Wednesday: castle park

Today I finally managed to see the Castle that is in Holland.  (I find it a little weird that it doesn't have a name besides "the Castle".  But then, as far as I know, it's the only one in the area.  I just looked up castles in Michigan.  There were 19 on the list and this castle wasn't included.  The closest was Kalamazoo, which really isn't that far away, especially when you're talking about castle density.)

Situated in Castle Park, there are lots of "no tresspassing" and "members only" signs around the area.  In high school some friends and I had tried to go find it after seeing it on a post card, only to be intimidated by the signs.  It was a very disappointing day.

But a friend of mine was vacationing in the park, so today I had a valid reason to go see it.  Hurray!  Legend has it that the Wizard of Oz was written in the area and the Emerald City was inspired by this little castle and surrounding area.

We also took a short walk on the beach, but the small kids weren't really enjoying it.  Well, Isaac might have been since I put him on my shoulders and he was messing up my hair, but that wasn't really the point of the walk.

Tuesday: 10000 steps

I finally had a day were my pedometer was over 10000 steps.  Phew.  It turns out that walking around the house just doesn't really get you that far, so most days I get embarrassingly few steps.  I think I've had a few days since getting the pedometer that have also been over, but I don't wear it every day and sometimes it gets put on a little late.

To accomplish this amazing achievement, I walked around the lake (trying to get Isaac to take an early nap - it worked), played racquetball (although we didn't play as long as normal), and mowed the grass (I don't have anything interesting to say about the grass).

Monday: rain

It was a beautiful rainy day today.  Isaac and I went to Target, the Pet store, and Meijer.  Afterwards Isaac took a nap while I listened to the rain, too enlivened by it to sleep.  I don't feel as though I was incredibly productive during his nap, but it was still nice to get a few things taken care of.

Friday- Sunday: cottage

This weekend we went up to Dad and Pat's cottage.  Isaac experienced so many new things!  Sparklers, paddle boats, marshmallows, corn on the cob, bottle rockets, new toys, and a 360 swing.  It was a very nice weekend.

Thursday: one more

Isaac seems to have picked up "one more" from some where...probably from me.  He holds up one finger while doing it.  I take this to mean that he can count to one, but again, he's probably just copying me.

This morning he kept telling me a story, clapping, and saying one more.  He would proceed to tell the story, in very soft but audible tones, clap, and again say "one more".  I know it was a story because I clapped before it was finished once and he just looked at me with a confused look...we weren't at the end of the story, so why was I clapping?

Then we were at the park late this morning and he decided that he can go down the slides by himself if he goes on his stomach and feet first.  (I've been trying to get him to go down by himself for a while.  This was also the first time that I didn't actually have to physically slide down with him but could just hold his hands.)  He would get to the bottom and as he was climbing the stairs he would say "one more."

Wednesday: interacting

We had some friends over for dinner tonight.  It's always fun to see them.  Then we went on a walk to wear the boys out.  (Their son is about the same age as Isaac.)  It was really fun to watch them interact...they uh-oh-ed to each other and ran together.  The other boy tried tickling Isaac to no avail, but Isaac had earlier tried being the follower in follow-the-leader and that didn't really work out either.

Both boys walked most of the way around the lake, so it was probably just shy of a mile.  Or maybe a bit over a mile by the time you account for all of the zig-zagging that they did.

Tuesday: today

Early, early this morning Nathan and Liz left. :(  We had an excellent day with them yesterday too and it is always sad to separate.  But Christmas isn't really that far away.

The rest of the day Isaac and I hung out...we took a walk to Joann's to get a spool of thread.  It seemed like kind of a long walk for a tiny item, but Isaac likes strollering and I should walk more.  We cleaned up a little bit, took a nap, played, and just did the normal stuff.

We had dinner with Ben's family which was nice as always.  Sometimes I feel like Isaac is interacting with them more, and sometimes he's completely oblivious.  Like when his cousin gave him a good-bye hug...he just kept looking at something on the back of a car.

edit: Isaac also ate more pizza than his grandpa.  He was putting it away!