I have a confession

Hi.  My name is Erika...
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and my daughter eats dog food.  Repeatedly.  Which must mean she likes it.  Gross...

That's right.   You read correctly - Hannah likes to eat dog food.  As much as she can get into her sweaty little palms and shove into her mouth before any of us can get to her.  And she's really fast...

Much like Jack once he started crawling, Hannah has been somewhat interested in the dogs' water bowls.  She doesn't completely dump them over the way that Jack used to (thankgoodness), but instead she likes to splash around and try to get enough on her hands to drink.  It completely grosses me out:(

But this week?  This week, I've noticed that as soon as I feed the doggies, Hannah makes a bee line to the bowls, grabs a fistful of dog food, and shoves it into her face.  When I pick her up, fish it out, move her away, put her down, and say, "No, no," she immediately races back to do it again.  We're not off to a great start...

Needless to say the poor puppy dogs are not very happy because my only solution is to put the dog bowls up and away when Hannah is around.  They are not happy about it - I know because Gracie tells me.  And Belle?  Belle just sits and looks longingly at the shelf.

But it's either that or let my daughter eat dog food.  And while the logical side of me knows it's not going to hurt her, every other part of me says, "Eww!"

She probably smelled like dog food the other day when I took her to school, but I didn't have the heart to explain that she ate some dog food along with her waffle.  I just prayed that she wouldn't breathe on her teachers, and that they wouldn't notice.

I'm sure this is just a phase and that she won't go to kindergarten eating dog food.  I just hope that it's a phase that ends sooner rather than later.  Seriously.

Oh, but I still love her.  Lots. And she knows it!

That is all.

Beautiful Sunday

We got home today from our trip - one day late.  Poor Brad got very sick in the wee hours of Monday morning.  He ended up going to the emergency room and being treated for dehydration after a believed bout of food poisoning.  We couldn't make the trip home on Monday, so we stayed another day at the hotel to allow him to rest and regain some strength.  The kids and I relaxed at the hotel, watching cartoons, playing, and taking naps while Daddy was at the hospital.  I think they were so worn out from all of our other activities that they welcomed the down time.  When Daddy got back to the hotel, we headed to my Aunt Kathy's so he could rest.  Jack was so excited to be able to spend more time with everyone before we had to head home.

I do want to document our Sunday activities - it was such a lovely day:)  We decided to take the kids to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.  It just recently opened, and we thought Jack would really enjoy it.  The aquarium is located inside this historic powerhouse in Downtown Cleveland, so its design and architecture was very unique.  I think Hannah had the best time out of all of us - so many of the tanks were right at her level:)

Inside the aquarium, they built this skylight so you can look straight up at the 215 ft. smokestack.

Arched walkways

Emperor Angelfish

Hannah and a giant gourami

Hannah meets another fishy

Lionfish

She liked the rays a lot

Shark tank

Shark jaws

See him coming right for us?

After we left the aquarium we took a little trip down memory lane.  We happened across my dad's high school by accident, and I was able to take some quick pictures from the car.  I don't think I'd ever seen the campus before, or at least if I did, I don't remember.  It's beautiful...looks a lot like a college, actually.

Then we decided to head back to my old neighborhood and show Jack the house that I lived in when I was his age.

Brad was willing, but I was too chicken to ask the owner if we could look around.  I was happy we drove by though:)

After our busy day, we headed back to the hotel for naps, and then that evening we went to a marina on Lake Erie for dinner and walked around a bit with my mom and dad and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jack (who our Jack refers to as Big Jack).  The weather was beautiful, and I was able to take some really great pictures on the lake.  I know some people think that the Cleveland area can't possibly be pretty, but these pictures prove them wrong.

Jack took this picture - I was very impressed with his composition skills.  I need to get that boy a camera for Christmas!

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jack

It was a beautiful day, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend our anniversary:)

*If you're wondering why there aren't that many pictures of Jack...my little man is going through a phase where he doesn't constantly want his picture taken:(  However, I assure you that he enjoyed his time at the marina as well!

PS - Also, a very Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa.  You've set a wonderful example for us to aspire to - thank you!  We love you both so much:)

Seven

Seven years.

Three homes.

Two cruises.

Two puppies.

Four cars.

And two very beautiful babies.

I'm so glad it was you:)

Seven years later, and I couldn't love you more.

Happy Anniversary, Love.

Family Reunion

Today was the family reunion.  We got lucky - the weather was beautiful, and we didn't get a drop of rain.  In fact, Brad and I got a little too much sun, but the kiddos were good because I was sure to lather them in sunscreen.  Jack had lots of fun "fishing" and exploring the little lake near my Uncle Bob's house.  Hannah also had fun and enjoyed spending so much time with Grammy, Grampy, and Aunt Ryan and Uncle John.  She also got to snuggle up with Daddy for a super long nap in the air-conditioned car after a failed attempt at getting her to sleep in the Pack 'n Play.

I'm so glad we came - it's always so good to see everyone and catch up.  And I'm glad that the kids had a good time...even though Jack got a little bored and watched a movie for a little while:)  Seriously - what did we do before technology?

{Taken tonight in our hotel room}

*****

We also want to say a very special Happy Birthday to Grandpa - one of the yucky things about the reunion is that it always seems to fall on either Grandpa or Jessica's birthday:(  But we are thinking of you, and we miss you dearly.  We hope you get everything you wished for on your birthday, and we can't wait to celebrate with you when we get home:)

Road Trips and the Cleveland Zoo

Every year, with the exception of last year because we'd just had Hannah, we head up to Sunny Cleveland for our family reunion on my mom's side.  You can read about our past adventures here, here, and here:)  I look forward to the trip every year, but this year, we were a little nervous after our Great Wolf Lodge excursion that lasted less than 24 hours.  While we originally planned to fly, it seemed silly when we could save so much money by driving.  So we took the plunge, and drove the six hour trip with our little lovelies yesterday, and it couldn't have gone better.

Scratch that - it definitely could have gone better.

Poor Hannah got sick about three hours into the trip and threw up, but after we stopped, cleaned her and the car seat up, and got back on the road, she seemed much better.  We don't know if she got car sick or it was a continuation of an upset tummy from the night before, but either way, it was the last time she got sick and for that we are thankful.

So - aside from the throw-up, it couldn't have gone better:)  We actually made the trip in six hours, and the kids were so well-behaved.

Jack thinks it's funny to pose with a sad face lately, not sure what that's about...

They napped very well in the car...

PA Turnpike scenery...

Our first night in the hotel room as a family of four did not go swimmingly.  Hannah does not adjust to sleeping in new places as easily as Jack ever did, and it took her awhile to go to sleep.  It's tricky when your four year old doesn't have volume control and is in the same room as the baby:)  But we survived, and today's morning nap went much better.  I suspect that each day will get easier...

*****

Today, we took the kids to the Cleveland Zoo, and it was awesome!  It wasn't crowded, the animals were out and about, and we were so close to them.  It was very hot, and we did tons of walking, but all in all, the experience was an enjoyable one.  Here are some of our photos from our zoo trip:

{Do you see the baby?}

{The polar bear was our favorite - don't know that I've ever seen one so close before...}

{Rosy cheeks}

{She was not loving it as much as I was.  Let's leave it at that.}

They both fell asleep immediately upon getting into the cool car.  We figured out the trick to getting them to sleep at night in the hotel - wear them out during the day like crazy, only allow short naps, and then stay up late in the evening visiting family.  No problems at bedtime tonight:)

It was a fun, family day, and I'd definitely go back to the Cleveland Zoo in the future.  Next time - I'll know to take the tram:)