Fridays with Fin :: Thomas and so much more!

Boy, oh boy, have we been keeping mighty busy these days! This might have to do with the lack of posts lately! :0 Hope "you're all" {Hi mom!} doing well! ;) Since I've missed a few weeks of Fridays with Fin, I'm going to bombard you with some highlights from the last few weeks!

Let's start with potty training! Finny-is-a-potty-trained. Just saying it out loud makes me all hivey and looking for some wood to knock on because I don't want to jinx it! I'm the kind of girl that never likes to say something until I'm completely sure of it, so I might be crying to you all next week that he's un-potty trained... that's how it goes with 2.5 year olds, right?! Here's a fun pic to give you a visual of how the last two weeks of our life has been ... a whole lotta nakey...

Yes, that is Fin, naked, in my friend's kiddie-pool at her 30th birthday party, and yes, we did count it potty-training success that he peed in the pool, rather than in his undies! ;) Now even though the Finster is potty trained {uh oh, I got all hot and sweaty saying that again} doesn't mean its not a daily struggle to get a numero dos out of him! I tell myself, daily, "this too shall pass" as I know its a phase and soon he'll be the master of the potty and won't need my daily motivation to "just let it out"!

Onto the fun stuff, 'cause Lord knows potty training wasn't! I recently had my big 3-0 birthday and we met my parents for lunch in Sheboygan, WI. After lunch, we headed to this great, quaint little childrens-book-themed Gardens, called Bookworm Gardens. SO awesome!

Fin had a blast! His favorite "garden" was the magic school bus. It is an actual school bus. This kid can spot a school bus driving down the road a mile a way, so believe me, he was excited about this!

Yes, that is my hipster son driving that bus! ;P Onto the next garden, where the potty fun began. Finny had to go, you know what, big time! We'd never done the big potty yet, only those gross little potty chairs that is cruel and unusual punishment to the parents who have to clean them! Anyway. Mommy forgot the potty chair. Oy vey. It began the next hour of lots of crying, clenching, sweating and laughing {on the adult's part!}. But, that moment didn't need to be captured, so we just snapped pics of the good stuff... like Grandpa Joe and Fin playing outdoor instruments!

Here's our crazy crew {besides the hubs, taking the pic}. What a fun, and very memorable, day we had!

We will definitely be heading back to Bookworm Gardens, and hopefully mommy will be more prepared, so Fin can have a less stressful experience! ;)

Onto another fun weekend we had in Green Bay, WI! We headed up for a combo package of my dad's b-day, father's day, my parent's 40th wedding anniversary AND the Thomas the Train exhibit! Whew! We stared the weekend at Bay Beach. Another great place, that I highly recommend, if you have littles. It has the perfect small rides for kiddos, and at 25¢ a pop, its a no-brainer visit when stopping in GB {yes, there are other things to do in GB besides Packer-related-things!}

Fin and Cousin, Landon, were SO cute together and had SO much fun on all the rides that have been around since my mom was a little girl! That pic, below, on the left, is Landon's wink! {Kid's got skillz}.

After spending some nice time with family to celebrate all the special days {b-day, father's & anniversary} it was time to surprise the kiddos with "A Day with Thomas"! These two bestie-cousins are both equally obsessed with Thomas, who happened to be visiting the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay {which for a train-obsessed tyke, is another must-visit in Geebs}. We sat the three little cousins down and gave them a gift {Thanks Aunt Lora for the Thomas t's & trains} and a "boarding pass" and told them we were headed to see the "useful little engine" himself! They were ecstatic!

The boys had the time of their lives, even though, after a long weekend, exhaustion had began to set in and the crabs entered everyone ... but isn't that how "vacationing" with little ones is! Here's the little guys giving their tickets to the conductor! {I got my nellie*design on to create a fun, custom boarding pass for the boys! I think the mommies thought they were way cooler than the 2 year olds did!}

Here's little sister, Navy, at the Thomas experience. She was a trooper and slept through most of it! ;P

Here's Fin on the 2 hour drive home. He slept from the second the wheels moved to the second they stopped. I think I even heard him, delusionally, murmur "Thomas" in his sleep! {pure success}

Whew! Thanks for making it this far with me! I promise to try to update my "Fridays with Fin" more often so I don't have to bombard you with weeks worth of Fin! That can be quite a lot to take in! ;) So, I'll leave you with a little pinch of Navy in a ridiculously adorable outfit that I want to rock for myself...

Be still my little heart Navy Rose.

Happy Friday!