Wisconsin!

For spring break this year we headed to Wisconsin to visit Kyle's family, and although the weather sucked (it rained or snowed almost every day we were there!), we still had a great time! To break up the 8 hour drive there, we stopped to spend the night with one of Kyle's best friend's friend college. Sean and his wife Heather's little boy, Gavin is only a month older than Camden, so it was especially fun to see them interact together.  Gavin observed quite a bit as he is an only child and isn't around other kids very much. Camden, on the other hand, was in heaven having a whole new set of toys to play with and a little boy his size to run around with! 

Here are our little cuties eating dinner together :-) They were so curious about each other and wanted to do everything the other was doing! 

It may look like Camden is tackling little Gavin in this picture, but really it was just another one of his good night hugs to his new buddy. Really! They hugged over and over again while saying good night, and Heather and I couldn't get over the cuteness! It will be so fun to get together over the years and watch their friendship grow!

We stayed with Kyle's dad and his wife Roberta, but visited Kyle's mom, Mary, often too. She always has little surprises for the boys when we visit which Brett remembers from year to year and looks forward to! Here he is with the Batman Lego set that she gave him :-) Thank you, Mary! You definitely made his day and know the way to his heart!

One of the first things Kyle does when we arrive at his moms house is head down to the basement to bring up some fun toys from when he was a kid! The cash register and duplos are always huge hits with the little's :-)

Grandma loves spoiling the boys with treats! Here she is feeding Camden ice cream....yum!

No matter how cold it is, exploring outside Grandma Mo's house is always a must. We couldn't get Brett to join us, but Camden had fun! We also loved watching all the wildlife from there big sliding glass door inside. No deer or wild turkey's this time, but many different birds, chipmunks, and squirrels! 

Love this picture of these two!

Is it really spring time? Looked and felt more like Fall to me!

Camden is our little chef these days and always insists on 'helping' cook in the kitchen. Here he is watching over as Grandpa Mo cooked dinner one night :-) 

Across the street from grandpa and grandma Bingham's house is this cool little train that the boys love playing on. And guess what? This is the same train that Kyle and his brother's used to play on when they were kids, just in a different spot!

Camden sure loved playing with grandma Bingham :-) She is always so good with the boys and gets right down on their level to play. 

Camden was in his glory having a whole drawer of tupperware to play with!

"Surprise! We caught you!"

Grandma and Camden having a moment :-) So sweet!

Grandma and grandpa Bingham's dog, Zoe is one of my favorite dogs ever! She is only a couple years old but so kind and gentle. And she didn't even mind all the hugs she got from a crazy 1 and half year old! Now that is what I call a good dog! Love her!

And of course, no trip to Wisconsin is complete without a trip to the Cheese Factory! We were total tourists and took pictures while we were there :-)

Look at all that good cheese! We had a whole basket full by the time we left!

The cheese curds are one of our favorites!

Saying "cheese" at the cheese factory...not cheesy at all, ha!

Bath time at Grandma Mo's means getting to snuggle in the cute lion towel afterwards!

Kyle's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jim came over one night for 'happy hour' and a spaghetti dinner afterwards...yum!

Our amazing chef for the night, Roberta (aka Grandma Bingham). She fed us well while we were there!

We had a blast in Wisconsin and, as always, wish we could see everyone more often! Some fun activities not pictured include playing at the YMCA, Kyle and his dad taking the boys to the Children's Museum (while Roberta, Anut Kathy, and I went out to lunch and shopping!), playing Trouble, and going out to lunch with Uncle Casey and Aunt Jess! Already can't wait to see family again when they hopefully come visit us this summer! ;-)

Easter!

Easter weekend started off with dying Easter eggs, one of our very favorite traditions! 

As always, Brett took the job seriously and didn't break any eggs!

We took turns holding Camden so he could see the action....and even let him dye a couple eggs of his own (not pictured due to the high supervision needed!).

Where's Camden?

Then, on Easter Sunday, we hosted dinner at our house for the first time! Most of our family live out of town or had other plans, so we had a small group of just my mom (my dad couldn't make it because he was home in bed with Shingles....no fun!), aunt and uncle, my cousin Jon, his wife, Alyssa, and their beautiful daughter, Ines. It was a gorgeous day filled with sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures (I think it got up to 70 degrees!), good food, and wonderful company!

This was the first Easter egg hunt for Camden and Ines, so Brett enjoyed showing them the ropes on how it's done!

"See Camden, you put the eggs in here."

As you can see, he learned quickly and enjoyed this new 'game'!

It didn't take long for him to discover what was inside...yummy chocolate that he surely couldn't resist!

Ines is a year older than Camden and they were very curious about each other. There were hugs, gently pats, and cries from Ines when Camden pulled her hair!

Brett and his stash. Thankful for this sweet picture since he was too fast during the Easter egg hunt to get any good ones!

Still melts my heart to see them play together!

After playing outside and hunting for Easter eggs, we all went inside for a delicious Easter dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, salad, grilled asparagus, and deviled eggs (one of my all time favorites!). It was so nice to be able to host a true family dinner around a dining room table, instead of scattering around the house like we had to do at our old house! I am so bummed, because as usual, I was too in the moment (which is a good thing at the time, right?) to remember to take any group shots. I guess that just means that we will need to host again soon! :-)

Camden's First Haircut!

About a month ago, Rachel came over and convinced me it was time. Kyle had been telling me for weeks, but I just wasn't ready yet....until my best friend knocked some sense into me. My baby boy had a mullet and he was in dire need of his first haircut! So, at 16 months, off to the salon we went!

Camden sat on Kyle's lap and was all smiles at first....

but once the cutting began, he was quite serious...

Our handsome little guy!

Per request, the hairstylist only took a small amount off...and even saved a curl for us :-) And guess what? It's already time for another haircut!

Boyne Highlands!

Kyle's company did something awesome this year....they paid for a whole weekend of fun at Boyne Highlands! February is such a blah time of year, so it was such a nice surprise to get to go on a little adventure. We packed up the car and headed out after school that Friday, drove an uneventful 4 hours, and were there! Camden fell asleep towards the end of the ride since it was getting close to his bedtime, but of course got a second wind as soon as we arrived. We dropped our stuff off in our room, then headed to the game room for some fun and then to the restaurant for some late night snacks. Later that night, Kyle met up with some work buddies while I stayed back and slept with the boys.  We all slept pretty good that night (and slept in until almost 8am!), went to breakfast, and then headed out to explore the winter wonderland we were surrounded by!

Brett has no interest in skiing and Camden is obviously too young, so the big highlight was going to be tubing. We all bundled up and trekked the big trek across the vast ski areas to wear the tubing was to be. The tubing ended up being at the opposite end of where we were staying, but we sure had fun playing in the snow as we made our way there! And then, guess what? When we finally got there we were told it was closed due to the warmer temperatures (the tubes were getting stuck on the run). Ugh, just our luck! Fortunately, we were directed toward a big sledding hill that also had tubes you could use, so lots of fun was still ahead!

Brett was all smiles the whole day!

Camden loved checking out the big snow cat along the way!

There was lots to look at and the snow and fresh air was good for our spirits!

And it was well worth the hike to get to the big hill.....we all had a so much fun!!

Camden loved getting in and out of the tube....and Kyle couldn't resist adding his company sticker to his head (which later made the slideshow at his work!).

Hello down there!!!

Our view from the hill where were sledding. Such a beautiful place!

Camden and I went into this store to warm up and he found the perfect chair to sit in :-)

Me and my love!

After spending a few hours outside, I took Camden back to our room for a nap while the big boys had lunch and did some more exploring. Afterwards, I stayed back with Brett and Camden so Kyle could ski with his work friends for a few hours. During that time, we played games in the game room and ran around the lodge causing havoc....ha! Oh, and I also dragged the boys to lunch since I hadn't eaten yet and bribed the big one with ice cream!

That evening, Kyle's work hosted a huge, fancy buffet dinner for all the families. It's a very young company though so our boys were the only kids there and didn't last very long (dinner wasn't until 7pm). The food was so good but I had to eat fast! I then let Kyle stay and do his schmoozing while I took the boys to the lodge restaurant/bar for grilled cheese sandwiches and then to bed! Kyle came back to the room to help with bedtime and hang out for a bit and then met everyone for drinks afterwards. Kyle and I missed being able to hang out and socialize together (he gave me some time after skiing) but know our time will come when the boys are a little older (or we leave them with my parent's next year....pretty please, mom and dad!!) and we had a blast spending time together as a family. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast Sunday morning and then were on our way home.  Thanks for the wonderful weekend, Magnetic!!