Papa Love

Tim and I are blessed to have a Grandpa each in our lives. That means that John has two great grandpas and two grandpas. He sure is spoiled with love and attention from each.

John spends the most time with my dad, Papa John. My parents watch him between mine and Tim's shifts, so they share a lot of time together. Some of their favorite things to do is moving golf balls from one can to another, watch Star Gate and other Scifi TV no one else will watch with them, dancing, going to the park and playing outside. From my dad, John has inherited his beautiful red hair and some of his temperament.

Here are my two handsome Johns.

Then there's Grandpa Jack. John doesn't see as much of Grandpa as he does Papa, but still manages to see Grandpa one day of the week or so. He and Grandpa like to play, "Grandpa's going to get you" and anything outdoors. Grandpa and Johnny will one day be golf buddies, but John still has a way to go. From my father-in-law, John has inherited a gift of gab and a love of people.

Next, there's Tim's Grandpa Don. John gets to see Grandpa Don quite a bit and really has been enjoying his company. My husband has been blessed in his life to spend time enjoying his grandfather's company whether it was working for him as a youngster or spending time with him as an adult.

Finally, there's Grandpa Bill. My Grandpa is one cool guy. I remember him and my grandma taking us to some wonderful places and teaching me to love learning about new things. He does love his "little John" as he calls him. Sometimes, when I take John to story time, they sing songs that my grandpa sang to me as a little girl and it tugs at my heart. I find myself singing the same songs to Johnny.

Johnny is one lucky guy to get to know so many of his grandfathers. Tim has only known one grandfather in his life, so to have four is so very special!

John at 17 months

Monday, Johnny turned 17 months old. It's hard for me to imagine that it's been 17 months already! He's turned into such a big boy these last few months. I do miss my baby at times, but going on this adventure with him has been a real treat.

He loves to climb on ANYTHING! It can be quite scary at times. As my dad is quick to point out, he's been climbing couches for awhile now, but lately, he hasn't met a chair he doesn't want to climb into and promptly back out. 

He got his first scraped knee this month. We have a slab front porch and he took a tumble trying to climb down while "helping" daddy with some gardening. Along with a scratch right below his nose he got due to too long nails, he was quite the sight.

One of the things I think I miss out on as a mom who holds down a full time job outside the house is just being able to take John places and let him socialize with other little kids. He has been lucky the last few months to see my four year old cousin as well as UB's girlfriend's son who is just a year older than him. Last Thursday, story time started up again and he met up with his old pal Vince. John and Vince are old timers at Thursday night story time. They still just seem to size each other up most of the time. Thankfully, John is no longer trying to ride Vince like he did in February!

We are also lucky enough to have Fridays together for part of this summer. We had a play date last Friday with another little Johnny and his sister at a splash pad about a half hour away and very close to my in-laws. He really seemed to enjoy it and I'm really looking forward to meeting up with UB's girlfriend and her son at our local pool next week. He got to swim at his grandma's today and HATES his floatation devise. I guess he thinks he is a real fish:) I want to sign him up for swim lessons soon.

He seems to be heavier and taller, but I'm not sure quite how much as it's been two months since his last check up.

He loves clothing. He's always trying to help with laundry. He also likes to try on any clothes we might leave around. On Sunday, he had on one of my skirts and a pj bottom and was singing to himself and swaying along with his song. Too cute for words. He also loves trying on shoes. It makes him quite mad that he can't walk around in my sandals. He tried to get on some new boats my aunt sent him for next winter. He was pretty successful at it.

I'm loving the development of language. He talks in a sing songy voice and likes to sit and sing to himself. He uses the word "bird" quite a lot along with "Bad!" The bad is what I would say when he pulls kitty's tail and he's seem to hold onto it. He also loves to give kitty hugs. Poor kitty! She sure does put up with a lot. John also has started calling my Father-in-law GeGeGe. FIL always says, "Grandpa's going to get you!" which is where we think he got it from.

I really need to make more of an effort to take pictures of every day things, but here is John last Friday, all ready to go play:)

Celebrations

Within three weeks every year, we celebrate our anniversary followed by Tim's birthday and finally my birthday. Unfortunately, Tim had to work all weekend the past two weeks, today and I worked late on his birthday on Monday, so Saturday was our chance to celebrate.

We went to the Original Pancake House, which is Tim's favorite. Tim had an apple pancake while I had the Dutch Treat with strawberries and bananas in it. John had some silver dollar pancakes. It was nice, but BOY was John cranky! The only time he was happy was when they sat a few ladies with a eight month old next to him when he calmed down. John really enjoys seeing other people as little as him and he was pretty entrance with the boy, which was good since we got to finish our evening in peace.

More information on the Original Pancake House.

After that, we couldn't decide what to do, so I looked online and without finding anything, we decided to head to Michigan for the day. We went to the Welcome Center where the lady suggested we stop at St. Joseph for the Pirates. What a great idea!

First, we went to the White Pine Winery and did a little wine tasting. I liked it, and the person serving the wine was very knowledgeable.

A little more about White Pines Winery.

Then, John and I visited a five and dime where he wanted to touch and feel everything we passed while Tim put the wine in the car. We didn't end up getting anything, but it wasn't for the lack of John trying.

Finally, we finished our journey in downtown St. Joseph with a trip to the ice cream shop. We went to Kilwins. I first fell in love with their Ice Cream on the beach of Fort Myers, FL where my in laws used to winter. BEST ICE CREAM EVER! I got the banana chocolate and St. Joseph Mud. Yummy! The most awesome part was that they had this old piano. Some guy just standing in line for ice cream sat down and played a few tunes. John absolutely loved it! If you're ever in St. Joseph, be sure to stop here.

We then headed for the beach. We had to go down a LONG flight of stairs to get to the beach area. Hard work when bringing down a 17 month old, his stroller, a bag and a purse! Not as hard as going up, which ended with a puff of the old inhaler, but that's what it's there for.

They had this splash park thing. John LOVED it. Here he is.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as prepared for this as I should have been. Luckily, I had a change of clothes for him. It was sure chilly, but it took a few times of me trying to convince John to get out of it before he actually did. To see the joy it brought him was worth the whole trip there!

We finished our trip off with the beach. It was a bit cold for any more water, so we stayed and played at the park. John loved the slide. He kept sliding down and walking back up. It's not the way it works, but what the heck!

We packed up and wanted to eat at a winery. We didn't think about the way we were dressed or the fact that we were lugging around a 17 month old before we stopped at Tabor Hill Restaurant and Winery. They could not have been more gracious or accommodating! I ended up having the cherry wine which was like cherry pie in a bottle and the swordfish. It was nervous about ordering fish, but it was simply fantastic and not at all fishy tasting. Even John loved it and kept looking for more! Tim had the shrimp and scallops. That's pretty adventurous for him, but he too enjoyed it.

The best part about it was the view. The dining room looked over the vineyard. They also had humming bird feeders out there and you could see them buzzing around. It was a beautiful sight.

I went to purchase a bottle of the cherry wine I had at dinner. One of the gentlemen working there commented on how well behaved our son was. I thanked him and explained that we were there celebrating our sixth anniversary and 30 something birthdays. One the way out, they treated us to our bottle of wine. What a WONDERFUL experience!

Seriously, if you are in the area, stop by this place! It was an excellent experience for the three of us!

Well, we had a wonderful Saturday together as a family! Nothing makes me happier than being with my guys!