2 1/2 Years Old!!

Carson is now officially 2 1/2 years old, as of Friday the 13th. Its hard to believe that he will be three years old before we know it. He is turning into such a little man and he is so, so fun! We love watching him grow and mature.

Carson continues to surprise us with things he picks up on. He knows many of the road names near us and can tell you which road we're on and which way we'll need to turn onto what road to get where we're going - whether its home, or to a relative's house. He is just such an observant little guy.

He also pays attention to everyone's cars. I took a drive through the car dealership on our way home the other day. As we're driving through, Carson pointed out all kinds of cars that he recognized. We went by the Grand Prixs and he said "those are like Mama's car, but they're a different color." He said similar things about the extended cab pickups being like Grandpa's truck, the regular cab pickups like Uncle Mike's, the vans like Nana's, the Malibus like Uncle Danny's, the Enclaves like Aunt Jeri's, and a Jeep like Aunt Sharon's. He was not wrong on any of them. He is definitely his father's son. :)

Carson is back in a singing phase. He went a couple of months without really singing much. But now he is singing again all the time. His favorite songs to sing include the Alphabet Song, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Jesus Loves Me, Deep and Wide, Row Row Row Your Boat, This Little Light of Mine, When the Saints Go Marching, and Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam. He loves to learn new songs all the time, too. This morning he was learning to sing some nursery rhymes - Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty. He really enjoys playing all of his instruments still, too. And he's quite good at playing parts of Mary Had A Little Lamb on his xylophone after he watches us play part of it. We're really looking forward to Miss Laura's Kindermusik class which starts up again in about a month. Carson is very excited to see her and his friends from class again!

Carson loves riding anything and everything - his bike, trikes, tractor, four-wheeler, cars, and he loves riding around on the bike four-wheeler and tractors. He is a pro at riding most of them and is getting so good at steering and making turns properly. He'll be ready for Mama's old little 4-Zinger gas powered four-wheeler pretty soon!

Carson has quite the imagination these days, too. He is so fun to watch play with his toys. He makes his guys talk and do lots of fun things. He changes diapers on his bears and pretends to feed them and care for them like a baby. He sends them to school while he goes to work, takes them for wagon rides, and takes them on lots of fun adventures.

We continue to enjoy lots of creative time this summer. Carson absolutely loves it! We've been doing lots of painting outside - both with brushes and finger-painting. We spend time coloring with crayons and markers everyday, as well as drawing on his easel. And we've been making some fun crafts with things we find outside (leaves, sticks, pinecones, rocks, etc.), too.

Carson continues to love learning his numbers, letters, and simple spellings of words. He is just a sponge, soaking everything up!

Carson got to meet his newest cousin - Haleigh Madison - about a week ago. Haleigh is Sara's cousin Megan's and her husband Marty's first child. They moved to Virginia last year and Haleigh was born in January, so we hadn't had a chance to meet her yet. They were home last week for Haleigh's baptism and to spend time with friends and family, so we got to finally meet her! What a beautiful little girl she is! She is such a happy little girl and Carson just loved her!

We traveled to the Thumb of Michigan to a little town called Forester yesterday afternoon for the re-wedding of Sara's great Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim. It sure was a hot and humid day, but it was good to see some of the Odykirk family that we don't get to see very often. Carson had a lot of fun playing with his new friend, Lili, who is six and lives in Portland, Oregon. They really had a good time together. Carson is quite the little story-teller these days, too. We were all sitting around chatting, watching Carson and Lili swing when, totally out of the blue (and quite loudly), Carson says "my mom hits me!" Haha! Its hilarious because I've never even swatted at his hands or anything remotely close to hitting. I have no idea where he got that from, but we've since asked him about it and he defiantly tells us that "no, my mom does NOT hit me, she loves me!" :)







Its been an amazing summer so far and we're looking forward to lots more super fun things coming up! We are leaving Friday for a vacation in Colorado! We can't wait!

America's Roller Coast ~ Cedar Point!

On July 22nd, we left for a family trip to Cedar Point. There were 15 of us that ended up going - Great Poppy, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Reno, Becky, Charlie, Charity, Nana, Papa, Aunt Lindsay, Aunt Jeri, Uncle Mike, Kyle, and the three of us. We all met up for breakfast at Big Boy in Ann Arbor on Thursday morning and then took off for Cedar Point. We all stayed at the Hotel Breakers, which is so convenient and extra nice with a toddler in tow. It was so nice to be able to walk back to the hotel when we wanted to or needed to change into or out of our swimsuits. And the walk was so much closer than the Sandcastle, which is where we've always stayed in the past.

We had been prepping Carson for weeks in advance. Talking to him about Cedar Point, roller coasters, rides, water slides, etc. He was so looking forward to seeing where Charlie Brown and Snoopy live, but he had absolutely no idea what to expect when it comes to the roller coasters. When he first saw the coasters, as we were driving around the park to the Hotel Breakers, he was just in awe. He first saw the Blue Streak and just exclaimed with so much enthusiasm, "WOW, a rainbow!" It was so cute. He then figured out what a roller coaster looked like.

After we checked in at the Breakers, we headed into the park. Carson was JUST tall enough to get a wristband so he could ride the majority of the kiddie rides. We first made a stop at the Magnum (there was no line!) so that most of us could get our first coaster in. Carson enjoyed watching us all go by above him and Nana. :)

We all had a great time! We'd all start off in Cedar Point in the mornings, but with a heat index of 104 degrees, most of us were ready for Soak City by about 11am. So we'd spend all afternoon over there. Then we'd all meet up for dinner and had hopes of returning to the park afterwards. Unfortunately, storms rolled through both nights. They did re-open the rides on Thursday night, but we had all decided to just go to bed since we didn't think they'd be running with all the tornado warnings. So we were bummed when we found out they had re-opened. Oh well, we had already had a pretty full day, so it was ok.

We'd split up into different groups at different points in the day, for those that wanted to go ride all the roller coasters, those that went to Camp Snoopy or Planet Snoopy, and those that went between the two. Carson absolutely loved all of the rides! He had so much fun on the kiddie roller coasters - the Jr. Gemini and the Woodstock Express. He even put his arms up on the Jr. Gemini (but of course I missed that picture moment)! He rode quite a few rides. According to him, his favorite was driving the monster trucks, with the roller coasters a very close second. :) He really loved the swings, too. He didn't really ride anything he didn't like, though.












Kevin went off to ride a bunch of coasters with some of the cousins for a while. He finally got to ride Top Thrill Dragster! I think that was a highlight of his trip. Kevin and I rode the Maverick together while Carson went to drive the old-fashioned cars with Nana. I also rode the Magnum with Kevin, my Aunt Sharon, Reno, dad, and Lindsay. But I was playing it safe with the coasters this trip, with my gallstone issues and some precautions from my surgeon. So I wasn't really interested in riding too much. I was there for Carson - to see him smiling and loving it, having so much fun! :)

We spent most of our time at Soak City. They have some really nice kiddie areas. We spent most of our time at the two huge kiddie pools with lots of play stuff and water slides in them. But we also had fun over at the deeper kiddie pool just swimming and over at the giant splash pad type thing that has lots of slides. We also spent a lot of time in the Lazy River and at the Wave Pool. Kevin went down most of the water slides and I did a couple of them, too. I'd rather relax at the pool, though. :) Carson took his naps on the lounge chairs in the shade on both days we were there.







It was a great trip, but it was good to get home, too. We were all exhausted by the end, especially with the heat. We look forward to another extended family trip next year... at this point, it looks like we'll be going up near Green Bay, Wisconsin in June. But for now, Kevin, Carson, and I get to look forward to our next vacation to Colorado! We leave in a week and a half!! We can't wait!

Be sure to check out all of our pictures! They will be up in the albums soon! We didn't get pictures of nearly every ride that we went on, but we definitely took plenty! :)

Bay City Tall Ships Celebration

Back on July 17th, we took a drive up to Bay City for the Tall Ships Celebration. We've never been before, so we didn't know what to expect, but we thought Carson would enjoy seeing the "pirate" ships. It was probably the hottest day of the summer when we went. And it was crowded. Very crowded. The lines were extremely long to get on any of the ships and with the heat, we just didn't feel up to standing in those lines. So we just walked around a bit, took some pictures, and had some lunch. The ships are beautiful and so cool to see up close. We'd have liked to get on one or two of them, but just didn't have it in us to stand in the line and fight the heat any longer than we did. We got to see Bay City finally, though. Neither Kevin or I had ever been there that we know of.

A Visit from Uncle Justin, Aunt Mary, and Rebecca

A few weeks ago, Uncle Justin, Aunt Mary, and Rebecca came to town to visit. We had a family party at Grandpa and Grandma's house with a great dinner, lots of playtime, and we watched a few old home videos from when Kevin and his siblings were kids. It was great to have everyone together! It seems like it happens so rarely, so its always so fun when it does. The kids all had a blast! They played outside and inside and the constant sound was laughter throughout the afternoon. The boys and girls often split up - the boys playing ball or action figures and the girls playing Barbies, but they came together to play quite a lot, as well. Carson and Rebecca had fun playing some great music on Grandma's piano together, too. We got a nice concert from the two of them. :) Carson had so much fun playing with all of his cousins and he is still asking when he'll get to see them all again... he says he'd like us all to go on one big family bike ride next time... and that he wants to ride in his bike trailer with Rebecca! :)

4th of July Weekend

Playing some catch up here again... I'm nearly a month behind right now - oops! So we'll start with the 4th of July weekend. We had an eventful holiday weekend. It started out as planned, but did not end as planned. It was still a good weekend, though.

Friday night, we went to the Silver Lake Ski Club ski show, which is part of the Fenton Freedom Festival. The show was really good this year with lots of very talented jumpers and barefooters. Upon arrival, as we were walking down the sidewalk, Carson tripped and fell, skinning his nose and both knees. Poor guy. He cheered up quickly and really enjoyed watching the skiers. His favorites, as they were last year, were the jumpers. Maybe we'll have a jumper of our own one day. :) We are glad Carson enjoys watching the shows and hope to keep him interested in the years to come. We're really hoping he'll want to join the team as part of the pre-show in two years.

On Saturday, Kevin took off to Indianapolis for a guys' day with his dad, brother, and brother-in-law. They toured the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it sounds like they all had a really good time. Carson and I took a ride out to Saranac/Ionia in western Michigan. Auntie Sara flew in from Colorado for the weekend, so we had to go visit! Sara's niece, Noelle, was also there and she and Carson had such a great time together! They were so cute! They picked raspberries, played with the kittens, played catch and soccer, took turns in the swing, and just ran around chasing birds and just exploring. They really hit it off well! At one point, they went and stood under this group of fruit trees, talking quietly to one another. When Sara and I would try to sneak up to hear what they were saying, we'd be given looks that told us to back off. :) It was so funny! Until they decided it'd be fun to eat the leaves off the tree! :) We had a great visit with Auntie Sara and her family and were sad to go. But we are really looking forward to seeing her again on our trip to Colorado in just three weeks!




On Sunday, we went out to Aunt Sharon's house for a family party on the lake. Carson and Mackenzey had such a great time together. They get along so well and were so cute holding hands all the time. Unfortunately, our day of fun was interrupted by a trip by ambulance to the emergency room. Turns out Sara has a large gallstone and had a pretty severe attack. It was pretty scary, but we're thankful that's all it was.




We took it easy for the rest of the day and on Monday, since Sara was pretty weak after the attack. But all-in-all, it was a great weekend! We had a lot of fun celebrating our nation's freedom this year, even though it didn't go quite as we'd planned.

Our Little Biker Dude

I've mentioned before that Carson loves to ride his bike. I think he rides it almost every day. He is quite good and loves to go "mountain biking" like Daddy... a.k.a. he goes off the driveway or sidewalks and into the grass. Sometimes he gets stuck and has to get off and push himself out or ask Mama or Daddy for help, other times, he makes it through just fine. Here are a few pictures of Carson riding from a couple of weeks ago.

Notice he is standing up in this one while he's riding.