Memorial Day Trip, Part II

The next leg of our Midwest tour took us on a 5 hour drive from Coloma, MI to Dayton, OH. We were scheduled to be there for 5-6 days. That's one of the nice things about driving is the flexibility it leaves for our schedule. We rolled in late in the afternoon of Memorial Day. The boys held up great in the van and slept most of the way. They woke up just before we got pulled in.

Ethan got a chance to get introduced to a lot of new people. People who were introduced to Camden only a year ago, or a little less. E got to meet Becky Lewis and her new son Jackson Carter Lewis. Jackson is only 4 weeks old. My friends Jenny and Jason Seifert were kind enough to host a little get together at their house. It was nice to see those guys again and introduce them to the boys. Mommy and Daddy again took advantage of having Grandma and Grandpa around to take advantage for themselves. We took an evening to ourselves and went to a Reds game. It was a blast. It was our first time in the new stadium and it didn't disappoint. We look forward to the day when we can take Camden and Ethan to their first ball game.

A hot, sunny, and relaxing week with Ong Noi and Ba Noi came to a close. We piled all our worldly possessions into the van and began our trek back to Minneapolis. We stopped in Chicago for an overnight stay to break up the trip. We met up with Uncle Tony and Aunt Lisa one last time and then finished our last leg of the tour. Overall, the trip was a great success. The boys handled the long stretches in the car extremely well. Oh and did I mention Oliver made the trip with us too? He did great too.

Memorial Day Trip, Part I

This year's Memorial Day weekend brought us on a 1700+ mile, 25 hour trek across the Midwest. Our roadtrip started out with 8 hour drive to the shores of Lake Michigan where Uncle Tony and Aunt Lisa have a beach house. Their condo sits atop a beautiful bluff overlooking mile and miles of beach. It's a great place to relax, get some sun, and let the boys play in a never ending sandbox.

We met Grandma and Grandpa Sindt at the resort. We arrived at about 1am (2am local time) and the grandparents were happy to sweep the boys into their arms. The weekend was also memorable as we were able to celebrate Mommy and Grandpa's birthdays (5/23 and 5/25, respectively). The Sindts love combining holidays, events, and any other made up occasion to celebrate into one big get together. With everyone spread out so far apart, it's the only way to do it. And we always manage to do it up right. Uncle Tony and Aunt Lisa were fantastic hosts, as always.

The lake water was cold, but the boys loved the beach. It was nice having some extra hands around so that mommy and daddy could get some R&R, too. All in all, it was a fantastic start to our week long vacation.



Check out Part II of the Memorial Day Trip as the Nguyen caravan heads south for a fun week with Ong Noi and Ba Noi in Dayton, OH.

Six Month Update

Ethan is the ripe old age of six months old now. Here are a few pictures from his photo shoot with the Easter Bunny. You may remember last year's Easter Bunny photo shoot with Camden. He had no issues with live animals at that time and neither did Ethan this year. However, this year, Camden didn't take to the bunny real well. He was very apprehensive and didn't want any part of the bunny this year.

Ethan on the other hand, was not shy about prodding, poking, and pulling on the bunny's ears. The family portion of the shoot was a bit challenging as well, but we managed.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope everyone is sharing this day with the one(s) you love. We're lucky to have two of the sweetest Valentines that exist.

Thanks to Ong Noi and Ba Noi for the froggy bath set.

Rice Rice Baby

Ethan had his first solid meal this week. We mixed up some rice for him and he seemed to enjoy it. He took it, at least. We're happy that he didn't protest against it since he hasn't been the most accepting of taking a bottle. At least now we feel like we can fall back on rice is we really needed to feed him and a boob or bottle isn't available.

The Bailout

Last week was challenging in the Nguyen household. Both Camden and Ethan ran pretty high temperatures and each had their own episodes of vomiting. There were many sleepless nights since both of them were up seemingly every hour. And if one of them woke up, it's worth noting that they both always wake up crying, then inevitably the other woke up as well. When Ethan wakes up he makes sure the whole neighborhood knows he's up.

So we took both Ethan and Camden to the doctor to get them checked out in case they had ear infections. As we suspected, Camden had an ear infection. In both ears. Luckily, Ethan's ears were clear and we avoided having to administer any antibiotics. Ethan generally was in good spirits and his normal smiley and giggly self. He still isn't sleeping regularly yet.

Ethan still wakes up every couple of hours, sick or not. He seems to nap normally during the day, but he just doesn't have night sleeping down yet. He doesn't seem any worse for the wear.

Given that the week was such a drain for everyone, we looked forward to the weekend when we expected the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Sindt. They are always a welcome site for bleary, sleep deprived eyes, and they didn't disappoint on this visit either. It's nice to have someone around that is, not only willing, but HAPPY to take any number of the night shifts with the boys. They're easily bribed by the mere scent of coffee and food. Or maybe they're easily duped by Ethan's extended bottom lip when he expresses sadness.

Whatever it is, we're thankful for the time and effort they make to come visit us. It's important for us that Ethan and Camden have as much exposure to family as we can possibly provide. Especially when they're lucky enough to have such wonderful grandparents like Grandma and Grandpa Sindt. They're Ong Noi and Ba Noi are pretty fantastic too :)

American Idles

We'd been meaning to get together with friends, Jeff and Sara Idle, but our schedules never seemed to match up. We finally had them over for some pizza, beers, and brownies. They hadn't met Ethan yet and Camden was in fine form being quite the entertainer. Jeff is baby-phobic, so there aren't any pictures of him actually holding Ethan.