Lunch in Battle Creek

Yesterday was a fun day. Grandpa Brian, Aunt Amy, and Amy's friend, Heather, came up to visit us after church. We were going to have lunch at the Waldorff in Hastings, but when we got there, we found out it was closed due to an employee picnic. We were disappointed, because we love the Waldorff, but we ended up having more fun at the place we ended up going anyway. We decided to drive to Battle Creek and look for a restaurant there. We ate at a place called Clara's on the River. The outdoor seating is right next to the Battle Creek river. After we ate, we walked around the park area next to the river. It was a beautiful day.

Here are a few pics.

Outside church. Lena suddenly discovered that the basement window wells make the perfect seat for her. It worked out just fine until she decided to stand up. She hit her head on the siding and had the most surprised look on her face! Then she turned around and looked at it as if to say, "What did I ever do to you?"

With Aunt Amy and Heather looking at the pretty river.

Jim and his dad shooting the breeze.

The Battle Creek River in downtown Battle Creek. We had never actually been to Battle Creek before. We just pass through the outskirts on our way to I-94.

The restaurant. We ate inside because we had the buffet.

A nice family pic.

Heather, Brian, and Amy with Lena.

Lena trying to go for a swim. The railings on the fence are much too far apart. Lena got her head through them easily. Scary!

Taking a stroll with Daddy.

Chatting with Grandpa.

Happy girl.

Thanks so much to Brian, Amy, and Heather for coming to visit us. We had a really great time! And thanks to Brian for a delicious lunch. We enjoyed it very much.

Heritage Day

Saturday was Middleville's Heritage Day celebration. It was bigger than usual this year because Middleville is celebrating 175 years. They had more events downtown and at the local parks than in previous years and the parade was considerably longer too.

Lena's buddy Rebecca spent the night with us the night before and spent the day with us on Saturday. Lena loved having Rebecca around to play with and Rebecca loved playing with Lena. And I loved having the help! It was a win-win-win!

Lena and Rebecca playing at home Friday evening. Lena loved it when Rebecca hung her upside-down.

Peek-a-boo!

Our parade float.

Our church hosted the tractor show again this year.

They were mostly John Deeres, but I saw this one and took a pic for Grandpa Lee.

Hanging out. It was a beautiful day.

Have you ever seen a pastor in full pastor garb sitting on a tractor?

This picture didn't turn out well, but it's of Jim playing "air organ".

Rare evidence of me on the other side of the camera.

Lena's second ride on a parade float. Last year she fell asleep while we were lining up, and slept through the actual parade. She sat on Renee's lap and had fun waving to people and watching the bigger kids throw candy.

I was amazed to see all the people congregated downtown. Wow! I didn't know that many people lived in Middleville! :)

Riding on the tractor with Mr. Mitteer.

Mrs. Mitteer let her "steer" this parked tractor.

Our tent downtown. We sold cold drinks, homemade cupcakes, and church cookbooks. We also had a free craft table where kids could make magnets and necklaces.

We had fun talking with all of the people and eating yummy festival food. The new restaurant in town, The Big Easy, had pulled turkey sandwiches. And of course, we got our once a year elephant ear.

Lena got a bath when we got home and Rebecca offered to comb her hair. It's getting really long!

We really enjoyed Heritage Day this year. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the festivities. For a small town, Middleville is a fun place to live.

Labor Day Weekend

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you are all having a fun, relaxing weekend. We didn't have big plans this weekend, but we did have fun. Jim didn't have school on Friday, so we took the opportunity of his last Friday off to go do something fun together. Before Jim started teaching, we would often get out of the house and go somewhere on Fridays, his day off at church. We enjoy picking a town we have never been before and spending the day there. We haven't done as much of that this summer since we were so busy with traveling etc. So we decided to do that this Friday. We drove to Flint, which is about an hour and 45 minutes away. We spent most of our time shopping. Flint has the nearest Borders to us, so we went there. We ate lunch at a place called Rib City Grill.

Lena eating her "Dinosaur Nuggets." When Jim ordered them, he asked the waitress if they were actually chicken or if they were really made out of dinosaurs (trying to be funny). She didn't really seem to get it, as she didn't really know how to respond.

While shopping, we bought Lena a Spongebob doll and a Gary doll. For those of you lucky people who are not very well acquainted with Spongebob, Gary is Spongebob's pet. He is a snail, but meows like a cat. He is the underwater equivalent of a pet cat. So we have been teaching her to say "Gary" and "Spongebob." She does pretty well with Gary, saying it kind of like "Gay-ee." But for some reason, Spongebob comes out "Bob-o" everytime. Lena was cuddling with Gayee and Bob-o on the drive home.

On Saturday we took another mini-trip and drove to Plainwell. We used to go to Plainwell every so often when we lived in Wayland. They have a Super Walmart (there aren't many in our area, aka Meijerland) and Jim's favorite Goodwill store. We ate lunch at the Subway inside Walmart as we were waiting for our oil to be changed. Lena's kids meal came with stickers and since she was being fussy, Jim started putting them all over her arms.

It worked. She loved the stickers and didn't start peeling them off until we were almost home.

Daddy had lots of fun with the sticker placement. After we ate, I got a few grocery items and when we went through the check-out, the cashier asked Lena, "How are you today?" I said, "She's awesome!" I think that's pretty obvious!

Today we are just spending a nice day at home. Daddy's mowing the yard, I'm blogging, and Lena is having fun playing with her new toys. We got her a rocking horse at Goodwill that she just loves. Sometimes Daddy will try to rock the horse with his feet and she gets very upset. She gets off the horse, moves his feet out of the way, then gets back on. She is starting to get that very possessive streak that is common among toddlers.

She's got a bit of a runny nose, but I think it's due to two teeth that are coming in. Hopefully they will break through soon because we think they are giving her a bit of discomfort.

Also, I have posted our August pictures on Picasa. Click here to see them: Picasa Web Album: August 2009

Expect a lengthy post next weekend with lots of pics. Saturday is Middleville's Heritage Day and there will be lots of stuff going on. Have a good week!

Lena's 18 Month Check-Up

Today Lena had her 18 Month Well-Baby doctor's appointment. She had fun playing with this thing in the waiting room. A few minutes later some other kids came in and she played with them for a while.

The appointment went pretty well. She didn't have to get any shots this time. Here are her stats:

Head Circumference: 46 cm (50th percentile)

Weight: 24.2 lbs. (50th percentile)

Height: 34 inches (99th percentile)

So her proportions haven't changed in a year. Average head size and weight, and super tall. I am having trouble getting pants to fit her. She still wears quite a bit of 12 month clothes, but the pants are now too short. But the 18 month pants are so baggy around the waist that they practically fall off of her. She's been wearing 18 month dresses for a while now, and those work pretty well.

The doctor mentioned that the reason her belly button (aka "bee-bo") is so outie is because she has a tiny hernia. She said it's nothing to worry about and it isn't uncommon among toddlers. If it still present by the time she's three, then we'll look into fixing it.

Overall, it was a good visit. The doctor said Lena's physical and verbal development seem to be right on track. And now she doesn't have to go back until she's two years old.