Not So Traditional Teethers

The weekend after we moved into our townhome, my mom came over for the weekend to help watch the boys while I painted their rooms. Yes, I painted their rooms in a rental...I know, you probably think I'm crazy...but I feel that it helps make their rooms feel more like home and I really don't like cream colored walls...anyhow, I digress...

While my mom was visiting, we had dinner from a local fried chicken place. (Justin LOVES fried chicken...must be the southern boy in him!) Westyn has taken to outright screaming at the dinner table if he doesn't have his bottle yet or if his bottle is empty...so, my mom decided he need a teether...









Yes, that's right...Grandma gave Westyn a chicken bone to chew on. I will say, it did keep him happy and quiet. Apparently, chicken bones were a common teether back in the day...if it was good enough then, I guess it's good enough now. However, I don't think I'll be giving him many more chicken bones.

Instead, we have graduated him to rice puffs. He's not super great at actually getting them into his mouth...most of them end up in his seat, but it seems to entertain him, at least for a bit.







However, we ended up discovering our own non-traditional teether just the other night. We were having watermelon as our dessert one evening. Since Westyn had already previously been exposed to watermelon, I allowed him to have a chunk of it to chew on while everyone else enjoyed theirs. After he smashed it and ate some of it, he grew quite vocal...but we were out of watermelon...so...we improvised.





The watermelon rind worked like a charm! While I had the camera out taking pictures of Westyn, Garytt asked if I would take a picture of him...but, of course!



He was pretty excited about the watermelon, too!



That was one messy dinner though! We took the boys directly from the table to the bath and then I came back down to the table and threw the high chair cover into the washer and cleaned up. Then I went back up to check on bath time...



That is one of the funniest images!

Since I am usually working in the evenings, I don't typically do bath time. But that night, I didn't have cases, so I participated in the bath routine. The boys were having a good time.



And then I got to witness how Justin handles rinsing the boys off...you can see in the first picture it's Garytt's turn and Westyn is happily playing in the water.



Then as Justin prepares to rinse Westyn, Garytt watches as if to say, "Here it comes!"







Both of the boys handle the rinsing situation really well...I guess it's part of their routine...but I will say that when Mom gives them a bath, I am much nicer about rinsing.

As as side note, I would never have considered letting Garytt chew on a watermelon rind...as a first time mom, I did everything totally by the book as best as I could. The second child has to be tough, the book is out the window, and we improvise as we go...

Good-Bye, Wisconsin! Hello, Missouri!

We were fortunate with the move to have a moving allowance that allowed us to have a full-service move. This was extremely important since we really only had about two and a half weeks from the time Justin received the offer to the time we needed to move.

I was able to contain the boys in the family room happily while the packers worked on other areas of the house.





Garytt looks like this move is really stressing him out...



It took a couple of days to pack everything up.



But eventually our house was empty.











All of our belongings were loaded on to the United truck, ready to head to Missouri.





It actually took the driver longer than he expected to get everything loaded. And the boys and I were heading out of Oshkosh a few days before Justin. So, I packed up the boys and headed out before I saw the house totally empty...probably better because it was definitely a bitter-sweet ending...I really miss our house in Wisconsin!

Anyhow, the boys and I headed to Galena, Illinois for the night. It is a nice place to stay (we stayed there for Thanksgiving this past year) and it breaks up the long trip for us.

Garytt had his shades on and was ready for the trip!



Westyn was all loaded and ready too!



I have to say, that I was a little nervous about going on such a long trip with the boys by myself. Mostly, I just wasn't sure that I would have enough hands to carry the everything we needed and the boys...I really wish I had a picture of us as we walked into our hotel...I had Westyn in the baby front carrier, a small rolling suitcase, a bag with all their breakfast needs (oatmeal, bottles, etc.), a Bumbo chair, and holding Garytt's hand...yeah, I have to say, it was impressive...even the check-in clerk mentioned it!

Anyhow, once we got to the room, it was no problem. We just ordered pizza in for the night and relaxed. I even managed to give the boys a bath!







One nice thing about this place is that there is a bedroom and then the living area with a murphy bed. So, I set Garytt up in the bedroom, so that he would be able to sleep all night despite the fact that Westyn typically doesn't sleep that well. Then I slept on the murphy bed with Westyn in a crib nearby. It worked out well for us!

The next morning, we got up, ate our breakfast, and hung out for a little bit.







About the time that Westyn usually takes his morning nap, I packed the boys up and headed to Missouri.

The trip went relatively well considering I was traveling with two young kids. When we arrived in Columbia, we headed straight to the townhome. I had to get the keys and do the walk through.

We arrived very close to dinner time. I came prepared with stuff to make an easy dinner for Garytt. So, this is the first dinner in the new place...classy!



After doing a few things in the townhome, we headed to the hotel for the night. I will say a standard hotel room didn't go quite a smoothly for everyone's sleep but we made it through the night.

The next day, all of our stuff arrived! This townhome is quite a bit small than our house in Wisconsin, so it's hard to know where to put everything!












I was thankful to have toys to entertain Westyn.



And Garytt was happy to watch Little Einsteins on my laptop.



Later that day, Justin and Ellie arrived in Columbia. This picture was taken after our first night here in townhome...both the boys and Ellie look pretty interested in whatever is on the TV.



The boys were really troopers during this whole experience!

2012 EAA AirVenture

We spent our last Saturday in Oshkosh, July 28, at the 2012 EAA AirVenture. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to spend our last weekend in Oshkosh since the yearly EAA fly-in is world famous.



We started the day over at the Kid Venture area, where they have a lot of kid friendly activities. I helped Garytt color his wooden plane.





Once we had it glued together, it was ready to fly!





Then we found a little station where they would let kids ride in a "flight simulator." The two guys there would make the plane go up/down/side to side. Garytt loved this!!







Although it was a little tricky to get him to leave this fun flight trainer, we managed to get him to move on to another plane. We went to check out the big cargo plane out there. Justin and Garytt went inside the plane while Westyn and I chilled outside.











Then, we moved on to the US Navy style pedal cars. Garytt was too short to reach the pedals, so Justin had to push him around the course.





Again, transitioning between different adventures was very difficult for Garytt...it could be because he is two. He pretty much had a breakdown after every activity and he kept saying "ride that!" to EVERYTHING! I didn't matter if it was a plane, bus, helicopter or trailer he wanted to ride it! So, I had to take Garytt aside during one of his meltdowns to explain that if he couldn't be a big boy, we were going to have to go home. Justin, apparently, took a picture of me talking to him...I look like I'm really yelling but, honestly, I'm just talking to him!



After my speech about being a big boy, a helicopter landed and it caught both of our attention.



Although my wonderful speech didn't solve all of the issues, it did improve things a bit. So, off we went to go see the EAA museum. This is how exciting it was for Westyn...



And you can see that Garytt is more interested in "flying" his wooden airplane than seeing the museum...at least at first.



When we made it back to the kid portion of the museum, Garytt was all about checking things out!









When we were finished at the museum, we headed home for a lunch break and nap time.

We came back to the EAA AirVenture for the afternoon air show. This time, the boys got to ride in style!



They started the air show a little early, so we were still trying to find a good place to park when we saw the first few planes.



We found a good spot...and the planes definitely kept Garytt interest.







Even Westyn watched the planes...although he looked a little concerned...



We move the sun shades so that they provided a little more shade for the boys and I decided to sit down and enjoy the show with them for a while.







It didn't take long before Garytt wasn't happy to just sit in the wagon. So, I picked him up to get a better look at the planes.





Garytt and I actually walked around for a bit during the air show as well. During part of the show, they dropped bombs to show what it might have been like at Pearl Harbor. Garytt loved seeing all the smoke!





I convinced Garytt that we should go back and hang out by the wagon. All the guys are just hanging out watching airplanes!









After we had watched the air show for a while, we decided to walk around for a bit. We had no idea that the most exciting and loudest part of the airshow was about to take place. I thought all the fighter jets were performing earlier in the week...yeah, not so much. They had a fighter jet at this air show too!

Now, I actually really enjoy the fighter jets. The noise doesn't bother me and I love to watch them fly...I think that might be the Air Force Brat in me. However, we weren't really prepared and it was really loud...so I had to quickly stop and cover Westyn's ears.



Garytt covered his own ears.



The boys did remarkably well with the noise. And Garytt even wanted to get a better view. He still talks about the "big jet" and how it is very "loud" and then he covers his ears...too funny. So here is the big, loud jet.







After the jet was done performing, we continued on our way. There was another cargo plane that Justin took Garytt in to see while Westyn and I waited. Westyn was such a good sport all day!





I was waiting for them to come out of the plane to take a picture...the Aggie shirt always helps me locate Justin in a crowd...





Speaking of Aggie shirt, we were actually stopped shortly after this picture by someone from Wichita, KS who asked to take a picture to send to his Aggie girlfriend. Random but funny...it's a small world sometimes.

As we were still walking around, there were parachutes at the air show.





And some acrobatic displays.





Finally, we decided that all of us had been out in the sun long enough and it was time to call it a day.

On the way out, we had to stop by the section they call Fightertown, which has a lot of the old fighter planes on display. I love this area because it reminds me of my Grandpa Skahan, the crazy, old Night Fighter.



Garytt really liked this old fighter plane because of the "big teeth."



A blog about the EAA Fly-In would not be complete without a picture of the control tower, which for this brief period every year is the busiest in the world - a concept that was difficult to believe until I saw all the activity in person last year.



We finally headed back to the car.



I couldn't imagine a more fitting end to our adventures in Oshkosh!