorite section of the fair, the seed art in the Agricultural building.

We braved the Minnesota State Fair again this year. It was Lucas' first trip, and he slept through a lot of it. Now that Henry has been several years in a row, he is starting to ask to go to certain areas (specially to see the cows and horses, go on the gondola ride and to see "trucks" on machinery hill). Henry remains absolutely fearless of the massive animals we encountered and didn't even react when a cow went stood up while he was petting it. It is still relatively inexpensive to go to the Fair with Henry because he refused to try any of the food; but Matt and I enjoyed some mini doughnuts and honey sunflower seed ice cream. He also hasn't discovered all of the rides and games in the Midway, but I'm sure that will change in the years to come!

Michigan - Birmingham (part 2)

After our week in Holland, we picked up dad at the Grand Rapids airport and traveled on to East Lansing (Michigan State University) to have lunch with friends Emily and Addy before making it to our final destination: Grandma and Grandpa's house (where the supply of tractors and trucks to play with seems to never end!) A highlight of our visit was Henry and Lucas' first trip to the Henry Ford Museum. 

We were lucky to have several more opportunities to see cousin's Oliver and Elliot with play dates at parks, the Detroit Zoo, Cranbrook as well as a delicious dinner their house (thanks Uncle Tony and Aunt Jessica!)  

We were thrilled that our dear friends, Jeff, Libby and Lucy, that we know from our time in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, visited us at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We also were lucky to see friends Owen, Jessi, Will and Alex. But per usual, we didn't get to see everyone we had hoped to.  

Our long road trip back home to Minnesota was broken up with an amazing stop in Illinois at Farmer (Uncle) Dave's house with cousin's Jon, Christa, Jesse and Tenli. Henry, who was renamed "The Horse Whisperer," enjoyed riding a Shetland Pony and a tractor with Tenli. 

2 weeks in Michigan - Holland (part 1)

We had an amazing 2 week summer vacation in Michigan. Per usual, the visit did not seem long enough. The first week was spent in mom's hometown of Holland, Michigan. Cousins Oliver and Elliot and Aunt Jessica joined us for the fun at Oma and Opa's house. Not a single one of us slept well at night, and we were all exhausted, but the bonding that occurred between Henry, Lucas and their cousins and the fun memories made it completely worth it. During the week we spent time at Oma and Opa's house, at Lake Michigan, at Lake Macatawa with cousins and second cousins, met up with family, high school and college friends (and their kids) and Henry even got to see his first theater production at Hope College, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.