Busy Summer Full of Graduation Fun

This summer was a busy time for our families. We had three graduates this year. Both of Matt’s brothers graduated from college. Adam got his degree from Eastern and John graduated from the University of Michigan. We did get the chance to attend Adam’s graduation but Matt and I did go to John’s and had the fortunate opportunity to hear the President of the United States, Barack Obama give the commencement address. We expected to wait a long time to get into the stadium and I was very nervous because I don’t always do great in huge crowds of people because get claustrophobic sometimes. But it was not bad at all and the line moved pretty fast through security. I thought the President did a very good job and he is a very moving speaker in person. I was a little nervous that Matt’s family would hate the speech because they are definitely republican supporters but even they thought it was a good speech.

My brother also graduated from high school this year and my parents could not be happier because for the first time one of their children has picked their alma mater, Michigan State (MSU). I think they are still in shock since all of the girls decided to go to another school. In fact I am not even sure that any of us applied there. My family bleeds green and is very excited for our brother. My parents were so funny in their old age because they felt that my brother’s high school colors (blue and yellow) were not right for the graduation party because he was going to MSU. It was so hard to convince them that we had used those colors for all of their other kid’s parties.

Greenfield Village

We had such a good time at Greenfield Village with Thomas that we decided to go with my Mom and Dad. I went with my parents when I was younger and my mom used to go all of the time when she was younger. They had not been in over 15 years so I thought it would be a nice treat for them and help us to pay off our membership fee.
It was a really nice day outside and we decided to start off at the farm. Matt and Zach looked so natural sitting on the rockers and enjoying the view from the front of the farm house. Zach was really interested in seeing and petting the animals until a chicken hiding in a dark corner of the barn scared him by clucking really loud. I don’t think Zach knew it was there before it yelled at him so he was really freaked out.
Zachary also got to ride on his first merry-go-around. Matt didn’t think he was going to like it so he grabbed a seat on the ride while I stood with Zach. That way if he started to cry we would have a place to put him. However, Matt ended up sitting all by himself. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this because we left the camera with mom and dad and they were unable to get a good picture.
We ended up eating at the Eagle Tavern inside Greenfield for lunch. We were all surprised at how affordable the food was and how delicious it all was. They started the meal with fresh baked hot muffins and breads. Then you got pickled eggs and vegetables and then your main course. We order beer and a pitcher of lemonade and we were all so stuffed we couldn’t eat desert. All this for under $10.00 per adult. We were even able to find something that Zachary would eat.
After lunch we all decided to try the train again with Zachary. He was excited to get on it with us this time and sit by himself. Before the first stop I looked over to see how he was doing and he was out. We weren’t even a fourth of the way around the park. He slept through the all the train whistles and for an hour after we got home. We really tired him out this time.

Blue Thomas

So ever since Christmas Zachary has really been into trains. And for a kid his age that means Thomas. However, Zachary does not watch the videos and neither do we so to Zachary all of Thomas’s train friends are just different colored Thomas. So he was really excited to go see Blue Thomas at Greenfield Village. The day started off really cold so we had like fifteen layers on because we knew it was supposed to warm up just not when.
I was surprised at how much stuff they had for the kids to do. I thought it would basically be ride the train and take pictures but they had a ton of free activities for the kids. They had rocking trains that the kids could ride, tattoo and coloring/stamping stations, story and video times, bubbles, toss games, old fashion toys for them to ride/play with. Plus they had converted a huge building into the biggest Thomas store I had ever seen. They had everything and then some.
We had signed up for one of the earlier rides so we got to the Village as soon as it opened. That ended up being a good thing because Zach got to do a lot of stuff without having to fight for space or toys. Which he is not good at because he is so shy.
Zachary was really excited to see the Blue Thomas and loved when it blew his whistle. In fact, as we were lining up to get on the train and take out ride around the village he kept yelling,” Blue Thomas and All Aboard!!” with huge wide eyes and excitement. The people in front of us laughed he was so excited and happy. However, as the station master took our tickets and Zach realized that he was actually getting on the train he freaked out and started to cry. He did not want to ride on Thomas, just look at him. He cried and buried his head as he rode in my lap almost the whole train ride. However, near the end he did pick his head up and start to enjoy the ride but he would not turn around and face the front. I think next year will go smoother.
Zachary loved looking at all of the big trains and Matt was happy that to see the Calumet train was out and he got to watch it get put away. Zachary also loved to watch the glass blowing. But we weren’t really sure if that was because of all of the colors and fires or because it was really warm in the building and we had been out in the cold for a while.
All in all it was a good day and we look forward to doing it again next year.

First Professional Haircut

I was more than a little nervous about Zachary’s first haircut. My neighbor’s would tell me horror stories about how their son would scream and cry and I was not looking forward to it. Matt and I had even tried to delay the inevitable by giving him impromptu home haircuts. Looking back at it I don’t know what I was so worried about. In fact we would have a lot more cute pictures if we had gone sooner. Zachary’s hair needed to be cut by a professional for a long time.

We ended up taking him to carnival cuts in the mall because that was the only place that we both knew that we had seen kids in. Matt usually gets his cut at a place at work and I was not paying salon prices for Zachary’s haircut. Plus we thought the atmosphere would help. The hairdresser was really good at her job.

After she set him in the car and put his apron on she gave him a sucker. Immediately I thought to myself, “What is she thinking? Zach is going to end up sucking on a hair pop!” But I didn’t say anything because she was the professional and I am glad now that I did not. Not only did Zach do wonderful and not cry once but he didn’t get a single hair on his sucker. She was also done in like twelve seconds. I swear I blinked and it was done. The mad face shone here was the worst part of the whole experience and that was because he did not like the sound of the trimmer. My little baby looks so grown up now however that is ok because I think he is even cuter.

Zachary Burrito

One of Matt’s favorite times with Zach is bath time. Matt usually helps Zach get washed and deals with all of the splashing and tub time fun. My job is to get him out of the water, dried off, lotioned and dressed in his pjs. However, that is delayed by playing games and pictures a lot of the time. He is just so cute when he is clean. (The cute kids towels jut amplify the cuteness). Personally, I think my job is more fun.

Some of Zach’s favorites include: Bath time hugs and the Zachary Burrito.

Zachary loves to get people wet and so bath time hugs is the perfect ploy for him because he cannot get yelled at for giving people hugs and telling them he loves them. Also, he loves to become the Zachary burrito. This is where we wrap him up really tight in his towel so that he cannot move and then fly him around the room like an airplane. Don’t ask why burritos fly because I don’t know but it is tons of fun and always gets laugh.