Hidden Valley Holiday, Part 3

Yay!  Everyone is pretty healthy today!  I'm so relieved that Tavin has bounced back quite quickly and was functioning at 90% this morning.  We've enjoyed having him involved in the activities available here again.  He accompanied Doug and Koen on a bike ride this morning and then we were able to have a nice long midday visit at the pool without an intense sick 3 year old break-down.  After a few hours and the picnic at the pool, Koen wanted to go back to the house with Doug and Tav.  That left Penn and I some very special pool time.  I was still feeding him his lunch (he can take a long time when there are so many fascinating distractions like patio chairs, towels and hats to get his hands on).  While he was busy contemplating something, I had to take a shot of his adorable profile in his silly pool hat. 

After he finally finished we went back into the pool.  He had already spent quite a lot of time in his boat, but this time I wanted him to get to play in the very shallow baby pool (which was also much warmer thankfully).  Doug snapped a picture of the happy water baby on his way out.  Oh yes, his mom is happy too.  Thirty minutes of sweet splashes with my youngest was all I needed to feel like this vacation, despite its caveats, was totally worth it.

After the pool time, all the Melder boys were pretty tired.  Tav took a hard, long nap.  Penn took such a long nap I had to wake him up at 5pm!  Koen had a restful afternoon, but we also had some fun (including him "beating" me in a soccer scrimmage in the backyard).  Doug was away for most of the afternoon doing the wedding in Ligonier.  I was excited though as he was able to make it back before 6pm!  I had planned on taking the boys on foot up to the woodsy playground again, but with Doug back we decided to turn it into a family bike ride to the playground.  Penn was very curious about this activity and particularly his head gear, but he really did enjoy the outing.

When we got to the playground the boys played for a little bit and then I hung with Koen and Penn on the swings while Tavin and Doug had some one-on-one time.  Turns out they took some super sweet pictures.  They were doing different faces.  Here's silly face.

Smiley face (my favorite!).

 My 2nd-runner-up is this adorable kissy shot.

And this one is hilarious.  Doug taught Tavin how to do "serious."  And the best part is you can see that Tav is trying to hold in a laugh.  Awesome.

Well, that was the end of the boys' adventures for the day.  We got them to bed after the playground outing.  Doug helped me get the lay down process started and then he slipped out to get us some much-deserved pizza.  Happy Holiday!

Hidden Valley Holiday, Part 2

Well, I spoke too soon...  In one of my last sentences of yesterday's blog post I mentioned how I was hoping we would improve in the health department.  Well, we haven't.  Right after I published that post I went to go wake Tav up from his nap and it was clear that he had quite a fever.  Well, here we go.  Round 3 of Roseola (I'm convinced now as Koen has broken out in the rash now too).  Tav is such a trooper.  He gulps down Tylenol like it's the best treat in the world.  He blows his nose like he's Mt. Vesuvius.  And he hunkers down and snuggles up to get through the feeling ill.  Here he is all set up with Daddy's iPad watching some Thomas.  Nothing makes a 3 year old boy in our household feel better than a Thomas the Tank Engine feature.

After the Tylenol set in, we did make a quick visit to the playground before the boys had dinner.  Koen and Tav enjoyed the playhouse until we discovered a bee's nest in it. 

I fed Penn his dinner while he watched his brothers play and then he got a few minutes to enjoy one of his favorite pastimes, the swing (again...it's a good thing babies don't mind repetition!).

Speaking of repetition.  Here Penn is on the swings this morning with Koen (Tav was back home fighting the fever still and watching still more Thomas DVD's).

Penn had some silly time with Koen and Doug this morning to try and spice things up...Tupperware (and on his head no less!).

After Penn's morning nap (during which Doug and Koen had a nice long bike ride), we all headed to the pool for a swim and a picnic lunch.  Unfortunately, Tavin only lasted about 5 minutes in the pool and about 10 minutes out of the pool at the lunch table.  I expected this, but I was still bummed.  Koen, Penn and I spent more time there after Doug took poor Tav back for extra R&R.  In this photo, Penn looks like he can sense Koen approaching from behind.  Brotherly instincts I guess.

Before we left I was changing Penn into dry clothes and was overcome by his cuteness in his swimmie diaper and had to snap a few shots.  

Well, this is definitely a weird vacation.  I'm happy we didn't really spend much on it because that would make it really frustrating.  It has afforded us more time outside (especially for Koen) and some more down time with none of our usual commitments out of the home in the evenings, so those are some positives (see how I'm an optimist?).  Hopefully tomorrow's report will be filled with health and happiness!

Hidden Valley Holiday, Part 1

Again Doug is officiating a wedding slightly out of town (Ligonier, PA), so we decided the kids and I should tag along and we could make it a long weekend out in the woods.  We found an amazing off-season deal at Hidden Valley and were excited for a few nights in the rural landscape.  Well, we had an interesting departure day.  First of all, the day before we left Koen came down with whatever odd virus Penn had that gave him high fevers for days.  Thankfully, Koen did seem to be on the up-tick on Wednesday morning, but still no appetite and low energy, but fever was gone.  Penn was still not 100% that morning either, not to mention he woke with an intense rash all over the place, but primarily on his head.  After a call to a friend pediatrician, it seems like perhaps this whole virus has been roseola.  Anyways, then, just as we were finishing packing up the van to leave there as a major accident at our intersection.  Not only that, the woman driving one of the cars was definitely a mess about the incident, but also about some illegal drugs she had in her purse and didn't want to be found with.  Doug witnessed her dumping them into the trash can.  Just another peaceful day on the front porch in Pittsburgh!  The boys thought it was very exciting and the police cars, tow trucks and re-routed traffic definitely kept them preoccupied while we finished closing up the house, etc.  After that unsettling event we were definitely excited for some peace and quiet and fresh air in the mountains!  Here's a picture of the view from the back deck.  Ah, refreshing!

The boys got right into vacation mode upon arrival. Here they are playing ball the first evening.

Penn was in relatively good spirits, but looked pathetic.  

After a good night's rest, Koen has been much more himself today.  His appetite is returning and therefore his energy level is improving.  Tavin continues to just be in a fantastic mood lately (although he developed some severe snot due to allergies yesterday!) and just makes Doug and I laugh all day.  Here are the three boys at breakfast.

Doug ran a quick errand after breakfast with Tavin and Koen and I took Penn on a walk to a playground.  Here's rash man in the BabyBjorn.

Penn sat happily in the swing the whole time.  He loves it!

Koen got very adventurous after I pointed out some monkey bars.  I was really impressed that he even attempted it as they are quite far off the ground.  He wanted me to take a video for Tav and Daddy.

We returned home after that accomplishment to get Penn a morning nap.  After that we got the boys over to the pool.  They all loved it.  The big pool was a little chilly, but the baby pool was very comfortable.  Penn was in it for 30 minutes without a whimper.  Such a water baby!

We had a yummy grill out lunch and then it was quickly naptime for the little guys.  That's it for now.  It'll probably be a lot of the same routine the rest of the few days we are here, which is fine by me (although I am hoping for continued improvement in the health department!).

Summer Reading Program...Mommy Style

I think I mentioned last week that I've tried to get Koen motivated to read to me with a paper chain goal.  With each book he reads he makes a paper chain link with the book title.  For every 3 paper chain links he gets a prize.  My goodness was he excited about this challenge.  And I was thrilled he wanted to read to me.  In just three books I saw so much improvement in his sight word recall as well as his sounding-out capabilities.  So exciting!  Here he is very, very proud of his accomplishment.  

Good job, buddy!  So proud of how hard you are working this summer on your academic skills.  Love you!

Water Choo Choo

Doug took Koen and Tavin to the pool today (I was still on sick baby duty).  Doug challenged Tav to stop relying on him for support (he wears a life jacket) and Tav took off!!  Lately we've been noticing a lot of simple, but impressive athletic skills in Tavin.  Let's add confidence in the water to that list.  He developed his own little game in the pool.  He was the "Water Choo Choo."  We've been reading "Choo Choo" by Virginia Lee Burton a lot lately.  Tavin applied the sounds to his Water Choo Choo.  You'll hear "choo choo" and "ding ding" and at the end he stops at the "station to get something."  Oh my goodness, the cuteness!  I was so impressed at how easily he moves around and how stable he is swimming and treading water on Day 1!  I can't wait to get in the water with him and teach him some skills!

Father's Day 2013 (a day early)

As usual, we celebrated the Sunday holiday on Saturday.  It was a great family day (and a beautiful weather day which we of course took full advantage of).  This morning Koen and I did some work on the gift we were preparing for Doug from the boys.  While we did that Penn played Legos with Tav (under supervision by Doug of course).

Koen, Tav and Penn all had to put their handprints on our gift for Doug.  Koen wasn't too sure about getting dirty and Tav and Penn definitely didn't enjoy that part, but the result turned out well (here's where I got the idea).

While down in the basement helping with the project, Tavin got attracted to the tool playset. I had practically forgotten about it and he is the perfect age for it.  You can see he was quite into playing, "Bob the Builder."  Nothing like sandals, PJ's, a Home Depot apron and protective eyewear as an ensemble!

Penn was super cranky right before his nap, so he had a good long morning rest before I woke him up for a midday family adventure.  When I woke him up I felt like he felt feverish, but figured maybe he was just warm from being all snuggled up in bed.  Well, my initial thoughts were correct.  Poor Penn was a disaster on our outing.  I felt so guilty for bringing him.  Our original plan was to park on the Heritage Trail and bike down to Point State Park and take in some of the Arts Fest activities with the boys and have a picnic and then bike back and get home for naptime.  Well, with Penn's sad state we ended up just biking up to the step fountain at PNC Park.  Koen and Tavin were so flexible and enjoyed every minute of the modified plan.  I didn't get many pictures because my hands were full of Penn.  He barely ate and just cried for a half hour straight and then I started just singing to him and he fell asleep in my arms.  So sad!  Here are his happy-go-lucky brothers taking a break from cooling off in the fountain with some lunch.

We did make it home in plenty of time for naptime.  Penn went right down and slept all afternoon.  Unfortunately it didn't seem to improve anything about his state.  He was feverish and lethargic all evening (and he didn't even make it all the way to his usual bedtime).  Here he is cuddled up to Doug.

After I put Penn down early, the big boys, Doug and I enjoyed a grill-out Father's Day dinner.  

After dinner the boys and I presented Doug with his gifts and sang, "Happy Father's Day."  Koen was so excited to show Doug our "big" project.

Koen also made a Father's Day card picture of he and Doug and Tav playing soccer.  That's their favorite evening activity.

It was a simple day and a wonderful day together (well except for sad Penn).  Douglas, you really are the boys hero.   They adore you, they emulate you, they want to be with you.  It's such a blessing to marry a man that grows into such an amazing father.  I can't wait to see where else the Lord leads you on this journey of fatherhood, but it's been amazing to watch all that he created you to be in this role so far.  Keep up the good work, babe.  Or as Koen said, "ok, Daddy, one more game of soccer...you know, for the next Father's Day?"

Penn's First Pancakes

Yesterday Penn had his first few tastes of whole wheat pancakes.  He wasn't crazy about it, but he was curious.

Today he got to try whole wheat French toast.  Jury's still out on if he likes it.