Firewood and Acorns

 Brendon loves being outside, he always has and I hope he always will. He is greatly fascinated by my parents farm and the chores they have him help with.  One cold day we helped with fire wood out by the pond and Brendon loved talking to all the animals as he helped out.

 Here he is helping Grandpa pick up the newly split logs and toss them into the pile to get hauled to the house for the wood stove. It was funny watching him try to lift up the pieces as they were only a few inches smaller then him.

 While Grandpa had the splitter going we took a walk to the back field where Brendon filled my coat pocket with these acorn caps. I'm not sure why he did it but he kept bringing me more and would pile more into the pocket. 

 Selfie in front of the pond. Brendon was starting to get cold and tired at this point so we went in and left Grandpa to finish the rest.

Brendon and the Salamander

One night Grandpa came in from doing chores with a fun little friend. At first Brendon was excited to meet it but when it was time for him to hold it it was a different story.  

 We had Brendon lay down and placed the Salamander on his tummy here is a video of what happen next. (The shadow to the right is my dad's dog barking)

 Brendon asked to hold it again after it crawled off and his reaction was still the same but when it was time to say good bye he kept saying "I keep, I keep , I keep"

Helping Around Grandma and Grandpa's House

One afternoon Brendon and I were able to help out by raking leaves around the yards Brendon loved taking everything from the pile I would make and then throw it back into the yard. Grandpa was using a snow shovel to push the leaves around and Brendon realized that was way more fun to dismantle.

 

 

 All cleaned up

 

 Another fun cleaning activity Brendon loved was vacuuming. He loved to take his vacuum and chase after whoever else was cleaning. What made it even better was when one of Grandma or Grandpa's dogs would chase him  or bark at him for cleaning. Brendon would look at then and say " Stop, I Cleaning."

  Here is a blurry photo of Brendon Helping Grandma take the trash can to the truck. They didn't get vary far because he thought it was more fun to sit in her lap in the leaves.

 And what is the best way to end a day of cleaning? A warm bath in Grandma and Grandpas Jacuzzi tub. Full of bubbles and toys and, as Brendon calls the seat, "a slide".

From Great to Disaster

Brendon and I took a trip back to Michigan to visit my family it was crazy how much it took for us to pack for only a few weeks long of a trip. 2 carry on bags a diaper bag and 2 checked bags. I am so happy we didn't have to change planes and I am so happy I was able to get is condensed down to only 2 bags coming home.

 

Daddy took us to the airport where we had dinner together and then they watched cartoons till we boarded. 

 Brendon was so excited to be on a plane even though it took a few minutes to calm him down and help him understand that Daddy was staying home and it was just us leaving. Once we were on the runway for takeoff he was excited and happy again.

 We had a short layover on our way to Detroit one of the few things Brendon tried to do while we were sitting there was putting a Diaper on his puppy.  He did so well with wiping puppy then changing him and putting the diaper on.

 The rest of our flight was a disaster!  I felt so bad for Brendon being a 2 year old and having to share the space of one seat with mommy was not a good time. We had a severely large lady sit next to us on the flight who took up her seat as well as the larger portion of mine she was also buying drink after drink which made her not so great to sit next to. Anyway poor Brendon ended up crying for most of the flight, I had a male flight attendant  yell at me several times saying he would have us banned for flying if I could not calm him down. Anyway When we landed the harassment continued as he pulled us aside on ramp in front of the remaining passengers and yelled at me more. I was in tears Brendon was in tears and as I turned to walk away things started to finally look up. We had a pilot grab my carry on bags and take them to the inner gate then ask if we had someone picking us up. After he left another southwest employee who had witnessed what happen chased after me to make sure I was OK and ensure me that things would not be as the attendant said. 

Update: Southwest issued Brendon and I vouchers for how we were treated on our flight. 

Our Welcome Home Nightmare

The day after getting home from our trip we were excited to unpack, settle back into a routine and get ready to start the next semester of school (Nate). Unfortunately things did not work out as smoothly as we had planned. This is the story of why we had to move in less than one week and why we were so stressed after having an amazing vacation. 

That morning we woke up thinking it would be a normal day and that our lives would continue as planned. Nathan left for work while Magann and Brendon slept in. When we woke up Brendon and I had lots of bug bites all over us. I'll spare you the photos because they give me shivers every time I see them. When Nate got home he had bites too not nearly as many but enough to cause concern. We hit the internet and discovered our worst nightmare was just starting.  Our apartment was infested with Bed Bugs! 

That afternoon we set a plan into motion on what had to be done. we called our apartment management company and found out that they would do nothing and that the whole matter was on us. They would not send a company in to spray or tent the building and we were required to pay rent until a new tenant took the place over. Everything was on us for our apartment and when researching what that entitled we were over whelmed. Reality of the matter is that when an apartment is infested the whole building is. End of story, but the old theory of thought is they are only in the bed and can not travel between locations. False, they can and will! This is why we decided it was not safe for us to stay in our apartment after we finished spraying and cleaning everything we owned.

You never realize how much cloth you have in your home until you have to wash everything to get the chemicals off and then dry it all. This was our first adventure into cleansing our stuff and one really long night at the laundry mat. We had the Bed of Nathan's dads truck filled with trash bags of everything cloth we owned. Everything went from the truck to the wash to the industrial dryer into a box.

 

Next we bombed our place again over laundry night to ensure nothing was left. Then we started cleaning and hauling things out one by by, box by box. Any old box got tossed and everything inside cleaned and put into a new one. Nathan then carried everything out to his dad's truck. Did I mention this was done after Nathan pulled a full day of work? He was so determined and sleep deprived from it all it's a matter we made it through the week. ( Below is him hauling my hope chest out full by himself). Every night we had the same routine bring a load back spend time with Brendon, Eat dinner, put Brendon to bed and Nate would go back over. We are so grateful to everyone who helped us out with Brendon and keeping him safe. He was so sad and confused as to what was going on that it hurt so much to see him upset. 

 We didn't want Brendon back at the old apartment so during the day we would work on the odds and ends of what needed to get done from Mimi and Papa's house. We spent one day washing every stuffed animal we owed at the laundry mat. At first Brendon Thought it was funny to see his friends spinning around in the washer but then he got upset when it spun so fast he couldn't see them anymore.

 As we hauled everything out of our place we brought it over to Nathan's parents garage till we could pull out what we needed. It was so hard to see how much we had yet how much we had to throw away at the same time. Many things that got tossed had gotten ruined by the chemical we sprayed, couldn't be salvaged or risked because of where it was stored or had been infected by the bugs and was too much of a risk to move with us.

 The final step to our moving was having to pass a clean check. Nathan and I spent the last 2 days deep cleaning everything in the apartment. It wasn't too bad but we did have one mishap in the process. Nate had sprayed the oven and was cleaning it when he felt an irritation on his arm. He brushed the feeling aside because he didn't see anything. After a while the irritation became a burning feeling. He had brushed his arm on the chemical and was getting a chemical burn.  This is was it looked like after we rinsed it off in the sink. He had it wrapped after that and had cream on it for several days till it started to heal on it's own.

In the end we passed the inspection. We only had to pay for 16 more days of rent and were able to start new. The hardest part for us we understanding why it happen to us and what we were to learn from it. All we could think through the whole process was something good would come from it.

Las Vegas Weekend

On our way back from California we took the southern way and stopped into Las Vegas to spend time with Magann's Mom, Sister Kathleen and Brother Matthew. After a long day of driving we chilled in the room and then picked Kathleen up from Magann's Aunt & Uncle where she had been visiting for a few weeks.  Later that night Magann's mom and brother flew in. 

Brendon loved having a big bed to himself for his nap and we loved the funny positions he'd move into through out it.

 

The next day was filled with fun. We went to the Lego Store where Matthew had a blast seeing everything Lego in one place. Brendon loved the toddler play table and all the Horse Duplos. Brendon loved spending time with Aunt Kathleen as she helped him build a farm and fence for his horse.

 Here is a picture of Matthew building his own Lego people.

 

 During the afternoon we took some time to relax, eat and go swimming. Brendon loved climbing all over his uncle to watch him play games. At lunch he refused to sit in his chair and only wanted to sit on  Grandma's lap.

 

In the evening  we went out to walk the strip and had a blast at the M&M store. Nathan and I had a blast collecting more penny's for our family penny book but Brendon was sold on his new backpack from Grandma. 

  It was crazy the things they could fit into the small 3 story store and yet we had fun navigating through it and finding a few laughs along the way. Matthew even found gulf balls in every M&M color

 To end the night we took the tram over to the Ballagio fountains to watch a show or two. It was crazy to think that Brendon was still up at this point and not even tired! We stayed and watched 3 shows (one song per show, shows are every 5 min)  and when we went to leave Brendon was not happy, he wanted to see more.

 

 A little funny we discovered from the night at the fountains was that we had been standing on the Ballagio side where as Matt (Nathan's Brother) and his wife Lani where standing on the street side at the same time. We didn't even know they were in Las Vegas and it made for some good laughs when we meet up a few weeks later.

This was a great way to end our trip and we had a blast. Oh and did we mention that this was all on Magann's Birthday? It was a great gift for her to see part of her family and get to spend time with them and have some time to wind down from our busy trip in California. 

The next morning we headed out and drove the rest of the way home in a rain storm and to a sleeping toddler who was trying to catch up on his sleep from an eventful 10 days away from home he lasted long enough to watch "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3 segments (he kept falling asleep at different points and would ask to watch it again.)

 

Brendon was one happy to camper to get out of the car and to be home. He loved helping to carry his toys in and telling daddy where everything needed to go. Once we were unpacked he started to tell us he wanted to go bye bye again. When asked where he wanted to go he said "Vacation".