The long journey begins

You may be thinking the journey refers to the trip we're about to take to Minnesota. Actually it's the journey of potty training. Today Bennet was able to go in the potty for the first time. For those of you who have changed your fare share of thousands of diapers you'll get why this needed to be it own entry.

Also thanks to Godfather Nate for the cool motorcycle. He's been up and down the block with it a bunch already.

Two-rrific birthday

All the boys having Tool Time together.

Ben opening a gift from his godmother, Morgan.

Ben seemed to enjoy his special day very much. He was a really good big brother and shared his new toys with Neil.

Digging to China

For Ben's 2nd birthday, one of the very nice gifts he received was a sandbox from his grandma. So here we are putting it in. Ben couldn't wait to get in there. It was super easy to put together (very important considering how little time we have for projects without the boys "help"). I think it took us less than an hour. Ben is in love with it. He played right up until dinner and immediately asked to go back out after dinner. (It also came with a very nice cover that ties down in a effort to keep out all the neighborhood critters.)

Ben turns 2!

Grandma with Neil.


Ben blowing out the candles.

Brian helping Ben with his new scooter.

Our latest RV trip was back to Detroit to celebrate Bennet's upcoming 2nd birthday. We stayed at Busia & Papa's driveway again. (We're contacting Woodall's Camping Directory to get their entry added next year.) Happily on Friday we were also able to spend time with Gwen & Kate's acting fans and were able to keep the paparazzi at bay. Ben had a great time with the girls, if he keeps this up he'll be known as a ladies man. On Saturday for the party, Neil got to show off all of his new teeth and standing skills. Ben's homemade, egg-less cake featured the green dog in the helicopter from one of his favorite stories Go Dog Go. All and all the party was a lot of fun – great food and company.

Artistic Endeavours

Here's a picture of an alien that Ben created at his Parks & Rec class today. The theme was Outer Space. Other crafts included making a moon rock (gluing colored tissue paper to rocks) and a multi-media outer space picture (drawing with a white crayon then painting with blue paint). This was all very fine, as far as Ben was concerned, but as soon as he spotted the toy vacuum – he knew what he wanted to do instead.

Rough start has a smooth finish

Ben with cousin, Meg.

Neil with Grandma.

Ben with Mandi, Grandma, Great-Grandma, and Sue.

So our trip to Michigan started with some unfortunate news. We got a call from our storage place early Thursday afternoon informing us that our RV had been broken into. After some scrambling on Brian's part we were able to fix the window and the screen so we could continue with our plans for the weekend. Friday morning we headed to Hillsdale, MI to enjoy family and BBQ. Donna & Dan really out did themselves with an abundance of great food. The boys also had a chance to show off their swimming skills with the help of a great new duck flotation device for Ben. Luckily, Busia brought Ben some new outfits since the one he was wearing got a little wet. The dogs even had a good time since they were lavished with attention from Kate, Meg & Paige. So I thought the boys would handle all of the driving better if they weren't forced to be in the RV two days in a row. The plan was to head to Norm & Joan's that evening after their bedtime so they could sleep peacefully as we drove. Our conclusion: It is best to drive in the morning and early afternoon. Saturday we were able to borrow Joan's car in order to visit Great-Grandma's new condo for the first time and to celebrate her 77th birthday. We had a great time visiting with Grandma, Aunt Mandi, Mr. T, Sue Basta, and of course Great-Grandma. Here new home is really lovely. It is so satisfying to see how much pride she has in her home. Her surrounding community and neighbors seem to suit her well. Sunday we made our way home and it was a very easy drive since the boys traveled well.

Hillsdale, IL this weekend... Hillsdale, MI next

So late Friday morning we decided on the spur of the moment to go on a trip this weekend. We checked our Woodall's directory to see what our state had to offer. Being new to the guide we wanted to see what their idea of a 5W campground was like. So we headed straight west on I-80 to the only 5W campground in Illinois. It proved to be very nice. We had a opportunity to camp directly on the pond, enjoy the paddle boats, relax in the swimming pool and check out some very big, fancy RVs that were there for a rally. Oh, and harass the ducks.

Also very exciting news – Neil is officially crawling now!