Little Ozzman turns 3!

Well I'm actually a little sad and embarrassed by just how long it too me to post about Ozzye's birthday. It was back in May. We even celebrated a few days early since we left for vacation on his birthday. Of course since returning I have been uploading pictures of vacation (which I'm STILL in the process of, wish blogger could make that a bit easier) and I was planning on starting with his birthday and continuing the post into vacation. However I figure since we are less than a week away from another birthday already I better at least get Ozzye's posted and just wait and see when I get around to finishing up vacation 2011.

I use to make all of the kid's cakes. I loved doing it. Mostly because we have all these great childhood pictures of these cool cakes my mom made for my brother but rarely seemed as though there was any for me. Ironically enough my mom is the very reason I stopped making cakes for my kids. I'm not when it happened or why even but she has taken over the birthday cakes. I think it probably came about that I would end up asking her for help since she IS so good at it and she would get frustrated with it (probably because I didn't do it right... first borns!) or I would try to make them too healthy and she wouldn't like the taste or be challenging to decorate or I don't even know why...

And so the new tradition has become rather boring. The kids pick out their cake. Grandma buys it and they find their favorite little toy or convince Grandma she needs to pick up a new one for them to put on top of their cake. In any case while it doesn't give me the "mommy of the year award" feeling it does seem to make them happy and when we have a birthday almost every month for half of the year it certainly makes my prep for their birthdays less stressful.

So our little Ozzye is 3 now and he is still the size of most 2 year olds. He is also just as trying as most two year olds. While on vacation I kept having flash backs which I can only assume is similar to what amnesia patients must experience. You see our little Brody in the last two years has become so laid back and charming we had completely forgotten how frustrating he was when he was Ozzye's age. Yet while on vacaction I kept having this deja vu feeling when Ozzye would push us to our limits like I had already experienced it before but knew it couldn't have been him. And then it would sink in that it was something our sweet little angel of a boy Brody had done. Which gives us hope!

Since Ozzye is darling and oh so hysterical so often throughout the day. Today looking inside from the backyard through the screen door he said "me out here mama. Let me out." I am quiet certain it was no accident that he made us fall so deeply in love with him. It's a survival tactic. And it has served him well. Even, Dave, the man that would have been more than happy to stop after two children, has expressed on more than one occasion that he could quite possibly be his favorite child. He has also expressed how very much of a huge frustration he is to him as well. He definitively pushes us far more than the first four have. But he more than makes up for it with his sweetness.

I love how excited he gets to get his birthday cards. He hugged most of them after he "read" them.

It is amazing how quickly each babe weaves themselves into your family.

Happy Birthday Beautiful "baby" boy!

Vacation 2011

Ah at long last I am FINALLY getting around to posting pictures from our vacation back in May! Like many of our vacation it was thrown together last minute but this one seemed to be extra short notice. We first made plans about four weeks before we were set to leave to take the kids to see Mount Rushmore. During this planning we brain stormed other things to do while we were there and I some how managed to talk my husband into packing ALL of our bikes which would include, 3 adult bikes, 1 tag-a-long and 2 bike trailers. We had visions of biking through the black hills and bad lands and as the time drew closer we got more and more excited... however the weather also remained unseasonably cold.

So just two weeks before we were due to leave we started looking for a new destination that hopefully came with more promising weather. We targeted MO and read that Lake of the Ozarks had lots of biking. We got a screaming deal on a condo on the lake for 4 nights so we packed up all the bikes and kids and headed to MO.

We left the night of Ozzye's birthday and drove through most of the night arriving about 3 hours outside of our destination somewhere around 2am. We had booked a double bed room for the night. However the hotel was completely booked and since I am quiet certain we were some of the last people to check in the only room they had left was a single queen bed room with a window seat. It may not have been as bad if the room wasn't the size of a closet. And of course since most of the kids slept on the way there, mainly Ozzye, HE was wide awake when we arrived.

They did bring us a pull out bed which Aubriel is currently laying on in this picture. Gage and Brody took the floor, Kain took the window seat, Dave tried starting out in bed with the baby and I but soon left for the pull out which he described as sleeping on a giant crib mattress. Aubriel came to bed with me which she soon switched with Kain. Ozzye played musical beds until he passed out in bed with Kain, Eila and I. At least we got a free breakfast in the morning and we were off to our condo!

The first day we arrived it rained on and off which was unfortunate. We went to see a dam but they didn't offer the best scenic over looks to actually see it but the area was very pretty and the kids got to run around a bit.

Kain being silly...

Ozzye having breakfast and watching the ducks from our balcony.

After our first day of rain we had clear skies for the rest of the week so we set out to explore some caves. Which turns out were set to open the next week so we kind of missed the boat on that one and why we have no pictures of that incredible waste of time. So we drove around to the other side of the HUGE state park in hopes of finding some biking trails... which we did not but we found a park...

Which we played at for a while simply because after driving that far just to get to MO the little kids have a complete melt down when we ask them to get back in the truck even for short little trips.

And we found a lake which is usually a vacation all it's own in the boys minds...

Ozzye not wanting anything to do with getting his picture taken...

Soon after that he attempted to walk to my parents house back in WI... he didn't make it.

From there we managed to find one dirt trail which we thought looked promising but not even a 1/4 of a mile down it realized it was far more of a mountain biking trail than one should probably take 4 small children under the age of 8 on. So we left to bike the paved one we saw in town earlier.

Hanging out while Dad sets up the bikes...

The rest played at the park...

This is what Ozzye did when I told him to stick his head in the hole like Kain so I could take a picture...

While the paved trail offered a better surface to bike on it was VERY steep which was fun pulling trailers with kids in them and it ran right along the road which wasn't too fun. But the sun was shinning and we were out as a family so I guess it was a good day!

The view across the lake from our balcony...

The next day we woke ready to head a little bit south to Ha Ha Tonka state park. It was several acres with a castle built on it in the early 1900s. Unfortunately the owner died before it was finished and for a while was a B&B before it burned down. Now it is a park with ruins, trails, parks, caves (of course all were closed the day we were there) and lots of wildlife.

Ozzye continued to be his charming self for pictures...

The over look where hawks flew under us...

Me with "my kids"...

Dave with "his"...

Natural rock bridge...

Completely freaked me out walking under it so maybe it was a good thing all the caves were closed.

I think I might be nursing while hiking here...

This was actually a VERY long hike but since Dave had the camera we have very few pictures to show for it.

Picnic at the park for lunch...

Off to do more hiking. This was kind of a fun little island we hiked around with rather dangerous terrain. I think at one point Dave even pointed out we might be considered "irresponsible" if people saw the conditions we were hiking with our small children, two of them being 3 and 2 months. Luckily Dave and I were each wearing them!

Taken from the top of the island...

Until another wanted to ride and the one that had been riding had WAY too much energy! By this point we were off the island and on more stable ground...

...for the most part.

The ruins we were at earlier...

The next day... our last day, we took the kids to play mini golf before we left town early to hit a bike trail in Jefferson City on our way to WI Dells.

Hangin out while the rest of us pack up...

We biked a really nice paved trail in Jefferson City that actually runs the with of the state. We of course only biked about 6 miles of it. And took some pictures at a cute little rest stop we stopped at half way.

Right after this picture was taken Eila pooped all over Dave...

So we decided to head back to the truck...

The most adorable piece of property nestled in between a couple of huge rolling hills along the trail... I want to some EXACTLY like this!

The older two waiting for us to catch up...

This kids playing while we pack the bikes back up...

We made it to the Dells at about 2am. Stayed at the Chula Vista waterpark for a few days before making our way home.

She looks thrilled to be swimming for the first time...

You wouldn't know it by this picture but she loved the lazy river...

Baby's first bath!