Camping 2007

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Last weekend was our annual camping trip. This year, there were a few less people and a lot more rain, but it was still a lot of fun.

The Wegienka clan picked Port Crescent State Park near Port Austin, in the thumb, for our camping trip this summer. It was a very nice campground with a pretty nice beach for Lake Huron. The water felt great for the little time we actually got to spend in it.

We got rained on pretty hard Friday evening and Saturday morning. The rain held off during the night, and, luckily, our new tent held up pretty well and the majority of the water that ended up inside was not from the rain, but from a leaky cooler. Unfortunately, we didn't seem to get any photos of the new tent out in the wild. I guess there's always next year. It was also nice having Kari and Craig's camper there to escape into when the rain got to be too much.

Jake did really well for most of the trip. We could tell that his teeth were still bothering him a bit, but he was a trooper. Jake and Lauren, who is one month older, played really well together. Evan was even great about playing with the little kids too until Colin made it up on Saturday with Lynette. Evan kept calling Jake his "little friend". He also is the first child to make the infamous "Camping Quote Book". On Saturday morning, after all the kids were done with breakfast and already off playing, Evan wandered back to the picnic table. He looked at a bunch of bananas and asked if he could have one. He then proceeded, instead, to grab a powdered donut hole and said, "Thanks for the white banana," and ran off!

2 ER Trips + 1 Zoo Trip = Typical Summer Weekend?

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures).

Yes, Jake got to visit the ER twice on Friday. It started out like any other day. Michele and Jake were killing some time before heading up to Grand Blanc to go to the spray park. They were playing around on the bed, and as usual, after tackling the pillows, Jake likes to play with the monitor. This time, however, the monitor fought back. He enlisted the efforts of the bed and the nightstand and did some damage to our son. Jake was reaching for the monitor, and lost his balance and bumped his head on the nightstand. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, just a few tears, and then a few button presses of the monitor later, and he'd be over it. Well, this time, he caught the edge with his forehead right by the eye. It was a bit more than his skin could take, so it decided to split, letting a lot of blood come out in the process. After confirming with Jo that it wasn't ridiculous to go to the ER for the cut, Michele hauled him over to St. Mary's. The doctor agreed that it was good to bring Jake in. Instead of stitches, he just glued the wound closed. Jake, by this time, was playing with his books like nothing had happened.

Fast forward to Friday evening. I was about to leave work to come home. Pete and Teri had come down for dinner since they didn't see Jake and Michele during the day. Right before packing up my notebook, my phone rang. Jake had bumped Michele on the chin. In case you hadn't guessed, it was with the same eye. So, the glue busted open and there was more flowage of blood. The three of them took him back to the ER where the second doctor glued the wound back together, but then also added some steri-strips to help keep it closed. Michele said Jake didn't even cry at all this time, but had a very brave look on his face while the work was being done.

As I stated in the previous post, Michele is getting anxious about the end of summer. She wanted to fit a zoo trip in today, but with the Woodward Dream Cruise in full swing, I didn't think it'd be smart to head to the Detroit Zoo. Instead, we headed South and visited Ohio. We had heard nothing but positive remarks about the Toledo Zoo. It was only a little over an hour away according to Google Maps, so we thought we'd go for it. The zoo was very nice. We decided it was probably cleaner than Detroit, but we also thought the animals were harder to get to, so we've decided we prefer the closer zoo. We had great weather, and it made for a really nice trip. We even bumped into our Tawas relatives, Ericka and Chase who were down visiting the zoo with one of her friends and her daughter.

Trips to the Splash Park

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Since the last post, Jake's been to the Plymouth splash park twice! The first time, Michele took him with GnGT and DLCnM - D. They went a week ago Monday while Dan and I were at work. Both Colin and Jake seemed to have a blast. Then, today, Michele went back to the same park with several of the teachers she works with and their kids. Jo and Elle went along this time too, even thought they don't appear in any of our photos.

Last weekend also brought Jen and Bret into town. Melissa threw a surprise birthday party for her husband Steve. The party was a joint party for Steve and one of his buddies who was also turning 30. After the party, Bret and Jen crashed at our place. We had a fun night with Chinese food, wine, and a couple of old scrapbooks. Then, on Sunday, Melissa and Steve brought Jack over. Jake and Jack really seemed to play well together during the brief time when one or the other wasn't asleep.

Jake has progressed rather quickly from standing to walking. He can take 3 or 4 steps now before he decides to lunge at whatever his target happens to be. He can also stand up without using furniture or anything else to assist him. I think he still gets a bigger kick out of that than the walking itself. Thankfully he's making all this progress now because he returns to day care next week. We don't want them to think we've been stunting his development all summer. Michele feels like this is the last week of summer since next week she'll be returning to school to start getting her classroom in order. I think we're going to try to pack a few more summer events into this weekend. Then, after that, we have a few weekend trips, and she'll be back to school full-time. Don't feel too sorry for her though, she's had a great summer and enjoyed every second spent with Jake (at least the seconds where he wasn't refusing to eat or drink).

Happy Birthday Alison!

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Today is Alison's 6th birthday. She was VERY excited for it. She even figured out that it started at 12:00 midnight, although she didn't quite stay up that late Saturday night. She came pretty close though.

On Friday, Jake and I left Michele home alone and headed up to Grand Blanc. Michele picked Tiffany up from the airport later that night, and then the two of them left for Grand Rapids on Saturday. Most of the college girls were able to get together at Jen's house for a home spa day, and then dinner and drinks later on.

On Saturday night, after Church and dinner at Applebee's, I took Alison to see Harry Potter. It was my first time seeing the fifth film, but her third. She did a good job of not spoiling it for me, but she seemed a bit antsy sitting through it again. I think this might be my favorite movie yet, but then again, the books seemed to get better as they progressed as well.

Sunday brought some rain which moved Alison's party indoors. At least it was nice and cool inside. Some people were even crazy enough to be wrapped up in blankets Shawn and Melinda . Michele made it to the party shortly through dinner, but in time to see Alison open her gifts. She got a lot of great gifts, per usual. We bought her a Barbie scooter that she really seemed to like. After everyone had left and all the tables were put away, she wowed us with her skill as she flew around the basement.

The other thing that amazed everyone was Jake. He finally decided to try standing on his own! He used one of the pillars to help himself stand up, and then would step away and just stand there for a few seconds before he would start laughing too hard and lose his balance. There are a few pictures of the feat along with a video that you can see below. Looks like our little guy might start walking soon. I think Logan has been walking long enough that he's preparing for a triathlon already. Maybe Jake just felt the pressure to get moving since Elle can now stand up on her own, which means she has free reign of wherever she is. And boy, can Elle ever walk around very quickly!

Beat the Heat

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Michele was going to take Jake to the zoo today, but with the weather forecast calling for some extreme heat, she decided it might be better to head up to Fenton to do something cooler. Lynette also brought Colin and Maiya up, so the Trosko's and kids got to spend the day out on Lake Fenton.