Random pictures from November

 These are just some random pictures from November.

Collin LOVES snow.  It was one of the first words he learned to say perfectly, and he spends a lot of time watching it when it snows.  This picture is from the 2nd snow of the season.  He was excited and kept saying "It snowing! It snowing!"

He decorated himself in stickers.  But this picture was to document his first bloody nose.

I was surprised that he left the tissue in his nose. 

One night we unfolded the futon and snuggled up to watch Brave.

Collin's snack of choice was chips!

He climbed into the dryer.  He said it was a cave.

He even took a flashlight into the cave.

Yeah, we've got TONS of diaper boxes.  They're great for storing stuff, or for playing in!

Halloween in Midland

 After Greg finished work on Halloween, we headed to Midland to see Nanny and Papa.  When we arrived we chatted and then got ready for trick-or-treating.  Collin got all decked out in his Iron Man costume, while the rest of us put on our super hero capes and masks.  I made Greg, Nanny, Papa and I each a cape and mask.  After some pictures, Papa, Greg, Collin and I headed down the street to trick-or-treat.  There were quite a few kids out.  Collin picked up on the routine quickly and was excited to go to the next house!  We only did maybe 10-15 houses because it was cold, and we didn't need the extra sweets.  I think Collin could have kept going though; he was having so much fun!

Nanny and Papa in their capes and masks.

Go Iron Man!

The first house!

Family picture

My handsome boys!

The haul.

 The next couple of days we spent in Midland.  We went to Christmas World in Frankenmuth, the mall, and fabric shopping.  Collin loved "Manny" and Papa's basement with all the fun toys.  He was constantly busy, and hardly ate nor did he take a nap.  To get him to bed we had to go on drives, cause there was just too much to explore!

In the basement. 

Loving the pirate dress ups!

There was even a pirate ship video game!

Playing outside with Dad and Nanny

Saturday the 3rd, Greg and I went to his childhood best friend's wedding in Traverse City.  We left Collin with Nanny and Papa.  They were going to play with him at their house and then drive up to meet us.  We arrived just in time.  Their ceremony was at the top of the Grand Traverse Resort.  There were tons of windows and the view was amazing.  Then it started snowing!

After the ceremony we went to a condo some of Greg's high school friends had rented.  We hung out and chatted while the bridal party took pictures.  We then went back to the resort for the cocktail hour.  There were yummy appetizers.  Finally the reception started.  It was in a big ballroom.  We had dinner, and then danced the night away!  We had a blast!

Erin and Greg.  I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of her bouquet because she made it from brooches!  It was gorgeous!

Dancing!

Erica(cute girl in the blue dress) REALLY wanted to do the Chicken Dance, but the band didn't know it.  So we "chicken danced"  to other songs.

Us with the newlyweds!

 After the wedding we met Nanny, Papa and a sleeping Collin at a nearby hotel.  The next morning we got to check out late, and then headed down the west coast of Michigan to see Greg's sister, Cyndi, in Holland.  On the way down, I realized we'd left my phone in the hotel.  Greg called and they said we could call later to talk to housekeeping about mailing it back to us.  When we called the next day we got it all arranged.  But it was SO hard to be without a phone for a week.

We went straight to Cyndi's house Sunday and watched the Lions game and played.  Then we had a super yummy dinner!  That night we drove around to the local hotels to see if any would give us a good deal.  One did, and we brought all our stuff in to repack for our flight home the next day.  We didn't need to leave til 3pm Monday, so we asked the hotel if we could swim for a while.  They said that would be fine if we didn't invite outside guests, but we'd already invited Cyndi and her kids!  Greg smoothed it over though.  That guy has some awesome people skills!  We swam and ate pizza with Burtch's and then loaded up for the trip across the state to Detroit.

The flight back went as great as the flight there.  We got in late, 11pm Salt Lake time, 1am Michigan time.  So we were all tired.  Greg went to get the car while Collin and I waited.  I didn't have a phone, so Greg couldn't call when he got there to pick us up, and you can't see the pick up place from inside.  After a while, I got the car seat and headed out to the pick up place.  Within a minute or two Greg pulled up.  Collin had fallen asleep in the stroller.  While I put the car seat and Collin in the car, Greg ran in to get the rest of the bags.  It went much better than I thought with it being so late, and no phone.  It was a very busy, jam-packed, wonderful trip!

We went to Michigan

This year marks 10 years since Greg and I graduated from high school.  Greg wanted to see his friends from high school, but he wasn't sure how many would be at the actual reunion.  So when he heard that his childhood best friend was getting married in November, he decided he wanted to go.

At first we planned on making a quick trip:  Fly into Chicago.  Rent a car.  Drive up to Holland to see Greg's sister and her family.  Then head up to Traverse City to the wedding.  Head down to Midland for a day.  And then to the Detroit Airport.  We planned to leave Collin with my mom.  Then at work, they asked Greg to do some open enrollments near Detroit the two days before we'd planned our trip.  So plans changed.

We decided to take Collin since the company would pay for Greg's plane tickets.  Since Collin is 2 he needed his own plane ticket, which is hard to swallow ($350 for that little guy to fly!), but it also means he got his own seat.  That was SO nice.  We had the whole row!  He did excellent on the flights.  The only thing that he fought us on was wearing the seat belt.  For some reason he would stay in his seat as long as he wasn't buckled!  When we'd buckle him,  he'd start screaming and squirming and fighting us.  To appease the flight attendants we put his blanket over his lap.  For the part where we couldn't use electronic devices we had stickers, and they worked marvelously.  He was enthralled.  Then he watched a movie or played games on the DS or Kindle.

When we arrived, Greg went to get the rental car and Collin and I went to be with our checked bags.  I noticed as we were standing there that our suitcases and car seat were three of the five things on the baggage claim belt.  For some reason that made me think I needed to get them off.  So then I had two suitcases, a car seat, the stroller, a backpack and Collin to wrangle as we waited for Greg.  Since you can't leave luggage unattended, I stood with them, but as more people arrived at the carousel I realized that we were in the way.  I started moving things two at a time, 10 feet at a time.  Collin wanted to run around, which didn't help.  A nice man asked if he could help, and if I was alone.  I told him my husband went to get the car, and I was trying to get out of the way.  He carried some things for me over to the chairs by the windows.  Then I texted Greg to hurry.  Collin ran around as far as I would let him, but again, I was trying to stay with my bags.  Greg called when he was trying to find somewhere to park to pick us up, and I started moving all the stuff like before.  When he found a spot he came and got two things, and we hurried out to the car.  I told him we can't do that again.  It was no fun for Collin or I.  (Okay maybe Collin had a little fun because he got to run and I couldn't keep him super contained.)

Michigan was being affected by Hurricane Sandy.  It was cold and VERY windy!  Collin would stagger around when walking if he wasn't holding a hand.  We stayed in Sterling Heights the first two days near the companies that Greg needed to do open enrollment for.  We arrived Monday evening, and Tuesday while Greg went to work, Collin and I hung out at the hotel.  We played games, and walked to the nearby Meijer. That night we wanted to get out so we went to dinner at Steak N' Shake, which was kinda like a 50's diner!  We tried the mall, but Collin was too tired, hungry, and cranky so we went back to the hotel.  We were to check out the next day at noon, but Greg would be working til at least one and probably two.  He went and talked to the front desk about us checking out late, and they said we could stay til one.

Wednesday morning (Halloween) Collin and I took Greg to work, and then went back to the hotel.  We went swimming, and then got ready and packed.  Again, it was tricky for me getting everything down to the car.  It was a good thing we'd packed two suitcases the night before and already put them in the car.  As we were driving to get Greg I remembered that I'd left the bathroom bag in the bathroom.  We were already about half way there to get Greg and he'd let me know that he was out, so we just went to get him, and then went back for the bag.

Here's some pictures from those first few days:

"Airplane!"

Collin loved playing the DS in the hotel room.

We got a new game for him: Team Umizoomi!

Steak n' Shake had a car to play with and Collin loved it!

It was fragile though and didn't last long.

Our favorite distraction so we could eat.