Weekend Up North

This past weekend we took our annual trip up to Minocqua with Tim and Val.

We go right through Wausau on the drive up, so it worked out perfectly to stop for a quick

lunch and visit with Mom and Larry.  The boys always love seeing Grandma and Grandpa.

 Our first full day in Minocqua started bright and early.  Since our boys are particularly early

risers, we try to leave the house once they're up to give everyone else a chance to sleep.

And what better way to waste some time that at Paul Bunyan's for breakfast.  After all of the

years I have been driving up to my grandparent's cottage as a kid, I do not ever remember

eating there.  It is a breakfast staple in Minocqua, so it's surprising that this was my first

time.  It was crazy!  They serve what they call a Camper's breakfast, which is basically

family style.  We had plates of fresh donuts, scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast,

sausage, ham, kielbasa and biscuits and gravy.  Most of the food was average at best, 

but the donuts were some of the best I have ever had.  Super fresh and fluffy!  I would go

back just for those.  I would also go back to see Ryan and Owen in the silly hats they handed out.  It was a fun start to our trip.

 

The rest of the weekend we spent taking walks, going for boat rides, visiting the beach,

and making our much anticipated trip to Dan's Fudge for 5 pounds worth of salt water taffy.

Here are some of our favorite pics from the trip.

 Unfortunately the cottage is up for sale so this was most likely our last trip up there,

but we definitely had a great time and lots of pictures to remember it by.

Helmet Free!!

YAY!!!!  As of yesterday, Joe no longer has to wear his helmet.

He is an official Graduate!

He wore it for a total of 11 weeks and it definitely made a difference.  First, It helped round
out the back right side of his head.  When looking at his head before he wore the helmet,
that was the main area you would notice because it was so flat.  It is still a little flat, but it's
so much better than what it was.  I'm hoping that as he grows it might round out a little more
on it's own.  Here are before and after pictures (he has a stocking on his head to help
show the true shape of his head).

The other noticeable change was in his forehead.  The left side of his forehead was a little
flat.  The flattening on the back of his head caused the back left side and front
right side of his head to push and stretch out in opposite directions.  This created a flat spot
on the front left of his forehead.  In the before picture above you can see how his left cheek is visible because his forehead is not quite as rounded out as it should be there.  
The helmet helped to round out and add more width to his forehead.

Probably the craziest thing and something you wouldn't even notice by looking at him, was his eyes, ears and cheeks were on different levels, or planes as the technician put it.
  Though it's hard to tell in the pictures, that was the area where we saw the biggest change.  They have a program in the office that allows them to rotate the images of Joe's head before and after the helmet and it gave a great view to show us the differences.
Everything is now lined up and where it should be.  Though, I think he looks cute regardless.

Looking back the time actually went by really fast.  It helped a ton that the helmet didn't 

seem to bother him at all.  The only time it seemed to upset him was when it was hot out.
His poor little head would get all sweaty, so I made sure to stay inside on the hotter days or
give his head plenty of breaks to cool off.  Other than that he wore the helmet nearly 24
hours a day for the past 11 weeks.  The only time we took it off was to give him a quick bath
at night.  I was very diligent about keeping it on him, but even I started to tire of it the last
two weeks.  

I had done so well and then once it got closer to him getting it off I could hardly
wait.  Truth be told, I actually took it off him the day before we had our last appointment.  I was over it and figured one day wouldn't hurt.  I had missed snuggling his little head and
I didn't want to wait any longer.  It was well worth the wait.  I find myself nuzzling up against
his head whenever I get the chance now.  I am very happy we made the decision to help
him with a helmet, but I am even happier that we are done and we we have our
helmet free baby back.  We love you Joe!   

River Walk

This morning we took the boys downtown to spend the morning with Grandpa Joe and Gigi.

Gerri's son Ryan and his wife Joanne came and brought their kids too, so Owen had an

instant playmate.  Kiera is just a little older than Owen and they don't see each other often,

but they had so much fun together.  We walked, or more accurately, ran along the river up to the water taxi stand looking at all of the various boats and kayakers along our way.

We took the water taxi over to Navy Pier because Grandpa thought it would be a fun little

boat ride for the kids.  And he was right.  They loved it.  

In fact, from the looks of it, Owen and Joe took turns voicing their excitement.

 

 Thanks for the fun little visit Grandpa and Gigi!!

 

Soccer Star

We've added a new pitstop to our routine weekend coffee walks...the soccer field.

Owen absolutely loves running and kicking the ball around.  And he's actually really

good at it.  I'm honestly impressed with how well he can dribble the ball while running at full

speed.  Here are some pictures from this morning's soccer session.

And while Owen masters his kicks, Joe is perfectly content to chill and watch all the action.

Overall a great start to our weekend mornings.  :)