A summer without a vacation...

is no summer at all.  That is why we decided to take the plunge and drive four hours in our Vibe with our three dogs and our seven week old infant to get to Harbor Springs, Michigan's center for relaxation.  We're not sure whether the plan would be considered more or less ambitious because we embarked on this trip at 9:15pm last Friday.  The point of travelling so late was to fit into Calvin's schedule, of course, since he now rules this household!  By leaving that late we were able to feed and bathe him and read him his bedtime story, all as usual, but then put him to bed in his car seat instead of his basinet, hoping he wouldn't notice and wake up.  We really lucked out and were able to drive straight through to Aunt Lonnie's without hearing a single peap from the little guy, or the dogs for that matter.  Whenever plausible this is clearly the way us to travel.

Calvin experienced a lot of new things.  We took him into Petoskey on Saturday to peruse the annual sidewalk sales and to pick out his baptismal outfit from The Circus Shop, a special children's clothing shop at which both Cortney and her mom shopped when they were younger.  On Sunday we took him for a walk through Harbor Springs and down to the marina to see the beautiful sailboats before the Regatta, and got to see a beautiful thunderstorm roll in, too.  On Monday we went back into Petoskey and took a walk through the marina there, and back into town for ice cream from Murdick's.  We ate lots of good food (which Calvin got to enjoy indirectly), and we enjoyed visits with people we don't get to see often - Aunt Lonnie, Uncle Smokey, and Helene.

Calvin must have enjoyed his first vacation.  How do we know?  The little guy was so enthralled he refused to take a nap!  We have heard the old saying about needing a vacation from your vacation, but now we understand oh so much more clearly.  He did sleep.  His nightime routine wasn't too off, and of course he slept through all of our excursions, but when we were trying to relax at home he demanded to be held by someone...anyone.  So vacation for Calvin meant constant attention and coddling.  We don't know what we would have done without three extra sets of arms (Nonnie, gram, and grandpa, that is).  Thanks to their help we actually returned home today feeling rested and ready to keep trucking through the days and nights of infanthood.

A pool party

Last night was Calvin's first trip to a pool.  Unfortunately for him it was only that, a trip to the pool and not an actual swim in the pool since he's a little young for chlorine and is still having some trouble with the skin on his shoulders.  But we weren't really there for the prime swimming anyhow, we were there for dinner.  Not as weird as it sounds, since we were joining Jon's bosses and their daughter and friends for a poolside evening complete with dinner from the country club.  It was beautiful and cool evening and both the food and the company were great, so we think Calvin had a nice time even without getting to go swimming.
In other news, we are finally experiencing baby meltdown.  Calvin's sleep schedule has been off for nearly a week now and sleep deprivation is starting to set in - for all three of us.  We figure it's about time since we hadn't experienced true lack of sleep yet, even when he was a newborn.  The real problem of the weekend, though, was that he was also having some trouble nursing, so we visited the doctor again today.  As always, Calvin wowed them with his rate of growth - he weighed in at 11 pounds, 3 ounces (a pound more than he weighed a week ago), and measured just shy of 24 inches.  Grow baby grow!  Obviously, nursing trouble or no, he is getting plenty to eat!  The visit did offer some hope of relief on all fronts and that relief is spelled z-a-n-t-a-c.  The pediatrician thinks that Calvin might be struggling with heartburn (guess he should lay off the chocolate and pizza...) so baby Zantac should help.  We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Playing hot potato, I mean, baby

Yesterday was the first day of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs and, as in years past, we braved the teeming masses for an afternoon of art and heat.  This has long been a tradition for Jon's family and is one that we have come to enjoy.  Yes, count us among the population of locals who really enjoy the Art Fair, in spite of the traffic and crowding it unleashes on the city.  Of course, this year the visit provided a different kind of art for the extended family to enjoy - the newest member of the family.  In fact, the party game during lunch, and again during the after Fair party, was Hot Potato, with Calvin playing the part of the potato, of course (for evidence of said game see all the new pictures in his week five photo album).  Ultimately, we enjoyed the Art Fair as usual, avoided buying any art as usual, and really savored the food at the after party as usual, all with Calvin (who mostly slept) in tow.  Don't worry, Calvin, you will get to enjoy all the tasty food indirectly.

By the way - can you find Calvin in these pictures?  We'll give you a hint - he's ensconced in high tech sun protection and baby wearing gear.

Yep, we're townies

With the Art Fair looming around the corner, many of the actual locals, or "townies" in A2-speak, are packing up and heading out, if they haven't already. Then there are those who choose to stay and fight for their rights to the town - hence the second annual "townie" party. Well, even though we're now in the outlying township, we still feel like we've never moved away, and being a "townie" is just a state of mind, anyway. So, it was off to the "Ingalls Mall" (who knew that space in front of Rackham had a name?) to celebrate with the rest of the bunch. It turns out that townies are a weird crowd, from the barefoot hippies to the standard local character Shakey Jake to the absolutely unusual at-least-80-year-old man wearing a white top hat but no shirt. But we guess that we fit in alright - we had a dancing baby on the tabletop, after all. Curtis joined us for dinner as well. We all felt badly for the Dutch carillon player up in Burton Tower whose concert of classical bell tolling had to compete for sonic attention with the RFD Boys. Ah, well - we'll have to make it back to another concert in that series later in the summer. We topped off the night by passing the near-empty not-so-local Ben & Jerry's to wait in a local line at local Stucchi's for a local root beer float. In the words of Curtis, holler at your local!

Ice fishing and playing in the sprinkler

It was 95 degrees outside this afternoon.  Even our air conditioned house was hot and the dogs were less than enthusiastic so Jon thought he would help them out a little by keeping their drinking water cool with ice cubes.  No such luck.  The ice cubes lasted all of 30 seconds - maybe - before Ollie came loping away from his cool spot in front of the air vent and tactfully fished out one cube after another, leaving a very wet trail between the bowl and the kitchen floor where he ate each one.  But that wasn't our only run in with water today.  In the heavy evening air we decided to water our parched lawn.  Since one of our sprinkler heads was askew Jon thought he would fix it while it was running so he'd know when it was right.  Again, no such luck.  The head proved determined to remain misaligned, and Jon returned looking as though he had fallen in a pool somewhere.  Not a bad idea given the weather, though.

And, in baby news - Calvin has just outgrown the newborn diapers and will now be wearing the size ones.  Calvin is excited about this, but we find it both sad and exciting in the same breath.  Things happen too fast - tomorrow he'll be asking to borrow the car!!!