sprinkler park

in yet another attempt to cram summer into these last few weeks before school starts, today we took a trip to the sprinkler park in plymouth. we met up with jenne, trey and marissa villanueva and jenny, emily and stephen crager. it was a little on the cool side, especially first thing in the morning, but that didn't stop trey and hayden from jumping in the second we got there. they actually came out several times to warm up, but eventually went right back in. it was a good day with no time outs and no screaming. at the end of the day i did have to pack everything, including myself, into the car and pretend to leave before hayden would actually get in. but in my book, that's a near perfect day.

about 10:30am and maybe 73 degrees:

trey and hayden play great together, and if i could, i'd let the 2 of them hang out and entertain each other every day:

talan came too. again, here's what he did. actually, he did quite a bit of rolling over, especially down the hill:
jenne and marissa, just 6 weeks old. she'll catch up to talan in no time:
we took a break from the sprinkler park to play on the play structure and sand box. hayden mostly just wanted to throw sand and watch his shadow while doing so:

cookies? or sleep?

yesterday we took a little trip to fenton to visit my bff melanie and her children ashton and lorelei. we're trying to fit in all of the activities we can before school starts, which we just found out starts on the 18th. after leaving her house we stopped off at the grocery store near her house since they had a sale one something i really wanted. i told hayden that if he was good i'd get him a snack to eat in the car. after a day with about 3 time outs he was shockingly good in the store and he chose the oreo cookie 100 calorie snack packs. we got into the car and once we were on the road i gave him a pack of cookies. as we were nearing home, i realized i hadn't heard him in a while and figured after eating the cookies he'd fallen asleep. i look behind me and he was out. we ended up in a traffic jam and while at a dead stop i took a closer look at him. he had a streak of chocolate from his mouth down his chin which made him look like a vampire. and he also still had his hand in the bag of cookies. i guess while going in for another cookie, he realized he just couldn't stay awake any longer and he passed out. i had the camera and took some pictures. a few minutes later i heard the bag and figured he woke up. i turned around to see him rubbing his face with the bad on his hand still, and he continued sleeping. it was a funny sight and i'm glad we can share it with you.

the dude

one of dave's fellow co-workers is leaving ledco and yesterday was his last day. so last nite, after work, they headed to a bowling alley to say goodbye. i took hayden and talan up there and figured we'd let hayden try it out. we played about 4 games and by the last game he had gotten quite good. of course we didn't allow him to use bumpers, because honestly, if he got a strike with bumpers would it really have counted?! the answer is no. he ended up scoring a 72 on his last game, and only 10 pins didn't actually count since bobby flowers helped him out a little. but he ended up getting 2 totally legit strikes during the evening all on his own. he started the evening with a 6 pound ball, and by the end, he was using my 8 pounder.
i am now looking into the fall bowling leagues that are starting up in september and figure we'll sign him up. this morning when he woke up he came into our room and said "after you get done taking your nap, can we go bowling again?"
i don't mean to brag and take the spotlight off of hayden, but i did bowl a 117, 134 and 139. i'm just saying.

i didn't end up getting video of his strikes, but here's a little bit of the action:






the 16 pound ball was quite tempting to him, but he stuck with the 6, 7 and 8 pounder:
what form:
it looks like a strike, but it most likely turned at the last minute:

dave taught him this fun trick at the end of the nite:
talan was there too. with bobby flowers:

when he was two

these are some old videos we had downloaded from when hayden was just over 2. see how cute he was?! that's why he's not dead yet.
the first is hayden singing the alphabet while naked. it was the only time i got him doing it on camera...so, he's naked. whatever. i apologize for the fact that it is sideways. i was using the camera and turned it thinking i was getting a vertical shot as if you were taking a picture. but instead, you see a naked sideways hayden.
the second is hayden reading chicka chicka boom boom. if you know the story, you'll hear his "chicka chicka boom boom" and the "whee!" that's about all i can decipher.
the third is just hayden playing. but he's so stinkin' cute, i had to put it on. speaking of stinking...that's what all of the off camera complaining was about....hayden stunk. i hardly remember him being that little.

*i just found out that youtube removed the first video due to inappropriate content. guess they don't like the baby butt there at youtube. so if you want to see the video, you'll just have to come over to our house and watch it.

farmington founder's festival

the horrible humidity finally left and just in time for the annual farmington founders festival. i decided to call mom and dad and see if they'd like to walk around with us just to get out of the house for bit. the agreed and we decided to meet up in a parking lot. as i was getting ready to leave i packed up the stroller, the baby bjorn, the snacks for hayden, the bottles and formula for talan, a change of clothes, diapers, a blanket...you know, all the essentials you would need for a 2 hour outing. i looked at my camera and thought....should i bring this? should i take pictures of our stroll in farmington today? i haven't blogged in awhile. we haven't done anything blog worthy enough. but then i decided not to take it. i mean, just because i'm getting out of the house and that's exciting to me doesn't mean the rest of america wants to see pictures of the walk i took and the snowcone i ate (i didn't even get a snowcone i'll have you know. they weren't open when we were in that area, and then when we were leaving i didn't feel like stopping for one and having to wait while hayden ate one and then yelled that he didn't want to go home again).
well, we got there and farmington had decided to kick the founder's festival up a few notches this year. so there were rides and such. blogging worthy attractions. i have to realize that i'm a blogger now. and being a blogger means i must carry my camera with me at all times. it's just my responsibility now. lucky for me, grandma was there with her camera.
so basically, we took a nice stroll, enjoyed the 70ish degree weather with no humidity, didn't eat snowcones and watched hayden ride rides for half the day.
photo copyrights go to susan kellogg. thanks for the help mom! the pictures are great, and america thanks you. seriously, what would my fine readers do if they couldn't see photos of hayden on more rides?!

on the roller coaster which later i was told was his favorite ride of the day:
again with the roller coaster:
after the fifth time or so he started putting his hands up going up the hill but would put them down once they started going down the hill. by the last time he went, he had his hands up for the entire ride. that's my boy:
the huge slide that he first referred to as the "big slide" only to correct himself and say "no, no. the fun slide. that's what the sign says at the top." yes my 4 year old hayden, that's what the sign said:
on the carousel:
i was a little afraid to put him on the swings as i thought once they got too high he might freak out and want to come down. mom was scared that he'd fall out. none of the above happened and he went again and again:

broadway

on june 23 we headed to the fox theater to see thomas LIVE! hayden was quite excited, of course. and we went because we love him. i put my camera in my backpack and once we reached the doors we read a sign that said "no cameras allowed." dave said he would run the camera back to the car but i told him not to worry about it. they don't pat you down for concerts, why would they at thomas?! besides, i just wanted a couple of pictures of him in the fox theater. nothing too major that would give the plot away to those who hadn't seen the show yet. we get closer to the front and see that they actually are going through purses and bags. i was wrong. but i certainly am glad security was so tight at this thomas show. it really could have gotten out of control. i hadn't seen a crowd that was so prone to moshing since 1994.
so dave puts the camera back and hayden and i wait in line to buy the must have trinket for the show. this time around it was thomas on a stick that lit up. for $12. the boy in front of us was told he was getting a light from mommy and a hat from grandma. hayden overheard this and decided he must also have a hat. hayden comes close to refusing to wear hats most of the time. and when i saw that this hat was $20, it was a definite no. we are still in line when dave gets back in. we finally get our light and head up to our seats. when we walk in i notice there aren't a whole lot of people in our section. and it's pretty close to show time. we sit down in our seats and about 2 minutes later someone comes and tells us we can move down to any of the seats one level lower since it was such a small crowd. bonus. sure am glad i didn't buy the next high up ticket. i tried taking a picture of hayden with dave's camera phone, but it didn't come out. so i have no bootleg pictures for you. just a couple that kinda proves we were there. or at least in the area.
we got some cotton candy, which hayden manages to get all over his face and hands. dave tried to make the event more enjoyable by texting people to let them know what we were up to. we hate musicals. and a kids musical?! well, that must be about 500 times worse. but we made it through. at least kids musicals aren't as long as adult musicals! thomas actually did end up saving the day.
after the show we quickly made our exit and headed next door to get something to eat at johnny rockets. dave's peanut butter cup shake was delicious. hayden managed to eat all the bites of hot dog we requested of him, and then managed to keep them in his mouth from detroit to just about novi. every time he was open his mouth, the car would fill with the smell of hot dog that's been sitting in someones mouth for a ridiculous amount of time. it was disgusting. he finally got it down and we made it to grandma's to pick up talan. a fun time was had by.....well, by hayden.


see. we were there:
hayden on the way home with his $12 thomas light and the johnny rockets hot dog still in his mouth:

we're in trouble now

hayden has been such a good big brother to talan. and that hasn't changed. however, his interest in talan has changed. the other morning i put talan down on my bed so i could go and brush my teeth. i was gone for about 20 seconds when hayden came in and said "i picked up his head." not quite sure what that meant, he told me to come and watch. he jumped up on the bed and proceeded to pick talan up with his head over his shoulder. the whole time making sure he was supporting talan's head. i found it a little cute and didn't make too big of an issue out of it. i guess i should have.
the next day, i laid talan down on the couch while i finished getting ready as i was about to head into dave's work to help out. i came out about a minute later and talan wasn't on the couch anymore. i looked around and spotted him on the chair across the room with hayden playing next to him. talan was as happy as could be. i realized i really needed to explain that hayden was not allowed to pick his brother up unless he asked someone first. but he was just so proud of himself. with my supervision, i asked hayden to show me how he picked him up. and let me tell you, i'm quite impressed. the entire time, he supports his head....even if his face is buried in hayden's armpit.
i'm not quite sure when hayden decided he wanted to start doing things like this. he never used to care. he'd come over, give him a pat and be on his way. now he's been "playing jokes on talan" which means covering his mouth when talan is screaming, or "making talan have a silly face" by squishing his cheeks together so it looks like talan has fish lips. none of it is done in a mean or malicious manner. just not necessarily the way you should play with a baby. i guess i'll be putting talan in his crib a bit more when i walk out of the room.