Our Kelley's Island "Becation"

We just got home from a few days up at Kelley's Island (or, our "becation" as Finn would say :). It was the perfect getaway and everyone had a blast. We did have some highs and lows (I think this comes with the territory when you take a one-year-old and a two-year-old on vacation), but overall it was a great trip. We stayed in a VERY old VERY big farmhouse that was just about a block away from the water. The house was huge for just the four of us, which made for some fun exploring and running around for the kids. In fact, Finn spent a fair portion of the trip riding his bike around the first floor of the place :). While the house was fun for exploring, it wasn't quite childproof (cans of Raid and tons of cleaning chemicals in all of the cabinets, a staircase that was like climbing a ladder at a 90 degree angle, a microwave perched on a wobbly cart just at Mitch's eye level, and a shower that you needed to wear flip flops in because it may never have been cleaned). All of these things made the house even more appealing to the little guys - they seemed to love running from room to room, pushing the microwave buttons, climbing the stairs, etc. They have never been happier...in fact, every time we were out, Finn would ask, "are we going back to the becation house yet?" The house also had the BEST front porch ever and a great big yard for baseball and running around. The TV only got one channel, which was actually awesome because Drew and I just sat out on the front porch and talked for hours every night after the kids went to bed, which was probably my favorite part of the trip.

"O'Boyle's Retreat"

Mitchie enjoying a beverage on the front porch

This is one of my favorite pics of the vacation - this was right when we arrived at the house

Mitch's favorite spot - the teetering microwave cart...

Finn's favorite spots - on his bike riding around the kitchen

and on the disconnected phone in the kitchen, calling Grandma and Papa and Yaya.

Drew and Mitch on the ferry to Put-in-Bay

During our day at Put-in-Bay, we saw Perry's Cave, the Butterfly House, and played a round of putt putt. It was Finn's first time playing and he LOVED it!

"Mom, is this where the butterflies take a bath?"

Golf cart cruising at Put-in-Bay

A quick spin on the merry go round

More golf cart cruising on Kelley's Island: our favorite vacation pastime :)

Checking out the glacial grooves. Finn was totally fascinated by this, which is really weird because he obviously has no idea what a glacier is. He asked hundreds (literally) of questions about this, mostly about when it happened. He was floored that it had happened before he was born. The whole way home on the golf cart he asked, "It was before dad was born? Before Grandma was born? And Papa? Before Mitchie was born?" Drew told him he would give him a glacier tutorial when we got home using a rock and an ice cube and I was actually unable to answer most of the questions he had about glaciers, so we don't have high hopes for his future as a geologist:)

Squeezing in a quick game of pajama baseball before bed :)

Drew and Mitch taking a little cruise on the raft

Happy Mitch with a full tummy

Finn watching boats from our table at dinner

Another round of putt putt :) Drew hit two holes-in-one on this course - there was a lot of celebration, as you can imagine. I hit one too - putting with only one hand because I was holding Finn's ice cream. Pretty impressive, don't you think? :)

Throwing a few last rocks in the water as we waited for the ferry home

Other Pictures

These pics wouldn't come up when I tried loading them onto the last post, so here they are now! :)

Finn in the buff playing in the sprinkler with his Thomas the Train umbrella

Mitchie doing his favorite outdoor activity: standing precariously on the rocking chair and rocking himself back and forth at top speed almost hitting his face on the back of the chair (this whole scene happens at least once a day:)

The Heffron boys

Walking and Talking!

Our little Mitchie seems to be in the midst of a HUGE growth spurt: learning to walk in the matter of one day and now picking up new words at the speed of light! Not much of what he says would be intelligible by anyone but me and Drew, but these word approximations are ones he makes very consistently and while gesturing toward what he's talking about (or he'll say them while we're reading books). Today we went down to look at the boat and he was pointing at all of the boats on the river saying "bo! bo!" He is constantly standing under the guitar that hangs on the wall pointing and saying "tah!" Tonight, as we were reading a book about trains he was imitating "choo choo!" and "a bo!" (all aboard!). He says "a do!" (all done) when he's finished eating. He's also doing a lot of signing for words that he can't say: more, all done, water, eat, bath.

He is really into singing and dancing, especially while playing the guitar and the piano. You can tell that he's singing and not just making his usual noises and squeals...lots of "oooooooh"s and "oh"s. :) If a song comes on tv or on a commercial, he just stands in the middle of the room doing his "moves" as Finn calls them. Usually waving one hand around while doing some knee bends. He often does a "move" where he puts one hand on his back or butt while doing his little knee bends. It's so stinking cute I can't even stand it. He loves the barn magnet toy on the refrigerator because he can play some tunes any time he wants to turn out some new dance moves! :) Sometimes he gets in the mood to give kisses, which are usually VERY wet and with a lot of open mouth action. He makes the sound "mmmmm-uh" as he leans in with either his forehead (to receive a kiss) or his drooling mouth (to give one to you). He likes to play with toy cell phones and holds them up to the back of his head saying "oh?" (hello?). He also likes to try to put on shoes, hats, sunglasses and any other clothes he finds lying around. He entertains Finn with how he puts them on (e.g. a hat over his face, sunglasses on the top of his head, flip flops around his legs).

Finn is also picking up a lot of new words and phrases lately. He often tells me that things are "gorgeous!" or "beautiful!" We rode our bikes into Erin and Tom's neighborhood the other night and as we rode onto their street, he said, "Mom! This is so beautiful!" like he had never been there before. When he's getting dressed, he usually ends up with both legs in one leg of his shorts and he doesn't really know how to tell me what's wrong, so he says, "um, this doesn't sound right mom!" He's been telling us that he's "scared of bugs lately" and asking me (sometimes in the correct context, sometimes it making no sense at all): "does that seem right?" or "does that make sense?" when we're just chatting. He is getting SO good at riding his bike with training wheels - which was a struggle at the beginning of the summer (telling us he was too scared to do it). Now he gets going really fast and I have to walk fast to keep up with him, which makes for a much more pleasant walk than me dragging the bike home while pushing Mitch in the stroller. Last night, he went for a little boat ride with Drew and came home more happy and excited than I've ever seen him. He came running upstairs yelling, "MOM! MOM! We went to the magoon!" talking about the Clifton Lagoon. He must have said the word "magoon" 1500 times before he finally went to bed. We have a long weekend at Kelley's Island planned for later in August and every day he asks me, "Mom? Are you excited to go to Kelley's Island?" then he'll say, "Let's talk about it. What should we bring? Let's bring watermelon." It's literally this same quote every day. We're going camping for our anniversary on Labor Day weekend with the kids and he also asks about that all the time. He says, "What should we bring camping? A trumpet, a trombone, and a drum." Not quite sure where that came from, but he tells me this every day. He also asks me to tell him the story about "the boy who went camping", which is a version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" that I made up myself. :) It's about a boy who goes camping and cries in his tent every night (Finn has been doing a lot of whining and crying about bedtime lately) and it scares all the other campers because they think he must be "sick or hurt" (Finn says this line for me when I tell the story) but really he's "just fine". So finally, when the boy falls off his bike and gets hurt at the campground, everybody thinks he's faking. Don't worry, the boy's mom comes and finds him and puts band aids on his boo boos. But the little boy never cries at bedtime again. He wants me to tell this one every night at bedtime. When we go on bike rides with the boys in the trailer, Mitch has a hard time not poking and touching Finn since they're sitting so close to each other. So usually, the whole time I'm riding or running I hear "No Mitch! Hands to self! I need some space!" because this is what I taught him to say when Mitch is being too rough. It doesn't work, but is extremely entertaining! :)

Mitch checking out the river on a hike through the Metroparks. He was signing water as soon as he got close enough to see it!

Here's Mitchie learning to use a spoon (as you'll notice, practice with the spoon takes place outside:)

We took a little day trip out to Vermilion for a beach day yesterday. The boys had a blast and so did we! It was like a mini-vacation!

Mitch spent most of the morning filling up his bucket with rocks and intermittently tasting the rocks.

Finn pointing out the boats to Mitch while they had their snack

A miracle picture where both kids are still, looking at the camera, and smiling? Amazing!

Walking Baby!

Today I can officially say that Mitchie is a walker! He's been walking around the living room all day (before now, only taking one or two steps at a time)! I'm so proud of him and he thinks it's hilarious! :)

Finn and Max creating masterpieces!

You have to be quiet and gentle. There are a lot of locusts. Oh! I caught one!