Great Wolf Lodge

As a Chrysler employee B is apparently eligible for all sorts of discounts and all sorts of places.  One of those places just happens to be Great Wold Lodge!  So naturally when it came time to use that extra vacation time they gave him, we decided it would be the perfect place to go spend a few days.

We chose to go up on a Thursday and return home on Saturday, we figured it would work out best, and we figured right.  Check in isn't until 4pm but you can arrive as early as 1pm to use the water park.  We arrived at 2:30 and since it was a Thursday our room was ready and we immediately checked in.  Of course Y wanted to head to the pool area right away so after getting changed we were off!

Both girls had a blast playing in the water, something that hadn't been able to do since our neighborhood pool closed in September.  There weren't a ton of people there, in fact aside from us there may have only been 5-10 other families utilizing the water park.  Y was quite apprehensive of the water even though we made sure she was wearing a life vest.  I think the few months out of the pool affected her level of confidence.  We stayed until about 6:30pm when we decided we would head up and order a pizza for dinner.  Every night at 8pm and 9pm they have story time for the kids and we wanted to be sure to make it to the 8pm time slot so that we could get the girls in bed.

Friday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, showered and headed off to the water park again!  Y met a little boy who was able to boost her confidence in the water and after that there was no holding her back!  I told B I would watch the girls if he wanted to do any of the big water slides, an offer he took me up on!  After he was done, he encouraged me to try it and assured me that it was just a smooth, calm ride down to the bottom - he LIED!  I was terrified, but I will admit I had a blast doing it.  We stayed for a couple hours before heading up to our room for lunch.  Immediately after lunch, B and Y were off again to the water park while I stayed behind to make sure Q had a good nap.  She ended up sleeping for 3½ hours but once she woke up she pointed to the door and said, "go pool!" Actually she began to say that any time we came back up to the room.  Regardless of what time it was she would always point to the door and say, "go pool!"  We returned back from dinner just in time to get upstairs, change into our PJs and enjoy our final night of story time.  Friday was a bit more crowded than Thursday had been but it was still pretty deserted.

On Saturday we had to check out of our room at 11pm but we were allowed to use the water park until it closed at 9pm.  We didn't end up staying that late, we ended up leaving around 6pm because we still had to stop for dinner and then make the 2½ hour drive home.  Saturday was notably crowded, in fact I told B that it's not a place I'd care to visit during the summer months for that exact reason - there were just too many people.  But part of that could be attributed to the fact that they had recently run a special on Groupon which many people had apparently taken advantage of.

It was an awesome weekend and something that we will definitely be doing again,  In fact Y is constantly asking us when we are going back to Ohio or Great Wolf Lodge.  Even I must admit that I can't wait to go back, they have so many kid and family friendly activities that we didn't get to take advantage of!

At story time this scene "comes alive" to tell the story of a little boy lost and afraid in the forest.

They were getting ready for Christmas while we were there.

All the kids loved banging on this drum/table

I meant to take a photo of the finished product before we left but forgot the camera was already packed away.  This gingerbread house is built using a wood frame but everything you can see is edible.  He had been working on it since September!  I was able to taste the icing he was using and it was actually delicious.  He told me that the candy canes that you see on the side are actually mint flavored.  He told me I could taste if I wanted but didn't advise it since He had done that part a month prior - I took his word for it.  haha

 

After storytime with Wiley the Wolf

This was Thursday, as you can see it was pretty deserted!

First Steps

Q recently started taking her first steps.  Here is a video reenactment.  She actually took the first steps slightly earlier in the day but we didn't have a camera ready and had to record this a bit later.  She's 15 months in this video, let's see how long it takes her until she's "officially" walking.

If you listen closely at the end of the video you can hear her congratulating herself as she takes her steps!  Haha, I guess she didn't know what the big deal was, why we were all screaming but she decided she'd scream with us!

Meeting Aunt D.

B's brother, L, was married in July 2011 - just days before Q joined us.  Shortly after they were married L returned to Canada to start college and D remained in Peru (her home country) while they began the visa process.  They lived apart for 15 months before her visa was finally granted.  She arrived in Canada on November 9, 2012.

We (especially Y) were so excited to meet her so we planned a trip up to Canada the following weekend.  She is truly a doll and we are so very lucky to have her join our family.  Y absolutely adores her and she can often be heard talking about her or asking to call and talk to her on Skype or even on the telephone.  She is wonderful with children, so it's really no wonder that the girls came to love her so quickly.

Having left my own family after getting married I can understand how difficult it is for her to be so far away.  But my own distance from my family is small in comparison to hers.  Not only did she leave her family, she left her entire culture to travel to a land that was totally unknown to her - it's almost a whole different world for her, literally.  I am glad that she is here and very fortunate for the opportunity to know her.

15 Months

Note:  This post has been dated for the actual date of Q's 15 month well baby but as I'm writing this she is actually 17 months, because of my delay this will likely be a brief post and will include information concerning the 2 appointments with the specialists she was referred to.  My apologies, I'm behind!

At 15 month's Q weighs 21½ pounds and is 31 inches long and she is still not walking.  Because of this her pediatrician wanted us to take her to see a pediatric neurologist.  During the course of her checkup he (the pediatrician) heard a heart murmur that he wanted to have checked out further so he also referred her to a pediatric cardiologist.  Other than these 2 things, she checked out perfectly.

We were able to get her in to see the Neurologist the following day, he said everything seemed normal but he wanted to have some blood work done just to double check and make sure there were no neurological defects going on...all turned out fine but she goes back for another checkup in January.

In early December she went in to see the Cardiologist and while she does have what is referred to as an Innocent Murmur, it's not something that we should be concerned about.  If it remains at the age of 5 she would like us to return and have her checked again but for now, we were told not to worry, it will not have any affect on her day-to-day activities.

October (Quick and Dirty Recap)

Before I get to the actual post, I just have to say that I'm so far behind in posts that it'll take me a few days to catch up.  Bare with me!


This fall we were really able to enjoy all the perks of having a second car!  I signed Y up for several of the free programs offered at our local library and many of them she was able to do with a friend from church.  We started with a story time one day a week and another program called Music & Movement.  She wasn't a big fan of just sitting during story time but she loved Music and Movement which incorporates singing and dancing in with story time.

They also offer several seasonal activities at the library, I signed her up to attend a Halloween/Trick or Treat activity at the library that she was able to do with her friend E.  They were able to dress up in costume and go around to different locations in the library and were given many non-candy treats.

We were also able to spend a day out with friends from church.  We went to Wolcott Farm where they were able to see all the different farm animals.  Y is not at all a fan of barns so any animals that were inside them she didn't really care to see.  After walking around the farm for a bit we sat down for a quick bag lunch before heading over to Blake's Cider Mill.  I've lived in Michigan for 7 years and had never been to one so it was a real treat for me as well.  We were able to see how the cider is made from start to finish as well as buy some of their yummy apple goodies (apple donuts, apple cider, and an apple cider slushy).  They also have a little carnival type activity there for the young kids but we didn't venture to that part of the property.  It was a great day and boy did it tire us out!

We had a rather large and unwelcomed guest come visit us on our balcony this month as well.  It was my first time seeing a Praying Mantis in person and it scared me quite a bit.  So much so that our beautiful pumpkins (posted above) never made it outside.  It wandered around our balcony for a couple days and then it just rested above the sliding door wall that leads in from our bedroom.  It stayed there through the freezing cold.  It stayed there through the wind and rain of Hurricane Sandy.  So naturally I assumed it was dead, though I still refused to go out on the balcony.  One day when the in-laws came to visit I sent my father-in-law out to remove it's dead body (B also refused to go near the thing).  Turns out, the sucker wasn't dead after all!  I was so very glad that I didn't go out there!  My FIL ended up sweeping it off the balcony into the grass and from there I don't know what happened to it - nor do I care!

I'm going to lose my Mother of the Year Award again this year.  Even with my best intentions I didn't get a really good photo of both girls in their Halloween costumes.  The only half-decent photos were 2 I quickly snapped at our church Halloween party when I went to get them dressed in their costumes.  Halloween night was a mad rush and to top it off it was rainy.  Y spent the majority of the night crying that she was cold and wet and wanted to go indoors.  Q was a pretty good sport about it though, she just road along in the stroller making no sounds at all.

Super Girl

Baby Lamb



Seven!

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary this week!!!  It has flown by and I can really hardly believe it has been that long but it has been an amazing 7 years for sure.  We've enjoyed many ups and downs and we've still come out strong and even more devoted to each other than ever.  I have one very amazing husband, that's for sure!

Each year on our anniversary we take a photo of our family to add to our wedding album.  It serves to keep track of how we (and our family) have changed over the years.  Here is this year's photo:

Forward Facing

We've finally taken the plunge and turned Q forward facing.  She's almost 15 months old but these days they recommend leaving them rear facing until age 2.  But even though I was hoping to leave her rear facing until 18 months, I'm content with doing it now and she is more than happy too! 

But she looks like such a big girl now :(

Carving Pumpkins

Until this year I had never carved a pumpkin!  I had previously bought a pumpkin with the intent of carving it but it never happened.  I had watched B and Y carve Y's first pumpkin last year.  But since I had never done it myself, I never really knew all that was involved in carving one.

And that is likely why I thought it would be a great idea for each of us to have our very own pumpkin this year!  Yep, that's right 4 pumpkins!!  Keep in mind that we have 2 very young girls who cannot yet carve their own pumpkins and so the brunt of the work would fall on me.  B warned me not to do it, but I didn't listen - that's nothing new though.  And so I bought 4 pumpkins, each one representing the person who that pumpkin belonged to.

It was an interesting experience, but I think next year we will be painting our pumpkins.  At least until the girls are old enough to help in the process.  Y was pretty good in getting "some" of the seeds out of B's pumpkin but it wasn't even a dent in all that needed to come out.

Anyway, here are some of the photos from our pumpkin carving night:

Before

Y, hard at work



After



Q

Y

U

B

New Job, Part II

B has been working at his current job fora month now and it's time for an update.

He was told that it could be a couple YEARS before he knows all that his job entails.  To say it's a huge job is an understatement, I am still amazed when he talks about his job and all that it covers and just how much there is to do and learn.  Even though he is a white collar employee he is working in one of the auto plants and it's truly amazing to think about what is going on inside there all the time.  Currently, approximately 1124 cars are completed in that one plant every single day - that is amazing to think about!  Oh yeah, and did I mention that the plant is MASSIVE?!?  I hope to one day get the opportunity to go inside and have a tour, but I won't hold my breath and wait for it to happen.

He is enjoying the job but there are parts that frustrate him, mostly the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing part of the time.  But he says it's getting better each week.

He had the opportunity to learn more about how he was chosen for the position, one of his coworkers (the manager's right hand man, so to speak) told him that he was lucky.  We know that luck had little, if anything, to do with it.  Heavenly Father had a huge role in B getting this job.  It turns our that the position B was hired for is mostly filled by contractors.  They are not Chrysler employees, they work for outside companies and thus they do not get all the perks and benefits of Chrysler employees.  Needless to say, when a position opens up such as the one B was applying for, they are the ones applying for that job and they are typically the ones who get it.  I mean they want the job so that they can have more job security and better benefits plus they've been doing the job for X amount of years and so they know what they're doing.  These are the 4 other guys that B was up against in the interview process, he was the only non-contractor to apply.  Logic says that one of those four guys should have gotten the job, they already know how to do the job.  But the manager chose B, knowing that it would be a two year investment to train him over choosing someone who already knew the job.  For B to get this job, was unheard of and completely unprecedented but it happened and we must give Heavenly Father all the credit.

The New Job, Part I

By now, pretty much everyone knows that B has started a new job but since this blog is written as a journal for our family I have to write this post anyway.  Yes, even though I am way behind in writing it!

I'll start from the beginning but I'll also try to keep it brief, here goes:

B had been looking for a new job for quite some time, probably close to two years before he found this one.  But we knew he would find a job and believe it or not we even knew when he would find the job, generally speaking.  You see, last year around this time (October/November 2011) B applied for a job that he really, really wanted.  So I kneeled down one night and said one of the most heartfelt prayers of my life, asking that he would get that particular job.  The next day I was struck by a very strong feeling, which I interpreted to be an answer to my prayer, and it was "next year."

I, of course, told B about this answer and his first question was, "so you mean I'm not going to get this job."  Looking back on it I laugh at this question.  But after his initial question he had more questions like, "Will it be a different company? Will it just be a promotion?  When next year? etc. etc." I didn't have answers to any of those questions and so I prayed again and was given a slightly more specific answer, "June."

I will be quite honest and say that I wasn't 100% sure that these were answers to my prayers or if these were just deadlines I was creating in my head.  But each time I prayed about it I received the exact same answer and so we decided we'd just go on as usual.  B kept applying for jobs and doing various interviews but in the end even when he was the most qualified applicant, it never worked out. 

As April came we really began to get excited thinking that whatever was coming would start to come soon.  Then May arrived and we told ourselves that in order to start a job in June we'd have to be interviewed for it by at least May and so when May came and went I really began to question those answers I had received.  But I told myself that nowhere in the answer did it specify what would happen when June arrived.  Maybe it meant he would find the job in June or apply for the job in June, we really didn't know.

And then one day in the middle of June, B came home with what should have been exciting news - he had been given a promotion at work.  I was not excited or happy about this at all!  A promotion was not what we were seeking, we were sick of his current company, of the crappy benefits, of the company politics and their ridiculous way of doing everything.  We wanted OUT of the company, not just a new job within the same company.  I was bitter and angry to say the least.

After a few days, I got over it.  I was able to see that even if this wasn't what we were ultimately looking for that it was a step in the right direction for our family.  It provided us a little extra wiggle room financially, enough to finally purchase a second car. 

Shortly after he started his new position we left for vacation.  When we returned, on B's first day back at work the phone rang while I was changing Q's diaper - I didn't answer it obviously but I could hear the phone saying Chrysler (our phones have talking Caller ID).  Whenever I know someone is calling concerning a job for B I always let it go to the answering machine so that when he gets home he can play back the message and hear it himself.  Well this time they didn't leave a message, I was really anxious about this and so I texted B and then I just decided to call the number back.

When I did this I was able to talk to the man who had called and he was extremely nice and basically told me that he wanted to bring B in for a one-on-one interview (he had already done a phone interview previously) and it was at that point that I knew this was the job that Heavenly Father had waiting for us and that this would be B's new job.

He interviewed with the hiring manager and things went extremely well, but he was told that he would be going up against four others who were internal, because of that we were a bit worried and really didn't see how he would be given the position but a week later B was contacted by his manager and told that he had sent his name on to corporate as the person he wanted to hire and that he would be contacted by them for an interview.  Two weeks passed and we heard nothing and then they finally called.  He interviewed with a panel of 3 and the following day he received another heads up from his manager that he would be offered the job!  It took a few more weeks to get everything organized but on September 11th he was able to put in his two weeks notice and on September 24th he became an employee of Chrysler!