Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height

Let's go fly a kite

and send it soar-ring

Up to the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Oh, let's go... fly a kite

Weekend at Grammy & Poppy's

Friday through Sunday, we continued the Maz family fun at Grammy & Poppys house.

Friday we went to the water park in Rockford for a day of swimmin & sunshine. It was super busy, but the kiddie area wasn't so bad. It was fun to see Bradyn apply his learnings from swim lessons at the pool.

Saturday we helped watch our niece, Kyla while Kyle & Laura worked & got things set up for Kyla's baptism the next day. Bradyn was a cute big cousin and sat like a little big man and watched Kyla for us while we ate lunch. He also entertained her in her carseat for awhile too. I enjoyed playing pat-e-cake with her feet and making her giggle. She's so advanced for a 4 month old. She's already got 2 teeth, she's nearly sitting up on her own, and is a very determined scooter, she just can't quite figure out how to work her arms. But she'll be an early crawler too I bet.

On Sunday, we went to church and to the baptism, then the after party was at Kyle & Laura's house. The entire family was able to make it, and we were even able to stage a picture of all four Mazanowski grandbabies! Would you believe that the first one was the best... it was all downhill from there...lol. Bradyn and Zachary had a blast hanging out together as usual. They are best buddies. I bet the kitty cat and puppy dog were glad for the two boys to leave! After a long fun weekend, we were all wiped out and headed home to get ready for the week ahead.

Bears Camp

Last weekend was a long busy weekend filled with summer fun! We started the weekend on Thursday and partied hard all the way through Sunday evening. We got up Thursday morning and headed to Bourbonnais to the Chicago Bears Training Camp. We arrived a bit early and "tailgated" in line. Bradyn and Chad tossed the football around, while I enjoyed the sun. We had a Jimmy John's picnic, and watched them set up the bouncy houses from outside the gate. Once they started letting people in, we waited for all of the players to come out in hopes of snagging an autograph or two, but we weren't so lucky. We watched them practice a little bit, then we decided to go check out the fun kids' area. Bradyn had a blast jumping in the bouncy houses and going down the bouncy slides. He also LOVED the choo choo ride. We got to meet Staley, the Bears Mascot. Bradyn wasn't too sure about him up close, but was ok as long as he didn't have to be RIGHT next to him in the picture. He did give him a high five and a fist punch, which is progress from being super afraid of Santa and the Easter Bunny this past year. We headed out after practice was over and took off to the Maz House for the rest of the weekend.

Another Day on Papa's Boat

Bradyn's second time on Papa's boat was another fun one. It was super hot out, so the water felt great! It was also super windy though so it was pretty choppy. I had this brilliant idea to go ahead and go tubing off the back of the boat. I held on and didn't fall off, but I was flopping around like a fish on dry land! LOL Ten the next day, I was super sore and couldn't figure out why at first...hmmmm... I guess I am almost 30. I'm not as young and limber as I used to bed. Evidently being tossed around on a tube makes an old fogey a little sore the following day! Haha

Logan County Fair

We stopped over at the Logan County fair this year for the first time in a long time. We wanted to take Bradyn on a few rides and it worked out as a great meeting spot because Grandma Netter was going to watch him for the evening while Chad and I went out with a few friends. Though it was a super hot day and we were sweaty just walking around, Bradyn still had a lot of fun. He ate a yummy corndog, loved looking at the BIG tractors, enjoyed feeding the animals at the petting zoo, and rode a few rides. We all went on the Ferris Wheel, which I'm pretty sure he enjoyed, but he did have a concerned look on his face. Then he wanted to ride the school bus with grandma. After that he was intrigued by the helicoptors, so I squeezed into that one with him, and he rode the merry go round with grandma & daddy. After the day of family fun, Chad and I met up with a few friends and ended up at the fair beer tent. Yum :)

Katie's Kids Carnival

Bradyn's Daycare is opening a second location on August 17th. They put on an openhouse/carnival at the new facility over the weekend. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, a bouncy house, popcorn, snowcones, a balloon artist, a facepainter, bozo ball toss, and much more. And we got to tour the new facility. While the new location is closer to our house, so far we haven't been able to convince ourselves to move him. All Bradyn's friends and teachers are staying at the original location and he LOVES it there. For now we are leaving things as they are. But I did find comfort in the fact that the new facility is laid out EXACTLY like the old one and it is backed by the same people with the same beliefs and the curriculum and staff is just as amazing as they are at the original location. Here are some pics from the day of fun.

You Can Sleep Anywhere But in Our Room!!

Oooohhhh the joys of trying to get him to stay in his big boy bed. It's been a tiring and frustrating time for us lately as we have tried everything we can think of and used advice of family, friends, and even SuperNanny.com! LOL Everything from being sweet, to being angry, to creating a sticker chart (which ended up thrown out of the room after then 11th time up the first night we made it), to putting a picture of Chad and I up in his room, to baby gating him into his room (he somehow mustered up enough strength to knock it down), to closing his door and holding the door knob (I didn't like that one, I don't want him to think his room is a bad place), to locking our door and telling him he could sleep anywhere in the house, just not our room (didn't like that one either as things were slamming around not knowing what he was getting into), to baby einstein lullaby music, to taking things away (all of his movies are still in the closet until he earns them back), oooohhh what else? How much longer is this gonna last? It usually takes an hour or so to get him to stay down, then he's up at some point in the night for an unknown period of time ranging anywhere from 1/2 hour to 3 hours! We wake up exhausted in the mornings and go about our days as zombies in anticipation of having to do it all over again the next night.

A Night with the Old Kraft Crew

My friend Erika recently got married, so it was a great occasion to get some of the old Kraft buds together for a night of fun, drinkin, dancin, and most important...laughing! I always have a blast with these guys and hanging out with them reminds me how lucky I am to have such awesome friends all around. In the journey of life I have made some awesome friends every step of the way. I've got my high school buds that I'm still close with that I wouldn't trade for the world and am so lucky to have a great set of people that have been there for me every step of the way. In addition I have another awesome set of people that were there for me when I didn't live so close to my comfort zone. While I lived in Chicago for 3 years, these people showed me numerous fun times, exposed me to diversity (which coming from a 100% white community was a great life lesson), and gave me sooooo many laughs and memories that I will cherish forever. The night at Erika's wedding was more of the same. It was sad to leave and it just makes me aware that I need to see these people more often. I like to surround myself with fun, happy people & that they are!