Father's Day 2012

Justin decided that he wanted to take the boys to a beach on Lake Michigan for Father's Day. So, I looked for a beach that wasn't too terribly far. We decided to head to Kohler-Andrae State Park, which is just outside of Sheboygan, WI, and only about an hour and half from Oshkosh. We packed our lunch and headed to Lake Michigan!





We arrived right at lunch time. As we were driving into the park, Garytt just kept saying "Eat! Eat!" We found a picnic table near the beach and got the food out.



Westyn doesn't look too sure about the sun.



Unfortunately, Garytt was too busy playing in the sand to focus on eating...Justin did manage to get some strawberries and a few bites of sandwich in him...but mostly Garytt was wiggling to get down in the sand again.



We tried to get a few pictures of Justin and the boys...afterall, it was Father's Day. We got a good one of Westyn and Justin...but, as I mentioned, Garytt was VERY excited about the sand...







We packed up our lunch, changed Garytt into his swimsuit, slathered on the sunscreen, and headed down to the beach.



While Justin took Garytt down to see the water, I tried to set up a little fort for Westyn to stay in the shade but be out of his carrier.





Justin and Garytt decided to see how the water felt...Justin face says..."Wow! This water is FREEZING!"



Justin recovers from the initial shock and poses for a picture.



After feeling the chilly water, Garytt decided it was better to play in the sand for a bit.













Garytt was having a great time!







By that time, I had moved Westyn back into his car carrier because he was ready for a nap.



Garytt started testing the water with his feet again...





So, Justin decided to take Garytt farther out into the water.







Once Justin showed Garytt he could splash in the shallow water, Garytt became a little more adventurous...this is the first series of going out "on his own."













Yes, he got knocked down. So, he came back at the waves with determination...









The result was the same but he was able to crawl back to safety. Whew!

I started to noticed that when Garytt would get knocked down by the lake, he would turn around and pick up some sand and throw it back at the lake...his version of getting back at the lake??



Justin and Garytt decided to stroll down the beach for a bit.



When they returned from their short stroll, I decided to play with Garytt in the water for a bit. I would swing him around and he just loved it!





It didn't take long for me to see that, although Garytt was loving his time in the water, he was starting to get really cold.



So, I told him it was time to go over by Westyn to warm up a bit...he said "No."



He got one final look at the water.



We did take a few videos while we were there.











Garytt was so tired after a fun afternoon at the beach, that he was asleep before we left the parking lot!

I think Justin enjoyed his Father's Day adventure! I know that I really had a great time and we thought the location was great! Who knew there was such a great beach so close to us?!

When we got home, we finished Justin's Father's Day fun off with pizza and beer...well, pizza for everyone, beer for Justin...ha!

Choo Choo Trains

I recently decided that I wanted to have a little more direction in some of the learning moments in Garytt's day. So, I decided that we should have some preschool time each day (or most days).

So, last week I used trains as a theme for our preschool time. Justin helped me create colored train cars out of old checkbook boxes and we attached them to his Wilson engine from the Chuggington series. Then I gathered toys and items that were solid colors and we worked on color sorting and color naming throughout the week. Garytt really enjoyed our color sorting time once he got the hang of it.









Once he had the toys sorted by color, it was time to push the train around the room with all the cargo.





Each day we worked for a little while on our color sorting and he definitely got better at naming the colors by the end of the week. I also gave him coloring sheets with trains on them during school time. We also read several books on trains that we got from the library.

We also checked out a DVD of train songs. I have to say that it was kind of a boring DVD with just video of toy trains put in motion with music in the background...but Garytt loved it! He danced and danced!







We even learned a little song with motions, which he learned by the end of the week. Here is a video of Garytt performing his train song for Justin (G is even wearing train pjs!)



I would say preschool time was a success for Garytt!

Justin and I thought it would be fun to end train week by going to the National Train Museum in Green Bay (which, of course, I had a Groupon for...I do love a discount!)

So, we packed up the boys to head to Green Bay.



We got to Green Bay right around lunch time. So, we headed to one of our favorite restaurants there - Titletown Brewery. We love this restaurant but as an added bonus, it is located right beside a train track. So, we sat out on the patio to enjoy the beautiful weather and hopefully see a train go by.





We enjoyed our lunch but, unfortunately, we didn't get to see a train go by. So, off we went to the National Railroad Museum.



Ok, I have to say that when we got to the museum, we didn't know what to expect. We found out that the next train ride didn't leave for another hour and a half, and I was totally worried that the museum wouldn't entertain Garytt that long! Boy were we wrong! The museum was actually really fun! We were able to go inside a bunch of old train cars and engines! Garytt loved it!!


Learning about trains using a touch screen...G loves it!


Giant room of trains!




Peaking in the window


Checking out an engine






Snowplow train-impressive!




Inside a nice train car


One of the nicer potty chairs on the trains


Learning about the porters


Waving at Mom and Westyn

While we were inside, we did try to get a few posed pictures...they didn't turn out great but at least there is evidence that Westyn was there.







Once we were done checking out all the trains inside, we headed to the outdoor pavilion to see more trains!




This train looks like Wilson!


Garytt is very impressed!


Walking between the trains


Cooking in the kitchen train car


Mail car

We were almost ready to head to the train ride and Garytt was going to see one more engine. I was not witness to this episode but, apparently, Justin tried to get Garytt to turn around for a quick picture. As Garytt turned around, he slipped on the stair and nearly fell through the railing...he caught himself with a death grip! Justin was right there to catch him but didn't need to after all...but it really scared Garytt and he had a meltdown.


Those darn stairs!


Scared boy

Once I made it up the ramp with the stroller and Westyn, Garytt was really upset. I kissed his hands (which he said hurt - probably from his death grip)and told him it was time to ride the train...he seemed better...never under estimate the power of a kiss to heal a minor owie!

Finally, it was time to ride the train!!



Although Garytt didn't act as excited as we expected once we boarded the train, I think the look in his eyes proves that he was pretty impressed!



After the train ride, we went back inside to check out the gift shop. We allowed Garytt to pick out one of the wooden toy trains. He picked the black one and was pretty excited to play with it once we were in the foyer.







It was finally time to load back up and head back to Oshkosh. It didn't take Garytt long to fall asleep since it was way past his nap time...but he wouldn't let go of his toy train. We didn't have our regular camera within reach, so Justin took a picture with his phone.



I have to say that the National Railroad Museum was much better than I expected. I am sure we will go back (especially since the Groupon was for a year long family membership)!

We had an awesome week of trains with a fun adventure to end it...I think it will be hard to top train week!