Splish Splash

Aubree has had a lot of firsts over the last week or two.  Today it was her first time in the water...that I can recall.  Maybe my mind is just drawing a blank but I'm pretty sure she hasn't been swimming or been in the splash fountain before.  As I mentioned yesterday, the weather here has definitely progressed to summer conditions so I thought it was fitting that we go to the splash playground today.  I was so excited going to sleep last night to think about Aubree getting to sit in the fountain for the first time and the joy she would probably experience.  And that she did!  We had the place to ourselves so we were able to sit, run, and play at our own leisure.  Aubree had no fear when I sat her down and quickly put her hand in the fountain then leaned over a bit to get her face wet.  She laughed and giggled especially when I picked her up and she, Calleigh, and I ran through the water together.  Such fun times!  The other nice thing is that I was able to get a little sun on my very white skin.  That was an extra bonus.  After the fountains, Calleigh played in the regular playground for awhile with a boy, Chase, that she made friends with.  Isn't it amazing how quickly kids can become friends?

As I mentioned, Aubree has been having a bunch of "firsts" lately.  A few weeks back were the teeth (no more biting, yay!) and this past weekend while we were in Michigan, she started to walk with assistance.  Even as recent as about a week and a half ago, if you went to put her feet down for her to stand up, she would bend her legs so that you would be forced to sit her down.  No standing for her!  Well, she has progressed to the point that she will now walk around while you hold her hands.  My mother was the first to discover this on Sabbath.  She's all over the place with the legs but she's walking nonetheless.  She seems pretty excited about it too.  Then yesterday, I saw her through the monitor sitting up in her crib.  I know, it's crazy to think she's JUST doing that now considering she's almost a year old but there you have it.

 
So our trip to Michigan was a big success.  The flight up was smooth sailing.  Aubree slept for about half the flight and Calleigh watched her movies as usual.  We rented a car at Chicago Midway and drove the nearly two hours to Berrien Springs.  We ate supper at Baguette de France which is a family favorite.  Fortunately we stayed at my parent's friend's empty house in Benton Harbor so we had plenty of room - - this always works out well with Calleigh who takes a long time to wind down in the evenings.  We went to PMC for church on Sabbath and I felt like I was in the luxury of churches when it comes to small children.  First off, because it's so big, they have a Sabbath School classes for kids 0 - 18 months and then 18 - 36 months rather than those two combined like at ours.  So I took Aubree while my mom took Calleigh.  I walked into this giant room and they had these white jumper-like seats for all the babies to sit in.  What an awesome idea! We have little wooden chairs but obviously an 11-month old would just fall out if you didn't hold her in the chair the whole time.  Then, I discovered a large changing room with refrigerators, a room with a bunch of bunk beds for sleeping children, a nursing room, and then your regular mother's room where you can see the service through the glass.  It was so nice!  They had monitors in the classroom too so that kids could play in there during the service while the parents watched.  I could have spent the whole service in one of the rooms but I did go back and sat with the family in the pew.  Pastor Jose Rojas was the speaker and he was absolutely hilarious.  I've always so enjoy listening to his sermons and this was no exception.

The actual graduation ceremony was at 8:30 on Sunday morning.  It was so early because it was the graduate ceremony with the undergrad ceremony at a more reasonable hour.  But we all made it in time (although Ricky forgot his tassel and had to borrow an '09 one.  Oh, and did I mention that I ironed his robe/gown whatever you call it the night before and nearly put a hole in it?  Hopefully no one looked too closely at the right sleeve.)  Anywho, about 15 minutes into the 120 minute program, we made a beeline for the myriad of mother's rooms and that's where the girls, Camille, and Camden and I hung out for the duration.  We saw Ricky get his diploma on the monitor.  A very exciting moment to be sure.  Afterwards, the whole gang went to Tippecanoe Place Restaurant in South Bend for brunch.  I have such a fond memory of that place.  I only went there once when I was an Andrews student.  It was two days after I had gotten my wisdom teeth out and the student association (of which I was the treasurer) was being treated to brunch there.  Since I was a poor college student, there was no way I was going to let a free meal pass me by so I remember chewing all my food in the front of my mouth as best I could.  Someday I'll go back there for just a normal meal.  This one was anything but since I had two small children to try and feed while battling giant lines for waffles and such.  But it was a good time.  Just not what you would call a relaxing, enjoyable meal.

After brunch, we zipped back to the house to pack and then it was back to Chicago to catch our 8:30 flight back home.  Thank goodness for Aunt Wanda and Aunt Shirley since, as usual, I had tons of stuff I was carting around.  Thankfully enough, the flight was only about 50% full and I was able to bring Aubree's car seat on again (like I did on the way there) and she slept a good portion of the time.  Calleigh didn't sleep a wink (not surprised) until she hit her car seat on the way home.  But she was as good as can be.  So that trip is over and done and now we're home until next Thursday when we leave for the wedding.  It was a fun trip but most of all, I'm just really proud of my brother who finished a very tough program.  I know I don't have these numbers exactly right but there were around 35 people who started the five year Architecture program and by the end, there were only like 13 left.  It's a LOT of work.

We did leave Duncan behind but he didn't have much time to miss us since he got an iPad on Friday afternoon when the 3G version came out.  He's very much an "early adapter" or whatever you call those people who like to have the latest gadget.  But then, what do you expect from an IT person?  Admittedly, it IS an exciting gadget.

Last week we finally got to meet the twins when we paid a visit to the Isidros.  It's hard to believe that Madelyn is actually bigger than Aubree when she was born.  She's so incredibly tiny.  It hasn't been a year and yet I've already forgotten how small a newborn is.  We brought over Thai food so return the favor of them bringing it to us after Aubree's birth.  It was a lovely evening to sit out on the back deck and enjoy the company.  The girls ran around and giggled pretty much the whole time and I don't think either of them consumed much food.  Oh well.

This evening, David, Yully, and Megan brought dinner over and I supplied the brownie delight.  We had been getting together with them every Friday evening but it sortof came to a stop when Megan started working on Friday's until 7 pm.  We decided to resume but on Wednesdays instead.  We haven't seen them in a while so it was fun to catch up on all the wedding plans and we were able to show Yully the flower girl dresses for the girls that just came over the weekend.  Thankfully they both fit very well so it's nice to have that done with.

I'll close here.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the swimming lesson tomorrow!