Today...

...was a wonderful day!

I was a little nervous about what kind of day it was going to be. I was awakened by a little boy SCREAMING "MOOOOOM!" "MOM!" in a very demanding sort of way. So, I started off a bit cranky. Then at breakfast, this same little man was playing one of his games...he likes to make himself gag by sticking his tongue out as far as he can and screaming. Well, this time he made himself throwup. About 1 cup of cooked oatmeal came oozing out of his little mouth. He wasn't scared, but was looking at it like "What the heck?!" and said "uh-oh". As I was cleaning him and his highchair up Mason remarked, "Oh gross. I hate throw ups. I really hate the taste and texture." By now I was sure we were in for a doozy of a day.


So, I got the boys ready (through lots of crying and screaming on our little man's part) and we headed out the door to go to the Lakewalk Festival. I didn't have high hopes for our day. I knew Maddox was going to be hungry after losing his breakfast and he was tired because he was up during the night (again. sigh)


Turns out we had an incredible time! We were at the Lakewalk for 3 hours. The boys did great!Maddox had a few melt-downs, but that is just to be expected with him. I am finally getting used to heads swiveling around and stares directed towards us. I just don't care anymore. He is a little guy who expresses himeself loudly. Asllong as he doesn't yell "ow!" while I am carrying him, I am fine.


The weather was hot but foggy at the lake, but wonderful. It was a very relaxing festival. Another festival was going on not far away, and this was the 1st year for this one, so not many people were there. We just walked along the boardwalk, listening to the water lap against the rocks and stopped at all the 'stations" along the way.

After the festival we came home, Maddox went down for a 3 hour nap, and Mason and I hung outside. I worked on our schedule for School for October and he worked on a "teepee" in our bushes. It was glorious! I love when a day surprises me like that! The boys checking out a guinea pig at the petting zoo. The Lake Superior Zoo brought a ferret and guinea pig for the kids to pet at the petting zoo.

"Let me out of here!" This boy is a climber. Any table, any dock, anything with an edge, and he is going to try and climb it. He started shaking the center tent pole of the petting zoo's tent and the tent started shaking pretty hard.

This was a pole he tried to climb.

I can't get enough of his smile. This is a wooden structure that came ashore a couple of years ago. Mason loved exploring it and climbing all over.

For attending at least 15 stations, Mason received a free ice-cream cone at Bridgeman's. He chose "firecracker" A strawberry ice cream cone filled with pop rocks!

Maddox enjoyed petting the guinea pig.

Who couldn't love this boy?

Here we are in the Coast Guard boat. The boys were able to sit in the driver's seat and push any button they wanted. Mason talked on the mega-phone thing, and I got to push the siren button. Maddox just sat in the driver's seat and kept saying "whoa, whoa" "oooh"

The coast guard person was talking with a couple of people for a long time and Maddox was dying to get on the boat. He pretty much cried the entire time while we waited to climb aboard.

Maddox walked around the entire boat, checking everything out as if he was going to buy it. He moved the propellers, made sure the lights were on securely, I think he even kicked the tires on the trailer.

Sitting in the Fire Engine. Mason was first, and Maddox just wailed until it was his turn. I wish I could have captured the expression on his face while he was sitting there. He was sooo excited! He has been talking about the fire engine and boat all day. While he was sitting in the fire engine, the firemen were called to a "structure fire", so we had to get out of the way. Mason was very excited to see a fire truck actually leaving to put out a real life fire somewhere.

They had a "sidewalk art" station, and Mason drew a pirate ship. We were there early, so there weren't many people at each station we went to. Made it nice for the boys to tour the rescue vehicles too.

They had a "pan for gold" station. Mason found a gold nugget in the sand and won a candy bar.