Eight is Great

Another birthday! I just can't believe how quickly they are growing up and am continually in awe of the unique people they are becoming. Ryan turned 8 on April 18, 2016. I happened to notice the time at 9:49 a.m. and watched it tick to 9:50, which was Ryan's time of birth. I reflected on those first moments of his life, and thought, well, he's officially 8 now. How'd that happen?! Wow!

Ryan and I discussed scaling it back on the whole class party / big events we've done the past three years. A couple reasons for that - we are running out of local venues, cost, efforts to simplify, and most importantly, as Ryan's getting older his circle of friends is more defined and it makes sense to have smaller gatherings of good friends. All this led to inviting his friends Misha and Ariana over for a birthday playdate on April 16. We rode to the park and played a bit at the house. 

Ryan chose browning sundaes for this gathering.

All that being said, I told him we'd have a putt-putt golf party with a slightly larger group of kids in May when the weather is a little warmer. Not technically a birthday party - just a fun group outing.

Ryan needs to work on aiming his air when he blows out candles. [Smile!] He just kind of chaotically huffs and puffs, and it takes a couple attempts to get them all out. You can see Evan's reaction after watching Ryan try a few times to get them all blown out. It's cute, and kind of funny.

We had our family celebration on April 17, and this was one way Ryan demonstrated that EIGHT is GREAT! Silly boy.

He requested steak for birthday dinner. Yum!

He selected this Oreo ice cream cake for this celebration.

Nana & Lolo joined us via video call as Ryan opened presents sent by generous, thoughtful family members, including Nana & Lolo, Aunt Sue M, Aunt Barb, Aunt Mary, and more. Thank you all!!

APRIL 18, 2016

HAPPY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY, RYAN!

Evan gave him this larger-sized pig nemne as a gift. It's become a favorite. I'm pretty sure this is the last nemne to join our family. There just aren't many left, and they aren't making new ones. Plus, I think we have a million nemnes already.

His birthday fell on a Monday this year. He asked for donuts as a birthday treat to share with his class. He also got to be the leader that day, which includes show and tell. The class really liked these Star Wars origami paper flyers that Ryan took for show and tell in the past. [Thanks, Christine! That Christmas gift was a major hit!] So for his birthday, he copied the directions and template for one of the flyers and passed out the packets to his classmates. That was fun. He had a good day celebrating at school, which was nice because we had a busy evening of non-birthday activities. Ryan had to come along to Evan's baseball practice and then we all went straight to a PTO meeting. Burke had a rehearsal. 

Finally, on April 23, Grandma, Grandpa, Steve (aka "Boof" as Caleb calls him), Joey, Christine, Caleb, and Emily gathered to celebrate Ryan's birthday. It was a beautiful day so we spent a lot of time outside. Ryan wanted to go to Silver Beach Pizza, which was lovely - no wait, good food/drink, well-behaved little ones. Then we came home for cake and ice cream. This time he asked for yellow cake with rainbow chip frosting. Yay! 

Ryan was very patient, sweet about Emily investigating his presents.

Ryan's been giving lots of signals that he's crossing this threshold from little boy to more mature boy. One signal is that he's asked for his own tablet. After discussing with Burke, we agreed the timing was about right for him to have his very own iPad mini. He was excited, surprised, and grateful for this group gift from Burke & me, Grandma & Grandpa, Steve, and Joey & Christine. Wow!

Later, Burke helped Ryan begin to set it up.

Thank goodness Dada is so tech-y.

Of course, there is much discussion about how often he can play it, safety, responsible usage, purposes of use, etc. It's a new parenting arena for Burke and me. Evan is interested and impressed with Ryan's new device, and he wishes he has his own, but he is handling it all really well.

Ryan Burke Lokey @ 8: Ryan is thoughtful, kind, creative, silly, smart, with a [mostly] even temperament. He is beginning to show signs of independence and maturity. He is a snuggly, sweet boy who tries his best and loves learning. He enjoys quiet time by himself, but also loves to play with Evan and his other friends. He is not super high energy, but definitely has his moments of wildness. Ryan likes his nemnes, drawing, reading, climbing "Dada's favorite tree", playing drums, Legos, and more. He's becoming a pretty reliable contributor to his baseball team - a solid hitter, coachable. He can tie his shoes quickly, but they don't always stay tied. He just lost his ninth tooth. He always blows me a kiss as he's walking away from me, entering the school to begin his day. Eight is great, baby! Happy birthday! XO

Spring Break in Florida

We realized last year, that perhaps getting away to a sunny location for spring break was not simply a luxury, but also important in terms of staving off the winter blues. So we packed up the first week of April, and headed to Florida to visit GGPa & GGMarge and see some sights. Perfect timing too, because while we were in Florida, our area of Michigan experienced snow and record lows!

We flew into Miami and spent a day poking around the city. On April 4, the first order of business was to get to the Atlantic Ocean, so we battled Miami Beach traffic to take a stroll. The water was so blue and beautiful. The boys got busy looking for shells. They also thought it was interesting to think that if you travel all the way across the ocean, the next land mass you'd encounter is in Africa.

Challenging the waves

I found a shallow area and walked out kind of far to a sand bar. That's Burke and the boys in the right hand side of the picture in the sand.

First family picture of 2016

Pretty shot of vegetation/beach from Miami Beach Boardwalk

Miami Beach Boardwalk

After the beach, we headed to Calle Ocho in Little Havana in search of lunch. Using a National Geographic walking tour, we hit some of the highlights, including Los Pinarenos Fruteria where we tried coco frio (coconut water.)

You can see by his expression what Ryan thought about coco frio.

Evan's eyes tell me he's also skeptical.

Well, at least they tried. I liked the coco frio. Burke tried the cafecito, a dark, sweet Cuban coffee, and loved it. He's learning to make them at home.

Thankfully, they liked the Cuban food we had at lunch at El Pub. We were lucky enough to get the last four empanadas of the day. So yummy!

Evan liked the Cubano sandwich "even though there is mustard on it."

We had an lovely, interesting, delicious time in Miami. But it was time to head across the state in our rented mini van to Fort Myers to visit GGPa & GG Marge.

They had a dinner ready for us when we arrived.

This is what it's all about!

April 5 we spent some time at the pool and BOYS STARTED SWIMMING! Well, they used noodles to help them float. But they were extending their feet behind them and propelling themselves through the water, which is a million times more than they've EVER done before. 

[I so love this picture Burke took of Evan. I think it will be a favorite of 2016.]

Ryan needed two noodles to feel comfortable.

Evan was cool with one noodle.

This was a huge milestone. They've been so nervous about swimming. Very momentous!

On April 6 I finally went parasailing! I've been wanting to do it for years. When it came down to it, I was very nervous and almost chickened out, but decided to try to be brave and not miss out on something because of fear. I went out by myself, and ended up going up with Debbie from Boston who was also by herself. It was a little scary, but mostly really peaceful and exhilarating.

[I'm on the left wearing a hat.]

It was fun splashing around in the Gulf of Mexico. We had to pretty much pull Evan out of the water. He's always been our outdoorsy, physically active munchkin. Ryan also enjoyed the water, and spent time creating an extensive treasure map in the sand.

I was pretty maxed out for the day, but we stopped by this pirate-themed putt-putt course because the boys really wanted to go and this was our best chance to make it happen. They had actual tiny alligators, and patrons could feed them. Not sure how I feel about that, but it was interesting, I suppose.

Yes, I won! I am a notoriously poor putt-putter, but I was crushing it. I got two hole-in-ones, one of which earned us a free game that never expires. I'm going to try so hard to remember that free game coupon next time we visit Fort Myers. 

That evening, after we all cleaned up from our day at the beach. Burke made dinner while Evan played spider solitaire with GGPa. 

Each morning, the boys played different "games" with the Marge's Bananagrams tiles. Here you can see the boys were playing against their nemnes. I put games in parentheses because they weren't playing by the actual rules/structure of Banangrams. They made up their own game/rules, as they often do. They would do this quietly in the morning, while the grown ups were still sleeping/just waking up. Their quiet morning behaviors impressed Marge. 

[I've been meaning to get Bananagrams for them for a while now, so I was glad to see they were interested in it. Then a few days later, Aunt Barb sent Ryan Bananagrams as a birthday present. I'm excited to teach them the official version.]

On April 7 we headed over to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, which is in Fort Myers on the Caloosahatchee River. The boys are looking up at Edison in front of one of the largest Banyan trees in the continental U.S. This Banyan tree, believed to have been planted around 1925, was planted by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone as they sought a domestic source of latex. 

Edison and Ford planted many unique plants, flowers, and trees on the property. They designed their landscape in this way to enhance the beauty of the estates; to use the vegetation for research purposes; and to grow their own food. 

This gigantic tree is a Mysore fig.

They boys toured the estates with us for two hours without complaining! Impressive! We credit their attention to the audio tour handsets. Each of them had their own handset to operate and listen to, making the experience more interesting and engaging.

We really enjoyed our time at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. There was just a lot of cool history and beauty to absorb. We came away wanting to learn more about these two innovators.

After the estates, GGPa & GGMarge joined us for early dinner. We were on a mission to find stone crab for Burke, which is not usually in season when we are visiting.

GGPa & GGMarge enjoy ice cream. A dish of chocolate chip for Marge and butter pecan for GGPa is a part of their nightly routine. We love ice cream too! We heard about Love Boat Home Made Ice Cream and we thought we should check it out. [Thanks, Katie, for the recommendation!] 

They had a sign on the wall that said, "bring in a pennant, get free ice cream." They had many pennants decorating the ceiling, including one from Hope College and U of M. That was fun to see!

Later, the boys went for an evening swim. Ryan buoyed himself with four noodles, and slowly swam the length of the pool, turned around and slowly, peacefully swam back. Milestone, I tell you! 

On April 8, it was time for us to head home. But before we left, GGPa prepared his contribution to Ryan's college account in honor of his upcoming 8th birthday. Together they walked out to the mailbox to send it off. It was a sweet, impactful moment. 

We really enjoyed our time with GGPa & GGMarge. We left wishing we lived closer and could spend more time with them. We also hope to get down there again for another visit before too long.

On our way back to Miami, we were on an alligator quest. We drove through and stopped at a couple spots at Big Cypress National Preserve, which is part of the Everglades region. It was fascinating to learn about the Everglades' vast ecosystem and its important role in fresh water flow - and we spotted a few alligators.

We also made a quick stop at Everglades National Park. We were walking along the path, headed for the Bobcat Boardwalk, and this guy was just sitting on the side of the road. This happened a couple times, and was kind of startling at first.

I think this is my favorite Everglades picture.

These boys are champion flyers now. They just sat over there together, and entertained themselves.

Just like that our trip was over.

We are so thankful for safe, enjoyable, interesting travel opportunities!

Easter in Chicagoland

On Good Friday, March 25, we had a day off from school, so we headed to Chicagoland to spend the long Easter weekend with the Ponkas. 

On the way to our hotel, I felt compelled to stop by Acacia Park Cemetery to see if I could locate my Grandma & Poppa Rittmueller (my mom's parents - both died in 2007). With a lot of help via phone from my mom and dad, we found their spots! Only later did I discover that March 25 is my Grandma's birthday, and she would have been 90 years old. What a cool coincidence that we visited on her birthday! We even drove by their old house, which I remember visiting as a child. Now I know how to find them, I hope to stop by more often. 

On Saturday, we headed over to Joey & Christine's and were happy to see this cuteness! Emily's getting cuter every day, if that's possible. She's days shy of 7 months old in these pictures. 

We dyed eggs and made some volcano eggs with crayon shavings.

Had to use a Sharpie to write on the eggs. Our wax crayon was not working. 

Ryan being clever.

Easter prettiness.

We stopped by Ben & Jerry's for ice cream after a delicious dinner.

Caleb apparently likes ice cream now. In the past, it's been too cold for him. He took possession of this dish and was reluctant to share with Christine. He did end up sharing willingly, but she sort of had to beg. It was an adorable moment. You could almost hear his 2-1/2 year old inner dialogue.

On Easter morning, the three boys searched for eggs. It was very amusing when Caleb would find an egg and immediately smash it on a hard surface, imitating what he sees done when he's served, or Mama eats, a hard-boiled egg. It took like three smashed eggs before he understood that was not what was happening with the eggs in this context.

After they were all found, Caleb and Evan began arranging the eggs, just handling them and such. Christine plopped Emily down next to the boys so we could get a cousin picture. 

She was curious and grabbed one for herself.

Then we searched for baskets. 

Caleb dumped his immediately.

Ryan found his in a cabinet.

Evan needed an assist from Uncle Joey to reach his basket.

They were hoping for more nemnes. Well, it's getting harder and harder to find nemnes they don't already have, plus they've been interested in Star Wars lately. I think they're happy with the light sabers the Easter Bunny left in their baskets instead - an acceptable alternative to nemnes.

It was a pretty nice day, so we took a quick jaunt to the park.

What better way to conclude this post than with some cute pictures of baby Emily. 

She's on the move, and started to scoot toward the ball...

..but then got distracted by her new crawling position skills.

Happy, sweet little girl!