Anna Stories!

**Anna watching TV for a brief moment, looking a lot like daddy when he watches TV. Hehe.**

So I usually post about a few weeks in review and how we're doing. With Anna's personality really shining through from time to time, I'll post more stories of Anna that we can't help but find funny. :)

So last weekend, I was in the bathroom on the main floor. I knew Anna was by the Christmas tree and Gary was in the kitchen. I wasn't watching her at the time and all of a sudden she started to bawl! I thought maybe she broke an ornament and it hurt her. I look at her and immediately called Gary to go over and help her. Anna knows she's not supposed to take the ornaments off the tree or really play with anything on there besides some little trees with a bell at the bottom that I showed her. She took off a glass ball ornament and was holding it in her hand. She stood there, with her head down, fumbling the ball in her hands and bawling, like "oh crap, I know I'm not supposed to do that and now mom and dad are going to yell at me. Oh man, I don't know what to do but cry!" We couldn't yell at her b/c she'd had done enough damage to herself with just taking it off the tree. It was too cute!

This was a few weeks ago. So after Anna's bath, we let her run around naked in her room and in the hall way for a few minutes before she get's ready for bed. We'd been letting her do that for some time now and for some reason that night I had this thought "Crazy how she hasn't pooped or even peed on the carpet yet." Thought too soon. That night it was just me and I let her run to her room after her bath while I'll emptied the tub. I had that thought as I left the bathroom and the few short steps I took to her room, I saw her squatting by her toys on the floor. Her cute little naked butt up in the air with a small puddle beneath her and a little surprise coming out her rear. I wasn't mad and didn't really say anything b/c obviously we let her do it and what do we expect?! But I couldn't believe after that split thought I had moments before would I come into her room to find a little present for me to clean up. Too funny.

More to come! Stay tuned. :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This Christmas time is certainly different for us than last year. We talked about it recently, how excited we were that Anna could hold her head up when she was on her tummy and how she could fit her entire body on a big pillow. We look at her this season, with her running around, mesmerized by the Christmas tree, it's lights and the fun little toys hanging from the tree. Amazing how much growing a baby does in 1 year! This year, she'll be able to open her own gifts and possibly enjoy them for about 2 minutes till she's off finding other things to play with. She can enjoy the wonderful food and goodies that Christmas brings, see all the lights and decorations, pointing at them saying "that", watch her eyes light up when we turn the Christmas tree on, playing in the snow in her giant snowsuit and boats - intrigued but unsure. Gary and I are so excited to start new traditions with her and with this little one next year. Going shopping together to find those perfect gifts for the kids, baking cookies at grandma's house, waking up on Christmas morning to see all that Santa brought, going to church, learning more of what this season means, singing Christmas Carols (and learning mommy's love of Christmas music 24/7 if possible). So many things that we can share with our kids that has only just begun! We almost wish they'd get a little bigger already to enjoy these things more, but I know, that time will come and I'll wish for them to be small again, to have all that childlike innocence.

Our biggest gift this year is this new baby that will make our family of 4. Eventhough it was a huge surprise to us, we know that God has given us this little baby for a reason and are so excited to meet this little person! It has been an uneventful pregnancy, so that may be why there's a lack of detail about this one as I've moved along. I popped faster, so I've felt pregnant for awhile now. I've gained a little weight with this one, but only a few more than I did with the 8-10 I did with Anna. My shots are going fine. I'm actually switching over to the heparin shots twice a day in about a week. This will allow me to get an epideral if I were to go into labor, otherwise they won't touch me with the Lovenox shots. I'm hoping it works this time - I know how it feels now, so I don't feel it this time, I'm very much cool with that. :) I'll be induced again, on January 20, if nothing happens by the 18th. I think I like being induced, so I know that I'll be having a baby that day instead of waiting for my water to break. For a planned person, this is ideal. :) Otherwise, baby is doing great. Moving and kicking all the time, so much more than Anna. I've been measuring 2-3 weeks bigger for a couple months, but I did with Anna too. I still think this one will be in the 7 pound range. We'll see, the time is quickly approaching! I've been slowly working on the baby's room and hope to have it finished in the next 2 weeks so it can be clear coated and furniture moved in.

I've enjoyed coming up with new ways to decorate for Christmas, with all the blog reading and inspiration I've seen over the past years, I've done things a little differently. The Christmas shopping was done a lot online, handmade or in short order this year. It seems a little less stressful. The cookie baking with Gary's mom will be this Saturday - we make the classics that Gary grew up with along with a new recipe or 2 that we like to take on. The weekend after that begins the festivities of Christmas! We have a lot to be thankful for, our home, our jobs, financial stability in these tough times, Anna and the new baby, our family and friends, cars that run most of the time, food for each meal, the freedom to celebrate the birth of our Savior with other believers, our health, the good news that Gary's grandpa's test showed that a lot of the cancer is gone or has shrank tremendously and so much more! We should reflect on this more throughout the year instead of just during the holidays. God does provide for us 24/7/365.



Gary and I are doing well. Jobs are good and keeping us busy. Gary's been in charge of the majority of the IT projects for the new arena Calvin has built. So he's been very busy and very proud to be a part of such a big project! We're going to try and take advantage of the free sports tickets Gary can get and see some basketball games this winter. My job is going fine. There are moments of frustration with learning new things, but they get worked through and all seems to be going alright. We've been in the midst of holiday planning, baby preparations and watching the endless snow fall. Gary had toe surgery last week to cure some ingrown toenail issues, so he's been on the road to recovery. I'll spare you the gorry details. :) We were given tickets to go with our friend Jenn to the Grand Rapids Symphony Holiday Pops concert on Saturday. It was an amazing gift and we really enjoyed it! It truly sets the tone for the Christmas season with beautiful music and singing.

Otherwise, all is well at the Tidd house. Anna is getting bigger, making us laugh, be amazed or seeing our parents come out in us with getting after her for something. :)

ENJOY THE NEW PICTURES TOO! Here are some of the crazy girl and some holiday photos.

I hope this finds all of you well, having a stress-free or close to it anyway, Christmas season so far!



Love,

GCA

Time is ticking...

**This was a post from a couple weeks ago that I never posted, so sorry about the abrupt end. I'll post a new one tonight complete with pictures and videos.**

We're about 8 weeks away from #2 to make an appearance! Crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. It's different this time b/c the anxiety of all these new things isn't there this time. I had my 32 week check up today. Baby's heartbeat is still in the 140's, measuring about 35 weeks but I had that with Anna. I would imagine this baby is a little bigger than Anna was, but who knows. It's definitely a mover! I thought Anna moved, but this baby does flips all day long. On one hand this pregnancy has gone by so fast, on the other hand I'm ready for it to be done. I popped a lot faster and have felt pregnant a lot longer than I did with Anna..... could this be because I only had 6 months between having Anna and getting pregnant again? :) I'm very thankful for a very uneventful pregnancy and that all looks wonderful, but I'm ready to have my body back and be able to bend again! :) The baby's room is coming along. Hopefully over this long weekend, I'll get the baby's room finished so we can clear coat it and get the furniture in there. Yay! That'll make it feel more real and make me more prepared.

Anna is doing great. She had her 12 month checkup/shot appointment last Thursday. She's a huge 20 pounds 6 ounces. Her height and weight are in the 35% and her head is in the 75%. Hehe. She got her MMR shot, chicken pox shot and 1 of 2 flu shots. She did really well, it was the next day that she got crabby. So we gave her ice cream that night and she went crazy! She was banging her head on the lazyboy, running between Gary and I to get bites and was just running around being goofy. It was hilarious. Otherwise she continues to eat and sleep really well, she loves having books read to her. We've even memorized Dr. Seuss' ABC book! She moved to the middle room at daycare and loves it! She has a lot more room to move, eats at the table sometimes, takes naps on the mat sometimes and does crafts! She's growing up so fast!

Gary and I continue to do well. We had the basement about 40% and the best thing right now is that we were able to move our cars back in the garage! We got rid of a lot of stuff, packed things better and now have brand new shelves to load up with stuff. :) Working on the baby's room, Thanksgiving preparations, buying Christmas gifts, decor and cards and keeping track of Anna is our duties right now. Gary's doing a lot right now as I'm not able to bend very well anymore or do any lifting.

Hope all is well with you!
Love,
GCA

Had to share!

Last night, while perusing Facebook, a friend from highschool posted about a Britax car seat on sale at Target for $42.99. I couldn't believe it. So I checked it out. Sure enough, the same (different pattern) one we just bought for Anna with $75 off for the bargin price of $225 was on sale at Target for $42.99. On top of that, it qualified for free shipping, so we got a $300, highest rating car seat for the mear price of $45! Who knows if it was a typo or a clearance sale, but we got in just before they were sold out. Hind site, we should have purchased 5 of them and resold them for a huge profit! Dumb hind site. :) Either way, we scored a new seat for our other vehicle for Anna to use now and to be used by #2 in a year. Now that's shopping friends!

New Seat at $45

Anna's seat at $225

UPDATE: Target sent out an email saying the cancelled my order b/c the price was wrong. Well poo on them! Apparently it says they can do that in their help section. Blah.

Pardon the dust!

Well, we're at 30 weeks. Baby is moving all the over a lot of the day and making me slow down just a bit. We've been in the midst of finishing the basement, one weekend at at time. My dad started by framing it in and my cousin came up last weekend to put in lighting and electric. He has a few little things to finish up, then the heating and cooling guy will come in and put in some vents to keep the basement warm. Next comes insulation, dad coming back up to do dry wall, a mud and taping guy will finish it up and we'll take it from there with carpet, painting, trim work, etc. This is all being done right now to create a new guest room as baby #2 is taking over our current one. So as you can see time is running short with baby getting closer to making it's way into our family.

With all that, I'm getting the baby's room prepped for some painting and other fun things to be installed in it's room. It's a bright shade of sherbert orange (which surprises some of our guests) but will be really nice when all the furniture is in and the elements have been painted on the wall. We felt the same way about Anna's room, but it all worked out really well. The baby's is getting a big tree like Anna's, some critters of various sorts, fun colored mirrors, an alphabet print and some script on the wall. We're going to swap rocking chairs in the room, so Anna will have the small black one and the baby will get the big wooden one (it matches better and we don't use the rocking chair for Anna much anymore). I have to freshen up the changing table with a coat of flat white paint and put together the crib. Anna's getting some mirrors in her room as well ( reusing our IKEA frames from back in the day) painting light blue with clouds. She's already seen the baby's mirrors and loves them. So that'll be cool. Much to do, but I'm finally able to get to it!

We also have some projects to work on for Christmas presents this weekend (more on that after Christmas of course) along with shopping for other family members. I've already started picking up things for Anna and Gary and have ideas for the most of the rest of the family. Which leads me to the Christmas Card. Gotta do that yet. It may be a condensed version this year as most of you read my blog and see our lives more indepth than a card can get, plus there's that time thing. :) Don't worry, it'll still be designed and not store bought. Christmas decor will go up hopefully over Thanksgiving break and we'll see how Anna takes to a trinket filled tree with sparkly lights. She listens pretty well, so hopefully not too many meltdowns of us saying no to her. Hehe. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year so that should be fun - never made a turkey before! But I can't wait for turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Maybe I can convince the fam to do some bowling that day - bring out the back home tradition.

I'm excited for the holiday season, I'm already gearing up my Christmas music selection to start up right after the big eatin' day! I'm excited to have Anna start to see what Christmas is, what we do and what it really means. I'm excited to decorate (hopefully with some new things) and to make Christmas cookies. Despite the dreaded snow, I look forward to this season every year. It's so magical and will only become more as our kids get older and create our own traditions and experiences. Making cookies with grandma, heading to Chicago to see if Santa followed us to Grandma and Grandpa Tiemens house, going downtown to see the windows, maybe try out ice skating, making gifts for family, getting gifts for those less fortunate, waking up Christmas morning to see how good they really were that year and going to Church to sing in the kids choirs, to hear the beautiful music that surrounds such an amazing Gift.

The Boog is doing well. She had a rough week with not being quite herself. Very moody and some not so great diapers if you know what I mean. We changed up her diet a little bit and the past couple days she's been in a great mood. So hopefully we're on our way back up. She's probably teething too and that probably is giving her pain, which she turns into clinginess and an upset tummy giving her those lovely diapers. She's starting to chatter more with forming new sounds, saying "hi" when she sees us and when she puts a phone up to her ear. So cute! She's really learning her limitations with us saying no and her not pushing as far. But even when daddy gets stern but a quiet voice with her, the drama turns on! Our little drama queen.

Gary and I are doing well too. Work is going fine - keeping busy as usual. Still working on side work projects of wedding invites, logo design and web design on top of our own projects we would really like to get to. We're enjoying the things in life that make it a little simplier or manageable. These might be frivilous or a no brainer, but a welcomed changed in our house. We purchased a Tivo for a combo birthday gift and love it! We program our shows for the week and when we have a moment, we can watch them and fast forward commercials, rather than trying to be by the TV at the time of the show. This gets us away from watching things that fill space and watch more of our interests. We've also instilled a "clean up all the dishes right after dinner." As some of you know, dishes are one of the jobs we both really despise doing. We got sick of dishes piled up for days, stinking up the house and then spending an hour trying to get them somewhat clean to fill the dishwasher. Now we take 20 minutes to load the dishwasher and clean off the counters. It brings just a little more weight off of our weekend chores. There are others we'd like to become apart of our daily routine like laundry, my "organized piles", filing, cleaning, etc, but slow and steady wins the race, right?

Otherwise all is well in Tiddville. Bracing ourselves for another cold Michigan winter, but thankful we can have heat and the money to pay for it. Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the pictures (finally ones of our painted rooms)!

The Booger
Paint Jobs
Baby #2

Love to all,
GCA

Our baby is One!

The little booger has turned one! So much has happened in the past year that it seems like so long ago that she was born, but in the same right, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home and learning how to be parents. She has certainly changed our lives forever and we couldn't be more happy and excited to be called her parents.

We had a big birthday bash for her at our house. I don't know where we'd put anymore people (or gifts for that matter)! It was a beautiful fall day with the sun shining all day. We had a good hot meal of hot beef, baked beans and fruit salad. Anna, of course, loved the baked beans and Great Grandma helped her finish up the mandarin orange salad. After lunch, we had her open her mound of gifts. I think she got a little overwhelmed with all people watching her and that we kept taking things away so she could open another one. She really just wanted the first few things (especially her babies). The theme seemed to be "farm" with all kinds of toys and books referring to farms. She loved most of the things, but of course, some things scared her and we got those out of sight. :) Then came the cake. She was a bit hesitant at first and just picked at the frosting like a good little girl. Hehe. Then I pulled some of the cake away so she could see that there was more to it. She started to get into it. :) She was wearing/eating the cake along with sharing it, as she does with a lot of her food, with willing recipients. After she seemed to just want to share her cake, we took her upstairs for a chocolate cake bath and down for a well need nap! It was a nice day filled with family and friends. Now what to do with that overflowing pile of dolls, animals and toys..... good thing we're having another one!

Anna has been kind of letting us know she doesn't really need a bottle anymore, so we've taken her off of that a couple weeks ago. My handy dandy Baby Center website told me she doesn't need as much of that anymore as she's getting her nutrients elsewhere, so now we're on to sippy cups of milk, juice and water. She's a really good eater (better than Gary and I in some cases) that she'll eat just about anything we put in front of her. She still doesn't like broccoli.... She loves hamburger meat, corn, bread, condiments (hehe, ketchup, pasta sauce) and any kind of fruit. She still sleeps through the night, an occassional drama session happens when her pipe gets lost or she can't find Mr. Frog or Shudder (her ghost). She loves her bath and likes to put all of her foam numbers and letters on the sides of the tub without being prompted! She also loves the naked run from the bathroom to her room. Hehe. She has the cutest little baby butt! She still rather have things in each hand that match, like 2 blocks, 2 dolls, 2 giant pillows or 2 shoes. I don't know where she got that, but it's funny how she searches for the two items that go together. She loves being read to and she turns the pages faster than we can read! Good thing we're starting to memorize some of her books (I'm a little teapot, You're my little love bug).

She's starting to find her imagination too. The other day, Gary and I were sitting at the dining room table finishing up dinner. We got her down from her highchair and let her roam. Crumbs usually fall on the foot ledge on her chair and she picks them off and hands them to us (or eats them). I took them from her and put them on the table. She continued to pull crumbs but I looked and there wasn't anymore left, but she pretended to pick them up and put them on the table. It was so cool to see that!

She's learning "no" better too or she'll stand right in front of the thing she knows she's not supposed to touch with us just giving her a look. It's not as drama filled as it once was, but let me tell you, when drama does happen, it's a devistating, ear piercing scream cry. It's so over the top, we have to laugh. Then she looks at you with these tear filled, squinty eyes saying I'm so sad, pick me up. Hehe.

Her giggle is great! She loves it when daddy attacks her and we tickle her tummy or feet. It's the best. She's still saying dada, mama, and what sounds like "what's that?" on top of the "eh eh eh" when she wants something. So I got a baby signs book out to see if that'll work for her to express what she wants rather than whine. It might be too late. :)

Here are some pictures from her birthday. One disc has become corrupt and hopefully we can get the rest off this weekend. :( Anna's First Birthday!

Baby #2 is definitely becoming more active and letting me know that the time is getting closer. Speaking of which, we're figuring out placement and what we're going to do in the room yet. I know, cutting it a lot closer this time, but it'll be a little more interactive than just paint on the wall. So everything has to be just so, of course. :) At least the room is painted! Hopefully this weekend will lend itself for the start of doing that. Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good. Some days are more tiring than others, but I think I'm doing pretty well. I have my glucose test today. Ugh. I'll probably have to get my blood tested like last time with everything turning out fine, it's just a bit of a pain.... literally. Oh well.

Gary and I are doing well. Trying to find time to fit all of our grand plans in each night and weeknd. Time certainly does fly! We have the basement roughed in, so now on to heating and cooling, electric and a massage go through of our stuff. On top of all our side work we have from websites to wedding invites, we're definitely busy people! But we're managing. :)

I'll try to post some pictures up of our rooms that I've been talking about for weeks and other things. Try, being the key word.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

Love,
GCA

Bang, Boom, Bite!

The little toddler has been toddling herself into and onto everything these days. In one night, she managed to whack her head 3 times! I'd rather not go into detail on how she did such things so that we won't look like horrible, unsupervising parents, but lets just say it involved a plastic storage bin, a futon and a rocking chair. Man, did I feel horrible! But she managed. Then Saturday brought a trip to the pumpkin patch. Well this year, we actually just picked one out from the picked ones as she doesn't care too much yet about all this stuff. But in the time we were there, she carried around 2 heavy gourds and proceeded to walk too fast down a concrete path and do a summersault resulting in her first scrap on her little head. Her new (and yet another) nickname is Crash needless to say.

She still only has 4 teeth that I'm able to see fully. She's not too cooperative to let me feel around in there, but I'm sure more are on their way as she's drooling all the time. Anyway, I had her in my arms and she was bouncing her face on my shoulder. She then figures out that it's a little soft and she bites me! I was in shock. I should have known it would happen as she bites everything! I firmly told her not to do that, but we'll see how long it is between the next incident.

I thought after the summer was over, things would slow down a bit, but it's simply not true. Every once of the weekend is planned to get as much done around the house or with Anna as humanly possible. We're in the midst of planning Anna's birthday party this weekend, cleaning out the basement of things we don't need, donations, cardboard, etc, and also pushing all of our belongings together so that our basement can get framed up this weekend as well. We're losing our guest bedroom to the new baby, so we're getting the room in the basement set up for that now. With all that, finishing up odds and ends around the house, regular house work, making sure Anna doesn't hurt herself and preparing for another busy weekend. I wish I could see the light at the end, but I don't think so. This may be life for awhile, but in reality, I love it. I love experiencing new things with Anna, I love doing things to our house to make it ours, I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. I may get exhausted and can't believe how much there is to do being a homeowner and parents, but it's awesome to have all these things surround me.

Saturday night, Gary, Alex, Sheila, Anna and I walked the Light the Night walk. It was really cool to be a part of such an amazing event and be amongst people who share such similar but different stories. We walked around downtown and let me tell you I was done by the end of the walk. Carrying around a little extra weight did me in. :) Either way, we raised about $400 and hope to do a lot more next year!

Baby #2 and I are doing well, just slowing down and getting bigger. This ones a mover when it's awake, all over, not just in a couple spots like Anna was. I've had to purchase another pair of maternity pants as fall is upon us and I didn't have too many warm clothes with Anna. I'm still feeling good otherwise, just feeling like a big pregnant woman. Gary's been talking to the baby like he did with Anna and is showing her how to do it. She just laughs. She's in for a surprise when this baby comes, but I think she'll be good with it. She's been listening a lot more when we say no, so we'll see. :) I feel bad for this baby as I don't have dozens of posts about the pregnancy to fill up their first year book, but in the same right, it's a good thing that there's a lot less drama with this one. I'm sure he/she will understand and let Anna know. :) According to Baby Center, the baby is almost 2 pounds and about 14 inches long (as long as an english hothouse cucumber).

Otherwise, we're doing well, just busy. Sidework is continuous and on going with new projects every couple weeks it seems. I'm working on redoing the Children's Ministries logos at church. I'm excited to be apart of the growing process this ministry is having and to get more involved with the kids aspect of church. I still owe you pictures of our redone bathrooms and soon the baby's room. I'll get there. :) Work is going well for both of us, keeping busy there. We're excited to have family and friends over this weekend to celebrate Anna's birthday. It's been a great year with her and are looking forward to so many more!

I'll post again soon, I almost promise. :) In the meantime, here are some links of pictures to enjoy!

Anna's 11th Month
Baby Tidd #2
Out & About

Love,
Gary, Christie and Crash

Oh, baby('s)

We're still alive and well (and busy) here. Our less traveling has turned into errand running, painting and keeping Anna from climbing the stairs. The little girl has found her legs and prefers them mostly to crawling now. We usually encourage her to walk by picking her back up when we're walking around with her. She started out walking around with her little hands and arms in the air like we were holding her hands while she walked. Now she's getting a lot more confident and totting around with toys in her hand or all over the place. It's adorable to see this little half pint wobbling around.




She still has her 4 little teeth and could be teething again, but I can't see anything yet. And for those of you know Anna, she doesn't like her face messed with! Washing her face off after she eats is the most devistating event 4 times a day for this little girl. This past weekend we started to notice a build up of gunk in her eyes and a drippy nose. So bad that for the past few days, she couldn't even open her eyes when she woke up. We felt horrible! So Monday Gary stayed home with her and I called the doctor. They said to just wipe her eyes with a warm cotton swab. She hated that of course! Tuesday seemed worse and we felt terribly guilty for bringing her in to daycare, so Gary stayed home with her and he called the doctor. They saw her and found out she had this horribly contagious eye cold and that she had to be on drops for 24 hours to not be contagious anymore. So I stayed home with her on Wednesday and she finally started to be herself again (not crabby). Yesterday and today she's back at daycare with her friends and she's doing so much better thanks to those eye drops that she loves so much!


She's eating really well, especially when we give her bigger chunks to chew on and pull pieces off of. She loves her cut up fruit most of all. She does really well drinking from a straw and a sippy cup (and from the cup in the tub where she loves the soapy bath water, eww....). She goes in waves of drinking all of bottle, so this may be her way of telling us she's about done with that. Yay!


Otherwise she's babbling more with mama, dada, daddy, yeah, ba ba, but doesn't always know what to associate them with. She loves reading her books and to climb on our laps for us to read and read and read family favorites such as "I See a Tractor" and "I'm a little teapot". :) She plays blocks with daddy as he stacks them and she knocks them all over. She puts things in the seat of her car and takes them out. She climbs the stairs with such speed and is still learning how to get back down. She loves being outside, going for walks with mom and dad and pulling mom's flowers off, handing them to me and taking them back to put them back on the stem. Doesn't quite get the cause and effect on that one. She giggles hard when we tickle her tummy and she loves to attack daddy when he's on the floor. She's an amazing little girl and every day we feel so lucky to have her in our lives.


Baby Tidd #2: This little baby is starting to get bigger and so is mommy! I think I'm popping a lot quicker with this one and feel more pregnant sooner. It's starting to kick quite a bit and felt some hiccups for the first time a few weeks ago. Gary has been able to feel the baby move a little but it'll be soon enough where it'll be a lot more frequent as it starts to run out of room! I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and all sounded good. The heartrate was in the 140's and I was measuring a couple weeks bigger (I did with Anna too and she turned out to be a peanut!). After this next appointment I start the every other week appointments again. Crazy how fast this one is going! Speaking of fast, we have to get started on the baby's room! We have the color picked out, some of the furniture, but we have to going or I'll be too big to paint everything I want to! Next weekend is looking like another painting weekend. :) And I checked it out - the baby is just over a 1 1/4 pounds and about as long as an ear of corn. This baby is definitely growing!


Mom & Dad: Work is busy for both of us but we're managing. I'm finishing up a 2 week cold/cough thing, Anna followed and now Gary is getting it. Yay. Good thing the weather is going to cool down and we can open windows again! We painted the rails of the outside steps last weekend with the fronts and sides of the stairs to get yet. Hopefully before the snow flies. We've been trying to get some more side work done so when baby comes we don't have to worry about it so much (or at all I hope!).


We're headed to Chicago this weekend to visit with the fam and to see Uncle Wayne "race" in a trailer race where you purchase a junkie car and a well attached trailer. They go around a figure 8 track trying to knock the trailer off other vehicles. We went a couple years ago and had a blast! Hehe. We're also getting things together for Anna's first birthday on the 18th. Exciting!


We hope all is well and enjoy the photos and video of the Boog. :) Have a lovely weekend!


Gary, Christie and Anna




Photos from the photo shoot for Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Annivesary

August Videos!

Anna intently reads her book.

We're taking our first steps!

The wake behind the Lake Express ferry with an amazing sunset - heading back to Muskegon.

Fall is on it's way!

I can finally sit here and tell you that the craziness that was the summer is coming to a close. We still have weekends planned away, but not what we did this summer! We wrapped up our "vacations" with a trip on the Lake Express ferry to visit Ryan & Angela in Oostburg, WI. We took the 11pm ride across (yes that's PM) Wednesday night and settled in around 3am. Anna was once again a tropper. She stayed awake till about 12am playing with Mr. Frog in her carseat and eventually crashed. Gary enjoyed the brisk upper deck to and from WI - not me, it was too windy and made my hair all knotty! :)

Thursday we took our time with the day. After Anna's morning nap and lunch, we headed to Kohler to see where Ryan worked and to visit the Kohler Design Center. That was way cool! The bathrooms and kitchens that were set up were only things one could dream up. Someday.... We walked the cute shops and had some amazing fresh gelato at a little parlor. Awesome. We rounded out the day with dinner at the Pizza Ranch. It was really good and intersting to see soup, salad and chicken at a place called the Pizza Ranch. That night we stayed up too late being the immature adults that we can be sometimes. :)

Friday we headed out in the Cavalier (usually only for 4 people, not 4 people, a giant car seat and all that is Anna) to Chicago for Grandma Madany's wake and funeral. It was a nice day to see everyone that she touched in her life and a reunion for the family as they are scattered all over the world. The funeral service was a wonderful testimony of who Grandma was and the legacy she left with Grandpa and her family and friends. We bunked at my Grandma and Grandpa Boss's house as my parents house was booked. Apparently Gary's snoring could shake walls and keep everyone but me up all night (Anna woke up due to a wet diaper that we didn't notice till the 4th or 5th time she cried). He didn't hear the end of that for awhile and I half expect Breathe Right strips in his stocking from some people. :)

Saturday night we hung out at the house and visited with Ryan's dad and step mom. They were out for their first time to their house along with the big Harley rally in Milwaukee. It was a good time. Sunday we headed to church and to Angela's parents for a wonderful dinner. Monday was an afternoon trip to the Sheboygan County Fair for delicious fair food and "site" seeing. Anna enjoyed all the animals up close and personal. We headed back to Milwaukee for a stop at Trader Joe's, dinner and back to the ferry for the 7pm trip back. Its was nice to not have it so late, but we still ended up getting to bed around 12:30 only to get up for work the next morning. :) All in all, it was a great time, did a lot and we all survived the road tripping!

Here are the pictures from the weekend: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56306&l=052dc&id=501622976

**Update on the kiddo's**

Baby #2: We had our 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday. I'm going to get digital files from the hospital and I'll post the pictures then. All looked well, as far as we could tell, with the baby. This one's a squimmer! Anna was easy to get good shots of, this one is all over the place. The heartrate was 149, but most of us feel that this one is a boy. Things are just a little different this time, but still a breeze of a pregnancy! The baby is currently the length of a carrot -- weighs about 3/4 of a pound. (Length: 10 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

Mrs. Booger: Her little personality gets greater and greater everyday. She's learning what no means slowly but surely. She likes to test mom and dad, especially with the stairs. We were letting her climb them until she fell down 1 stair when I wasn't looking and we said that was it. Now she bolts to the bottom, sits on her butt and looks at us while we tell her no. It works usually. :) She's learned how to get on her little scooter thing and scoot herself around going forward now! So cute. She's eating whatever we're eating, drinking more water, juice and a little milk here and there, so we're on our way to less/no baby food. She has 4 teeth, 2 top and 2 bottom now and grinding them! Ahh! That is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. ((shutters)) She's "talking" more than screaming and trying to form words. It's so fun to watch her be so intent on things, to discover new things, to notice mommy and daddy, she's getting so big already! Here's Anna's 10th month album so far: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56305&l=55c5d&id=501622976

Mom & Dad: We are excited to not have any more crazy traveling this year. :) We're moving on to catching up with house projects and neglected side work. We finished our bathroom - the 3rd coat was the charm! It's a beautiful shade of Bear Rug complete with brand spankin' new towels (we were using ones from college days and when we got married). It's awesome! To complete it, Grandpa Boss is building us a custom cabinet for the space between the counter and toilet and a new clock and photo. I'll take pictures this weekend what it looks like right now. We did the mainfloor bathroom this past weekend a bright shade of golden yellow. It's a bit overwhelming with the bare walls right now but with some decor, it'll complete the look. Now onto the staining and painting the front steps and rail (if it'll ever get a chance to dry out!), the baby's room, kids bath and our room. Yeesh. And before #2 arrives, our basement will be somewhat finished! We love to keep busy, can't you tell!? Oye. Work is going fine for the both of us. Gary's in Indy as I write this for a couple days. It wasn't as overwhelming as I thought with Gary gone, but I'm glad it's only 2 days! Otherwise, we're doing well. Both feeling good and liking the little bit cooler weather.

Well that's us in a nutshell for the time being. I'm kind of laying off the posting of pictures as it takes so long and I can just give you the whole album via Facebook which is a lot less time! :)

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I'll be back with more photos soon!

Love,
GCA

Anna Banana and Baby Banana

A quick update on what's going on with the babes. Anna is still doing great! She is so much fun from the moment we wake her up with her poofy little eyes, fuzzed hair and sheet marks (yes, she still sleeps through the night, now with Mr. Frog) till the time we put her down again at night when she curls up, butt up, with her dear Mr Frog once again. Our we have our moments with her, in which she acts like we tore her little heart out. Tears stream down, mouth wide open with her little tongue flickering as we just tell her no about climbing up on the curio cabinet. We have to laugh b/c she's such a drama queen sometimes and it's so cute to see her little face turn so sour. She will now follow one of us up the stair if she sees us go up there. And she will bolt! As she climbs, she peeks out in between the slats and smiles as she knows she really shouldn't doing that but feels so accomplished at the same time!

She has at least tried every single food we've given her and the latest thing she seems to pick around is broccoli. Yay for dad, boo for me. :) I needed a partner for the broccoli thing. She'll come around.

We've found that she likes to take things in pairs, stuff animals, rings, books, whatever it is, and crawl around with them on the floor, one under each hand. One, it's great that she figured out that she can crawl a little faster with some skidless objects under hands and two, that she can pair 2 like things together without our prompting! It's awesome.

Tiny Tidd #2 is half way there! I'm at 20 weeks this Friday and starting to feel pregnant now. It's the length of a banana (hench the title to my post) and I can certainly tell it's getting bigger.

It's a little more of a struggle to get up and bend over now. I've moved on to a couple maternity clothes, but still use most of my regular clothes yet. At my last appointment, everything looked great and the heart rate was in the 140's. I still say this one's a boy, but at this point, I don't have a clue. I'm feeling flutters more and more and I hope soon to share that with Gary again! Our ultrasound is next Wednesday and we're looking forward to that again. We're not going to find out again as we loved not doing it with Anna. Baby's room will soon be under way after the crazy summer winds down.

We're heading out tonight on the ferry to spend the weekend with Ryan and Angela in Wisconsin and spending a day and a half in Chicago for Grandma Madany's funeral. It'll be a bittersweet, busy weekend but it'll be nice.

Have a lovely Labor Day weekend (I can't believe I'm saying that, summer is almost over)!

GaChAn

Reflection

August once was a month filled with excitement and birthdays, nothing to deter the celebrations and gathering school supplies. But as we get older, things change. Not only do they change in how we view our birthdays as just another day, but life happens and hits closer to home.

On Sunday, August 24, the Lord took home another wonderful woman. A woman that has only been in our lives for about 4 years but has been a wife for over 50 years, a mother to 6 and dear grandma and great grandma to many. Grandma Madany went home to be with the Lord she served for so many years. She has had some major health issues the last couple years, first a battle with thyroid cancer. She fought through that, then in the last 6 months, pancreatic cancer took hold and the thyroid came back too. After a short delibration with her doctors and with Grandpa, they decided to forgo any more treatment. With most of her family around her, she took her last breath and entered a place we can only dream of.

Wednesday, August 27 will be the 6th anniversary of my mom's passing as well. Time has healed some wounds, but sometimes feels like yesterday. Each year brings reflection of how much has happened and how much has changed since then. Here I sit, 5 years married, in our own home, with a beautiful little girl and another on the way. She didn't see any of that here on earth. I know others have come in to my life that I wouldn't trade because of what happened, but you still have to wonder what would it have been like. We'll never know.

All we'll ever know is that the Lord's will will be done on earth as it is in the place where Grandma Madany and Mom have been rejoicing with their Savior. Ironically, both of these women were born in this month and their birthdays have been replaced with their homecomings in to Heaven. We'll never forget the impact they've had in our lives, long or short.

July/August Videos!

Alex sandboarding down the dune on Silver Lake. The weekend before was a lot more eventful than this trip, but he couldn't stay up for me to video it. :)

The first time we saw her, she was butt up in the air trying to get her pipe out of the car seat and got stuck. It was hilarious! So we tried to reinact it, but she got too smart for our own good. :)

I've never seen storm clouds like this before, they were incredible!

She was doing some cute stuff, but quit when I starting taping. Oh well. :)

Busy busy busy!

As the summer continues on, we're still just as busy going here, there and everywhere. I'm ready for a break, but I don't know if there's one in site. So until then, I'll manage and relax when I can.

Baby Tidd #2: I'm still feeling fine (aside from indigestion). With the first pregnancy not that far behind me and the worries that come with the unknown, this pregnancy is a piece of cake. I'm still doing shots which some I don't feel, others I feel too much and a bunch bruises that look like I punched myself in the gut numerous times. I'm not showing yet, but I can definitely start to feel my tummy getting bigger now. The baby is as long as a bell pepper at 18 weeks - about 5 1/2 inches long and 7 ounces. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and my ultrasound early September, so we're almost half way there already! As soon as the summer slows down, we'll get started on the baby's room and the pictures will be coming once again!

The Booger: Anna had her 9 month check up (she's actually 10 months today) on Thursday. She's a whopping 18 pounds 2 ounces and 28" long. She's a normal size baby and everything looks great on her. I think she's more advanced, a bias and unbias opinion, that most babies her age. She's crawling, fast, everywhere. She can climb stairs easily, but hasn't figured out how to come down yet. So we pretend to roll her down whatever way she tries to go down to show her what would happen. Who knows if thats working... :) She has stranger anxiety right now, doesn't usually smile at everyone right away like she used to, but she'll grow out of that. She's still very social and doesn't miss a thing with those big blue eyes. She's climbing up on furniture and can move all over from there. She's even stood on her own for 5-10 seconds at a time! She loves walking when you hold her fingers, so we're very close to moving to the next stage of craziness! She's eating a lot of table food now and has liked most of it - mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs are the 2 she hasn't cared for so much. But she's not picky - yay! She's drinking from a sippy cup and most of her feedings and we're down to 3 bottles today. She's been not finishing her bottles, so we just kept cutting them out (according to my chart, we're right on track) and she seems to be fine with it. She knows when to wave bye most of the time, it's so cute! She likes to mimic our noises or movements with our mouth and does really well with that! She's so much fun and everyday she seems to get bigger! She's still such a good baby despite her being everywhere all the time. She's keeping us moving, that's for sure!

The Parents: We're keeping busy with life, who isn't, right? Work is going fine for both of us. Gary is ready to go back to school year hours as school starts up in a few weeks. I'm keeping busy with mine, as well. We're still working on large and small side jobs that occupy some time. Still working on painting rooms, keeping up with house stuff and getting ready for baby. I like keeping busy, but on the other hand we both just need to say stop once in awhile and take a break from it all as it's draining on us doing work and not enough of free time/relaxing time/more time with Anna. Balance is a key we need to find yet. :)

Here is a sneak peek at the Tidd Family Photo Shoot with Jenn and a link to see them all!







http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52622&l=9937d&id=501622976

This past weekend we were in Chicago for a host of events! Saturday was my birthday but I shared that with a baby shower for a friends in the morning, followed by a photo shoot with my mom's side of the family for my grandparents 50th anniversary. I think that's the first time all 26 of us were together in a long time! I'll post those as soon as we get them back. Then with all this, we planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad. With pictures not taking near as long as expected, we had a lot of finagaling to do with dad that was way out of character for all of us, so he had to have known. He knew something was up but won't admit to knowing fully. :) It was a lot of fun with family and friends, having pizza and goodies and getting a lot gag gifts. We were also able to see our friends Andrew and Dana and their baby, Ryan for the first time (and for Andrew and Dana in a couple years!). Ryan and Anna didn't quite know what to do with eachother, but I'm sure as years go by, they'll be good friends. :) So needless to say it was a busy weekend.





Prayer Notes: Grandpa and Grandma Madany have decided to forgo any more treatments for Grandma as her cancer is spreading rapidly throughout her body. She's in a bit of pain and discomfort, but are taking measure to find ways to releave the mental and physical pain. Please pray for peace for the both of them with their decision and with what the future holds. That the Lord's will will be done and know that this life is temporary and she'll be meeting the Lord she's served so dilegently throughout her life and move to that beautiful mansion He's prepared for us. As hard as it is for us to let people here on earth go, we have full faith that they are going to a much better place than here and we'll see them again!

Also we ask for prayers for Gary's Grandpa Hall as they figure out the course of action this week for his cancer treatment. They haven't determined what kind it is yet, but know that it's wrapped around a main artery. So pray for Grandma and Grandpa as they decide where to go next and with all the family that surrounds them in love and support through this difficult time as well.

Finally, Gary and I are participating as walkers this year for the Light the Night walk - a walk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We ask for your prayers for this wonderful cause to help others who are going through or have gone through battling these blood cancers and if you're able to support them monitarily at: http://www.active.com/donate/ltnMadiso/2363_Christabelle81

Have a wonderful week!

Gary, Christie and Anna

The month's weekends in review

All is well in the Tidd house. Keeping busy with the busyness of life, that's for sure. Since our Beaver Island vacation, we were able to spend the following weekend with Kelsey and Samantha (our cousins). They were able to enjoy some life in slow motion for the weekend. The pampered themselves, played with Anna and I helped Kelsey get started on her new business venture with a logo, business card and start of a website. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed their company!

The last weekend in July we did a family photo shoot around Grand Haven with our friend, Jenn. It was a lot of fun, Anna cooperated once again with us dragging her around and we got a lot of really nice shots! (I'll post a link for those when I post those).

The following Saturday (last weekend to this past weekend), we spent our week vacation in Silver Lake. My parents rented a cottage (my great great aunt and uncles old place) on the lake for all of us to enjoy. Since this is a very familiar place, I don't have a great adventure timeline to share as I did with Beaver Island. Don't get me wrong, we, well maybe Gary, had some adventures throughout the week and we had a lot of fun! We ate a lot of junk, read books and magazines, tried to plan gardens, went swimming and to the dunes, built campfires and ate lots of smores, went into town for Silver Lake garb (oh the steals at 40% off at the RV park!), went to Pentwater and to Little Sable Point and made sure Anna didn't get to everything that she shouldn't. :) It was nice to sleep in a smidge (if Anna let us), see the beautiful view of the dunes every morning, enjoy the sunshine, catch up on some reading and play some vicious Euchure. :) I have a bunch of pictures, so I'll post a few but add the links to my Facebook albums for your viewing pleasure.











http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51326&l=01d89&id=501622976
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51328&l=a64ce&id=501622976

We got back home on Saturday afternoon to get back into the swing of things again. It's always wonderful to have a vacation, but it's always nice to come back home again. Libby stayed the weekend with us to check out GVSU's masters program on Monday and to visit with friends. It was nice to have her around for the weekend.
Right now, we're doing work and email catch up and getting ready for the weekend. I have a busy one as Saturday is my birthday, a baby shower for a friend in Chicago and the big Boss picture for Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. So lots to do of course!


In regards to prayer, please pray for Gary's Grandpa Hall as we wait for Wednesday to see what the diagnosis is of what kind of cancer he has and what the next steps to take are. Also pray for Grandma Madany (Martha's mom) as she didn't receive good news at the doctor yesterday in regards to her cancer. It's spreading and treatment is limited. Be with both of our families as tough decisions are needed to be made shortly and that there will be peace with their decision. God is the Great Physician for our bodies and for our minds, pray that His will will be done.


I'll post updates of us in another post. This poor 2nd child doesn't have near the updates as Anna's pregnancy did. :( Maybe that's a good thing as things are a bit boring on that front anyway. :) There will still be lots of pictures.


Love to you all,


Gary, Christie and the girl who gets into everything now

Beaver Island Adventure!

Friday, July 11

3am: Alarm goes off. Groan but realize we're going on a mini-vacation, so it's ok.

3:45am: Out the door, all packed with Anna awake, not sleeping like I want to, meeting mom, dad and Sheila at the Speedway.

4:15am: Arrive at Speedway, get Krispy Kremes and chocolate milk jugs for Gary and I. Gary gets Micky D's.

4:30am: On the road, headed to Charlevoix!

Between 5:30 and 6:30am: We're listening to our book, I start nodding off, so we turn it off b/c I keep missing things. Anna falls asleep shortly after we leave the gas station, by the way.

7:15am: After a beautiful drive through East Jordan, near Charlevoix Lake, we arrive at the Beaver Island Boat Company to await our ferry.

7:30 - 8:15am: Change Anna, feed her her bottle, sit around waiting for Gary and dad to park the cars and to get on the boat.

8:30am: We take off into Lake Michigan on our 2 hour ferry ride to Beaver Island. It was an overcast day, a little wind but a nice day nonetheless. Anna did fine on the boat ride. She didn't quite find her sea legs, so she looked like a drunken sailor trying to stand up on things. She ate and played, and took about an hour nap before we arrived at the harbor. Gary enjoyed being outside taking in the view, I enjoyed the company, a cat nap and Martha Stewart.

10:45am: Arrived at the harbor on Beaver Island. From a distance it's what I expected - a small area with some shops and restaurants and lots of cottages/homes. It was beautiful.

11:00am: Unload our stuff and walk to our first nights lodging. Yes, we walked with a large suitcase, overnight bag, duffle bag, pack-n-play, booster seat, Anna, her car seat and base along with the rest of the families belongings. It was less than a mile, but that was not fun.

11:30am: Arrive at the house Gary's friends own and graciously let us stay. This was a place rich in cherished memories, lots of laughs, history and family. Mismatched furniture, rooms closed off with curtains rather than doors, a wood burning stove for heat and no screens for the summer. A vintage stove and an old way out of tune piano complete the picture (oh yeah, creepy crawlies that didn't sit well with my mother in law and sister in law). The water ran cool, even on hot. We figured out sleeping arrangements and figured out our day.

12:00pm: Head over to Dalwhinnie's for some lunch. A small eat in breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant with a bakery counter filled with sugary baked goods.

1:00pm: Stopped by the grocery store for some essentials and headed back to the house.

1:15-2pm: Walked the property, took my "Christie pictures" as some of my family call it, full of wildflowers, unidentified metal objects and mossy rocks and trees. Got the Trooper ready for the grand tour of the island.

2:00pm: Loaded in the trooper to begin the adventure of the day. We headed over to the Whiskey Point Lighthouse for some photo opps of the beautiful lighthouse and watery vegetation. Stopped by the gas station (it was $5.49 a gallon, the highest in the country) to put 5 or so gallons in. The guys talked to the lady in the gas station and got a map of places to see. So we got the low down on where to go and started driving. Gary was driving, so we harassed him as we drove right by a few of those highlighted places. Finally we arrived at the Beaver Island lighthouse to climb 52 stairs to the top. This is where it got ugly. Gary's dad took over driving and we were looking for the big tree and the big rock. We felt like we were driving around in circles for hours. We did do a little circle tour but eventually found the big rock (which was very large) and the big birch tree or the Bicentennial Tree of the state. We headed back home, which seemed like it took forever.

6:00pm Arrive back at the house to repack for dinner. We had a nice (and expensive) dinner at Nina's on the lake. Good food, great company.

7:30pm: Back at the house, got Anna ready for bed and we were all sitting around the table in what the Wyman’s refer to as the, “Big House” when my dad found a poem in the living room titled, “Ode to Anna”. Thinking that this might be something cool to read dad brought it into the dining room where we were all hanging out and read it out loud to all of us. I wish that I had the text of the poem with me now to place in the blog, but I did not think that far ahead. In short the poem was about a woman named Anna from Beaver Island who according to the poem was the, “Emerald of Beaver Isle”. The poem talked about her life and death and her wishes for the family to continue on. Upon our return to the mainland I made a point to ask both Matt and Mike about the poem since I was very curious about the history behind it. It turns out that the Anna of Ode to Anna was their grandmother who was born on Beaver Island; their Grandfather met their Grandmother when he was stationed on Beaver Island while working on charting the great lakes. The history of the property then turns out that the, “Big House” was their grandparent’s home, and the, “Small House” was their grandmother’s brother’s house who was from what Mike remembers a lifelong bachelor which is why the small house is so small. How neat is it that we had another Anna back on the property once again, I can’t help but wonder if their grandparents were looking down and smiling?

8:30pm: We wanted ice cream and found that the whole town shuts down around 8. Not a soul in sight. So Gary and I headed back to the house.

10:30pm: We all started to get ready for bed and turned in for the evening.

Saturday, July 12

5:00am: Anna wakes up coughing and seems slightly un-rested, probably because the air in the house felt damp and musty. I hear her coughing so it's time to get up and check on her, in the living room I'm greeted by mom and Sheila also checking on Anna. We put Anna back down and hope for some more sleep.

7:00am: Anna wakes up for good this time so Gary and I get up with her and begin our day. Everyone follows suit shortly there after, some brave a cold shower and the rest get ready for the day.

8:15am: Head out to Dalwhinnie's for some giant full of goodness cinnamon rolls.

9:00am: Take a walk around town. See some people setting up for a small art show, take a picture of a giant hole in a tree and visit mom's friend Terry at the Harborview Motel. Strolled a bit more and went in shops that were open and visited with the locals.

10:00am: Mom talks to Terry and says that with how congested Anna was, we were going to head back that day to the main land and stay in Charlevoix a night because of it. She says she has vouchers she can give out a couple times a summer and she would love for us to use it. So we obliged as we were loving island life, packed up our things from the house and moved into the motel.

10:45am: Sheila stays back with Anna while dad, mom, Gary and I head out to Whiskey Point to see the Poker Run come in. Anna sleeps a bit, eats and plays.

12:00pm: We head back to the motel, regroup for lunch at Daddy Franks for some good ole island deep fried food.

12:45pm: Gary and Anna stay back for a well needed nap for the both of them. Meanwhile, the girls and dad head out to check out the shops and stock up on Beaver Island gear.

3:00pm: We get back to the motel, wake up Gary to head out to the Antique Toy Museum and Marine Historical Society. The toy museum with very kid oriented nickel and dime treasures, along with beads, little toys, games and a strange woman who runs it to boot. She seemed to fit in well. The marine museum was cool. Filled with history of the marine life that once was. The man was very friendly and talkative until..... he asked me what I thought of global warming. Ha. I laughed and said I think it's a big marketing ploy. He said well I think George Bush would agree. After that he wouldn't look or talk to us much more. Apparently he didn't like my answer. With that said and the face of that crazy lady at the toy museum has sign and stickers made that said "This mama's for Obama", I was charting democratic waters. :)

4:15pm: Head back to the motel where mom and Anna are hanging out. We decide to go sit by the pool (the only pool on the island). Anna of course freaked out at first, but soon loved kicking the water. So I brought her in to get her suit on. I gave her to daddy and she loved being in the pool! I went and got my suit on, so we played pass the baby in the pool between Gary, Sheila and I. We swung her around and even dunked her under once. She did awesome, didn't cry once. We had such a good time in the pool. I miss having one or at least a lake to go to! Someday. :)

5:30pm: All of us head in to get ready for dinner. We asked Terry what would be a good place to grab some good food. So we packed ourselves up in the Trooper and went to Stoney Acre Grill, a barn like restaurant with Donnegal Danny's Pub attached. We had a great dinner with great company.

7:00pm: Back at the motel for some R&R. Anna had a bath in the sink, ate and drank some grub and went to bed. She was quite tuckered out from the busy day we had!

8:15pm: Gary, Sheila and I walked up to Daddy Franks again for some ice cream - the only way to end a vacation day. It was a hoppin' place with it being a summer kids hang out. When we approached the counter, we found two high school, we thought, guys running the place. One seemed like a surfer, punk kid and the other a hippie, super happy guy. Gary asked for extra butterscotch on his sundae (after I saw him dump a ton on already), he got it back and said "thanks for hooking a brother up". All this after the bantor between the two of them on how many people were in line, running out of ice cream or hot fudge and various other oddities, he comes back to Gary with "keepen it real for all the gangsters all across the world." Say what? The very last place or person that we thought would say something so old school, so.... Gary. :) It was great.

8:45pm: Return back with 4 sundaes and a flurry enjoyed by all. Upon finishing our sundaes, we chat a bit and turned down Sheila's request of playing games as we were all so very tired from the past 2 days activites.

10:45pm: We start to all turn in for the night.

Sunday, July 13

5:30am: Anna starts to wake up and desparetly needs a diaper change. After waking Sheila up, we get her situated. I bring her into my bed (yes Gary and I slept apart in twin beds, hehe) to see if she'll cuddle with me for a little while. It worked for a while in Anna terms.

6:15am: We get Anna ready for the day and we follow suit. We were all showered and ready to go by 7:30am I think. Crazy!

7:30am: Packed up and headed to where? Dalwhinnie's of course. Again a repeat of a yummy breakfast. We take note that it's a tad bit windy out and hope our boat ride will be ok.

9:30am: After packing up the room, the guys bring our luggage down to the dock, bring back the Trooper and we await to board our ferry to go home.

11:15am: We finally board and notice it's still windy. The winds were out of the west and some knowledgeable guy, ahem no, said the waters should be calmer. Nope. Everyone but Sheila and Anna spent the 95% of the boat ride finding a way not to lose our lunch if you will. For Sheila, the woman behind her gave her the push to lose her lunch along with a dozen other people. Not cool at all. Anna slept the whole way home. :) It was probably the worst boat ride I've been on. But I remained focused on my breathing and ended up in the clear. Gary laid on the floor and the parents sat back and held their own pretty well. An older guy turned white and, pardon the language, ralphed like I've never heard anyone before. That's where self restraint played a big role.

1:45pm: Arrived back in Charlevoix with much enthusiasm to get off that boat! Yeesh. We packed up the cars and got out of dodge. Gary and I visited Matt and his fiance Tammy for a little while, saw their new house and where Matt works. It was nice to see them again.

5:30pm: On the road again, listening to our book where I stayed awake to listen and even drove a bit. :)

7:50pm: (GPS told us when we'd arrive home) Got home after an adventure that we'll never forget!