Winter Wonder

 We LOVE winter and Christmas festivities in our household. I normally am obsessed with them, but I think we might be extra obsessed because of Griff and I's birthdays being around Christmas as well. Also, Christmas festivities are SO much more fun with Griff, and he is at a really fun age for them too! 

We kicked off the holiday festivities a little before Thanksgiving this year and went to Christmas at the Zoo a couple days before Thanksgiving - since we knew the crowds would be better. There were minimal to no crowds and we all loved exploring the lights! We also rode the train (Griff still really loves trains). They had an outdoor Santa greeting and we offered to let Griff go up and say hi from a distance, but he was rather hesitant to go up to him. 

On Griffin's birthday Tim was able to take the day off and we had a day full of birthday and festive fun! We had cinnamon rolls, opened presents, and went to Build-A-Bear, had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, went to Jingle Rails and the Eiteljorg, stopped by Christmas at the Zoo, and ended the night with dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and walking around downtown to see Christmas lights. A few days after Griff's birthday we also celebrated him with a shark birthday party at the aquatic center!

The weekend of my birthday Tim and Griff took me for a short trip in lieu of gifts - my request. We spent a day exploring the St Louis Zoo - one of our favorite zoos and free to get in! I especially love the penguin exhibit there and Griff really loved their playground (and climbed all the way to the top!). We also really loved seeing the hippos and gorillas and kangaroos (since we don't have these at the Indy Zoo now/yet) and riding the train (we got a really great view of the elephants up close). We also explored Forest Park a bit (which is gorgeous!) and Griff loved playing on all the different playgrounds. That evening we had pizza at a local chain (Griff loved and ate almost half the pizza!) and then spent the rest of the evening at the City Museum - which is much harder on my knees at 30 years old than it was a few years ago. Tim & I were so excited to take Griff to the City Museum and see what he thought of it - he ended up being a huge fan! If you haven't been, it is essentially like a big kids playground - a warehouse converted into floors of tunnels and slides. Griff was not afraid at all and loved the big slides (even going down a 4 story one!). I think I was more nervous for him than he was. It was such a sweet trip and a sweet reminder of when Tim and I came to St Louis for our 1st anniversary. 

We left from St Louis and went straight to French Lick for the Polar Express! We had family join us this year which was wonderful! When we went last time Griff was 1 and it was just us 3 (which was so sweet), but he also really loved having family along this time! We spent some time swimming at the hotel (Griff really liked the lazy river again!) then went down for the Polar Express. Griff was a bit wary of Santa still and wasn't running out to dance in the aisles, but he loved the hot chocolate (even spilling it on us multiple times...) and was very observant the entire time. We had pizza for dinner that night and then explored French Lick and its hotels a bit more before heading out for home the next day. We already can't wait to go again next year...mama especially (as it's such a sweet memory for me!)

In the weeks leading up to Christmas we also had a couple cookie bake days - one with family and one with friends. I always look forward to this and Griff is starting to be more of a helper and more involved, which makes it more fun. We also went to look at Christmas lights many nights - loading up in the car with blankets and driving around the neighborhood or down to the park. I LOVE doing this and look forward to it every year.

We celebrated Christmas with extended family mostly the weekend/week before Christmas - Griff loved getting to play with all his cousins and was soo excited to open presents this year!). We also had a celebration with my dad's side on Christmas Eve and spent the day eating, playing board games, and opening presents. That evening we watched Encanto (we'd been waiting for it to release!) and set all our stuff out for Santa. 

Christmas Day we always celebrate just as our immediate family and it is always so sweet and calm (I love getting to soak in the day and not rush around). We read the Christmas story upon getting up then opened presents and played with presents, ate breakfast, and watched the Disney Christmas special that morning. In the afternoon we made Jesus "cupcakes" for His birthday and got in a nice walk and some park time - thank goodness for warm weather! We spent the evening cuddled up watching Christmas movies - my favorite. 

Tim was off the week after Christmas! We normally choose to take a trip then but decided to do a "staycation" this year. We spent the week doing all our favorite things - park time, Zoo time, and just being together. We also went to UIndy one day and got Enzo's Pizza, went to see the Danville WinterLights show, drove to Pokagon State Park and did the "Toboggan Run", and went to the Children's Museum (once with just us and one day with Griff's cousins!). Though we missed a "getaway" and warm weather, it was a fun and sweet week making memories around home too. 

This Christmas season was such a sweet one and Griff was at such a sweet age. We were sad to see it go but relished in the season with our family and are already looking forward to getting to keep some of the traditions from this year and past years in the next year as well. 

3 Years of Griffy

Our sweet boy turned 3 on December 1st, and we are just in shock still that we have a 3 year old! In some ways it feels like just yesterday we came home with him from the hospital (though some days have been long and parenting is no easy task!). He is soo much more a little boy these days, which is so exciting but also so bittersweet. While I love seeing him grow and change, I'm so sad to see him leave each phase too. He is such a sweet spirit - he loves to help us around the house/camper and has a very loving personality. He is almost always on the move and loves to constantly be learning and playing - which is a lot to keep up with and a lot of fun. He loves playing (especially with his cousins). He's generally very talkative and wild, but he can be shy at times (especially when first entering anywhere). 

Here is a quick run down when it comes to our boy:

His favorite TV Show: Mickey (anything) 

Favorite Movies: Mickey Movie (Twice Upon a Christmas at Christmas time!), Cars

His favorite superheros: Spiderman & Ironman

Favorite food: Mac n Cheese, Blueberries, Smoothies, Any "dessert"

Favorite books: It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Avengers Books

Favorite stuffed animal/blanket: "Ali dog" (His stuffed dog that looks like Ali), Mickey blanket

 

As far as speech and fine/gross motor skills, he continues to surprise with what he's learning and able to do! He is speaking in sentences now and is very very chatty (when it is just us he is constantly talking). He often tells us "I like you" which makes us laugh. He is able to do most pre-writing strokes and somewhat color in a more defined area. As far as gross motor, he can climb almost anything (and still doesn't show a lot of fear). He loves his balance bike and is very fast on it! He also is getting the hang of riding his tricycle. This fall he really loved helping us "rake" (mostly he just loved jumping in the leaves). 

Griff still loves being outdoors and is a huge fan of camping. He still gets upset if we have to come inside or when our camping trips end. He also loves going on bike rides in the neighborhood (especially to see holiday decor) and going to the park or playground.

He also still loves to bake and cook with mama - either mimicking what I'm doing in his kitchen or helping me with whatever I'm making. He also still loves to taste test of course. 

Griffy is still very much obsessed with Mickey. It is the only thing he wants to watch (though we're working on expanding what he watches, especially with holiday movies!). We are so excited to take him back to Disney World here soon. He also really loves Marvel Superheroes still (Spiderman + Iron Man are still his favorites, though he loves the others too and likes Batman right now too), and vehicles (planes, trains, construction, etc). 

Griff is still obsessed with water. He especially loves to swim at the lake and play at splash pads. When we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he immediately told us he wanted to "swim with his cousins at the lake" (which is a little hard to do in December!). He continues to take self rescue swim lessons every month or so to keep up his skills. 

Griff is still obsessed with Ali - both stuffed and real. They love to chase each other around the house - though as Ali gets older her hips don't love it as much. They don't really snuggle together though - Griff isn't quite gentle enough for Ali's taste so she'd rather snuggle with us.

Griff is still obsessed with reading. He still would gladly spend hours a day reading (and some days we do!).

Griff is also still a huge fan of the zoo. We generally go at least once a week in nice weather and almost as much in cold weather too. He loves seeing all the animals and has loved all the special festivities this fall too. He especially likes playing on the playground there and running across the bouncy bridge. When asked what he favorite animal is, he usually tells us "lion".

In the past 6 months Griff also has gone on a few more trips with us and explored a few more places! Griff still loves to travel & generally is pretty good in the car.  

-At the end of July we took him to Holiday World, West Virginia, and Outer Banks. He LOVED Holiday World and all the beach time - he is a true water bug like his mama. At Holiday World he went on every slide he could (and wanted to go on the big ones he wasn't tall enough for even!). In addition to the slides he also really liked the lazy river (he went around it multiple times laying in his tube). We even took him on the log ride (which he was barely tall enough for). I was a little afraid he'd end up finally scared, but he loved it too! He also really loved searching for lighthouses in Outer Banks and seeing the mine museum in West Virginia. When we finished the trip, he was sad to come home because he just wanted to keep camping! 

-In October we went to the Smokies (with my family) and to Mammoth Cave (camping just us). Griff loved both! He did great at hiking in the Smokies and loved exploring the little houses, churches, waterfall, etc. He also especially loved all his time with his cousins! He also really loved Mammoth Cave - for weeks he talked about it and when we saw other caves when camping later in the year he was sad they weren't Mammoth Cave. 

We also took a few other camping trips - to Heritage Lake, Turkey Run, McCormicks Creek, and Clifty Falls. Griff continues to love camping & exploring. He is pretty good at hiking (he'll usually hike most/all the way on his own just holding our hands). He also loves finding waterfalls and caves like his mama. He's been more of a helper too this fall - he is now able to help his dad do the stabilizing jacks and get the campfire ready. 

Some other firsts and holidays we celebrated during the last couple months:

-We celebrated Tim & I's anniversary! We went to Pizza King as a family (Griff's first time!) for dinner - Griff loved seeing the trains go by! and then Tim and I went and saw a movie at the drive in after Griff was asleep one night (one of our favorite family past times!). 

-Speaking of the drive in...Griff continues to love going to the movies or drive in if we're able! This fall we took him to see Adams Family 2 at the drive in and he loved it! 

-We celebrated Halloween! Griff loved dressing up as "Train conductor Mickey" and Buzz!

-We also celebrated Thanksgiving with our families! We brought a small cake to sing to Griffy too which he loved! 

On the day of Griffy's birthday we went big celebrating! We started the day at home with Mickey cinnamon rolls & some outdoor time. After that we went to Build a Bear and Griff built an Olaf and a Birthday Bear. We also had tickets from Tim's work for Jingle Rails so we took Griff to see that (plus their new childrens/family area). He loved seeing the trains - and Tim and I did too! It is so impressive every year. He also loved the family area! There was a play kitchen/restaurant, garden, barn, stagecoach to repair, etc. He spent at least an hour down here playing and it was so sweet to watch! We popped into the zoo after this so Griff could see a few animals and the lights for Christmas at the Zoo. Last, we had dinner at The Spaghetti Factory and walked over to see the christmas lights on the circle. It was such a full - and fun - day! 

A few days after his birthday we also took him + his cousins to the aquatic center near us and had a small swim party! He was obsessed with their pool/play area! He spent almost the whole time in the water. He briefly got out for pizza, but wanted to skip cake + presents to get right back in after. We were so thankful to celebrate our boy with family + friends this season and mama loved kicking off the christmas season celebrating him (holidays are so much more fun and special with him).

As we look forward to the next year we anxiously look forward to continuing to see Griffin grow (but also soaking in these days at this age). It has been such a joy watching him learn and develop into the little boy he is and we continue to pray over his life and days ahead. We love you our sweet Griffy!

  

Fall Festivities 2021

 Fall festivities are so much more fun with Griff - and he is at such a fun age for them! This year we really embraced all the fall activities with him.

In September we kicked off "fall" early with camping, an early trip to Zoo Boo, a visit to see Nicole and Hugh's new sheep, and a trip to an orchard to get an apple cider slushy. We camped at Turkey Run mid-September. Griffy loved the trails there (although they are a bit challenging) and especially loved all the time riding his bike & playing on the playgrounds. He also loved our visit to see Nicole and Hugh's new baby sheep another week - he especially loved chasing them around their enclosure and trying to hold them. We also stopped at McClure's Orchard (on the far north side of Indy) one day when we were out that way for something else. Griff loved seeing their animals and we got an apple cider slushy from the apple barn (Griff & I always get one to share in the fall!). We also went to the Indy Zoo when they were just kicking off Zoo Boo with Hadley and Rachel We went during the day so we didn't see many lights, but we saw lots of big pumpkins & enjoyed some time on the playground too! We also just generally enjoyed lots of park, zoo, and outside time in September as well as our last few weekends to enjoy the nice weather at the lake - all of Griff & I's happy places. 

Hummel Park Playground Time


Meeting the new sheep



Zoo Playground time



Park Picnic



Riding our scooter with Ali Dog



Turkey Run - Playground time



Zoo Time with Hadley


 

We kicked off October camping at McCormick's Creek. It rained most of the weekend unfortunately, but we did make a side trip over to see our cousins in Bloomington for part of the weekend which Griff loved! We did get a chance to do a couple shorter hikes in between rain - to Wolf Cave and a waterfall. We also had a "movie night" on Saturday evening and had a themed dinner and watched Casper. For weeks after Griff called every "ghost" decor item he saw "the friendly ghost!" so I'd say he liked it!

Wolf Cave Hike

We also went to Zoo Boo (a couple times!). We went once with family and another time as just our immediate family. The first time Griff went as "train conductor Mickey" (his halloween costume this year). The next time he went as Buzz (an extra halloween costume I made him this year). 

Zoo Boo



Zoo Boo

We also went on a long weekend trip to the Smokies with my parents and older brother's family (Tim unfortunately wasn't able to come because it was before a big tax deadline). On the way down we stopped at Bass Pro Shops (Griff loves seeing the large aquariums here and the kids loved the glass elevator!) and to get some ice cream. We spent the evening hanging out at the condo getting settled and letting the kids play. The next day we went to the Scenic Motor Trail just outside Gatlinburg and explored some of the old cabins and hiked to Grotto Falls. Griff did awesome and hiked the whole way up - though he did hitch a ride on the way down! 

On our last day we drove to Cades Cove. We were able to check out a couple churches and even saw a bear walk right in front of our car! The kids especially loved playing the piano in one of the churches. On our way back we stopped in Townsend and the kids explored a train museum there and we found a neat swinging bridge. That night we also went to play mini golf - Griff loved it and was quick to "place" his ball in the hole if it didn't go in when hit. Poor Brody actually had hand foot mouth while we were there- and Griff unfortunately got it after our trip as well. However, he did pretty well other than being a little fussy and having a few sores around his mouth for a few days!

We also went on a camping trip just us + Griff to Mammoth Cave. We were really excited to see what Griff thought of it since he'd never been in a cave! We camped right near the visitor center in the national park. He loved checking out the visitor center and learning about caves. He was at the end of getting over hand foot mouth so he was a little grumpier and didn't want to hike as much - so he hitched a lot of rides when we did! We hiked down to a pretty spring by the historic entrance of the cave (River Styx Spring), to an old train that used to run to the area, and also around a large area called "Cedar Sink Trail". We also stopped at a couple historic churches (Joppa Church and Good Spring Church). We also took the Green River ferry across (it is a small ferry, only big enough to fit 2-3 cars) to explore another section of the national park (Griff really loved this!). We also went on a tour of the cave (the Historic Tour). I'm not gonna lie - I felt a little claustrophobic myself - but it was also soo cool. Griff was a little impatient (it was a long tour) but did almost all of it on his own! He also talked about it for weeks after so I'd say he liked it! We also enjoyed plenty of campfires in the evening and brought board games to play too (Griff is super into board games right now!). 

We also went to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins! Since we're thinking of moving further north here soon we decided to check out a pumpkin patch on the north side! We went to Union Acres, a smaller farm, which was super nice and had lots of fun activities for Griff and a large patch to pick from. It was not crowded at all which was super nice (though it was a little chilly that day). Griff loved all their activities! They had lots of big slides made of tubes (which he went on on his own and wasn't afraid of at all!), a duck race area, a bubble making area, a corn pit, a playground made of large tires, a tricycle racing area, a basketball hoop area, large hay bales for climbing, an area with bunnies and ducks, and an area where you could "hit" smaller pumpkins with a baseball bat or sledgehammer - all this along with the apple barn and patch. We picked our pumpkins first and then released Griff to go on all the activities. By far his favorite were the tire playground, slides, and hay mountain! We had a hard time getting him off these at the end because he loved them so much! Griff was a fan of trying to carve his pumpkins afterward, though he didn't like the "guts". 

As usual, we also spent a lot of October playing outside, at the park/playground, or going to the zoo! Griff loves being outside so we took advantage of the still (mostly nice) weather and were outside a lot. He also loved seeing all the "spooky" decor so we went on lots of bike rides through our neighborhood to check out all the decor. 

We finished out October with Halloween festivities - a trunk or treat with our cousins and trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween. Griff loved trick or treating! This was the first year he really understand it and was excited to go and it was so sweet to see!

November was a little slower and was filled with more play days at home, though we did still go to the park/playground and zoo fairly often! We also spent lots of time raking leaves due to having lots of trees - and Griff loved jumping in the leaf piles! 

We also got in one camping trip to Clifty Falls with Nicole & Hugh! We hiked to the tunnel caves and and a couple waterfalls and explored the Inn and downtown Madison. We found a playground on the river that Griffy loved and he also liked visiting the train at the visitor center. We also did lots of campground loops on Griffy's bike and had a couple nice campfires. It was a nice end to our camping season for the year. 

We also celebrated Thanksgiving with family - we had cake at Thanksgiving as well to sing to Griff with family since his birthday was coming up! Though this year has been...a year..we have so much to be thankful for, especially and including Griff...so we were thankful to end the season thanking God for his many blessings and for our family. 

Now we head into the Christmas season - which is sooo special in our household. We area anxiously awaiting celebrating Griff & I's birthday but also (and most importantly) the birth of our Savior.

Summer 2021

 If there was a theme for Summer 2021, I think for us it would be camping & all the outdoor time. Especially with Covid on the rise, we were careful to mostly spend our time doing outdoor, not as crowded activities this spring into summer, which meant plenty of outdoor time (one of our favorite things as a family!). 

We took a couple different camping trips this spring into summer - mostly places we've gone before but a couple new ones as well!

May (Mothers Day Weekend) - Brown County: Somehow we have managed to make Brown County our first camping trip of the season the last couple years...and I am 100% here for it. It is one of our favorite places to go - it's not super far and there's a fair amount to do. We really enjoyed hiking the lakes (and Griff did them almost 100% on his own!). We also love going to the stables to see the horses (which Griff rode this time!) and going into town for pizza and ice cream (the Chocolate Moose has great vegan ice cream!). We usually take Ali with us to get pizza in town but this time opted to skip it and actually drove into Story, IN one day. 

May (Memorial Day Weekend) - Bryson City, NC (Deep Creek Campground): The Smokies are one of our favorite places to camp and we love the North Carolina side because it tends to be quieter. We decided to take a long weekend and just see the NC side (though we missed Elkmont on the other side!). We spent a lot of time exploring the trails near the campground (which has a nice creek to splash in and plenty of waterfalls!). We also went into Asheville, NC to get White Duck Taco Shop (one of Tim & I's favorite) and take Griff to Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS). Griff loved exploring this museum (it was a lot like a mini Children's Museum) - though he did get a little scared when he got to the top of the indoor play structure and mama had to rescue him!). We also drove to Cataloochee one day and hiked some of the trails there, enjoying seeing some of the old houses and some elk. 

July - Oubache: I had never been to this state park and Tim hadn't been since he was a kid, so this was a really fun one to check out! They have Bison at this park and Griff enjoyed seeing them (he actually had been gifted a stuffed bison toy by a friend of Tim's so he got a kick out of bringing that with him!). They also had a nice beach/lake with a trail around it so we spent some time playing in the water there which Griff loved. We also enjoyed plenty of campground walks, campfires, and time at the playground...and went into town for some local ice cream which Griff loved. 

July-August - Holiday World, Oregon Inlet (Outer Banks):I talk way more in depth about this trip in another post but this was one of our favorite spots to road trip to last summer...and this summer was no exception. :)  

We also spent a few weekends camping at Heritage Lake this summer, once even just with me + Griff and his cousins. Griff loved getting to have a sleepover with his cousins and I loved getting to love on them! 

 

We actually had a couple more camping trips planned this spring and summer but ended up cancelling them due to other life circumstances...but we're hoping for more camping time last summer and were thankful for what we got! 

We also spent so much time this summer outside - going to the park, going to the zoo, time at the lake, etc. or just playing in our own backyard! 

Griff loves going to Hummel Park, especially the splash pad or the play ground on the back side of the park...and we do to! We went almost every to every other day this summer. 

We also spent a lot of time at the zoo - I'd often take him in the morning when it wasn't too crowded on my own or we'd have others join us (we even took his cousins one day for Brax's birthday present and Griff loved that!). 

We spent a lot of time in the water or at the lake too. Griff loved swimming (especially on the lily pad), playing in the water table, or going on a boat ride or tubing! 

We also spent a lot of time playing on our play set in the back yard and playing with his water toys in our yard too!

This summer Griff was at such a fun age to experience - he has gotten so much more lively and interactive and is talking so much more. I have loved getting to experience summer and summer activities with him and our little family...and as sad as I am to see that go I am also so excited for all the fall activities that will be coming our way soon too!