Baby on Board

You might be wondering how Julian is spending his time here at Interlochen.
Well, he enjoys coming to rehearsals in his free time...

(David is giving Owen a little music lesson during rehearsal in this picture.)

And I think it's safe to say that he's having a pretty good time!

Me and My Shadow

Owen will basically follow Spencer to the ends of the earth...whatever Spencer is doing is the coolest thing ever. What's Spencer getting at the Melody Freeze? I'll have a tangerine slushie too!

Spencer and Owen cuddling in bed one morning during a thunder storm. Owen is making his scared face because of the thunder!

Astonaut buddies.

Watching the Intermediate Orchestra rehearse Carry On My Wayward Son (really!).

Here We Are!

Here we are when we pulled into Interlochen on a rainy Saturday.
Owen found the bears right away!

We took everyone to the orchestra concert on Sunday night because they opened with Owen's favorite piece...Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland. We first played this piece for Owen because he saw a picture of a tam-tam and wanted to know what it sounded like. He's been hooked on it for a while, so we were really excited to see that the Interlochen World Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO for short) would be playing it LIVE for Owen to hear!

Unfortunately, Owen got really scared about how loud the drums are when you hear them and see them live in concert. He covered his ears and cried through the whole piece! Needless to say, we left shortly after and watched the concert from far away. Owen told me that Fanfare for the Common Man was really loud, but the next piece was just right. We saw Chris Thile from Nickel Creek perform some Bach on the mandolin. At least we can say we tried!

Interlochen

We leave for Interlochen tomorrow! This is our third year, and we love every minute of teaching music and seeing friends. Here's our trusty little cabin...with the addition of baby Julian and cousin Spencer, we're up to four people and a dog. Should be cozy!


Here's Owen in 2008. There's a little story that the campers tell us about the bears, but it might ruin the picture for you. I'll save it for another day.




Here's our family the first year that we came to Interlochen in 2007. Owen was still such a little baby! We had hoped that he would take his first steps at Interlochen, and he sure came awfully close.

Quirky

Whenever we get a Land's End catalogue in the mail, Owen finds the shoe pages and has me read all the colors..."sunset coral, salsa orange, light lime, light turquoise". He's becoming quite the expert.

I have a hard time not laughing while I'm reading, but I try to take his interest seriously. "Yes, Owen, that canal blue color shoe does match the one on the other page." Perhaps he has a future in marketing? Or art? Or Land's End shoes?

Sweet Brothers

I admit, I keep expecting the novelty of Baby Julian to wear off for Owen. Instead, he keeps surprising me with his gentleness and sweetness towards his little brother. He'll pass by the swing and say, "Baby Julian's awake! He's saying, 'There's my big brother!."

Almost every day he asks to hold Julian in his lap, and he gets himself all settled into a chair with his hands up and ready. Today, he really wanted Julian to take a nap in his room with him. Soon enough, Owen...soon enough.

First Trip to the Dentist

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We were so proud of Owen at his first official dentist appointment this week. He was so brave! He kept his mouth wide open as soon as he sat in the chair. (Donna had to keep telling him he could close his mouth if he wanted to.) They gave him sunglasses because the light is so bright, and then they polished his teeth and painted flouride on them. I kept telling him he was a rock star!

Speaking of rock stars...we absolutely love our dentist. He's worth the 45 minute drive to Kalamazoo. In fact, he's not only the best dentist we know, he also owns a vegan food company and he's about to publish his first book on the subject. Check out his website here for more information on Dr. Ope!

Grandma Brooks and Grandpa Doug

We've had some nice visits with Grandma Brooks and Grandpa Doug this week. They live on a beautiful golf course, so we'll go for a long walk and then visit on the porch.

Grandma and Grandpa found this Radio Flyer tricycle at a garage sale this summer, and Owen loves biking up and down the street with Grandma.

A Fingerpainting Journey

It used to be that Owen was a fairly cautious finger painter. He would carefully dip a finger in some paint and have a go at creating his masterpiece. Then one day, he and John decided to finger paint together. It all started innocently enough, and then John showed Owen the "wild side" of finger painting. (It can go in your hair?!)

When John finished painting, he looked something like this.

Then we got back to our home, and Owen was painting this morning. I looked up to see him putting paint in his hair, and you know what his response was to me?

"John does it!"

Oh boy.

Children's Museum

We've been meaning to pay a visit to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum since we moved here, and we finally had our chance this week. Owen loved every minute of it, and there were so many things for him to explore and play with. He was exhausted by the time we got in the car! We're already looking forward to our next visit.

Happy 30th Aunt Abby!

Click here for a link to Abby's blog. Happy Birthday Abby!

Birthday presents!

Um, Uncle D...are you teaching the boys to make cocktails?

You really can never have too much frosting when you're 2.

Thanks to Uncle D and Aunt Erin for bringing all the decorations.
Jed and Grandma Queen made the cake. It was fabulous!

4th of July

A ride in the Morgan with Pop Pop in the Cross Village parade.

Uncle D teaches the boys all about fireworks!

Owen Takes Flight

Pond Hill Farm

We had a lovely outing to Pond Hill Farm with friends and family last week. Grandma Queen, Pop Pop and Uncle Jeff went to Petosky, but the rest of the gang is pictured here.

New friends! (Well, sort of...) Brad, Devin and Lucas.

Aunt Erin and Uncle Danny.

Birthday girl! Aunt Abby and John John.

Owen and John both have big crushes on Tashi. Owen was lucky enough to have Tashi read bedtime books one day, and we stumbled across a French phrase in one of our George and Martha books..."Voulez-vous embrasser Tashi?" Will you give me a kiss? Owen always blushes and gets shy. Also, his French is very sweet.