willow lake: the second take

Remember when we went to Willow Lake last year? Even though the camping didn't exactly go as planned, that trip is one of my most treasured memories from last summer. So we have decided to make a tradition out of a weekend at Willow Lake every summer, and this past weekend was the date set for us to go. We invited my brothers this time, so on Friday the five of us packed up the truck and headed south. We didn't arrive until late, so most of the festivities took place the next day. Baby G started out sleeping in his pack & play, but he refuses to sleep with blankets on and the double layer of pajamas just wasn't cutting it, so he ended up in the sleeping bags with us. 

He slept good, we didn't. Little cutie.

My husband is a fly-fisherman to the core. Despite getting very little sleep, he rolled out of the tent at the crack of dawn to get to the fish feeding early in the morning. By the time Baby G and I got up, the boys had been out on the lake fishing for a couple of hours. Baby G was not pleased that he was missing out on the fishing, so we ran down to the lake as quickly as possible (only after he found the perfect walking stick, though). No, there wasn't even time to change out of pajamas.

This picture of him resting on his walking stick cracks me up. Such a little man.

As soon as Baby G spotted his daddy and his daddy spotted him, they started running toward each other. The following six pictures show the sequence of events that followed:

After Baby G had "fished" for awhile, we moved to the other side of the lake and actually fished from the dam (because it was a safe, flat place for all of us to hang out). J got a fish on and Baby G helped reel it in.

He was pretty happy about landing a pretty tiger trout.

So happy that he wanted to kiss it before we let it go.

My brothers took Baby G back to our campsite for breakfast and J and I stayed behind to fish for a few minutes. We both literally casted no more than 10 times and both caught fish. It was funny because there were people nearby that had been fishing with spinners for a couple of hours that were not catching a darn thing. J caught this rainbow:

And I hooked this tiger. J instructed me to bring it to the surface when I was reeling it in so that the other fisherman (the ones not catching anything) would be jealous and impressed. This is when I gave him a short talking to about humility. 

When we weren't fishing we were:

cooking (J made his delectable version of bacon, egg, & cheese Mcmuffins), 

 golfing (please note the "hole" fully equipped with the "flag" for them to golf into),

and lounging.

And this picture right here, this is why my husband is such an incredible fly-fisherman. It is also why his career path of biologist fits him so perfectly:

Wait, your husbands don't fashion aquatic insect catching devices out of two wooden dowels and a window screen? They don't insist on stopping at two random rivers on the way home to run down to the water, stir up some bugs, and collect them in little glass tubes? Oh. Mine does. And then he comes home, organizes and labels them, and uses them as patterns when tying his own flies for fishing so that his flies are as authentic to the actual insects the fish are eating as possible. And that, my friends, is why we catch fish wherever we go. You should come fishing with us sometime. I promise that even if you think fishing is boring and dumb you would enjoy fly-fishing with my husband. Really. And I am serious about the offer. He will take anyone that wants to go. And it will probably be the highlight of his week :).

are we still friends?

We had a fabulous night away. We went to Park City and stayed in a lovely hotel. We ate at a restaurant that we would normally never afford, and then went to the grocery store (it was after 9 PM and we could go together!) for some snacks. We slept soundly and attempted to sleep in (8:00 counts, right?). We walked Main Street meandering in and out of the art galleries holding hands. We ate lunch at a pizza place that holds many memories for us from our dating days and talked without distractions or interruptions. I listened to my husband tell me memories of his mission and we talked about what the next year holds for us as a family. We did some light shopping (and didn't have to push a stroller) and I came home with a new birthday outfit. I brought my camera along with the intent to document the fun, but somehow it felt funny to haul the camera out to take a picture with me in front of my slice of tomato, pineapple, and onion pizza. We didn't even end up bringing the camera out with us, maybe because it filled our senses enough to just be together, or maybe because there weren't really a whole lot of opportunities. At any rate, below I give you the only two photos that were taken in that 22 hour time span. They give you a much better idea of what we are really like than a picture of us walking Main Street would have.

There was this long shawl-like thing on the end of the bed in the hotel. My husband was playing around with it and came over and wrapped it around me like I was an old woman with a shawl around her head. He then shoved a towel inside on my back and ordered me to hunch over. The look was complete when I obeyed his commands to stick a scrawny finger out. And this is how we entertained ourselves for quite sometime.

And then there is this one. If you don't think this is hysterical you probably wouldn't really like us (well at least not my husband) in real life. The thing is, J has a really, really entertaining sense of humor and he loves to make people laugh. He comes up with silly little remarks constantly and frequently surprises complete strangers (bank tellers, fast food window workers etc.) with funny things that come out of his mouth. I am always grateful when the stranger gets it and laughs because it is a little awkward to explain otherwise. Anyway. We bought some peaches at the store and ate them in the morning for breakfast. I didn't eat all of mine and stuck it on hand towel on the nightstand. Normal enough, right? Well then my husband saw it. I will admit that it looked totally disgusting if you didn't know what it was, but I would have never come up with the plan that he concocted. This is what he planned to leave for the housekeepers:
It is imperative that you click on the picture and read the note. So I thought it was hysterical, but I felt bad leaving it for other people to clean up. I ruined all the fun by throwing the "colon" away before we left, but I was worried that we might freak someone out. Probably we have freaked some of you out just by reading this, but if you know my husband you will think this is classic. He is just funny. 

Now, were those the pictures of our romantic get away that you were expecting?

weaned

I am still putting off sorting through all the vacation photos. As much as I love the idea of digital cameras, they actually make your life so much more difficult. I can't handle looking at 100 pictures of the same thing to choose the ONE that is the best to put in my post. Anyway, one of these days I'll get around to it, but for now you get mostly words. 

At the end of last month I (finally) nursed my son for the final time. He was two weeks past two years and we were both (finally) ready. It was a painless process for both of us. I can imagine it would have been more difficult (both emotionally and physically) for us if weaning would have come earlier, but by the time we actually did it we had been gradually weaning for months and months so it came easy. For me, it was a picture perfect way to end that chapter with my firstborn. The only real side effect of not nursing before bed/nap time has been that he is not quite as sleepy when I lay him in his bed, which results in pictures like the one above. He plays around in his bed and requests things to sleep with. Before I had a child I'm sure I would've sworn that if my child made silly demands before bedtime ("I want to sleep with my cowboy hat!" or "I need to sleep with my ReAl Salt Lake jersey on!") I would have promptly ignored them and he would've learned to go to sleep without so much as a peep. I can tell you now that I am not that mother. I'm certainly not a pushover, but I also think I've realized that if letting your child sleep with his cowboy hat will make it so that he goes right to sleep rather than screaming for 20 minutes, it is totally worth it. We both win-- I get him to bed, and he gets his hat. 

Also sort of about weaning-- is it a sign that I nursed my child for too long if he is weaned and potty trained in the same month? :) I haven't wanted to push potty training, but he is making it hard to ignore. He tells me before he needs to go and if I put him on the toilet he goes. I know that if I just spent a couple of days at home with him in underwear he could be potty trained, I just haven't been able to talk myself into it yet. Not because of the actual potty training itself, just because I can see all the stress of having to run my barely two year old to a bathroom in a public place every time we go somewhere. Maybe next week I'll be up for it...

And lastly, also sort of about weaning-- my husband and I are leaving Baby G overnight for the first time in his life tonight. Now that nursing isn't a part of his bedtime routine, and now that he is two, we are feeling like he would love a sleepover with his grandparents (and doting aunts and uncles), and we are feeling ready for a little getaway. We will be away probably less than 24 hours, but it kind of seems like a big deal to me. I am pretty excited about it, and totally not nervous about leaving my little boy. I know he will be in good hands and I know he will probably not even miss us. I'll let you know how it goes when we come back. Probably before I ever get around to blogging about last month's big vacation...