Owen's Sleeping Troubles, Aedan's VBS Performance & Samantha's First Musical Theater Performance

Samantha: 85 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 5
Owen: 9 Months, Week 2 (Week 41)

Since we got back home on Saturday afternoon, we were able to get everything unpacked and start working on our mountain of laundry. In addition to going to church on Sunday morning, I spent most of the afternoon doing a quick clean of the house. I find myself doing a quick clean every couple of weeks in between my more thorough cleanings that I do once a month (if I'm lucky). With three kids and a dog, and our windows and doors open for the summer, I find that I definitely need to clean more, especially the floors. And with little Owen crawling around on the floor, I want the floors to not get too bad, although he is the third kid, so you know, things are let go much more than when we just had Samantha.

The other new thing we got to do on Sunday night was attend a Married People small group. We missed the first week when we were on our vacation last week, but we figured we could still attend the following five sessions. I was excited to be able to meet with other couples in a group where we could spend time talking about how to have a strong marriage. Having three kids and the busyness of life definitely puts strain on your marriage relationship, and Ben and I know that our family is only as strong as our marriage. The other wonderful thing is that a dear couple from church, Linda and Ken, offered to watch our kids for us so that we could attend the small group without worrying about dragging them along. Other people were bringing kids, and they were just going to play outside with the adults met, which would have been fine for Samantha and Aedan, but we would have kept Owen with us, which really would not have worked. He is just too loud and active now. The kids were super excited about having Linda and Ken come over to babysit. Linda volunteered her time in the baby room at MOPS every week, and she kind of took to Owen, so he was familiar with her, and I felt totally comfortable leaving our kids in their hands. I think they may have been just as excited about it as the kids were. They took on a wonderful grandparent role with the kids, which just touched my heart since we are so far away from the kids' grandparents. Ben and I had a good time getting to know other couples in the small group, we had great conversation, and it was nice being able to get away and do something with just the two of us.

I forget when exactly it happened this week, but with Aedan now in a big boy bed, he had really done a great job transitioning. However, just before leaving for vacation, Ben and I were sitting in the living room and we heard a loud bang. Aedan had fallen out of his room, and I rushed to his room to make sure he was okay and helped him back into his bed. I sat with him for awhile because he was a little shaken up, and then he cuddled back into his pillow, ready to go back to sleep. When I talked to him about it the next morning, he had no recollection of ever falling out of bed or of me coming in his room, which I thought was pretty funny.

The other big deal in Aedan's life was transitioning from wearing a pull-up at night to wearing regular underwear. Awhile back he was staying dry every night, and then all of a sudden he started peeing in his pull-up pretty much every night, which was a little confusing to us. However, probably for the last several weeks, he had stayed dry every night with no problem. He started asking us if he could wear underwear to bed, so after we returned from vacation, we decided to let him try it out. We made sure to remind him to let us know if he needed to go to the bathroom by talking, and that we could hear him on the monitor, and then we could come upstairs and help him go to the bathroom. I was a little nervous about trying it at first, especially with how much we were already waking up with Owen, but he did such a spectacular job. He has not had an accident once in his bed, and most nights he goes all night without having to get up and go to the bathroom. Every once in awhile he will call out saying he has to go, and most of the times are in the early morning hours between 5:30-6:30. I am so proud of him, and sometimes I forget how big he is getting. He is certainly no little boy anymore.

Monday through Friday that week, Samantha and Aedan both had activities every day. We signed Samantha up for a musical theater camp through the Soo Theatre, so she was going to do that from 10-3 every day with a performance on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. They were putting on Willy Wonka Jr., and Samantha was so excited about going to this camp and being in a real play. Since Samantha was going to be gone every day, I decided to sign Aedan up for a local VBS from 9-12 every day. I wanted him to be able to do something special while Samantha was gone, so I asked if he would be interested in going to VBS, and he was very much interested. He wasn't nervous at all when I dropped him off on that first day, he went right in, sat with his group, and waved good-bye to me. Then, a little while later, I dropped Samantha off. There was a little mix-up with the camp that she was signed up for, but we got that straightened out, and she was so ready to get started.

Ben was working on campus, so I went back home to try to get Owen to take a morning nap. However, he fell asleep on my shoulder, like he normally does, but then woke up two minutes after I laid him down. I was so frustrated that he was doing this again. It seemed like he did better when we were out of town, waking once or twice a night, but I was able to just nurse him and he'd go back to sleep. But now as soon as we got back home, he started doing this again, waking up over and over again, sometimes just minutes after laying him down. And he was doing it at nap time and at bed time, it didn't seem to matter the time of day or how tired he was. I felt like there had to be something going on. Lately, it seemed like there was always something, and I just wanted him to finally get into a decent and consistent routine with sleeping. I even tried nursing him to see if he'd fall asleep doing that, but he wasn't interested in nursing himself to sleep. I tried just laying him in his bed for awhile because I felt like I needed a break, and he ended up just crying in his bed for half an hour. I needed to get some stuff done around the house before it was time to pick up Aedan from VBS, and I just needed a break from dealing with him. I felt at a loss to know how to deal with it, but I knew Ben and I couldn't keep doing life like this. We all needed more sleep. In fact, I was actually talking to someone that day about some essential oils we could diffuse in his room to hopefully help him calm down and sleep better. I didn't know what to do anymore, and sometimes I felt like I was losing my mind. I was just so tired and felt like I couldn't even function like a normal person half the time. We give him ibuprofen before bed and everything, to help him in case he's teething, and sometimes it seems like it works and sometimes not. We were up six times during the night on Sunday night, and I knew it would be hard for me to have another night like that. I don't function well with little sleep. 

On Monday night Ben had his softball games and Aedan had tee-ball, and it was a little bit of a crazy night getting everyone ready and out the door. My friend, Denise, offered to watch Owen for me while I took Aedan to tee-ball, so that was a nice break for me after a not so great day with Owen. Aedan did better at tee-ball this week, and he responded really well to me standing out in the field and encouraging him to hit me with the ball when he was practicing hitting off the tee. He hit the ball much farther than he did the previous week. Plus, at the end of practice they played a practice game which was really fun for the kids to take turns hitting the ball, running the bases, and catching balls in the field. Aedan got a little upset when he didn't get any of the balls that were hit into the field, but I tried to explain that he needed to just stay in his area and wait for a ball to come his way, rather than running all the way across the field to a ball.

After a long, tiring day with Owen, it was hard for me to feel like I had any energy that evening while watching Ben's softball game. I thought about just going home, but that would mean I would have to put all three kids to bed myself, so it was actually easier just to stay at the game. Samantha and Aedan had fun playing with other kids on a big pile of dirt off on the side of the field. In fact, they got so dirty that we had to give them quick showers when we got home, even though it was already late and past bedtime. In between keeping my eye on Samantha and Aedan, and making sure Owen didn't eat things he found on the ground or lick the fence around the field, I was able to watch Ben play some. I always enjoy watching him play softball, and I'm glad he can do something he enjoys like this with other guys from church.

I hoped so much that Monday night would be better, but the night wasn't starting off very promising, as he was already up crying a couple times even before Ben and I went to bed. He was still up multiple times throughout the night, and I fed him three of those times.

Even though we had a rough couple of days, Tuesday seemed to be a better day for Owen. He slept in until almost 9:00 that day after having a rough night, when I had to wake him up to take him to the doctor for his check-up. It was a follow-up from his ear infection, and everything looked clear, which was good. I was so glad it seemed like the ear infection was finally gone. However, we mentioned how much trouble he had been having with sleeping, waking up six times a night and not staying asleep for very long at nap time, and she didn't have much to say to us other than he must be teething and said we could give him some allergy medicine to help clear up a bit of his congestion. She also said that it can take up to six weeks after having an ear infection for the fluid to totally go away, and for the ears to feel back to normal again, even if the infection was gone. I was hoping she would be able to give us some tips on how to help him sleep better or what the cause of all this discomfort could be, but unfortunately, she didn't give us any advice. I felt pretty discouraged because I knew this meant we just had to wait this phase out, and who knows how long it will last for. I just wished there was something we could do to provide comfort to him and help him (and us) sleep more and better.

Since Owen slept in later that morning and we had the doctor appointment, I didn't get him down for a morning nap until almost 11:30. However, he ended up sleeping for an hour and fifteen minutes that morning without waking up and crying once. I was so excited that he was doing so well, and it made me feel hopeful that maybe he would start to nap better again.

Samantha and Aedan continued their morning routine of musical theater camp and VBS. They were both having a great time, and I was glad they could get out of the house and enjoy a fun activity, especially with how much I was having to deal with Owen, it wouldn't have been a very fun week for them at home. I was hoping to have some time in the mornings to get stuff done around the house while the big kids were gone, but that didn't happen because of how hard of a time I was having with Owen not napping. I felt like I was spending all morning trying to get him to sleep and then back to sleep.

Ben was able to pick up Aedan from VBS and then come home to help me out while I had another appointment at the foot doctor that afternoon. After my appointment, I was able to run some errands before going back home since Owen had taken such a late morning nap. It took a little bit of convincing to get Owen to eat and fall asleep that afternoon, but I finally got him to fall asleep, and he took another good nap without crying at all. I was able to actually get some things done around the house that I had been wanting to do for awhile, and it felt so good to have a little break, to feel productive, and not have to deal with a crying and upset baby who wasn't getting enough sleep.

There weren't enough people interested in doing small group that Tuesday night, which we were okay with. We kind of needed a relaxed evening with just our family. After dinner we decided to go down to Zak's to get our $2 ice cream that they have on Tuesdays. We walked over to the Locks to eat our ice cream and let the kids run around and play in the grass for awhile. It was a beautiful evening, and it was fun to just stand and talk with Ben while watching our kids play around in the grass. It's nights like these that remind us what we love so much about living in the U.P. The summers are beautiful up here, and they definitely make up for the long, cold winter.

I was hoping that Owen would have a better night since he had such a good day of napping, but that Tuesday night he was up crying twice in the two hours between when I put him to bed and when we started getting ready for bed ourselves. It was definitely not a good sign, and I was trying to prepare myself mentally for what might be in store for us that night. I felt like issues with Owen have been never-ending since our trip to Chicago. Before that, he was finally starting to do better about taking longer, more regular naps, but then we were out of town and that's when he developed his ear infection that never really went away for a couple weeks, then the diaper rash, then vacation with interrupted schedules, and teething all along the way. Things have been rough with Owen, and I know I talk about it a lot, but it has been pretty all-consuming to me lately. It's hard to do much of anything or to function like a normal person when you have a baby that needs to sleep but isn't. I was having so many doubts in my abilities as a mom, wondering if I was doing something wrong with Owen, if I should have tried harder to get him to take a pacifier or a bottle at the beginning, if I should have tried to train him earlier to fall asleep on his own, rather than always holding him and bouncing him on my shoulder or nursing him to sleep, so that I now have to do that all the time, except he is now almost 24 pounds, so it's much more difficult to hold him for a longer period of time. The sleep deprivation and the amount of energy it takes from me having to deal with him not sleeping, is definitely affecting other areas of my life, and I feel exhausted. Really, I can't complain too much because Ben has been great in helping me out more since his schedule is more flexible during the summer and we both know this is a difficult time with Owen. I don't know what I would do without Ben's support and without him being willing to take some of the shifts with Owen when he just won't be put down to sleep. However, then I feel bad that I'm taking him away from the work that he needs to get done because he has been home more to help me out. All this just makes me wonder how long we have to wait it out. How do I know if it's something that's just a phase, or something that we should be actively trying to work on and help him with? If any moms are reading this and have some advice for me, I would love for you to comment or message me.

Tuesday into Wednesday was another long night with Owen. He was up crying 9 times during the night, three of those times I nursed him because we didn't know what else to do. Just holding him, getting him to fall asleep on our shoulder, and laying him down, wasn't working. I knew it was going to be a long day because Ben was headed to Lansing for the day for a work trip, meaning I had to do all the dropping off, picking up, nap times, dinner, and everything by myself after feeling like I hardly slept much at all. Luckily, Samantha and Aedan were very helpful to me that morning, and I was able to get everyone dropped off on time. Since Owen had a rough night again, he ended up sleeping in until 9:00, which I will take, I'm glad for him to sleep any time he will actually sleep, but it made his morning nap a little more difficult again. I tried putting him down around 11:00, walking around and bouncing him for 25 minutes to get him to sleep, but he just cried and screamed when I laid him down. I texted Ben to see how he was doing on his drive and to let him know about Owen, and he commented that he wished this would end. Oh, how much we both wish this would end, or that there was something we could do to help him sleep better. It would feel so much different if it was either nap time or bed time that he had trouble sleeping, but it's both. Any time we try to lay him down it's a battle, it's work, and it's a constant worry about when he will wake up again and trying to get this little baby enough sleep that he is well-rested.

I hoped that he might take a good nap that afternoon since he hadn't napped that morning, but he had another rough time, only sleeping for half an hour and then woke up crying and screaming. He hadn't napped all day, and I knew he was tired, but he just wouldn't stay asleep no matter what I did. I had a hard time believing that all this trouble with sleeping could all be from teething. I was so tired and so done with dealing with him not sleeping, that I was tempted to just turn off the monitor and let him cry in his bed for awhile. I felt like I couldn't handle it anymore. I wished that he would take a pacifier, so I could at least have some kind of a break and maybe he could self-soothe sometimes. However, I know that just letting him cry wouldn't do any good, he would just keep crying and getting more and more upset. I felt so overwhelmed by it all, to the point where I am getting angry with him and don't want to go in his room and hold him and bounce him and walk around with him anymore. I just want him to sleep, I just want sleep for myself and for Ben, and I felt like it was all making me go crazy. Things have certainly been rough for our little guy lately. I love him, and I'm so glad that we have him, don't get me wrong. We tried for another baby for almost two years before we were finally blessed with him. I wouldn't change having him for anything in the world, but this phase with him is so incredibly difficult, especially with having two older kids that I feel like I'm neglecting because Owen is taking up so much of my time and effort and  mental energy. Plus, I am so tired from not sleeping much, that it is really difficult for me to be the kind of mom that I want to be. I am much less patient with the kids. I am not as fun because all the things I need to get done around the house aren't getting done because Owen isn't sleeping and giving me that time to get things done. I am also not being the kind of wife that I want to be because I feel like I don't have any time all day to get anything done or just to be by myself and recharge. Plus, with how little sleep we are getting, I feel so tired by the time the kids are in bed that I don't have much more energy for anything else. I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and ready for a break, ready for this phase to pass, and ready for Owen's sleep to improve.

Here is Izzy enjoying some rest outside in the sun that afternoon. She has the right idea. :)

Even though Owen had only napped half an hour all day, I decided I just needed to get out of the house that evening, so I made tacos for the kids and me for dinner and then we headed over to the concert in the park. The Saline Fiddlers were going to be there, and I remembered them being pretty good last year. It is a group of high school students that play string instruments and even have a small dance floor out on the grass in front for people to dance on. We hadn't been to a concert in the park yet this year, so I was excited to spend a lovely evening outside enjoying some good music, some popcorn, and some fresh air. I figured Owen wouldn't do any worse if we were to go out, and Samantha and Aedan love to go to these concerts in the park so they can dance around to the music. It was a little more challenging taking all three kids by myself, and we were a little bit late, but we were able to carry on our chairs and gear and find a seat off to the side where there was enough space for the kids to move around and dance. I kept Owen in the stroller as long as he was content, giving him toys to play with, puffs for a snack, and his sippy cup with water that he mainly just chews on. Samantha and Aedan went back and forth between dancing to the music and coming back to eat their popcorn. After about twenty minutes or so, Ben got back from his day away in Lansing, and he decided to join us in the park as well. Sometimes we leave after the break in the middle of the set, but the big kids were doing so well and Ben had just gotten there, so we decided to stay a little longer, as long as the kids were handling it.

Owen was very interested to get out of the stroller and crawl around on the blanket, as well as investigate the chairs we had set up and the kids' water bottles. I decided to sit him up in Aedan's tiger chair, just for the fun of it, and he was so cute sitting there chewing on his water bottle. (Although, I feel like you can tell in his picture that he is tired from only napping 30 minutes all day. You can see the huge bags under his eyes.)

No sleeping and all, but isn't this boy such a little cutie?!

At one point I looked at Aedan and he had two sticks in his hands, pretending like he was playing a violin like one of the performers. It was so cute that I just had to take a video of it.

Samantha saw what I was doing and wanted to get in on it as well, so she also had to get in on the action of playing stick violin. At the end of this video, they are both playing together, and you can see the dancers in the background.

After awhile Owen was getting pretty antsy and wanted to get into things that he shouldn't, so Ben offered to push him around the park in the stroller, to give me a break, and to give Owen a change of scenery. Well, it didn't take very long before he sent me this picture of Owen fast asleep in the stroller, leaned up against the front bar. I couldn't believe he actually fell asleep like that, but I guess after only napping half an hour all day, it doesn't take much to put you to sleep. He slept like this for quite awhile, really until we started getting things packed up and ready to go back home. Poor little guy, I felt bad that he was so tired, but I just could not get him to take a decent nap that day.

Thursday was another day much like the rest of the week. Aedan went to VBS, Samantha went to musical theater camp, and I hung out with Owen. That afternoon Ben volunteered to come home and be with the kids while I attended a women's Bible study out at Brimley State Park. I was going to take the kids with me, especially since Owen hasn't been napping anyways, but Ben knew I had had a long day with the kids on Wednesday while he was gone, and he wanted me to be able to enjoy my time without having to deal with a cranky baby. Samantha was still at her camp until 3:00, so I wouldn't have been able to take her anyways since the Bible study went from 2:00-4:00. I will plan on taking them with me next time since they provide childcare.

It was getting to be a pretty warm day outside, so once Owen was up from his nap (of course Ben had to sit with him again to get him to nap), they spent quite a bit of time outside. Here are a couple pictures Ben sent me of Owen swinging and the big kids in their bathing suits, enjoying the water in the kiddie pool. They got out our water guns from our Virginia vacation, and they soaked up water from the pool to spray each other and anything else that looked interesting in the yard. I love our house, the yard, and the location. It is so wonderful to have a back yard to play in. The kids love our back yard and spend hours playing and coming up with imaginary games. Owen is also starting to enjoy being outside more. He loves to swing and being out on the grass or bear crawling across the ground or pavement doesn't bother him at all. In fact, when he hears Samantha and Aedan playing in the back yard, he makes a beeline for the patio door so that he can pull up on the screen door and make loud squawks at his older brother and sister. He doesn't understand why we don't just let him go out in yard with them all the time. :)

Thursday evening was bath/shower night, and after Samantha was done in the shower and was dressed in her matching pajamas with Kit, she got all cuddled up on the couch to read a book with her. I asked her if she was reading it out loud, and Samantha said, "No, Kit can read what's in my mind." She was too cute sitting on the couch with her doll, so I snapped a couple pictures of them together.

Friday, June 29th was Engineer's Day, which is a pretty big deal in Sault Ste. Marie. It's the only day of the year where the public is allowed to go over the locks and tour the buildings. There are thousands of people that come to Sault Ste. Marie every year for this. We missed it last year since we were on vacation, so we definitely wanted to go this year. However, with Aedan going to VBS and Samantha going to musical theater camp, they were going to be gone part of the day on Friday. We did decide to take Samantha for a little while after we dropped Aedan off at 9:00 and before she had to be at camp at 10:00. However, there was a pretty long line to get in, so she didn't get to do much except for get herself these pretty cookies shaped like Michigan and go through an obstacle course bounce house.

While Ben walked over to drop Samantha off, I walked with Owen over to the fountain area to give him a chance to crawl around. Isn't his bear crawl just great? He knows it's better to do it that way then to scrape his knees up on the ground. He so desperately wanted to get to those water fountains. He loves water, maybe even more than Samantha did, and she's always been our little fish.

Once Ben came back to the locks, we walked around, just the three of us, and it was kind of strange only having Owen. It was a flashback to our early days when we just had Samantha. Life was much simpler (and quieter) then. We were able to push Owen around in the stroller and when he got tired, I put him in the Ergo, covered up his little head, and walked around, patting his bottom until he fell asleep. Especially with how hard it has been to get him to nap, I wasn't too concerned about being out over nap time that day. Here are a couple pictures of my boy and me. :)

After walking around the locks for awhile, we headed back to where Aedan had VBS so we could watch him perform the songs he had been learning all week. He was so excited to be able to perform for us, and I love that he was standing right up in the front. He did such a great job singing and doing the motions. I think this little boy is starting to come out of his shell more now. I'm glad to see him more confident and willing to try new things on his own. "My Lighthouse" was definitely one of his favorite songs to sing.

Here are some other videos of the songs from VBS:

After watching Aedan perform, the church provided lunch for all the kids and their families, and Aedan was very excited about staying for hot dogs, chips, and ice cream. Then, we took Aedan to the Coast Guard open house for a little while because we knew he would enjoy looking at and sitting in all the vehicles and boats. It was a hot and sunny day, and was going to get up to the lower 90s, so we didn't want to spend too long outside, but we also wanted Aedan to be able to enjoy himself. Here are some pictures of Aedan from the open house.

And here's little Owen hanging out in his stroller. I tried my best to keep him in the shade as much as possible. He was a pretty happy kid, even though it was pretty hot.

When we got back home, Ben and I worked together to get our air conditioner hooked up in the living room. With how hot it was going to be over the next week, we knew we would want the air conditioner going. Plus, we figured at some point we would end up having the kids sleep in the basement when it got too hot upstairs. The air conditioner worked great at taking the humidity out of the air, and we even got a stand fan to help circulate the air. I wasn't looking forward to the heat, but I was so glad we purchased the air conditioner last fall and that we had basement to hang out in as well.

We enjoyed playing outside in the shade of the back yard that evening together. I filled up the water table for Owen to play with, although he was more interested in chewing on the little balls, trying to help his top lateral incisors break through the skin.

Samantha's first performance of Willy Wonka Jr. was that Friday night at 7:00, and we decided Ben would go Friday night and I would take Aedan on Saturday afternoon. Samantha was so excited for her first performance, although she did admit that she was a little nervous as well. She was even excited about me putting her stage make-up on before she left and couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror. Ben said that you could tell she really enjoyed it. He even took her out for ice cream afterwards to celebrate. Here are some pictures and videos from that evening's performance.

Even Friday afternoon, Owen wouldn't stay asleep unless someone was holding him, so Ben sat down with him. He slept peacefully on his chest for a long time, but he wasn't interested in being laid down at all. I felt bad that he was stuck down in his room again, but it seemed like he was so good at getting Owen to sleep like that. I never seemed to be able to do that with Owen because it seemed like as soon as I sat down in the rocking chair, he would wake up and start squirming around. Ben must be able to hold him in a better way that allows him to be more comfortable than I can. On Friday night, we decided to keep the big kids in their rooms because it wasn't too uncomfortable yet. Especially with Owen waking up crying multiple times a night, we didn't want them to get woken up more because of him. By 11:30 that night he had already woken up five times, and Ben and were so tired of having to deal with him waking up so much at night.

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day for us. We didn't have any plans in the morning, and Owen ended up sleeping in until almost 9:00 that morning because of how much he was awake during the night. I took Samantha and Aedan on a few errands that morning, one being stopping at our local Family Video store to set up an account and let them pick out some free kids' movies to watch in the coming week. Then, we had lunch and got Samantha ready for her second performance of Willy Wonka Jr. Aedan came with me to this performance, and he was excited to get some popcorn and watch his sister perform.

Samantha was a squirrel in the nut factory, and I loved watching her. She was so expressive and so attentive to what was going on on the stage. She knew her part well and was a leader in her group. In fact, I think she even knew most of the words to the songs and even some of the lines other people were responsible for, after only one week at acting camp. I was so proud of her, and I feel like she was definitely in her element. I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear when watching her perform. A good friend of ours told us how well she did and made the comment, "I think she has a promising career ahead of her!" We will definitely have to let Samantha do more of these shows through the theater. She enjoyed herself immensely and was glad to have Aedan and I there, plus Miss Linda from church. Here are some pictures and videos of her Saturday afternoon performance. :) My little girl is getting so big and grown-up. I love watching her personality and interests develop as she learns what she likes and what she's good at.

Here's my little squirrel posing for a picture next to Charlie after her performance was over. I surprised her with a bouquet of flowers, too, which she couldn't wait to display in her room. :)

(Blog about June 24-30, 2018)

Our Toll Family Vacation to Niagara Falls

Samantha: 85 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 4
Owen: 9 Months, Week 1 (Week 40)

Our first day of vacation started off well, with Owen even giving us the present of a good night's sleep. We weren't sure how he was going to do with just getting over his ear infection and still recovering from the bad diaper rash, but on Saturday into Sunday, he woke up a couple of times at the beginning of the night and just needed to be resettled for a few minutes, probably because he woke up and looked around, noticing he was in a different place. Then, he woke up at about 2:50, and I was about to go in and get him, but he stopped and went back to sleep on his own, then sleeping until after 7:00, so he kind of slept through the night, which was a great start to our trip.

Sunday, June 17th was our first full day of vacation in Niagara Falls. It was supposed to be the hottest day of our vacation, so we planned to head out pretty quickly in the morning and head over to the American side of the water falls to walk on some shorter trails, take a trolley to a few different stops, and check out the Discovery Center, before heading back to the house for the hot part of the afternoon.

It took a little bit of time to cross over the bridge and get through customs to the American side. Owen was due for a nap, so I was able to rock his car seat back and forth and get him to sleep for at least a little while. We knew nap time would be all mixed up during our vacation, and that was okay. Samantha and Aedan enjoyed looking out the windows at the falls as we crossed over Rainbow Bridge, and we got to see quite a few helicopters flying overhead as well.

Once we crossed over and found parking, I volunteered to stay in the car with Owen to see if he would continue napping for awhile. Unfortunately, he woke up from the commotion of Samantha and Aedan getting out of the car, so I took the opportunity to nurse him before getting him out and situated in the stroller. We walked out to Terrapin Point to see this view of the Horseshoe Falls. It was amazing to be able to stand at the edge of the falls and watch the water rushing over the edge. The power of the waterfalls is incredible.

I was able to capture this beautiful picture of a rainbow arching over the water.

Sunday the 17th was not only our first day of vacation, but it was also Father's Day and the day Owen turned 9 months old. Since we were out of town, I didn't make a sign or go overboard with pictures like I usually do, but here are some  great pictures of Daddy with his little 9 month old on Father's Day. :) It's hard to believe this little guy has now been out of my tummy for as long as he was in my tummy. He's getting so big, so fast, learning and exploring more of his world every day. He loves interacting with people and is such a happy, easygoing boy when he is awake. Sometimes I wish he would sleep more or be more consistent in his daytime and nighttime sleep, but he just seems to be much more sensitive to things than his siblings. Being sick and teething really throw him for a loop. He still does not take a pacifier at all or a bottle very well. He prefers to be held up on your shoulder and walked around/bounced to fall asleep, and he doesn't fall asleep in his crib on his own. He still nurses pretty well, about 5 times during the day and an average of two times a night, depending on how often he wakes up. He eats baby cereal mixed with milk for breakfast, and two jars of baby food for lunch and two jars of baby food for dinner. We have just recently started giving him puffs and melts to get him practicing his pincer skills and to give him more variety in his food. Samantha and Aedan definitely love to make him laugh and are enjoying that he is becoming more fun to play with, even if that means he is getting into more stuff as well. Now that he has mastered pulling up and standing, that is by far his favorite activity. He will pull himself up on anything and can even stand up with only supporting himself with one hand. He is much more physically active than his older siblings at 9 months, and we expect he will be walking sometime this summer. He is definitely a joy to have as part of our family. His cute dimples when he smiles just do me in every time.

Here are some other pictures from the American side of the falls as we walked around, crossing over to Goat Island and getting different views of the falls and the water leading up to the falls.

This is a view looking out over the American Falls.

And this is the outlook looking to the bottom of the falls. You can see the people down on the walkways below getting a close-up view of the falls.

It was amazing just to watch the water rushing over the edge and to hear the roar of the water crashing down below. God and His Creation are mighty and powerful.

The state park had a trolley you could ride around to various stops throughout the park. We took advantage of it a few times, and the kids thought it was pretty fun to ride on the trolley together. Here are all the cousins (and me) together, enjoying the first day at Niagara Falls. It's so fun to be able to have these experiences together every summer.

One of the trolley stops was at Three Sisters Islands and gave you a cool perspective of the Niagara River before it flowed around the bend and over the falls.

By that time it was getting close to lunch time, so we took the trolley to a visitor center where they had food to eat, and then took another trolley to the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center. They had some exhibits for the kids to look at, as well as short movie about the history of Niagara Falls. It was pretty hot outside, so we took advantage of sitting inside an air conditioned building for awhile. By this point Owen was getting pretty tired and was ready for a nap. I put him in the Ergo and tried to just bounce him around in the back of the theater, but he was too distracted by the movie and the noise, so I had to take him out and walk around with him for awhile. He fell asleep on me in the Ergo, and I just walked around and looked at the exhibits while he slept peacefully on my chest.

Here are the kids posing for pictures inside the Discovery Center.

We got back to the house mid-afternoon, and I nursed Owen and tried to lay him down for another short nap since he hadn't slept very long that day. However, he was not interested in falling asleep with me, so I sent Ben back upstairs to see if he would have any better luck. He got him back to sleep, but he wasn't able to lay him down, so he just sat with him and let him sleep on him for a little while. In the meantime, I was out on the front porch with the big kids. We are continuing to not make Aedan nap because it helps him sleep so much better at night. He can handle being awake, and it is helping prepare him for afternoon preschool in the fall. Here they are doing their super hero poses for Papa and me. Aedan is Wolverine. (He found those sticks and Ema and Papa's house back in May, and he was sure to ask them to bring them along. They are pretty good Wolverine claws.) Alaina was Deadpool, and I forget what Samantha was, some made up character that flies.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent cooling off by swimming in the pool and then doing bath time and bed time. We had gotten pretty well settled in the house, and all the sleeping arrangements were working pretty well. It was a bit warm on the top floor where we were sleeping, but I covered up the windows with some blankets to keep the hot sun out, we kept the fan going and the door closed, and tried our best to keep the cool air in and the warm air out.

Monday was a bit of a frustrating day for me because I somehow dumped my contacts in the sink the night before and didn't notice it until several hours later when they had already dried up and hardened to the side of the sink. They were torn and I could no longer wear them. I wasn't too excited about having to wear my glasses the rest of the trip, so while Owen was taking a morning nap at the house, I called my eye doctor and the vision center at Walmart, trying to figure out if I could transfer my prescription there and get a pair of contacts to hold me over until I got back home. It seemed like it would work, and I could stop by later that day to get a pair, so luckily, I only had to wear my glasses for one day. Next time, I will remember to bring a back-up pair of contacts.

Our plan for Monday was to use some of our Adventure Pass that we got for activities on the Canadian side. We walked along the sidewalk that goes right along the falls, making our way to the visitor centre where we would pick up our passes. As we walked, we got some beautiful views of the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls.

Here's a video of the one of the tour boats going into the falls. It's amazing how loud the sound of the rushing water is.

Here's a cute family picture with the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in the background.

Here's another video of the Horseshoe Falls and then panning downstream to the American Falls. The amount of mist off the water is incredible as well.

We decided to do the Journey Behind the Falls first that day, donning our plastic ponchos to help keep us dry, and waiting in a little bit of a line to take the elevator down to the tunnels underneath the falls. Here are the three big kids in their rain gear and ready to get wet.

I had Owen in the Ergo so that he could go inside my poncho and stay a bit drier. This experience was so cool. We got to go right up next to the Horseshoe Falls, and the mist was blowing right on us. We all got pretty wet, but it felt pretty good to cool off in that way. Look how massive these waterfalls are!

There were a series of tunnels underneath the falls that you could walk through to see different vantage points, like this opening where the falls are rushing right over the edge. A kind lady offered to take a picture of the kids and me. They thought it was really cool watching the water rush over and splash through the hole at times.

We learned some interesting facts about Niagara Falls that day as well. For example, it has eroded quite a bit over the years, and we learned of a 7 year old boy named Roger Woodward who was in a boating accident, but was wearing a life jacket, and was swept over the falls and survived, which was just astounding to me that someone could survive the impact of falling that distance in combination with the power of the water, the current, and the rapids.

After going behind the falls, we had some lunch at a cafe in the Welcome Centre and waited for our time to go see the 4D movie called Niagara's Fury. Our time was around 2:30, and we had to take shelter under a canopy during some rain that came through. It felt like we were waiting for a long time, but the kids had a fun time chasing the seagulls around and watching them try to sneak off with people's food.

The movie Niagara's Fury started with a film, so we were in this large room waiting for it to start. Owen was definitely getting tired, and he was wanting to just get down and crawl around, so after we got his plastic poncho on him, we put him down on the ground, and off he went, crawling across the floor. It was hilarious to see this little baby crawling with this long poncho trailing off from behind. Aunt Jeni took a video, and I'm not sure I can post it, but here's a link to it: https://www.facebook.com/jeni.t.riley/videos/1967778079920306/

Once the movie started, Aunt Jeni offered to hold Owen for me, since I was carrying him earlier for his nap, and it didn't take long for the tired little boy to fall asleep on her shoulder. He even stayed asleep through the entire movie, even though it was loud, there were lights flashing, rain falling down on us, and water spraying up on us to simulate going over the falls. The kids really liked the movie, and they got really into it.

After the movie, since there was going to be rain in the forecast for much of the rest of the evening, we took the bus back to our house to hang out. I was able to go to Walmart and a pair of replacement contacts, we had dinner together, and then just had fun playing in the house together. We brought some toys along with us, as well as some Legos. Plus, the kids just had fun running around the old Victorian house and playing hide and seek.

It was going to be a beautiful day on Tuesday, with slightly cooler weather and no chance for rain, so we decided it would be a great day to go on the Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Aunt Jeni, Alaina, and our family took the bus down to the falls again to walk around and find out if we needed to reserve times for the boat ride. (Ben's parents went to a walk-in clinic that morning to have his poison ivy looked at.) The kids were getting a little antsy just walking around and waiting, but I was able to get Owen to take a nap in the Ergo, and I was able to get some more beautiful pictures of the falls with the sun shining down and a bright blue sky. The kids even found a tree with low-hanging branches that made it look like a cave on the inside. They played in there for quite awhile. Plus, we got some cute pictures of all of us together and of the kids.

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Aedan was tired that morning and was not wanting to participate in any pictures. Here he is sitting out on the side after we asked him to join us for a picture.

As a way to kill some more time, we took the bus up to Clifton Hill where we walked around for a little while before going to Wendy's to eat lunch and make plans to try to meet up with Ben's parents again. Our plan for the afternoon was to go on the boat ride that took you up into the falls. Here we are at the top of the falls where we enter for the boat ride.

Owen was tired again and ready for a nap, and since I was planning on carrying him on the boat anyways, I decided to put him in the Ergo and let him sleep. Even though it was pretty hot standing in the sun, he fell asleep pretty quickly and stayed asleep for most of the boat ride. Because he was asleep, I didn't want to stand outside in the wind and mist with everyone else because I knew that would just wake him up right away. Luckily, they had a protected area on the inside behind some glass so I was able to still see our family, even though I missed out on being out there with them.

Here are some pictures Ben took of the kids before the boat took off. Again, Aedan was not in the mood to smile at pictures that day.

Here's a picture I took of Ben standing next to Aedan and Samantha. They have their ponchos on and are poised at the front of the boat, ready to see the falls and get wet.

Aedan had a hard time seeing over the railing, so Ben had to lift him up a lot so that he could see.

Here we are approaching the Horseshoe Falls.

And here's a video of everyone getting wet as boat pulled up to the base of the falls, sitting there for awhile so everyone could see and feel the power of the falls and get soaked by the mist spraying up.

Owen was still asleep while we were inside the horseshoe, but woke up toward the end, so I came out and got a little bit of a glimpse of the falls as we were pulling away. Words don't do it justice, you can just look at the pictures and videos to see how amazing these falls are. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride.

Here are Owen and I on the boat once he woke up from his nap...

...and here are our three adorable kids, who all were wearing striped shirts, which we didn't plan, resting in the shade together. Samantha was glad to hold Owen for me for a little while.

And here's a couple pictures I took once we were done on the boat ride, showing another boat on the journey that we had just taken.

Going on the boat ride was really our only plan for the day, so we decided to head back to the house for some more swimming time. Having a pool in the back yard of the house was a definite bonus, and the kids loved playing around in the pool together. Even Owen seemed to enjoy floating around in the pool in his baby float. I decided to get my phone out that afternoon to take some pictures of everyone having fun in the pool.

After getting the kids cleaned up and dressed from swimming, Ben and I got dressed and ready ourselves, for he surprised me with plans to take me out to eat that evening. He talked to his family about taking care of the kids for us so we could enjoy a dinner out together, and I loved the surprise. It's fun to be able to take advantage of these times to get away. We tried out a small, local Italian restaurant that had pretty good reviews. We split a ravioli and risotto, and everything was very good. After feeling so busy and tired out from Owen being sick and not sleeping well, it was wonderful to be able to sit, relax, talk, and enjoy a meal together. It meant even more to me because Ben planned it without letting me know until that day. I enjoy surprise date nights. :)

Owen seemed to finally be getting better and recovering from his ear infection. We didn't have any nights where we had to be up with him for hours on end, trying to get him back to sleep or to stay asleep. However, he still was waking up a couple of times to nurse during the night. On Wednesday morning he was up at 6:30, and it was too bright out to convince him to go back to sleep that morning.

Our plans for Wednesday were to go to Niagara Glen to walk some trails through the woods and down by the water that is downstream from the falls. Ben's parents had gone on these trails before and said they were just beautiful. When we got there, Owen was getting ready for his morning nap, and I was planning on wearing him in the Ergo anyways, so we sprayed ourselves with bug spray and got ready for our hike. It really was beautiful on these paths, and the kids did a great job following the marked paths for the trails we wanted to go. They did an excellent job of staying on the path, as we warned them that there might be poison ivy off the path, and no one ever complained of being tired, and we hiked for probably about an hour. Owen slept comfortably in the Ergo, and the canopy of trees helped keep us in the shade and protected us from the rain shower that moved through the area. Here are some pictures from our hike through Niagara Glen.

Ben and I were at the back of the pack at one point, so I had him stop and take a picture of the two of us together, and you can see Owen's little head sticking out of the Ergo. :) I'm so glad I can still hold him like this and enjoy him napping on me.

We told each kid that they had to have an adult with them as they walked, so it was cute to see them trading partners so that everyone had a turn with Aunt Jeni, Ema, Papa, and Ben. (Owen was my partner the whole time, so I couldn't really help anyone else out.)

We took the trail all the way down to the water, and it was amazing how quickly the water was moving even this distance away from the falls.

There was a small nature center at the trail-head that we stopped in after our hike. The employees there were eager to talk to some visitors and even took the time to show the kids some rocks and fossils that they found over the years. In fact, there was even an area where they could examine rocks themselves to look for fossils. They had microscopes and magnifying glasses for the kids to use, and they were super excited to each find their own fossil that they were then allowed to take home with them.

Owen was happy to get down and crawl around. However, he's a smart boy and doesn't like the way the concrete bricks feel on his knees when crawling around, so he just started doing this bear crawl everywhere. It was cute to watch him get around and pull up on things. This little boy certainly wants to be on the move!

After that we took a short drive down the road to see the whirpool area where the water is pushed in a circular motion before continuing down the river.

While the adults were enjoying the view, the kids were getting a little antsy, so I decided to spin Aedan around for a little while. Ben captured our little moment on video. Samantha wanted me to do it to her as well, but she is much too heavy and tall to swing by the arms. However, I was able to hold her under her arms and swing her around for a little while, but I don't think she thought that was as much fun. Aedan loved spinning in circles and would have been willing to do it much longer than I was able to.

Our next stop was the last thing on our Adventure Pass called the White Water Walk. We stopped and ate our picnic lunch outside before taking the elevator down to the boardwalk that followed along the white water rapids downstream from the falls. Again, it was amazing how quickly the water was moving past us. Goes to show you again just how powerful the Niagara Falls are.

Here's a great picture of Daddy with his three kids. Aedan actually smiled at the camera, and they are all looking!

They had a couple different walkways that went right down by the water and the water would splash up every once in awhile, getting unsuspecting visitors all wet. Samantha and Alaina stood at the corner, wanting so badly to be splashed by the water. They did get wet a little bit, but not as much as Ema and Papa did when they stood up on the edge of one look out and got splashed from behind!

It was already after 1:30 at that point, our kids were getting tired, and we had plans for the kids to go back to the house and take naps that afternoon so we could take them out to the fireworks at 10:00 that night. The kids all took pretty good naps that afternoon, even Owen who slept for about 2 1/2 hours without us having to go into his room. It was nice break time for the adults, and it was going to be much better for everyone in staying out late that night for fireworks.

After dinner, as a way to pass the time until we were going to leave, we went out into the back yard to play. I bought some bubbles for the kids, and Owen enjoyed crawling around the yard and trying to catch the bubbles, too.

Then, once the bugs started to come out and kids grew aimless, we went back into the house to play. The girls and even Aedan decided to play beauty parlor and do everyone's hair, even Ema and Papa. I don't have permission to post the pictures of their hair-dos, but I don't think Ben will mind. His was the tamest hairstyle anyways. They were having so much fun putting clips and rubber bands in everybody's hair, and they were very proud of their creations.

After I got Owen to bed that night, we got the big kids ready and left to go see the fireworks over Niagara Falls. We drove to a parking lot that was a little bit closer downtown, and then walked a little ways down the hill towards the falls. On our quest to find some coffee for the grown-ups, we stumbled upon these fountains with colored lights, and the kids were pretty mesmerized watching them for awhile.

Seeing the falls at night were definitely worth keeping the kids up for. They project lights onto them and the colors change, definitely making it a sight to behold. Aren't they just beautiful?! It was so fun for Ben and I to come back to the place we spent some time at on our honeymoon almost 12 years ago.

After walking along and looking at the water for awhile, we went across the street, got some coffee and Timbits for the kids, and then found this spot to sit to watch the fireworks. The kids ran around in the grass for awhile, doing their best to keep themselves awake as it was approaching 10:00. Here are some great pictures of Aunt Jeni, the three big kids, and me while we waited for the fireworks to start.

As I took a video of the fireworks, I also captured this great moment where Ben went to sit next to Alaina, who was looking a little worried about the fireworks. Samantha and Aedan were so excited to see the fireworks that night. We could hear the booms every night at 10:00 from our vacation house, and the kids were so excited to finally see them in person.

After a late night on Thursday, and being up with Owen twice during the night, we had a little more of a relaxed morning on Thursday. Our plan was to go to Clifton Hill and enjoy some of the more touristy attractions of Niagara Falls. The kids saw the SkyWheel (a large ferris wheel) and were very interested in trying that out, so we got tickets for that as our first thing that morning. The girls rode with Aunt Jeni, and Ben and I rode with Aedan and Owen. Our little cabins were air-conditioned, and it felt pretty nice inside. We got a really nice view of the falls and the surrounding area from up above, and I think we did six or seven rotations, so it was more of a ride than I thought we would get. The kids really liked it, and even Owen seemed interested in looking out through the windows. Here are some pictures from our ride on the SkyWheel. I'm so glad that we were blessed with such good weather so we could enjoy all these activities in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

After our ride on the SkyWheel, Owen was definitely getting tired and ready for a nap. We wanted to play Dinosaur Mini-golf, and Aunt Jeni lovingly offered to take Owen for me so that I could play mini-golf with the kids, Ben, and Ema, without having to lug Owen around in the Ergo as well. She is so good with him, and he loves to hang out with her and take naps on her chest. She said it wasn't very long before he fell asleep on her once they got in the shade.

The rest of us had a blast playing mini-golf on the dinosaur course. There even was a pretend volcano in the middle that would burst out fire every few minutes or so. We played the easier side of the course, which allowed the kids to be much better at hitting the ball and having success. Samantha and Alaina got pretty good at their strokes, standing in the correct position, and aiming toward where they wanted the ball to go. Aedan didn't care too much about doing it the right way, and he was perfectly fine with knocking it along like he was a hockey player hitting a puck. Here is a video from one of our holes. We definitely had a fun morning doing some more kid-friendly activities.

After playing mini-golf, we went across the street to a family restaurant for lunch and some air conditioning, before walking back down to the falls. This was our last full day at Niagara Falls, and we wanted to squeeze every last drop out of our day together on family vacation. We walked down to a little park area where the big kids ran around in the gardens, and Owen had a chance to crawl around in the grass and tackle Aedan.

We had all done a lot of walking already that day, but we wanted to walk along the sidewalk by the falls one more time. Even though it was pretty hot and sunny, the kids were troopers, and I even got Owen to take a nap in the Ergo as we walked around. I think Ben said we walked over five miles that last day. Here are my last pictures of Niagara Falls from that afternoon. I was always amazed and how blue-green the water was. This was definitely a beautiful location for a family vacation, and I enjoyed our time together so much.

We also got these great family pictures of us with both falls in the background. Everyone is looking at the camera, and everyone is smiling. I just love them! I feel like this first one if frame-worthy. :)

And here is a cute one of Samantha and Alaina. They are best friends, and I know one of Samantha's favorite parts of vacation is simply being with Alaina for a whole week. These girls are so good for each other, and it has been such a joy to watch them grow up together. As the day progressed, Samantha got more and more sad because she knew vacation was almost over, and she didn't want to leave family and go back home. I tried to cheer her up and encourage her to enjoy the time we had left together, rather than thinking about being apart.

We also walked a bit further down from the falls so we could go to the Hershey store. Everyone got a treat to eat, and most of the grown-ups chose a delicious chocolate milkshake. It was the perfect cold treat for a hot afternoon.

Once we made the long trek all the way back to the house that afternoon, we decided to do one last swim in the back yard pool before spending our last evening together. Ben and I did a little bit of work gathering up some stuff to start packing, but we mostly enjoyed just hanging out and talking with his family.

Friday morning, once all our stuff was packed up and loaded in the car and all the rooms were checked and checked again, we left for the drive back home. We had plans to stay at a hotel part of the way there so we didn't have to do the whole 8 hour drive in one day. We left around 10:00, Owen took a nap in the car while we drove, while the big kids enjoyed some down time playing with toys, and we were lucky to not have much of a drive to cross back over to the U.S. at Port Huron. Here is Owen blowing bubbles in the car as we waited to go through customs.

We stopped at the same Chipotle in London that we stopped on our way up. We just can't resist eating at one of our favorite restaurants, although this time we got a burrito bowl for the kids to split because they get so much more food than ordering separate kid's meals. Plus, a kid's meal is not enough for Samantha anymore. Here are our three wild and precious kiddos after lunch that afternoon. It was such a fun week of family time, and I am always sad to see vacation come to an end as well.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw, Michigan, using points from our credit card to get two adjoining rooms. That works out really well, giving everyone the space they need to sleep well. The hotel had a pool, too, which is really what the kids care about. We arrived a little after 4:00, got ourselves situated in the hotel room, and then went out to dinner at a Pizzeria Uno that was right across the street. Again, we took advantage of our chance to eat deep dish pizza, food that we don't have anywhere near where we live. The kids ate well, giving them the opportunity to go back to the hotel and swim before bed time. We even took Owen this time, and he enjoyed floating around the pool in his little baby float.

As I mentioned earlier, Owen had been doing fairly well with sleeping at night while we were on vacation, but maybe that was because he was out all day in the sun and got tired out from all our activity. I think there were only a couple of days he actually took a nap in his pack and play at the house. Well, on Thursday into Friday he surprised us with a really good night, sleeping from when I put him down at 8:30, all the way until 5:30 in the morning. Then, I was able to nurse him again and he went back to sleep until almost 7:00, which was a really good night for us. Friday night at the hotel, however, was not as good. I got him to sleep a little earlier, since he hadn't napped much that day in the car, and he was asleep in his pack and play in the bathroom by 8:00. He woke up at about 12:20, and I changed and fed him and he went back to sleep fairly easily. Then, at about 4:30 in the morning, I woke up because the power had gone off in the hotel, so none of the monitors or fans or sound machines were working anymore. I knew it was only a matter of time before Owen and the other kids woke up from the change. I was hoping and praying that it would turn back on soon, but it wasn't seeming likely. Ben tried to get Owen back to sleep once he woke up, but he wasn't having it, so I ended up having to nurse him again to get him to relax enough to fall back asleep. Ben ended up finding a white noise sound on his phone that he played in the bathroom for Owen the remainder of the night. I went into the kids' room to go to the bathroom and check on them. I knew Samantha wouldn't be able to see to go to the bathroom, and I could tell that she was awake, so I helped her go to the bathroom before tucking her back in bed and emphasizing the fact that it was still the middle of the night and she needed to go back to sleep, even though it was weird with the power out. The power didn't turn back on until about 7:30 in the morning.

After that rough and abrupt awakening in the middle of the night, we knew everyone would be tired on Saturday morning. We had thought about going somewhere, like a local zoo, but it was going to be a rainy morning, and we were all just ready to get back home. We had three and a half hours of driving left, so not a bad trip for the day. We got back mid-afternoon, and it was so good to be home, for the kids to play in their own environment, and to get back to our own beds. I love vacation, don't get me wrong, for traveling is one of my favorite things to do, but it's also nice to be home.

(Blog about June 17-23, 2018)