Ode to Okoboji

With an oink oink here

Is that Daddy and Tyto sitting on a pig? That must mean one thing, we're in Iowa! Oh wait, we've got a photo of Tyto sitting on a pig outside a store in Boulder as well, maybe he should be sitting on a big ear of corn.

Make this into popcorn!

Okay, so this is the closest we could get. Long gone are the days where Tyler will actually pose for the camera. Now we're all about making goofy faces and sticking out our tongues. So much for the modeling career we were banking on. Anyway, what do you get when you combine four doting uncles, two adoring aunts, four crazy cousins and one grinning grandma with an indoor water park, a super cool lake with a speed boat and an amusement park down the street? You get absolute heaven for little boys and this one is called Lake Okoboji! We "discovered" Okoboji last year and Tyler couldn't stop talking about the water park and the amusement park (called Arnold's Park, perhaps the oldest amusement park in the world but so much fun - who needs Disneyland when half the thrill of the ride is that it could literally fall apart on you?).

Just try and pry me out of this roller coaster, sir.
The rides, of course, were the big draw for Tyler (the food, of course, was the big draw for mom. Hand-made salted nut rolls and nutty ice cream bars anyone?). This year Tyler was able to do more of the rides on his own and I don't know what the hell we were thinking putting him on that roller coaster alone last year, but put us down as the most laid-back/stupid people on this planet. Tristan was content to just ride along in the Baby Bjorn and snooze every so often. That's my kind of amusement park. I think it's called a "spa."

Try getting a smile like this at the spa.

A spa treatment is definitely what we all needed after our exasperating trek up to Okoboji from Cedar Rapids. This is a four-hour car ride with two little people so serious plans had to be in place. We were to leave in the morning, just before Tristan's nap. He would therefore chill in the car for 30 minutes, sleep for an hour, then wake up during the last 30 minutes before lunch. Then we'd chill in a park and repeat the plan with the afternoon nap. Tyler would get plenty of provisions and Clifford on the DVD player and would be happy as a clam. Easy! Someone apparently missed all the planning meetings because the nap occured, but only for 20 minutes and the rest of the ride was spent howling and screaming. You have never seen a more haggard bunch escape their car, giddy at the thought of a picnic in Clear Lake. He's my adorable son but I was thinking, "please don't make me go back in the car with him. I'll walk us there the remaing 150 miles. Seriously." We even thought about purchasing real estate in Okoboji so we wouldn't have to do the whole thing again.

Oh, are we there finally? Yay! Did you notice that I wasn't particularly fond of the ride?

But, once we got there, the fun never stopped.

We went boating....
And tubing (is this activity going to ruin my hairdo?)....

And chilled out on the sun deck...
And in the water park...

And cruised on jet skis...
And gummed Thimila....
And gummed Katie....
And were ready to hit any luaus that might pop up.

And if that weren't enough photos for you, more Okoboji photos can be seen here. Too soon it was time to go home although we did get to go back to Uncle G's house for a while which was cool because he has his very own pool and a real choo choo train passes behind his house. You have never seen so many people scream and grab the toddler and rush out to see the train when they hear the whistle, you'd think the house was burning down. Nevertheless, it was a fun-filled vacation, and now we need a vacation from our vacation!!!

The Summer Story

So Tyto's favorite thing to do right now is to tell stories. Or rather, have me tell stories based on the characters in a "Spreckle Story," which is something Emily Elizabeth tells Clifford. I take some liberties, of course, and Tyto keeps me in check when I get off base. The thing that drives me crazy is that the second I'm done with my story and say, "the end!" he says, "do another one!" Not even one second pause to appreciate the story he just heard. It is in this spirit that I blog our "Summer Story." Me: One day Spreckle and his family decided to visit Nana, Papa, Grandpa and Kookie in Colorado for their summer vacation! It was a long way to go and they had to ride an airplane.
Tyto: And they took Mama and Tyto and Tristan and Chi with them!
Me: Yes, they all came, too.
Tyto: And when they went through the tunnel at the airport, what did Chi say?
Me: Oh, Chi was very, very scared. Tyto had to hold her hand because it was very dark and there were scary monsters in the tunnel.
Tyto: And they jumped out and scared Chi and she screamed!
Me: Yes, but then Chi realized that Tyto was holding her hand and that she would be okay. Then she saw that the monster was actually Elmo and he asked where they were going and when he found out they were going to Nana and Papa's he asked if he could come, too! So, he climbed in the car..
Tyto: they opened the back door for him...
Me: yes, they opened the back door for him and he climbed in and they went to the aiport and bought their tickets.
Tyto: and Cookie Monster was there selling the tickets!
Me: yes, and Cookie asked them where they were going and when he found out they were going to Nana and Papa's, he asked if he could go, too. They said yes and bought some cookies from him as well and they all got on the plane.
Tyto: And who was the pilot?
Me: Funny you should ask.. Mama took Tristan up to get his picture taken with the pilot and it was Grover! And he asked if he could come to Nana and Papa's house, too! So they all took off and Big Bird was the flight attendant and Oscar the Grouch was another passenger and he asked for a drink of...
Tyto: trash!!!
Me: yes, trash!! He wanted a trash drink, it was delicious. Nobody else drank that, though. Everyone else wanted lemonade and cheesy crackers.

Tyto: Except Tristan who got milk.

Me: You're right, Tristan can't drink lemonade, yet, so he had milk. When they landed, they got their car and drove past the big blue horse with the red eyes and stopped to buy flowers for Nana from Chip and Dale, who also asked if they could come to Nana and Papa's.

Tyto: And then Dave was selling papa cheese so they stopped to buy that for Papa!

Me: You're right, it wouldn't be fair to just bring Nana a present. So, Spreckle and his family, mama, Chi, Tristan, Tyler, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Oscar, Grover, Chip, Dale, and Dave all went to see Nana and Papa.

Tyto: And Alvin, Simon and Theodore.

Me: Where did we pick them up?

Tyto: They were on the plane, too!

Me: Okay. So they all surprised Nana! When Nana came to the door she said, "oh my goodness! Look at all these people! Tyto, Tristan, give me a hug! Goodness, I'll need to order some more pizza!"

Tyto: With Canadian bacon and tomatoes!

Me: Yes, all different kinds. While they were waitinig for the pizza, they decided to go up to Boulder to play in the river and on the mall.

Tyto: And they played in the rocks and touched the fountain!
Me: Yes, and then they went into the river and it was very cold, and mama was a bonehead and didn't bring swim suits for anyone so they got a little wet from the river. But it felt good and it was beautiful.

Me: And when they got home that evening, they were very tired and very hungry and the pizza still wasn't there. So they had to go to bed without dinner and they were very sad...

Tyto: But then Daddy came over and brought doughnuts for everyone!

Me: And they had doughnuts for dinner? Really?

Tyto: Yes! It was a healthy dinner, I promise!

Me: I don't know about that, but okay. So after eating their healthy donut dinner, they all crashed into their beds exhausted from their long day, ready to catch some zzzzz's so they could go on another adventure tomorrow.

Tyto: And they went to the firestation for a panpake breakfast when they woke up! And there was a parade!

Me: Was it for Buffalo Bill Days?

Tyto: Yes, and they got candy!

Me: Cool. Then after the parade they came home and rode cars down the street through the sprinklers.

Tyto: And then they went to Casa Bonita and went into Black Bart's Cave and there was a hand!

Me: A big scary hairy hand that came out and them and growled and they screamed and started running but then they heard a voice that said, "stop!" and they said, "no! you're scary!" and the voice said, "no, I'm just a hungry bear, that was my stomach you heard, not me growling. I've been hibernating for a long time, do you think you could get me some sopapias?" and they said "sure!" and they went out and came back with the biggest platter of sopapias you've ever seen

Tyto: and honey

Me: yes, and honey and they had a picnic in the cave and then they went and saw a puppet show.

Tyto: And then they went to the acquarium!

Me: And they saw fish and fed the rays and got a Shamu tattoo! Weren't they lucky!

Tyto: And they saw the karks, too!

Me: Yes, they saw the sharks, too. Then they were so tired, they had to go home and go to bed. By then, the pizza had finally arrived so they ate their pizza and then they said "sweet dreams" to everyone and climbed into their beds and went to sleep. Good night and THE END!

Tyto: Tell me another Speckles story! The one about going to the Hermosa Beach fair!

And on and on it goes, all day long sometimes. I don't have to worry about too much television rotting his brain because he definitely has a pretty good imagination thus far. Hopefully, he'll be able to tell some of these stories to Tristan when he gets big enough. Tristan, by the way, is adorable!! He is such a love and has that perfect baby gushiness going on right now. He's got dimples where there aren't joints in his legs and arms, he's in 9-month clothes already and he's just super curious about the entire world. 50% of the people we know say he looks just like Tyler, the other 50% say he doesn't look a thing like his brother. They aren't twins, but you can definitely tell they are related. I suspect/hope they will be good friends. Tyto already makes Tristan laugh and smile as he runs around and Tristan just beams at him. One of my favorite parts of the day is in the morning when Tristan and I have been up for about an hour and Tyler finaly gets up around 6:30. Tristan and I go in to wake him up and Tyler just grabs for his baby bro to give him a big hug, then they lay on the carpet together just snuggling (or smothering in some cases, I never thought I'd have to say, "Tyler, stop licking your brother!"). I just love it!

Ah, and we'll end this post with a photo of my boys on the beach. I'll be glad when Tristan can wear sunscreen and I won't be so freaked out about burning his irredescent skin. Oh, and here's alittle movie of Tyto at summer art class.









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