The Dog's Mountain- Our UP Trip Part 2

On Saturday we were eager to explore Copper Harbor, but not excited to be contending with a new hatch of black flies.  Normally the flies are bad in May, but with the cold spring they waited until June to hatch.  We decided to head to the top of the hill we named our dog after- Brockway Mountain and hoped that the flies weren't there. 

It was a lot more stressful to be on top of Brockway with a two year old.  And the flies did manage stay on top of Brockway even in the winds.  So after a few pictures we headed to town and ate some Pasty's for lunch.  Adam ate a whole 3/4 pound hot dog all by himself!  He loves his hot dogs.

Then we decided to visit Fort Wilkins.  They've done a wonderful job restoring the fort and it was the perfect afternoon activity for Adam.  We were outside and able to walk around the fort exploring at our own pace.  Grandma and Grandpa had never been there before and they enjoyed it also. 

In one building there were benches to sit on and a movie to watch.  We started the movie fully knowing Adam probably would not allow us to watch much of it.  He sat down next to the window and made friends with the flies.  He kept calling them bees and would say "hi bees, hi bees".  We got to watch more of that movie than I thought.

That night Dave and I went to my friends wedding and grandma and grandpa took good care of the boys.  The wedding was beautiful and I got to catch up with old friends.  It was our first care free night without the boys.

The dreaded long trip home all in daylight on Sunday went great.  We stopped every three hours and in between stops Eli slept and we entertained Adam with songs, games, toys, food and when all else failed he watched kid DVDs.  At one point he was getting pretty board so he started saying wake up Oswald, wake up.  We tell Adam that it's time for the cartoon character to go to sleep and say bye bye when it's really time for Adam to go to sleep, so he decided that waking him back up would make the DVD player turn on. 

We're so lucky to have great car travelers, but I don't think I want to do a trip like that again for a while.

TGIF

Adam stayed home from daycare today and I think Eli was really happy about having his brother around.  He was so smiley and I finally caught it on camera. 

No Points for Tummy Time

That's not what tummy time is all about little Eli.  Guess we'll just give it a try again later. 

You put him flat on his back and he whines, you put him on his belly and he sleeps. 

Tonight Adam started talking about wanting to go see the Aliens.  All I could think is really, they're teaching him that at school.  And then he said I want to go see the firetruck.  Ah ha- ambulance!  He's saying alien but he means ambulance!

We have a little toddler trick we like to pull on Adam.  After dinner we let him play for a while and then we offer him a treat.  When he gets up in his chair we make sure his leftovers from his dinner plate are within his arms reach.  And would you believe that after he finishes the treat he almost always eats a little more food from his plate!  If we just offered him his dinner it would be met with a hardy toddler "NO!" 

So tonight Adam's treat was ice cream with bananas and chocolate sauce.  While Adam ate I was busy feeding Eli.  At one point Adam stopped babbling about bananas and ice cream and said something I didn't understand.  I looked up and he repeated it and then pulled something that was neither ice cream or bananas from his bowl that was covered in chocolate and ate it.  He was saying "Enchilala's too" (Enchilada's).  Gross, but if it gets him to eat chicken and spinach enchiladas I'm okay with it.

Say Ya to the UP 'Eh

Dave and I hadn't been back to the UP 'Eh since the summer before we had Adam.  So when I got a wedding invitation for one of my dear sorority sisters and senior year roomie I couldn't pass up the opportunity to head back to where we went to school and fell in love.  After the c-section birth of Eli I thought about canceling our trip, but I'm so glad I didn't.  I'm really feeling almost completely back to my old self (except I haven't started working out yet).

So I packed up the car on Thursday and we headed out of town as soon as Dave got off work.  We made it a little over an hour before Eli needed to eat and Adam wanted supper.  After a long 45 minute dinner/diaper break we were back on the road only to stop again in less than an hour.  This time not only was it a diaper and feeding break, but we put the boys in there jammies so that they hopefully would sleep.  Adam did not want to fall asleep in his car seat.  He kept asking to go home, which he's never asked for that before.  It was a late 1:30 AM when we got to Houghton, but at least we didn't have to drive again that day.  We slept in Friday morning and got a late check out time so that Adam could play in the kiddie pool.

Then we drove to campus and took Adam to see the Huskies ice arena and bought some cute Tech gear for the boys.  Adam has a Huskies baseball cap now!  Eli got a bib and Dave and I both bought new Tech polos for work.  Then we ate on Campus in the MUB.  It was a little strange to bring my children into the place I ate lunch everyday at school.  Then we pulled out two strollers and walked around campus.  We took our time soaking in our old stomping grounds.  We weren't on a schedule and we weren't rushing anything.  We sat

under some trees and let Adam run around picking up sticks while Dave and I sipped on an iced latte.  

Last we walked down by the Portage.  We wanted to take the boys to the spot where Dave proposed.  As we walked there we reminisced about the proposal.  I asked Dave what made him decide to propose there and we both thought about it for a little while and then it came to us at the same time- that's where we had our first kiss!   Almost 10 years later and we both momentarily forgot!  As we came to the spot on the trail where he proposed I found some Lilly of the Valley on the side of the path- how perfect!  After some quick photos Eli woke up and reminded us it was almost time to eat. 



The Proposal Spot

We quickly walked back to a bench that was right on the water.   I took my shoes and socks off and enjoyed the cool Lake Superior water that fills the Portage on my feet while Eli ate.  Adam and Dave threw rocks in the Portage.  I really enjoy that breastfeeding requires me to stop what I'm doing every couple hours and enjoy the moment. 

That night we met up with Dave's parents for pizza at the Ambassador before we made the hour trip north to Copper Harbor to stay in a cabin at the Keweenaw Mountain Resort.  This is getting a little long, so the rest of the trip will have to come in a second post.  I need to get some laundry started before Eli wakes up.

Como Zoo

I was supposed to go to the zoo with the boys and my family on Friday, but Adam was up several times Thursday night and had a fever on Friday morning.  So instead Friday was my first real whole day with both boys at home.  I don't think I sat down until they were both down for a nap that afternoon.  It was not an easy day at all. 

So when Dave got home from work that night we packed up the car to spend the night at Grandma's so we could go to the zoo on Saturday and spend some more time with my brother and sister in law.  It was Eli's first long car ride and he almost made it the whole way there.  We did stop about 15 minutes south of my parents house for a feeding and diaper change. 

Going to the zoo with an almost 2 year old is so much fun, because he gets so excited to see all the animals.  We got to the zoo right at lunch time and right after lunch is typically Adam's nap time. I did bring our awesome double stroller, but thanks to Uncle Henry holding Adam, Adam stayed awake during the whole visit.

Shar took some amazing pictures of the animals with her fancy new zoom lens.  I want one too now.  I love all the lazy animals lounging around.

 And my favorite was the ostrich who posed for her.

Eli was awake when we got to the zoo, but fell asleep after a feeding and diaper change and then slept the whole time in his stroller (or stloller as Adam calls it).  

At one point Adam even helped Dave push the stloller.  I love moments like this.