Thomas is loud

Last weekend we had the opportunity to ride on the real Thomas the Train - and Nolan was thrilled - despite the fact that "Thomas is loud":) We spent the weekend in Moose Lake and made the trek up to the Depot in Duluth on Saturday after nap. It was super busy and a little crowded, but a super cool place to visit. Nolan and Jackson were both enthralled by all the trains! The weather was a bit rainy when we boarded the train, but we sat in the open sided car right behind Thomas. Jackson and Maya both sat really well the whole train ride. Nolan and Kale, on the other hand, were very busy. Both of them wanted to stand on the bench the whole time to get a better look at the scenery as we moved along the tracks, past the Canal Park area and up to Fitgers. There were quite a few visitors along the trek that stopped to wave to us - and Nolan literally waved at them the entire train ride. A large ship was in the harbor, too, so Nolan was excited to see the "big boat". Kale just wanted to walk around, which can't be done by a small child on a moving train. Chris and Sasha got to see first hand what it's like to watch us try and hold Kale for an extended period of time - exhausting! He is always on the move now that he's walking! After riding the train we went to Grandma's to eat. There was a 30 minute wait, so we left and went to Little Angie's Cantina instead. It was hilarious watching the 8 of us at our table. The 4 adults all had a drink to help get us through it! As fun as it is to do stuff like that, it is exhausting no matter how you shake it. The good news is the kids did really well. Short of me not finishing my glass of wine, we were able to enjoy a nice but slightly hurried dinner. Nolan and Jackson didn't play together a whole lot, but when they did it was funny. Their favorite game was this: Jackson running down the hall and waiting at the end of it for Nolan to say "ready, set go". He would then run to Nolan - who was sitting on the couch - then both would giggle and they would do it all over again!

Kale seems so grown up lately. He's almost 11 months old and is getting 4 more teeth, which would put the total at 9 or 10 - I'll have to count them again to remember! He's kinda miserable throughout the day because of it, too. He's not always napping in the morning anymore, which can make for a very long set of hours leading up to lunch and nap. He's "talking" a lot more and is quite loud. A few weeks ago we transitioned him to eating what we eat, cut up really small. It's nice not having to take baby food with us, but I forgot how long it takes to cut up food that small! And finally, after months of patience, he has finally figured out the sippy cup. Jane keeps trying to put his formula in the cup to mix it up from just water, but he wants nothing to do with it. He associates the formual with his bottle, and that's that. He doesn't get mad often, but when he does look out! We still plan to cut him off the bottle after his birthday, so we best keep practicing.

Nolan is still a good brother, but Kale is really testing his patience lately. Nolan's new favorite thing to do is color - he does it every night after dinner. Kale also likes to join in the fun, which bothers Nolan to no end. We hear a lot of "No, Tale, stop it". Last night after Nolan said that he let out the biggest sigh I've ever heard from him, puncuating the fact he was irritated. We couldn't help but laugh at him. For the most part he is very tolerant of Kale, and hasn't hit him - yet! Nolan loves counting and is slowly working on his ABC's. He is still working on the potty training and will go when we take him, every hour or so on the weekends. He's all about motivation by candy - especially the pink jellybeans! He reverted back a bit and is no longer telling us when he has to go. It's to be expected, but I'm pretty sure it will take us a good year to potty train him. He'll probably be done just as we're starting with Kale! Nolan's latest request is "I need a haircut". Hopefully we can find some time on Sunday to take both the boys in. Kale is rockin' a stylish mullet that needs to be taken care of soon. I keep putting it off only because I love his blonde curls!

Last night I started on our packing list for our weekend camping adventure that starts on Friday. I still get amazed at how much stuff is required to travel with 2 small kids. The meal planning is the worst, so at least that's done and all I have to do is go grocery shopping. Hopefully we can get most of it packed up on Thursday night so we can make a beeline outta here on Friday after work. It's going to be a great weekend, but as all of our friends have said, it's going to be a lot of work with probably little sleep:)