Vacation Day 1

We went on a family vacation with my parents to my sister's in Omaha. My Dad turned 60 last Monday and all he wanted for his birthday was to take his Grandkids to the Omaha Zoo. Well he got a little more than that. We all piled in my parents van on Thursday and headed for Omaha. 

We didn't get to my sister's until after 6:30 so it was pretty much only time to eat and open presents.  The kids table, we found out quickly needed to be closer to the adults table after this meal. 

My sister made a tie-dye cake for Oliver and Shawn who also have August birthdays and a rhubarb cheesecake for my dad.

We sang Happy Birthday to the Birthday Boys and Annaliese had to help as well blow out the candles. 

Between Oliver or Annaliese one of them were always with Grandpa. 

Time for presents. Ian decorated the wrapping paper himself. 

A train and track from Aunt Colleen, Uncle Darrin, and Ian and Annaliese 

It was going to be a busy next day at the Zoo so everyone tried to get to bed at a decent time to rest up. 

Oliver first time camping (lots of pictures included)

Well, some may call camping in a camper not camping at all but it's the only way to go when the temps are in the 90's with high humidity. I met Shawn and Oliver at the campground in Elkader Friday after work. My in-laws let us borrow the camper again to stay in for the 3 nights. It was our first time borrowing it since I lived in it for 5 weeks when Oliver was born and in the NICU. It was much better this time being that I wasn't alone in it and we had Oliver with us. 

Friday night we grilled brats over the campfire and some friends came to visit. Saturday was Sweet Corn Days in Elkader, as well as Shawn's class reunion, so we figured it would just be easier to stay close to the action. I couldn't believe how well Oliver slept in the camper, he woke up at his normal 6:15am after going to bed at 8:15 and then we put him in bed with us and he slept another hour and a half! 

For breakfast we had bacon and pancakes over the campfire, although I forgot to take a picture of it. I made homemade blueberry syrup because I forgot to pack the syrup I realized after the pancakes were already made. Let me tell you, I'd gladly throw out all the syrup in our house to make the blueberry syrup instead it was that good. Oliver enjoyed it as well and ate more pancakes than Shawn and I combined.  

Our campsite and Oliver's favorite toy - his car

We headed to the parade downtown after a nice rain shower in the morning. Oliver didn't really care to much about getting candy, he preferred to go between sitting on Grandpa Chuck's and Grandpa Dave's laps

 He also liked the cheese stick from the Dairy Princess

The Mr. Freeze was a refreshing treat

After the parade we just hung out at the campground with friends then Oliver left to spend the night with Chuck and Shirley. Shawn and I went to his reunion and then downtown for the band. 

Sunday, everyone else in the campground were clearing out but we had another day left there. We made use of Sunday by grilling hamburgers, corn on the cob, beans, and onions. I had also made my Grandma Doerscher's recipe for cucumber salad to eat with Shawn's parents. 

Oliver liked driving his trucks, which he called tractors, around the dirt and down the homemade ramp made out of firewood. He got so dirty we had to hose him off. 

"Grading" the road for his trucks

 Sunday afternoon we made s'mores. Oliver is like his Dad and likes to eat all the parts separate instead of together like a s'more should be. 

The rest of Sunday evening we grilled steaks over the fire with my Dad but then spent it in the camper with the air on watching a movie. We packed up this morning and came home to all takes naps. 

Sweet corn

First time with corn on the cob. He did really well eating it off accept he didn't eat where his hands were on the ear of corn and it had to be completely cold for him to even touch it. 

Osborne

Today Oliver and I went to Osborne, our County Conservation Board's park to see animals native to our region and enjoy a picnic lunch. I hadn't been to Osborne since I was in middle school and it had changed a lot since then. I remember the Nature Center in the basement being more grand and having more animals in it but all we found were turtles, 2 snakes, and a bluegill for live animals and the rest were stuffed. The highlight of going to Osborne was always seeing Ben the Bear, unfortunately it was Ben's nap time and we only saw his paws sticking out of his little house. Here are pictures of some of the animals. 

A coyote or "yote" Oliver called him

A deer. The deer was right up to the fence. I'm sure we could have touched it but really this is as close to a deer as I'd like to be especially when I see them every morning when I'm driving to work at 4:30am.

 After the doe was visiting us, soon her twin fawns came out as well. The sign said they were males born in May.

 The wolf from a distance.  

 A log house just Oliver's size. He didn't spend much time playing though because he wasn't a big fan of the sand or "dirt" as he called it. 

 The choo choo

 Driving the train

 We sat by the deer and coyote for lunch and Oliver kept calling them all puppies throughout the whole time we were eating. He would get excited seeing the fawns jump.  

 Mmmm "nana" with his crazy hat hair

I had made homemade chicken salad sandwiches before leaving the house this morning and homemade chex mix. It made for a nice picnic. It was a fun morning just Oliver and I. We did have to call Shawn on the way home to rub it in that we were having fun while he was working. 

"ater" (Water)

 Saturday we were outside early in the morning before it got hot. Oliver wanted to help Shawn wash the motorcycle but I think he just enjoyed playing in the water. 

Oliver would put his hand into the water from the hose and giggle with excitement. Shouting "ater cold!"

Then he played in the gravel on the driveway and while Shawn wasn't looking smeared his hands on the motorcycle making Shawn have to rewash that area. 

He helped me then water the garden and "owers" or flowers as we known them as. He ended up wet from head to toe. Guess we know next time we have the hose out to just put his swimming suit on. 

Uff da Daze 2012

Uff da Daze in St. Olaf was this past weekend and the parade was full of tractors and politicians. If you have kids this is parade for them, it is short and there is a lot of candy to go around for all kids. Oliver loved the parade but couldn't get the concept of the candy. We would tell him to go get it, take his hand over to it, and he would pick it up and throw it again. I guess he saw the people in the parade throwing it so he thought that that's what you're supposed to do. It was adorable! Here's some pictures from the day.

Shawn and Oliver on the Oliver 770

 The slow tractor race was after the parade and lunch where the object of the race is to be the slowest tractor. Shawn and his dad raced the first heat together, Chuck on the Oliver 70 and Shawn on the 770.

 Well you can see that Chuck won, he was the slowest of this match-up.

 The 2nd match-up was with Chuck and a International tractor and as you can see in this race we lost as well. That International tractor ended up winning the race and the prize.

 And of course, we cannot go downtown without going to the park so he could "wing." Many tantrums have happened while walking downtown if you don't stop at the park for him to swing awhile. He knows the way to the park and if you don't go straight across the street you'll see a meltdown. 

It was a good day, beautiful weather, and a long afternoon nap!

90's to 30's???

Monday was my only day off of Memorial Day weekend so Sunday night we met together at the neighbors for bean bags, drinks and snacks. Oliver went to bed late at 9pm because he was having too much fun playing with the neighbor girls so Monday morning we all slept in until after 7. It was a relaxing morning and day for me. I think I even told Shawn at one point that I was bored.

 It was getting warmer throughout the day but not as warm as Sunday and its 90 degree temps. Shawn went off on a motorcycle ride so Oliver played outside most of the afternoon. We went over the Grandpa and Grandma Doerscher's and they got the pool out for Oliver to play in. Grandpa and Grandma Peterman had him in their little pool Sunday Shawn had said, and I was sad I missed out on the fun so I wanted to do it again today. Not like we won't have other warm days I know, but I had to see him in his new swimsuit. 

Shawn had said that he wouldn't sit for his parents on Sunday either in their pool and it looked that same way for us.

 Refusing to sit so he just squatted 

 One of the neighbor girls and his friend from daycare came to play too!

 She didn't like all of Oliver's splashing though

Now it's hard to believe that we went from 90 degrees on Sunday to a wind chill in the 30's this morning. Definitely won't be swimming today but it is supposed to warm slightly. 

Uff da Daze is tomorrow and Shawn and Chuck are putting the Oliver tractor's in the slow pull race so we'll see if we can win this year. Took home 2nd last year with the Oliver 70. I can't believe that it is June already!