Double JJ Resort Weekend

We had a lot of family fun this passed St. Patrick's Day weekend at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Michigan. I honestly was more than a little skeptical of this Groupon purchase and tried to keep my expectations low. We had a wonderful time and it was a great place to go as a family!

The boys have matching suits but you can't really tell. 

both boys LOVED the hotel room...and having us all together in the same place.

day 2 at the waterpark while Brian kept Declan. This is when Connor whispered in my ear, "I love our little family."

check out those rolls!

Declan is delighted by Connor and finds him hysterical!

coloring in Sally's craft room.

schedule of events for Saturday. We did most of them.

Brian and Connor coming out of one of the big slides!

a little roping lesson :)

Declan and I took a little snooze while the "big boys" were in the waterpark.

Waiting to get his face painted at Sally's.

always smiling

painted face AND a balloon sword!

Family bingo. Connor won laser tag, the duck race AND bingo!

checking his winning spaces!

nice face.

Brian won blackout bingo and Connor picked out a frisbee for his winnings.

A little line dancing. :)

Declan's favorite time...in the room.

brother love.

love this face!

A "Wanted" Family. 

Waiting in the freezing cold for a pony ride.

Connor said this looked like an apple core.

Connor and an Eeyore look-alike! 

After freezing for half an hour, this is the closest we could get Connor to the pony.

Beautiful Blue-eyed Boy - almost 5 months old

Bumbo Bath

I am way behind on pictures, but here are a few from tonight. Declan LOVES his bath, but he can't sit well enough and he is definitely too big for his bath chair/sling thingy. We normally just bathe him on the floor of the tub, but I thought he would like to sit up and take a bath in our big tub.

FYI, Bumbo's float....even with a kid in them. I was glad Connor was in the tub with him and definitely didn't take my eye off him for a second!

The things 4 year olds say....

I am trying to remember all the funny things Connor has said this week. There is seriously never a dull moment.

I think it was yesterday he was telling me not to dance again. (I very frequently just turn the TV to "todays country" station and will dance with Declan in the living room.) I told Connor that he didn't have to dance and that he didn't even have to watch me dance, but that I was going to continue to hold Declan and "bounce" to the music.

Connor: "Mom, this is a living room in a house, not a dancing place." I think that was his version of "we do not live in a club...stop dancing"

There are more...some that I told my mom...I need to get her to remind me.

Oh, and we left Connor alone in the living room with a Costco sized container of blueberries. Big mistake. He ate the entire thing in ONE SITTING. I was sure that he was going to have bathroom issues, but I guess he has some sort of super bowel because to my knowledge there were no digestive issues.

Dancing

I was just dancing in front of Declan on his carseat.

Connor is playing with his cars on the kitchen counter. He stops and says, "if you want to dance, please go in the living room."

Poor kid is embarrassed by singing and dancing!

"Bam Soup"

Connor has renamed Ramen Noodle Soup, "Bam Soup". He lovingly refers to hitting as "bamming". I'm not exactly sure when this started, but maybe with a Disney Christmas special called Prep & Landing. I don't remember the exact context, but one of the characters in the show said, "Jingle Bam"....I digress.

So, he told me he wanted "Bam Soup" the other day. I had no clue what he was talking about. During moments like these, I often have to step back and attempt to think like my 4 year old. He helped me out a little when he said, "yeah, mom...when we were making soup and you let me bam it first." A-ha! I let him break up the dried noodles before putting them in the boiling water.

I will never call them Ramen Noodles again. Bam Soup it is.

———

There are also "Bam Balloons": an awesome find at the Dollar Store with 4 in a pack. You "bam" the package and it expands until a tiny balloon explodes out of it. We got these for all of his classmates to put in their valentines....big hit for sure!!

Vacation

Connor watched Alvin & the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked 2 nights ago. Yesterday morning while taking him to school (late because the roads were so icy) he told me me he wanted to go on a big boat with rooms. He wants to sleep on it too...I'm assuming he means a cruise ship.

While I was making dinner yesterday evening, he asked -- oh so politely, if we could go on vacation after dinner.

Oh, I wish it was that simple, kiddo.

He is anxious to go to the beach (because of several books: Berenstain Bears Go On Vacation and Just me and my Grandma (Little Critter...they go to the beach). So, perhaps our next family vacation will be a cruise to the beach. Maybe next fall or winter....not wise to go on such a trip during the summer in Michigan.

I want to go on vacation after dinner too!

Family Skiing Attempt

I bought a Groupon for lift tickets & ski rental before Christmas. I've been so anxious to get Connor on the slopes to see how he did.

Well, it was 1/3 fun and 2/3 frustrating. :)

We went to Cannonsburg which is just 12 miles north of Grand Rapids on Saturday. Although Connor didn't wake up super early, we had no idea how tired he was until after.

I skied with Declan in the Ergo. He didn't make a peep and was all bundled up. Saying he had "fun" may be a bit of an overstatement, but I do think he enjoyed the fresh, cold air. I thoroughly enjoyed being back in skis, but with a first-timer on our hands, Brian and I didn't even make it to the chair lift. Instead, we tried to make sure Connor didn't fall on the "magic carpet".

I do think Connor had fun a few times. Next time, we will definitely sign him up for at least a few hours of "ski school" first. Getting up from falling was perhaps his biggest challenge and he also couldn't consistently snap his boots in his skis. He skied between my legs once and that was probably the most fun he had...hanging on to my pole that I held horizontally. That was probably quite a site to onlookers...me with Declan strapped to my chest and Connor between my knees! HA! Brian was teaching him to go side to side and snow plow. He did better when we didn't let him hang on to us, but on the last big "run" of the afternoon, he ended up flying down the "mountain" super fast and when he fell to stop and ended up with a ski in his back. That was it. Tears.

To top it off, I asked a lady to take our family picture (essentially mid-meltdown) and my phone was set on video instead of camera, so we have an 18 second clip of us trying to take a family photograph, but no real picture. I was able to grab this still from the video, but that is all I've got of the whole crew. Sums things up quite nicely actually.

Oh, yeah...I also deserve the "mother of the year" award for somehow stabbing Connor in the cheek with my ski pole during an attempt to help him get up. Thank goodness the kid is tough. He didn't even cry about that one. I did accidentally whack him with my pole again as we were heading in to return our gear, and through tears, he said, "that's twice, mom!" oops. Bless his heart, he was so tired. He fell asleep in the car and proceeded to sleep for the next 3.5 hours.

Next year we WILL try again and Connor will go to at least a few hours of ski school first. Maybe we'll even go up to Boyne Mountain...further north and make it a weekend? It will be better for all of us if someone else teaches C how to ski! Do you think Declan will be able to hang? 17 months may be a bit premature...