day 1 of the Miller family vacation

Day 1 of Miller family vacation

Today starts a week of vacation and we are determined to make every day fabulous :)  I figure if Kent isn't going to work- we had better be doing some fun stuff while we've got him.  nine straight days (minus one measly little night shift tonight!).

So today we took a little roadtrip to the "Ohio Caverns".  Again- why have I just now heard of another ohio treasure?  those toledoans sure know how to keep secrets.  At least the Daytonians are willing to give up a few more of their secrets!

Given our family's history of cave drama- we told the kids were going spelunking and exploring-instead of telling them that we were going to hike deep into dark wet caves. They loved it. Until the very end when they got tired.

 Kent held miss metta because we forgot the baby carrier :)  somehow the two of them stood under every drip of water.  Her head was sopping wet by the end!  I don't even think I was dripped on once.

 The caves reminded us a lot of Timp caves- without the long steep hike.  Much easier with kiddos. The only climb was sixty stairs at the very very end.

 Zeb was impressing all of the other people on our tour by talking about all of the 'stalagmites and stalactites'.  Kent had given him a little tutorial on the drive and he hadn't forgotten a thing,

 We also saw several bats.  The boys were super excited about it and Zeb had quite the eye for finding them on the walls and flying past us.

 Our tour guide was an awkward lanky teenager with a terribly dry sense of humor- but he was nice.

 At the very end of the tour- the guide hits a button- and the song 'Beautiful Ohio' plays on a loudspeaker hidden somewhere. It was pretty tacky and really funny. I love Ohio.

 Here's the tired face.

 and here's our baby cow. She was so good the entire tour.  Didn't make a peep for the full mile and a half!

After the tour we drove into the quaint little town of West Liberty, Ohio, and stopped at Marie's- the world's most delicious chocolate shop.  I'll make the hour drive just for the chocolate. Honestly- it was AMAZING.   The Sea Salt Sallies and Mac-a-cheek chocolate fudges were my favorite.

Hopefully we have several more days of exciting vacations posts to come!

Miss Met loves to sit in her carseat and look out the sliding door into our backyard.  She also looks a lot like a boy if shes bundled up in the carseat under a blanket.  I have to make sure to plaster one of these little bows to her head so people know she's a girl.  Everybody always asks how it stays in place- and when I say 'corn syrup'- they give me the weirdest looks!

This little girl has almost morphed into an Ike baby over the last week or so.  Easy to calm down- rarely cries- sleeps often. It's an answer to prayers. And she's SMILING!  Both of our boys smiled before six weeks (I have several pictures to prove it) and when she wasn't smiling I thought for sure it was another sign she was broken :) But she's getting smilier and more talkative every day.

 Despite what some of these pictures seem to portray- she's actually still pretty skinny and small.  I'm interested to see how much she's gained at her 2 month check up (already this week!).

Both boys love to sit and make Metta smile - and they're pretty good at it.  One of their soccer teammates almost had her laughing at practice this week!  She's a little down syndrome girl named Justine and and the two girls LOVE each other.

Every time I plan on getting pictures of soccer- it ends up raining!  hopefully we'll have some good luck this next week.  Today we shivered in the freezing rain while they ran around and played!

This past week Zeb got registered for Kindergarten!! He was beyond excited.  On the drive to the school he couldn't stop talking about it.  When I asked him what he thought the school looked like- he told me: "I think there are butterflies painted on it!".  I have no idea where that idea came from! when we pulled up I think he was shocked at how big it was! It's a brand new school and has 'excellent' ratings.  A friend here does substitute teaching all over the area and she says it is by far the best of the schools.  He'll be going full day every day- and I'm just hoping he doesn't get bored! He's social enough and excited enough that I think he'll love it.

This week he was trying to teach Ike his book of sight words from preschool.  On every page Ike would just say "I give up. what is it?" and zeb would try to teach him to sound it out. It was pretty funny.  Ike doesn't care too much for the alphabet.

Ike is funnier than ever right now.  He's a tricky little boy and has Kent wrapped around his finger. He loves to talk about Obi wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. He's also obsessed with choosing the right.  Just this week Zeb was talking about somebody who wasn't 'choosing the right' and Ike asked: "Did he choose the left?" It was so funny.

pictures galore.

 no good easter pics for us this year.  Metta got all zitty just in time for the Holiday! and Ike was terribly uncooperative. Zeb was a little angel, though.  I sure love that kid.  He really has taken a liking to miss met.  Today he asked me if he could 'chat' with her.  And he told Kent that she said her first word to him. It was 'oh'.

typical Ike face.

 This little miss is such a diva. Another sign that she takes after her auntie metta.  We've figured out most of her tricks- and unfortunately a lot of them have to do with me. She isn't a huge fan of Kent.

For easter we went and visited Kent at the hospital and had cafeteria ham :) And Metta wore her Easter bow.  My friend from the toledo YMCA has a bow business and sent metta a plethora of bows.  She loves them.

 She gets a lot of crazy eyes- but has finally started smiling!  not to kent though. She'll barely make eye contact with him.

 Here she is making crazy eyes again.  a little creepy.

She loves to be swaddled with her arms tight to her side. and she loves to sit on the couch.

but if even one little finger gets free- she freaks.  totally loses it.  do you believe me yet that she's high maintenance?

can you see her little baby zits? they are getting better.

 I love those little circle toes.

 and the best pic for last.  My wonderful friends Beth and Renae drove all the way from toledo (2.5 hours!) to see Metta and clean my house.  It was wonderful!  a clean house- a fun lunch- and great company. I sure miss the people of Toledo.

Check out all of these buddies.

 The past week or two- for the first time as a parent- I have felt guilt. guilt that I am not cutting it for my kids. specifically zeb.  Honestly (probably due to me lack of humility!) I haven't felt guilty as a parent in the past.  But right now- my patience is limited- this metta baby requires a lot of attention- and I've been pretty hard on rugrat number 1.  I think because he's the oldest he gets the brunt of my frustrations.  I've found myself apologizing to him at night for my poor behavior during the day and telling him how good of a kid he is. I hope these few weeks haven't scarred him for good!

Luckily Metta has one or two bad days followed by several good.   As long as she gets a good early morning nap- we can keep her happy the rest of the day!  she just tends to get overstimulated and then overtired because she doesn't sleep!  she is a lot like me in the fact that she fights sleep like crazy.  She loves this ugly little bouncy chair.  I got it at a nickel auction for a nickel.   She takes naps swaddled tight in a blanket in the bouncy tucked in the corner of a dark bathroom with the door shut.

If you haven't experienced a nickel auction- you haven't lived :)  A group of ladies here does them every month or so- and they are SOOOO much fun.  People bring stuff they don't use anymore and it's auctioned off!  in five cent increments.  Sometimes things get 'pricey' up into the dollars- but usually things stay below seventy five cents or so!  I've gotten some really good stuff. It's a yard sale lover's dream come true :)

Here is my fabulous little almost five year old.  He really is great.  I am so lucky my rugrat boys are so wonderfully independent. Honestly- they get up in the morning- get themselves breakfast- turn on cartoons :)- and let me sleep in until eight.

 This morning we did bubbles in the backyard.  I'm so glad spring is here with normal temps.  I hated those 80+ degree days.

 and I love the thunderstorms we've been having!!  there is nothing better than thunder and lightning and gloomy gray days.

Every day is getting easier- and I can't wait for next week when I hit six weeks post partum and I can  go back to the gym daily!!  I've been going on outside runs- or hitting the gym at night when kent is home- but I just want to get back to my morning routine.  The kidzone will finally take metta at six weeks!!  we are so close!