rental work

since we got to south bend i've been working outside and around the house taking care of the place and doing a few projects.  one of the projects i've been doing is working on david's rental property.  as a land baron myself (i know...), i am familiar with maintaining and improving a rental property.  with alanna moving out of the rental, that means that its time to do some work on making this place ready for someone to move in to!  there were a few projects that i had the chance to take care of.  the house had a fire pit in the backyard, but it was pretty delapidated and overgrown with weeds.  i took out all the old broken bricks, cleared out the overgrowth, and put in some different bricks to make the whole thing usable again.  i also built a new step for the front door and did some repair work on the back deck. all in all, i think the place looked a bit better and was now ready to move in to.  its a good thing, because david had posted the property online and it was snatched up in only a matter of days!  the new renter must have liked the repairs, huh?
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his own tent

one of ledger's favorite things to play with is his thomas the tank engine tent!  he always points to it folded up by the tv, 'ten! ten!'  alright buddy, we will take out your tent!  he loves to go in it and just sit.  he'll come out, grab a toy or two, throw them inside of it, then scurry back through the flap.  i think its some sort of special little area thats all his own.  well, its usually all his own, except the times that mama hides in there with him!

scribbles to art

sunday we headed back over to visit diana's dad and our stinky dog.  once again grandpa had an amazing meal ready for us!  ledger had a blast wandering around and finding and playing with everything he shouldn't...  as we finished the meal, grandpa brought ledger up on his lap at the table and pulled out his notepad to see what ledger would do with it.  he handed him a pen and our boy got busy drawing!  i'm pretty sure ledger will be a pretty good artist- he's got it in his blood!  grandpa allen is a professional artist, diana's uncles are great painters, diana and barbara are very talented, and i used to be an art teacher- i dont think he could possibly be anything but good at art!  its good to get him started young though!

batman!

today i was extra proud of my son.  we had recently gotten him a playset toy and along with it came a little pamphlet of the other products they make.  in the catalog there was a page of superhero figures that they make.  he was looking it over while sitting on my lap and pointed at one of them.  'that's batman, ledger'.  thinking nothing of it, we put the catalog away with his toys.  the next day he pulls it back out to go through it again with me.  when we get to the superhero page he points once again and says 'baman!'  oh how this warmed the heart of a proud father!  my son said 'batman'!  now i fully understand the joy of child rearing!  this day will go down as one of those milestones in my life as a father- i am beaming with pride!

relax and snack

its been a while since diana and i have had a chance to have a little alone time.  its been so wonderful staying with her mom and david, but the night that david had to work late and her mom went to go to the office to help him out, well, diana and i really enjoyed the chance to have the house to ourselves when we put ledger to sleep!  we decided to make some good old fashioned popping corn, sit down in front of the tv, and enjoy ourselves for a couple hours!  its always so nice to have that time with the wife, time to relax together and just enjoy each other's company.  i think we will start making a point of doing that more often!

visiting grandpa

we've been missing our stinky dog, and diana's dad has been missing his grandson, so we decided to start a new tradition: sunday afternoon with grandpa!  we arrived at his place around 1:00 and enjoyed a fantastic dinner that dad prepared for us.  its funny to see just how spastic poco is when he first sees us pulling up at the house!  he goes howling around the front yard whimpering to high heaven in excruciating excitement!  when he finally calms down fifteen minutes later, we head inside and enjoy a meal together.  dad doesnt have a high chair, so ledger just kind of wanders around messing with grandpa's stuff as the three of us eat and talk.  after the meal we all head back outside and play around the yard for a while.  its been really cool to be able to spend some more time with diana's dad, and ledger loves to poke around grandpa's house and see what kind of trouble he can get in to!
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lake swim

now that we were back in south bend, we were able to get back to work!  well, i got back to work, ledger and diana got busy enjoying the beautiful weather!  diana's mom got ledger a cute little floaty thing for him to hang out in so he could enjoy the lake along with everyone else.  so, we put on his swimsuit and hat, and gave it a try.  he loved it right away!  that boy cant get enough of the water.  the problem though was that all he wanted to do was to get out of it! he kept leaning forward and licking the lake water- gross!  he loved kicking his little feet and slapping the water, but his desire to be free was just too strong.  maybe we will try this thing again in a couple weeks and then he will be able to sit contently and just enjoy the water instead of squirming around and trying to get out!

sleepy ledge

when we made it back from grand rapids, our little guy was so exhausted from the ride.  after a little while with grandma and grandpa, he was ready for bed!  he was so exhausted, in fact, that he didnt even notice me when i came in about a half hour later to get this hilariously cute photo of him cashed out in the pack-n-play!  oh we love him so much!

sandy play

the next day ledger had a chance to just hang out around the trailer and play with mema's toys.  he got a bath too, so that meant that he got to play afterwards in nothing but his diaper- his favorite!  this particular toy seemed to really grab his attention, it played all kinds of different types of songs- each one of them more annoying than the last.  no wonder he loved it, huh?
that look on his face says it all: 'i sure have a fun time at mema and papa's!'
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first fireworks

and then it all began...  that little guy had no idea what was going on- but he sure did love it!  papa was thinking ahead and grabbed a pair of his ear plugs for ledger.  they wernt the most comfortable things ever, but he did pretty good with them, mostly leaving them alone and instead focusing on the exciting colors and lights in the sky!  i'm not entirely sure who enjoyed the fireworks more, ledger or my wife...
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make 'em sparkle

as it got closer to fireworks time, jill and the kids came by mom and papa's place to gather up everyone and head out.  jill was much too eager to see ledger, so she woke him up from sleeping so he could join us- his first fireworks!  he was a bit groggy at first, but quickly joined in the excitement.  we've never woken him up during the night before, so this was a very special treat!  we headed down to the beach where we had put the chairs to save our spot earlier in the evening.  the kids got to do their usual pre fireworks fun: sparklers!
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gifts a little late...

for christmas barbara had gotten each of the kids a few special gifts.  the problem though, was that she kept forgetting them when she came up to grand rapids!  well, she was determined not to let them sit in her house any longer, so she gave them to us to pass along to the kids.  you know, only six months late...  so the kids gathered together and tore open their prizes (hey, its not often you get christmas gifts in july, right?)  and they loved them!  barbara had gotten each of them coloring and activity books perfectly suited to each one of them: jackson got one about the civil war and another one about weapons through history, tweets got a couple about dancing and princesses, and aves got some cool animal ones.  they were so thrilled!  jill said that they spend the next couple days thumbing through them and filling them in.  what a great auntie they have!

taking control

on the way back from the water park mema and papa wanted to take ledger with them, so diana took the other cart back.  this is a rather unusual sight: diana behind the wheel of a golf cart!  usually she makes me drive (which i love to do), but she must have been feeling a bit saucy because she hopped in the driver side and was ready to rock!  careful out there honey, those things go in excess of ten miles per hour!

water park fun

when we got out to sandy pines and got ledger out of the car mema just about fainted!  'oh, he's so big now!'  she was thrilled beyond belief to see him again (oh, and us too).  we headed out to the flea market and wondered around for a bit, then we got ledger ready and brought him to one of sandy pines' premiere features:  the water park!  he was so excited- he's used to that little five inch inflatable pool, but this was the real thing: a pool, a water slide, and a bunch of water related fun things to play with!  he spend a good half hour just walking around messing with the different water equipment, slapping the water, and just getting as wet as he possibly could!

4th party

being in town means that we get to spend some quality time with the family, but it also means that we get to see my friends too!  as we were making plans to come up there for the weekend, we also made plans for a little get together with the guys.  we had an awesome time grilling out on the back deck and just chilling out enjoying the beautiful weather and catching up with everyone again.  it was so much fun to gather aaron & nicole, jon & allison, and carrie (dusty stayed home with the sleeping kids) together and just talk and laugh the night away- so much fun!  we will definitely have to do this again soon!
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pantry play

with the 4th of july weekend upon us, diana and i head up to grand rapids to spend the holiday with my family at sandy pines!  whenever we come to visit we always stay at the house while my parents are at the trailer.  when we arrived we unpacked and took the rest of the afternoon to relax.  well, for one little pant-less explorer, that meant digging into whatever he could find!  and what he found was a pantry door that wasn't shut tight- that means that its fair game to him!  he had a blast rooting around the pantry, messing with cans of coffee and bottles of peanuts and anything else he could find!  we just stood in the kitchen and let him have at it.  he was picking everything up and pulling it out on the floor, just chatting away to himself the whole time!  oh, i bet mema wishes she could have seen this sight!  don't worry though, we will go see her first thing tomorrow!

grandmasitting

diana's mom totally loves the whole 'grandma' thing!  she has been on cloud nine ever since we showed up this summer, taking every chance she can to spend time with ledger.  the other day alanna came by to help take care of a few things, so mom got to do a little bit of double duty with both her grandsons!  here she is taking a momentary rest from the running around!  we are so thankful for what a great job she does with our boy!
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father's day = movie day!

this year my wife gave me the greatest father's day gift i could ever ask for: a day to go see movies!  now, dont get me wrong, she often tells me to go ahead and see a movie.  thats not what i'm talking about though.  i'm saying she gave me an entire day to go see movies!  this is the sort of thing that i've dreamed about before, an entire day in the movie theater dedicated to seeing as many movies as i could handle (and let me tell you, i can handle a lot!).  so i planned a day a week or two later to go up to the theater in niles, michigan where the tickets are really cheap (if i had gone to a normal theater, a day like this would have broken the bank!).  i got there nice and early: 9:00am.  i then proceeded with my movie marathon, watching an unprecedented 6 movies in a row!  and it was glorious!  there was about a half hour break in between each one, so i could at least go to the bathroom, get a refill on the soda or popcorn, and then dive back in to the screenings.  to make the day even better, diana even came in the afternoon and joined me for one of the movies!  i finally got out of the theater, finishing my sixth film, at a couple minutes to midnight.  now thats a great day, let me tell you.  i had so much fun, i'm pretty sure i could do that once a week and be the happiest film nerd alive!  maybe i should look in to seeing if this could be an annual thing...

cousins

one of the best parts of being here in south bend for the summer is the fact that ledger gets to spend some quality time with his cousin tavish!  it is so funny to just sit and watch the two of them.  ledger just mirrors his every move and stick to him like a shadow!  usually tavish it pretty good about it, putting up with a slow unsteady ledger following him around and wanting to watch every move, but there are also times where tavish runs full speed through the house just to have a little bit of distance from his stalker cousin!  its been fun to see ledger get more animated by watching tavish, learning from his actions.  hopefully he will only imitate the positive actions though...

old toys made new

diana's mom has, much to ledger's delight, a bunch of toys for him to play with for the summer.  having a grandson who's only about a year and a half older means that she is stocked up with baby toys for boys!  ledger's favorite toy though, by far, is this sesame street play set that diana's mom pulled out recently.  he has been absolutely enamored with it!  as it turns out, so was his mom.  diana's mom actually kept that play set from what diana and her sister were kids!  they loved it so much that mom held on to it ever since then.  well, i know ledger is grateful that she kept it, and its a really cool connection between the generations!  i'm thinking it would be really cool to make sure we hold on to it to pass it down eventually when ledger is able to share it with his children some day.  cookie monster does make for a strange heirloom though, huh?
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clean up

the first job of the summer, before i can get much else done, is make a little work space for myself.  with all the construction jobs over at their rental house and some leftovers from previous fix ups at their house, there was a ton of trash to get rid of!  that means filling up david's truck and heading to the dump.  i clocked in four visits in one day- with one more needed!  but i tell you what, its made a ton of difference!  now its time to get to work...

baby pool

with the beautiful summer weather starting, diana's mom wanted to make sure that ledger gets to enjoy being outside.  and whats the best way to enjoy the summer heat?  by swimming, of course!  granted, they have a lake in their back yard, but we thought it might be better to have a bit more of a controlled environment for ledger to get accustomed to before he tries to trek out into the lake!  ledge has always loved taking baths, so when he first spotted this thing he was super excited about going out and plashing around!  it was really funny watching him the first time he tried it, he just kept stepping in then out over and over again.  i'm not entirely sure he understands the concept of a pool just yet, but he'll get there!
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