1, 2, 3...

All weekend long Liam was counting things every chance he had. He was counting the number of steps as he went upstairs, the number of apples put in a bag, the number of blocks he stacked up, and the number of times he drove a car through playdough, you name it! He has 1, 2, and 3 down. I've heard him count as high as 6 all on his own...And up to 10 with some help. It's so exciting for me to see him learning such a complex and abstract thing as numbers.

Liam picked a peck of apples

This morning we took a short drive to visit my coworker, Julie's house. She and her husband own 10 acres with gardens, prairie, ponds, and fruit trees. Julie invited us to come out a pick apples from their orchard. Liam had fun helping to carry the bags and filling them with apples. The trees were packed, so we had four paper grocery bags full in no time. Liam loved running around on the property. He also watched for frogs in the pond and got his finger tickled when he fed the hungry koi. There were also lots of great pine cones to pick up under the jack pine trees. When we were done outside, Julie had us in for coffee (or juice) and apple muffins. Liam tried to catch one of her cats, but Sunshine was just too fast for him! He tried to coax her over with some toys, calling "kitty, kitty"...but Sunshine was too smart for this toddler. :)

Liam's Dance

This week at daycare, Liam made some pretty unconventional artwork. All the kiddos got to dance on paper with paint on their feet. Liam's picture is a pretty red color. Cheri added a caption and date to it with scrap-booking letters. I liked it so much that I framed his artwork. It now hangs on his bedroom door! Now we will always remember his "snoopy dance," as daddy calls it.

It's the blues, fool.

This afternoon we decided to take Liam to the Blue Festival. It is usually a very family friendly event, so we thought that Liam would enjoy it. The weather was just perfect, warm and sunny but no hot. Liam loved walking around in the crowds of people and playing on the chairs in the audience, but he wasn't very interested in sitting still. We went for a walk and splurged for a little ice cream. Surprisingly, mommy was the only one to end up with chocolate ice cream on her.

Then we decided to sit and wait for the next show. I entertained Liam on my lap for a while, playing silly games. Once the music started though, Liam didn't like the noise and covered his ears. Oh well, I guess he's not ready for the blues. ;)

My little "sweeper"

Liam loves to be my little helper. This evening he helped sweep the floors for me with the vacuum. We swept the kitchen, dining room, and living room together. He's actually starting to get the hang of it, but I have to point out the dirt to him and then he will go sweep it up.

In other news, I heard from Cheri that Liam didn’t want to sit on the potty at school any more. So in an effort to entice him to try it, I found some potty charts online and printed one out. I found a train potty chart, which Liam was very excited about. I gave it to Cheri today and when I came to pick Liam up from school, Cheri told me that he sat on the potty twice and went #2 on it! Reward charts really do make a difference!

PS-I don't know why blogger keeps turning this photo on its side...I've tried re-loading it four times and it's always like this, sorry.

Three days of rain.

It rained here all weekend. So there's not much in way of news. On Sunday I was the master of multi-tasking and got a bunch of stuff done while Liam took a long nap. I made two loaves of bread, two batches of pear preserves, and sorted through six boxes of décor and heirlooms from the basement. I was very successful at winnowing the six boxes down to only two "keepers" and the rest of the stuff will be donated. I am proud to say that I kept only Sean's grandmother's depression glass salt-dip and cream/sugar collections in one box. And in the second box is my antique camera collection and a few items hand-crafted by my mother when she had her own business years ago. I kept only those things that were the most important to me or possibly worth something. It has been a slow process of getting rid of things over the years – I have gone through many purges. Now next weekend I just need to tackle all the craft and art supplies in the basement! The other project I finished up today was the hobbit cloak that I was knitting for Liam's Halloween costume. Once I get a picture of Liam wearing it I will post it.

Saturday morning we ran a bunch of errands in the rain. To maximize our time out of the house, we spent an hour at the hardware store looking at lighting and other things. On Saturdays Lowes has a build-it-yourself project for kids. So we took advantage of that to give Liam something fun to do. He really got into it this time. The project was a little pirate ship. He was very excited to hammer in the nails...his aim needs some improvement though. We made a couple more stops before heading home - we were pretty soaked by then. Liam fell asleep on the way home and then napped for a while when I carried him in the house. While he napped, I finally stained our coat wardrobe. I think it looks pretty nice, but with the humidity, it took a while to dry. Unfortunately, later in the day Liam used his toy pliers on it a buggered up the finish a little in the door. Oh, well!


Lately, Liam’s favorite game is “running” around the house after the cat. Strangely enough, the cat seems to enjoy it and they play tag back and forth. Sometimes Liam get’s out Dozer’s toys and tries to play with him that way. Other times Liam pretends to be a cat himself and crawls on his hands and knees or batting at Dozer’s toys. It is so cute and funny to watch him pretend. He also likes to pretend he is a bear.

Saturday afternoon, Liam was going stir crazy in the house and literally bouncing off the walls, so we braved the rain again to take him to the History Museum. He had a blast running through the exhibits. His favorite thing to do is stop and pose at all of the cut-outs. This picture is so funny! After Liam expelled some of that restless energy, we had a much calmer evening. Sean and I prepared a gourmet Chinese dinner complete with general’s chicken, egg drop soup, steamed rice, and homemade steamed rice buns. Yummy!

Sometimes I a blown away by how verbal Liam is now. He repeats everything I say (even the bad :o). So we have to start watching our words. Along with all his talking also comes the whining. Sometimes we have to help Liam remember not to whine and remind him to ask nicely when he wants something. He talks a lot more when he gives up his pacifier, but he is so attached to it that it can be hard to do.

Bountiful Beauty

I have been blessed by some generous coworkers this week. Julie gave me a bag full of tasty pears and Bill brought me a box full of tomatoes. All of these produce was organic and simply amazing! I can't wait to make preserves out of the pears.

New School

Today was Liam’s first full day at his new “school”, which we call Cheri’s house. He was so happy and excited when we pulled in the drive. At the door, he said “knock, knock, knock” and tried knocking on the door. This was just so cute. He happily ran in and quickly found the trains to play with.

I called just before lunch to see how he was doing and it was still going great. When I came to pick him up. Cheri told me that he had a hard time falling asleep at naptime. I kinda expected this. First of all he has never been a good nap-er, and secondly, he was excited to be in a new place. But he did eventually fall asleep and took a short 1 hour nap. I’m sure naptime will go smoother tomorrow. The good news, however, was that Cheri told me he sat on the potty with no trouble and actually went #1. So this was promising to hear.

It gives me so much relief that Liam is so happy and comfortable at the new daycare. I think we are all happy with the change.

Be our Guest

We were lucky to have Aunt Rae stay with us for part of the week. Liam was spoiled having her here to play with. One night, we went out to eat at the Ethiopian restaurant. The last time we ate there with Liam, he acted like we were poisoning him! To our surprise, however, he was much more enthusiastic about the food this time. He enjoyed digging into the lentils with his hands and dipping the bread into the lamb stew. The trick was asked for all the mild-flavored meats and lentils. What a feast! Yum!

On Saturday, Aunt Rae survived a long shopping trip to Target, Aldi, Meijer, and the thrift store, with Liam and I. We were all pretty tired when we came home and by then it was time for Aunt Rae to head home. Thanks for staying with us!

On Sunday, Liam was surprised by a visit from Grandma Bev and Papa John. They came up to visit because they wanted to go to Ikea with us. Shopping with a toddler can be hard, but I tried to plan ahead and brought snacks and toys to keep Liam happy and brought the Ergo for napping. While I was worried that the trip would turn out like our Saturday shopping spree, things went very well this time. It just so happened, that by the time we reached Ikea, we were approaching naptime. Liam played well in the cart for a while, then I could tell he was starting to fade. I put him in the Ergo and he was out like a light. I carried him on my back through the rest of the store. Shopping was peaceful and better yet, grandma found exactly what she was looking for. So we all left the store feeling pretty triumphant!

Grandma and grandpa got to hang out with us for the rest of the day. Liam enjoyed playing trains with grandpa. Later, they bought us a yummy chicken dinner. Liam (and the rest of us) ate up! What a fun week of visitors!

After grandma and grandpa left, Sean and I hung up the new shelf we bought at Ikea. It was the perfect thing to fill the big empty wall in the kitchen. I was very excited to finally display some of my pretty green art pottery.

Last Day at the Big "School"

This week was Liam’s last week at EC3. I was feeling sad that he would have to leave the place that he spent so much time and had made so many friends. His favorite teacher, Burger, was not there for much of the week. He said goodbye to her on Thursday. Burger gave us her address and phone number though, so we could come visit her and her horses some time.

Today was Liam’s last day at the big school. It was hard for me not to get emotional as he hugged his friends (Owen, Liam, Ben, Julian, Jacob, and Brandon) and teachers (Adrianne, Sarah, Belle, and Pat-Pat) goodbye. He seems to understand that he will be going to a new school, but I am not sure he understands that the goodbye is for good.

To help him transition to the new place, I got off work a little early every day so that I could take him to his new school for the afternoon. The new place is very different from the old school. The old place had 24 toddlers in 4 classrooms, 8 fulltime teachers, and several additional support teachers. The new place has only one teacher, Cheri, and only 6 kids total. All of the kids are between 15 months and 3 years in age and they are evenly split between boys and girls. Liam gets very excited when he sees Cheri’s house. He seems to really love it there. We shall see how everything goes next week!

Ahoy Captain Liam!

Even though the date on this post is September 1st, I am terribly behind on updating the blog and am actually writing this on September 10th. So I will do my best to remember events.

On Saturday we took care of chores and such. Late in the afternoon we decided that we were going to go down to my moms lake cottage. After we ran around packing everything for the trip, however, we were too tired to go. So we had a leisure evening watching videos instead.

Sunday morning, after a big breakfast of waffles, we headed south to the cottage. It was a perfect warm sunny day. Liam had fun wading in the water and splashing grandma. He tried pulling Grandma’s kayak into the lake, so grandma decided to take him on a paddle. Liam loves to be in a boat! They paddled around the east side of the lake, looking at the cottages. Liam decided that he wanted to paddle all by himself (without grandma’s help). He didn’t do half bad, but he was not strong enough to make them go anywhere, and eventually grandma had to paddle them back to shore.

Liam was so excited to be a the lake that he didn’t want to take a nap. Eventually he laid down for a little while, but not nearly long enough. Great grandma can to spend the afternoon with us. We had lots of fun chatting together on the porch. Liam remembered great grandma and spent most of his time in her lap or play cars with her. Grandma and I made up a big dinner of steaks, fresh melon, coleslaw, homemade bread and jam, and lemon bars for dessert. We all ate very well!

Monday morning was cool and sunny. Liam, daddy, and I took the canoe and grandma took her kayak on a long paddle. Daddy did most of the work, since my shoulder was hurting. Liam behaved very well in the boat, except for one time when he wanted to switch from the middle seat to the front seat. By the time we headed back, the weather was getting hot. Liam wore himself out and fell asleep in the canoe. When we arrived at the cottage, Aunt Rae was there. Liam was happy to see her when he woke up. We stayed for a while after lunch to enjoy each other’s company. Liam snoozed on the way home in the afternoon.

2 year check up

Today was Liam's 2-year check up. His pediatrician was running extremely late due to some emergencies earlier in the day. So we ended up waiting in the office for about an hour before we saw the doctor. Liam was a little antsy, but was all smiles when Dr. T cam in. He started acting silly for Dr. T, and was very good during the exam. When Dr. T was done and ready to go, Liam practically jumped in his arms to give him a hug and a kiss. :) It was just too cute! And just what poor Dr. T needed after a crazy day.

So for those of you who wonder, Dr. T said Liam was quite a healthy little guy. He weighs 29.5 pounds (70th percentile) and is 3 feet (36 inches, 96th percentile) tall! Liam's hemoglobin test came back good at 11, which means there is no concern about anemia. All very good news!

Bee Bite

As I arrived to pick up Liam from daycare today, he got stung on his hang by a bee while playing in the playground. When it happened, I was inside getting his things. But his teacher rushed him inside, where they found me. I was told that one of the other teachers removed the stinger. So I asked his teacher to find some baking soda and gauze. I made some paste for his hand. He was very brave through it all and didn't cry too much. He wanted the paste washed off, so he washed his hands in the sink. Soon afterwards, however, he realized that it had helped ease the pain and he asked for more. I made up a bit more and then wrapped some gauze over his hand. We also borrowed an ice pack from daycare before we left.

On the way home, Liam had fun sucking on the cold ice pack - not exactly how I had intended it to be used. I also called his pediatrician's office to see if they recommended anything else, since I am severely allergic to bee stings. They told me to give him some Benadryl. I stopped to get some. He was happy to take his "medicine" (he is getting so good with words!). It must have done the trick because within a half hour he was chasing the cat around the house on all-fours (like a cat), and didn't seem to notice that his hand was a little swollen. Thankfully, it looks like he may not have inherited my allergy. What a brave little guy!

Steam Train to Liamville

What an eventful couple days. On Thursday, Liam's daycare was having a end of summer Carnival. There was a hot dog dinner, cotton candy, and games with prizes! Mommy and daddy were tired from their hard day of fixing our basement windows, but we still stayed at the carnival for an hour to eat and play a couple games.

On Friday, Sean and I finished up our windows (and I must say, the finish product is quite nice). The only adventure we had, however, was when Liam and I braved a trip to the grocery store with all of the returning college students back in town...It was a mad house! I stayed up a little late that evening to can some cherry-blueberry jam. And it turned out great. But then we were woken all night by a party of more than 100 people in the house across the street. Needless to say, we are not happy with the new renters. :(

Saturday morning was a slow start, but we had special plans for the afternoon. We packed a picnic lunch and then took a road trip down to Coldwater to visit the Little River Railroad. Little River is a historical railroading organization that restores old steam engines and rail cars. They offer rides throughout the year and were one of the most affordable ones that I could find in our area. We decided to take Liam on a train ride as part of his birthday gift. When we arrived, the steam engine was simmering. Liam was very excited to see it up close. We had told him that when he woke up from his nap, he would see a train! I got tickets while daddy and Liam checked out he engine.

There were several cars on the train, including some old Pullman streamliners, some open-air cattle cars fitted with seats, and a caboose. We took a seat in one of the Pullman's because I was worried that the wind, smoke, and noise might bother Liam. The only problem was that it was a very hot and humid day. So in no time, we were sweating up a storm. Liam was a little impatient for the train to start. I took him on a walk through all the cars to take a look at everything. When the train started, he was all smiles! It was such a joy to watch his excitement. He and daddy looked out the window at all the passing scenery and waved to the people.



The trip was just the right length. We arrived at Quincy, where to our surprise, there was a town festival going on. Classic cars were all lined up, there was ice-cream and food, craft booths, and live music. We took a look at some of the cars, but the heat soon drove us in search of the ice-cream. Unfortunately, they ran out of ice-cream while daddy was waiting in line (and Liam was playing on the playground). We tried again later with success and were able to cool off under a tree. After our ice-cream we got a close-up look at the engine and even got to climb aboard. Daddy and Liam also got to climb on to the caboose.

Soon it was time to head back to Coldwater. This time we rode on the cattle car. At first Liam really loved it, but about half way back the noise started to bother him. It was tricky to walk between the cars, but I managed to take him back to one of the Pullman's for the last few minutes of the trip. Liam was very wound up from all of the excitement of the day. He cried and cried when it was time to go. :( I hope that he will remember all the fun! I know that Sean and I quite enjoyed our trip!

Today, Sunday, was much more laid back. There were no more chores to do, so we spent much of our day watching movies and relaxing. I made some banana johnny cakes for breakfast. I was please with myself, because I thought that Liam would love them, but he wouldn't even try one...bummer. He spent a long, long time play with play dough while I cooked in the kitchen. Later, daddy and Liam went for a walk to the playground. Liam likes to swing on the big boy swings now - no more baby swings for him! After his nap, we all went to the downtown library. Liam played with their train table while mommy and daddy took turns looking for books, music, and videos. We ate dinner alfresco on the patio, as we have most of the week.

Zoo Night

Tonight was the annual members only night at the zoo. We were expecting a crowd, but it wasn't that busy this year. Which was pretty nice, because we were able to enjoy the rides and animals better. Our first stop was a bouncy-house. Liam was hesitant at first, as he was the only child there, but daddy talked me into getting in too and soon Liam was having a ball. We next headed to the ponies, who were offering free rides today. Liam was so, so excited to ride a pony. We hadn't tried it yet, mostly because we weren't sure he was ready to do it...he is afraid of the mechanical horses at Meijer. But he wasn't at all afraid of the the real, live horse. He loved his pony, called Fox, so well that he cried when it was time to leave him and let another child ride.

But he was soon distracted by petting goats and chasing chickens in the farmyard. After that, we checked out the big cats. Soon we were at the picnic area, where they were serving hot dogs, chips, and juice. Liam didn't care for the hog dog, but gobbled down chips - we never eat those in our house. Once we ate our grub, we headed over to the bird and reptile house. Liam likes the snakes and spent most of his time looking at them. We also went to see the penguins up close. Liam was very excited and wanted to pet them. On our way out, we stopped by to see the ponies once more. Liam got to take another ride on Fox. We also stopped at the zoo shop, which was offering a discount to members. Liam picked out a little penguin stuffed animal to take home. We love our zoo, even of it is small.

In a Jam

I just wanted to share my latest peach preserves. I made them with organic cane sugar and locally grown Michigan peaches from the farmers market. Don't they look yummy!

Liam took an unusually long nap yesterday and today. This afternoon, he felt a little hot after his nap. At dinner, he picked at his meal and then told us "belly hurt". Poor little guy. :( I think he might have the flu. We snuggled on the couch a lot.

Peddle Pusher

We have just been zoo crazy lately. Today we went to the Potter Park Zoo in the afternoon. Before we went, Liam talked about seeing the tiger and wanted to bring his toy tiger along with him. Little did Liam know that he was going to get such an up-close view of the tiger. We also saw the Lioness roar and the snow leopards chasing each other! He is so much fun at the zoo. He got excited to see the fish, goats, ducks, and monkeys - all some of his favorites! It is so neat to see him recognize the various animals and say their names or make animal sounds.

After the zoo, daddy and I decided to treat Liam to dinner at Clara's. This restaurant is located in an old train depot and has a train car that you can dine in. We thought that Liam would get areal kick out of being on the train, and we were right.

After we came home, Liam worked on learning how to peddle his tricycle. Daddy helped him in the driveway. He is starting to get it...maybe in another month he might be peddling his way around.

Life is Good.

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the good (even great) things in life. This morning Liam didn't fuss when it was time to go. He didn't cling *much* when I had to leave him at daycare. I had a good, productive day at work and when I came to pick Liam up, he ran to me with smiles. After picking up our fresh farmer's milk, we went home and played in the yard. Well...Liam played, I weeded. Nonetheless, it was beautiful weather and a joy to be outside. Once daddy was finished preparing his famous pizza for dinner, he joined Liam in the sand box. I love to hear them playing together! Liam ate his dinner, rather boisterously. The elderly neighbor, two doors down even took note of it. After chatting with the next-door neighbor and procuring a cup of sugar, I made some vanilla pudding for us and her. Liam played well with his playdough and his trains. But once he started getting *fast* (as his teacher calls it), I know it was time for a bath. Daddy got Liam dressed after his bath and then read a book. Just as we snuggled in bed to go to sleep, Liam asked to got potty. I was skeptical, thinking it was a ploy to play, but he did go potty and then went to his bed without a fuss. After Liam went to bed, I did some yoga for the first time in over a year. I didn't realize how much I miss it! What a day, life is good.

PS-I am quite behind on my posts...I am still in the process of writing up our vacation posts, which may eventually appear, as well as a bunch of photos from Liam's birthday.

Vacation Wrap

Sunday morning we all headed north to Fort Wayne. We were not however, all in the same car. Instead we were a convoy composed of two motorcycles (daddy and grandpa), one mini van (grandma), and one car (Liam and mommy). It was a crazy situation, but the only way that grandpa could transport his motor cycle to his new house and Sean could transport the motorcycle that his dad gave him back to our house. Except for the first part of the drive as we left Indy, Liam did pretty well in the car all that time. He also managed to get a nap in.

When we arrived in Fort Wayne, we went to see grandma and grandpa's new house. Aunt Rae met us there too. After we got the full tour of there new home, Rae, Liam, Sean & I went to the Fort Wayne zoo for the afternoon. We started out at the farmyard area first. Liam was so excited to see a horse up close. He calls horses "giddy-ups". He also petted the goats and "baaaed" with them. Liam was beside himself when he saw the little train. There was a long line, and quite a wait, but Liam did very well. I think the train ride lived up to his expectations! He just giggled and squealed the whole time! In fact, he cried when it was time to get off the train...it was tough to say "goodbye train".

Next we went to the Australian outback exhibit. The fish aquariums were so much fun to watch - those jelly fish can put you in a trance. Liam learned the word "dingo" too and had fun saying it along with "roo". In the Indonesian rain forest exhibit, Liam and Aunt Rae discovered that there were mice living in the dome with the rain forest birds. Liam liked looking at the gibbons swinging. Although Liam looks kind of forlorn in this picture of him in the Tree House, he actually played in there for a while and did not want to leave. Liam was also spoiled when Aunt Rae took him on a bear ride - on the meri-go-round that is. :)

There was so much to see at the zoo - we didn't have energy to see it all! Before we left, Liam played in the frog fountains for a while. He had fund splashing about with the other toddlers. After getting a quick dinner, we went to grandma Kathie's house and watched cartoons with Aunt Rae. What a busy weekend!

On Monday we headed home - daddy on his cycle and Liam and I in the car. Today was a pretty boring day after so much excitement, but it was nice to have a somewhat leisure day around the house.

Hurt not the Earth

On Thursday we packed up the car and headed south to Indiana. For our long-weekend vacation, we are visiting Sean's parents in Indianapolis, before they move.

Before we left town, we stopped at the pottery studio to get Liam's plate. While I was in the store, Liam decided to pour his grape juice all over himself...Ack! Needless to say, we were a little late getting out of town. I was none too please with Liam's behavior, but I was pleased with how the plate turned out. On the drive to Indiana, Liam and I doodled together to pass the time. I would draw something and ask him what it was, then later he would draw and tell me what it was. We stayed at my mom's house on Thursday night. Liam enjoyed looking for her kitty cats. He would walk around the house calling, "ki-tty, here kitty". Occasionally a cat would be brave and come to him - he's pretty good with animals, but can still be a little rough too. He was rather wound up from our journey, but I am very proud of him for going to bed with very little fuss.

Friday morning we continued our travels and after a brief stop to eat (and pet a plastic horse) at Huddle House. When we arrived at Indy we picked up Grandpa John and headed for the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was very busy, especially for a weekday. But we enjoyed ourselves very much. Some of the highlights of our visit were: watching an elephant show, petting sharks, goats, and ferrets, and watching dolphins swim around us in the dolphin dome. Our energy was fading, but we took a stroll to the White River gardens after the zoo. Liam really enjoyed watching the butterflies flit around us in the big greenhouse. We were disappointed that the model train wasn't running in the garden outside, but Liam had fun splashing in all the various water fountains. After picking up grandma, we went out to dinner. Our evening was rather strange, however, because when we returned, the people buying grandma and grandpa's house, were still there with the inspector. Liam and I went in the house and got ready for bed - he was a very tired boy - but everyone else had to stay out of the house.



Saturday was another fun-filled day. After a good breakfast, we went downtown to the museum district. It was a cool morning, so we walked around the canal and looked at the gardens and sculptures around the Indiana history museum - including life-sized bronze statues of two mastodons! We all had a great time in the museum. It is strange to see so many people and places that I have worked with or at on display at the museum...I have a lot of connections to Indiana history I guess. By the time we left the museum, we were all pretty hungry. Grandma Bev drove us to the Mug and Bun for hot dogs and home made root beer. Yum! Liam was a little pistol while we were there though, too much stimulation and too little sleep makes him wound-up!

Over lunch we decided to go to the Indianapolis Art Museum next. Liam snoozed in the car while went there. He was still sleeping when we arrived, so I carefully strapped him in the Ergo on my back and we headed in the museum. It was actually perfect timing for his nap, because I don't think he would have been very interested in the artwork and we were able to enjoy it in peace. That is until the museum guards started pestering me to take him off my back. :-/ Apparently, they have a policy that babies cannot be worn on the back. But no one said anything to me when I checked in at the front desk and got a map. The first guard I spoke to was nice enough and told me that I could keep Liam on my back as long as he was asleep. Ok...that's fair enough. But then every guard we encountered along the way had to comment about it. Finally, as I was just entering the room of pre-Columbian art (the stuff I really wanted to see), a guard told me I had to move Liam even though he was asleep. That was the last straw for me. I told him that I was not disturbing my child from his sleep and that I was going to leave. The whole thing was pretty upsetting. I had to share this picture, which was titled something like "The joys of motherhood"...the title and the image seemed ironicly out of sync.

We decided to go outside and enjoy the gardens on the grounds. Liam woke up and was happy to have had a good nap. He enjoyed running around in the beautiful gardens around the Lily mansion. It was a very lovely place. We took a brief walk through the greenhouse and mansion too. It was a lot of walking though, and we were pretty beat by the end of it.

Time to go home...On our way back to the house, we stopped to get some meat to make taco salad. While grandpa was in the store, a very careless young lady threw some trash out of her car window right next to us. I opened my car door and handed her the trash, telling her to "dispose of it properly". Some people are just gross! Once we got back home, Liam played trains with grandpa most of the evening. It was good to relax.