Friday, April 25, 2008

Roughin it!



















So me and the Misses decided to go on an exploratory mission to delve into the mysterious and potentially dangerous realm of "Baby Camping." This small flagship trip at a state park a half an hour away was supposed to instill in us the confidence to venture a little further away from home and not worry about whether we brought all of the baby's _____ and _____ and ______ and basically let us know what it takes to rough it with the little one. I am pleased to announce that the baby was actually the most well-behaved aspect of the entire mission. The first mistake we made was due to a lack of knowledge that two lakes under the name of "Crooked" could be located in the same county. The respectable reader is asking himself right now: "How could you be so foolish?"

In any case, a 1.5 hour drive to travel less than 30 miles cleared it up real fast. Well, the next National Lampoon's Family Vacation-esque occurance was the recent fly hatch in the near vacinity of the campground. Although we were early in the camping season and on a thursday night, the campground was packed: Not with creatures of the two legged type, but of with those possessing multiple mouths and two wings. Anyway, to cut my rantings short.....er, this thoroughly annoyed the wife of my youth. On top of it all, it rained quite hard the entire night, which is ok, except that the small tent forced me to scrunch in the fetal position the entire night to keep my soles dry (for those of you blessed enough to have never camped during a rainstorm, the mere touching of the wall of the tent causes the toucher to get rather soaked). Anyway, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet: I had a great time. By the way, we're thinking of submitting the first pic for a Subaru commercial.


So, as proud parents, we like to just slap on cute pictures of little timmy doing what he does best: nothing. So let the cuteness soak in like a nice, relaxing bubble bath, and don't mind the ugly mug in the upper right picture. enjoy!

Since I haven't been a participator in the blog scene for quite some time, I thought I'd tell about my second best reason to go back to Utah: kiteboarding. If you have not been witness to the scott stapleton quirks, you should know that I just might get rather obsessive about certain recreational activities, and kiteboarding takes center stage at the moment. Over spring break, I had the high hopes of getting out 3 of 4 times, but after the 2nd time, I was sore enough to become quite aware that the passing of time is only finding me slightly older, fatter, and more out of shape. If being able to move wasn't a prerequisite for kiteboarding, I would have reached my goal of 3 or 4 times over the break. Be it as it was, I had a great go! My dad came with me the first time, and we had weak wind, but it was good for learning, and he did great. The second outing, I had the kind of wind that makes all of the other futile trips with no wind quite worth it. On top of it all, I ran into Ozone Kite's own Brian Schenk, and he let me use one of the newer, larger kites. I kited till it was too dark to continue, leaving just enough energy in my arms to steer my automobile back to the safety of home.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Picnicing

Picnic at Nichol's ArboritumHere's the group. You could see us from a mile away with all our strollers. :)
Here's Timmy trying to catch some shut-eye.
I'm not that great at making recipes when they have lots of ingredients, but I was determined to get everything to make Cafe Rio Burritos. It seriously took me like 3 weeks, but in the end, we had a very yummy dinner.
The other day Scott was dressing Timmy in his sleeper, and was like "Another one?! What's all this 'I Love Mommy' stuff?" Timmy's Macha (Grandma) got him this cute "My Da-da is #1" onesie, so now everyone can know that Timmy loves his daddy too.

Monday, April 14, 2008

First Hike

Timmy went on his first hike today at the Nichols Arboretum at University of Michigan. No picture available, because it was all I could do to get there and back toting him along. It was a nice day, and I wanted to take advantage by doing something fun outside. So at 10:00 this morning, I decided to go... but you mom's probably know how it goes....

10:00 - nap
11:20 - wakes up, change diaper.
I start getting him ready to go, and he cries uncontrollably. I realize he is hungry (a little earlier than he normally is). Feed him.
He poos. I change him. He's tired. Already time for next nap.
12:20 - nap
2:00 - wakes. I'm determined to get him out the door this time, so I have everything ready to go. I feed him, change him again and we're out the door at 2:30.
We get to the trail, and I have to look for a parking spot for 15 minutes. (There is no designated parking, and tons of NO PARKING signs.)
2:45 pm - start hiking
3:00 pm - He's tired and wants a nap again, but I'm hikin'!! I've got to go longer than 15 minutes after all that work to get here! So, I try to fend him off by taking the pack off several times to put his binky in, even asking strangers to do the same a couple of times. He fusses on and off for 30 minutes.
3:30 - I finally decide he's ready to go and let him cry while I make my way back to the car.
4:00 - back at the car and he's finally fallen fast asleep. I try to gently put him in the carseat. Of course, we wakes up and is furious.
4:15 - Back at the house - get him into his crib as fast as I can.

Man - wasn't that....uh...fun? Hopefully it will be more fun as time goes on. I think Scott wonders why I don't just play all day long now that I don't have to work. Hopefully this puts it into perspective. :)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Conference Sunday

Here's Timmy all tuckered out on a little walk in between General Conference sessions. The weather was fabulous! He loves to snuggle with Daddy in his baby Bjorn. This is the hat Scott made for him while watching Conference.
This is Scott and Timmy watching Conference together...or rather....Scott crocheting to keep himself awake whilst he listens to conference, and Timmy staring intently at Scott's crocheting, and probably hearing something like the teacher on Charlie Brown. ("Wha-wha-whawha-wha")
Look Mom! Your crocuses have sprung up! And....look! Some popped up in the front where we didn't plant. Some tenet must have attempted a front porch plant awhile ago. I hope they survive, even though I have been told that torrential storms will come our way in April and flood everything in that little patch out. We'll see.

Timmy loves his jogging stroller, and has gone out walking with mom many times this spring, all decked out in his snuggly-warm suit and with his hanging toys to entertain him. Thanks Macha and Grandpa Stapleton!I had some photos of Timmy taken by my friend Rachel Opdahl (opdahlphotography.com). Here's our new piece of art, which I have now hung in the living room by all the other photos that surround us and remind us of our favorite places and people. I was Sooo stressed out about which pictures to print, but they turned out so nice. It's so amazing how fast he's already grown in two months.
Which reminds me to give you the stats on Timmy from this week. We visited the doctor on Monday April 7th (two days after his 4 month birthday) and he was 26 3/4 inches (>100%), 15 lbs. 9 oz. (90%). The doctor says he will be very tall. He's wearing his 9 months clothes very nicely right now. :)