May 24, 2008 - Camping at Hoffmaster State Park

05242008 - Camping Hoffmaster 006, originally uploaded by The Whittier Family.

We took advantage of the long weekend to go camping at Hoffmaster State Park. It is one of our favorites, as it is not too far away from home, it is right up on the dunes of Lake Michigan, There is a lot to do, and we always have a great time. While we were there, we got lost in the forest while geocaching, swam in the cold waters of Lake Michigan, bought flowers at the local farmers market, made lots of yummy food (pizza, snake river stew, dutch oven potatoes, etc), and got in lots of storytelling and relaxing in front of the fire. It was really hard for all of us to come back to civilization. Camping in the pop-up is so much better than lying in the dirt.

May 19, 2008 - First Lost Tooth

05192008 - First Tooth 001, originally uploaded by The Whittier Family.

It finally came out! Xander has been playing with his loose tooth for a few weeks now and tonight with a little bit of coxing, it finally came out. He is very excited to see what the tooth fairy is going to give him.

You can see that he left a little card for the Tooth Fairy as well. The tooth is so cute! Yeah Xander!1

傑升的牙齒已經搖了好久了. 今晚媽媽我真的看不過去了就鼓勵他說要幫他把牙齒拔下來. 傑升起先很抗拒, 可是我誘惑他說牙齒仙子晚上會來並給他錢哦..一聽到錢就看到傑升的眼睛馬上亮出$$$$的亮光並馬上說好. (美國小朋友掉牙齒時, 大人們都會跟他們說當晚要把牙齒放在枕頭下面,這樣牙齒仙女當晚會來找他們, 把牙齒拿走並留下錢錢給小朋友.....不同國境, 不同習俗... 記得小時候掉牙時, 掉上面的牙齒要 丟屋頂, 掉下面的牙齒要丟床底, 這樣新牙才會長出來.)

從沒拔過小朋友的牙齒, 只記得小時候拔自己的牙時都是綁一條線在門口, 門一推, 牙就掉下來了. 今晚揹負者偉大的使命要拔傑升的第一根牙, 好緊張哦. 怕拔不好他以後就有一口亂牙.

用手拔他的門牙, 拔了好久, 突然覺得有肉撕離的感覺, 傑升哭了出來說好痛也開始流血了. 咦, 牙齒動的比較厲害了吔! 讓傑升休息一下去洗個澡吧. 洗完澡, 傑升自己站在鏡子前面自己搖自己的門牙...哇, 幾乎可轉90度了, 可是還是黏在牙齦上吔! 好吧, 媽媽我再來試一次. 拿了塊紗布放在門牙上, 第一次沒成功, 再試一次....啊, 掉了掉了, 終於掉了..傑升本來在哭可是一看到他可愛的小牙齒就馬上不哭. 咬著紗布並好奇的看著自己的第一顆牙齒.樣牙齒仙子才知道那是他的牙齒..寫好後叫他趕快去睡覺這樣仙子才會來找他...哇, 他真的很快就睡著了呢....隔天起床他跳著跑進我們房間並說牙齒仙子給了他3元.

我們謹慎的把他的牙齒放在袋子裡, 傑升堅持要寫一張卡片給牙齒仙女, 這樣牙齒仙女才會知道那是他的牙齒...當晚傑升很快就睡著了, 肖恩和我2個人攝手攝腳的跑進他房間, 偷偷的把牙齒從他枕頭下拿出來並放了錢錢在枕頭下. 隔天他很興奮的跑進我們房間並說仙女給了他2塊錢..唉, 血汗錢真不好賺.

April 12, 2008 - SugarBush Maple Farm

04122008 - SugarBush 001, originally uploaded by The Whittier Family.

This morning we went to eat all you can eat pancakes, sausage, waffles, bacon.... at Sugarbush Maple Farm. It was a lot of fun. We got to watch them make the maple sugar, eat way too much fattening food with freshly made syrup, and even taste some maple sap. The sap was really good by the way.