Pure Michigan

Well, I must say, Tim the "Toolman" Taylor and his Pure Michigan commercials did not dissapoint!  When we made the decision to forego a tropical locale or Eurpoean adventure, choosing instead to take Dylan on our first family vacation, we were kind of left scratching our heads as to where to go.  We love to travel, but have never really taken a road trip. The family vacay requirements were somewhat different than what we're used to: somewhere not too hot, not too far away, not too close, a beach and water, and somewhere we hadn't seen before.  We kept seeing the Pure Michigan commercials, and decided we'd try it out.  Our friend Amy recommended a small town called Saugatuck, which is on the water, and has a lot of fun things to do and see.  Sold.  We booked, and left on our adventure last week.

Here's a few (ok a lot) of pics from our trip.  Enjoy!

Dylan did pretty well in the car, slept about 5 of the 7 hr drive.  Baby Einstein videos on You Tube saved our sanity during his crabby moments. 

Our condo only had one bedroom and it was a loft, so Dylan got to sleep in the kitchen.  The dishwasher doubled as a white noise machine.

Our place had an awesome covered deck where we ate all of our meals and hung out after Dylan went to sleep.

Dylan enjoyed getting some exercise inside the condo.  The furniture there was lower to the ground than ours, so he could practice sit ups and pull ups. 

Practicing reading too! I walked into the room and this is how I found him, haha.

The beach!  We went three times, and each time Dylan liked it more.  At first he was very unsure of the sand, until he figured out he could eat it.  Then that's all he wanted to do.  The water was pretty cold and rough, so he was scared of it for the most part.  But the weather was PERFECT for us, so we stayed for the better part of the day.  It was awesome to be able to sit outside and not sweat to death immediately. 

Dylan's favorite part of the beach was definitely the seagulls.  He LOVED watching them, and chasing them with Mike.  Here they are on seagull patrol.

For my anniversary gift, Mike got us tickets for a sunset boat ride.  What he didn't realize was that the sun doesn't set until 9:30pm in Michigan!  Too late for D man, so we went on the 5pm cruise instead with all of the old people, haha.  It was still fun, and Dylan loved waving at all of the other boats going by.  It was adorable!

Dinners out.  This is one area where life has changed dramatically.  Although Dylan is usually pretty good at a restaurant, it is no longer a leisurely, long dinner with appetizers and desserts.  The new dinner is find somewhere with no wait, hurry up and order as fast as we can, continuously feed Dylan so he doesn't get crabby, and pray that some kind patron at the table next to us wants to flirt with him (we become no longer interesting once at the dinner table for some reason).  Haha, still fun, just different. We only ate dinner out twice the whole week! (hard for foodies like us!)

Dutch Village - a little "theme park" for kids about all things Dutch.  Cheese tasting, a carosel, and a petting zoo were the few highlights of this place.  Not very cool, but Dylan liked the animals so I guess it was worth it. 

The town of Saugatuck was awesome!  It has lots of little shops and restaurants, and is right on the water.  Highly recommend to anyone wanting a weekend getaway!

Our first family vacation was just perfect!  Looking forward to the next one! Now to go unpack...

God Bless America!

Fourth of July fun!  We had a BBQ at our house for our families.  All of the fireworks were cancelled because of the extreme heat (107 degrees) and drought.  It was hot, but everyone had a good time! 

On the 3rd of July, we went to Erin's rooftop for a BBQ.  She had a baby pool that Dylan and Pat's daughter Claire LOVED! It was a great night!

9 months

Dylan had his 9 month check-up today - the best one so far because there weren't any shots! He weighs 18 lbs 13 oz (36%) and is 27.5" (18%).  Dr. said that whoever measured him last time did not do it accurately, because the length measurement was the same today as it was at 6 months.  So, our tall baby is no longer tall, for now :)   She said he can start eating any foods we want to feed him, and he can eat 3 times a day.  It feels like all he does is eat!!

No crawling yet, he's pretty stubborn in this area.  He is starting to get the hang of getting up on all fours, but doesn't know how to move where he wants to go.  Sometimes he can go backwards, but not forwards. 

He has been going to Gymboree class with Lisa and Connor once a week.  The boys love it, except for the parachute, which usually causes tears for at least one of the babies.  We have also been to the zoo, and lots of other places around town, thanks to Coralie's visit in June/July.  At the zoo, Dylan especially likes the penguins, bears, monkeys, and sea lions. 

Going on our first family vacation next week to Lake Michigan.  Should be fun!