Northeast Indiana Travels

On Tuesday, I had to visit a final site in Fort Wayne, then head to Warsaw, Mishawaka, and South Bend.  It would be a long day on the road without much time to do anything but sit in a car.  Whenever we could, I dropped Kevin and Camden off someplace (park or store) before heading to my appointment.  In Warsaw, I knew of a great park near a lake.  Camden loved all the play structures...even Kevin got a turn or two.  It was such a beautiful setting too.

Dinner and a Movie

As I mentioned, in college, we often headed to Fort Wayne on Friday night for dinner and fun.  One of my group of friend's favorite places to go was Cheddar's.  They have the best restaurant desserts I have ever had.  It sounds so ordinary, but it's the called the Cookie Monster.  They baked a fresh chocolate chip cookie in an individual cast iron skillet, top with quality vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Individual is relative, because it takes 3-4 people to eat one.  Of course, we didn't indulge, but enjoyed the rest of the food (while I got to fondly remember my college days...and live vicariously through the table next to us who DID order it).

 Kevin and Camden played Angry Birds while we waited.

 A quick stop at Starbucks after dinner to enjoy a "mocha" while heading back to the hotel.  Look familiar?

Kevin and Camden had gone swimming earlier in the day, but our little fish wanted to swim with her Mama one more time.

 After a LONG day, we finally made it back to our room to relax and watch some videos.

Birthday Outing - Fort Wayne

On our evening in Fort Wayne, we wanted to do something fun to celebrate Camden's birthday.  We had eaten at Tilted Kilt the night before and had the best Philly Cheesesteak Salad.  It was a restaurant near our hotel, that we had never heard of (think Scottish Hooter's...bikini tops with kilts...hmmm).  The food was YUMMY and we will go there again!  We headed over to the mall because I knew there were several restaurants (including my favorite from college days) and a miniature golf course.  They also had go-karts.  Kevin and Camden enjoyed a spin around the track.

 Golf was not as "engaging" to Camden, who gave up after 1 1/2 holes!  Oh well, I beat Kevin and Camden liked the water features, so that's all that matters...

 Kevin was the only one of us that made a hole in one, though.  He scratched off the ticket to see his "grand prize" for the shot...buy one round, get one free (we gave to another customer).

We were glad it had cooled down a little for this excursion, but, as you might see on Camden's red face (inherited from me), she was quite warm and ready for some food and a cold drink.

Fort Wayne Work Trip

I had to go to northeast Indiana for two days on a work trip and we decided to mix in some family time too.  I planned around Kevin's days off and since transportation costs and lodging costs were covered, it was a great way to be together.

On our way to Fort Wayne on Sunday, we stopped at Huntington College (now Huntington University) where I graduated.  It's a small campus and the grand tour took all of 15 minutes, but I liked showing my family a little of my early life.

One Monday while I was doing site visits, Camden and Kevin had time together at the FW Children's Zoo.  They both report that it lives up to it's promotion as one of the best children's zoos in the country.

Can you tell Kevin did her hair this morning?  It was a valiant effort...

"Cheese"-ing for the camera.  She doesn't like to pose, and usually avoids looking when we ask.  So we often get this fake smile.  Kevin had to pull the "swimming card" a few times to get her to cooperate.

I am thankful that Camden has such a wonderful Daddy who takes care of her so well and makes life more fun!

Birthday Treat

Cake balls have become one of my "go-to" desserts to take to functions.  Our favorite, to date, has been german chocolate with my mom's homemade frosting recipe.  The pecans and coconut inside each bite were DELISH!  I had always wanted to do cake pops, but thought they might be difficult to handle.  However, I knew this would be an easy treat for 2 & 3 year olds to eat (right size, no mess, no fuss for teachers), so I gave it a go.  I don't think I'll ever make cake balls again (if given the choice).  These were so much easier! 

Camden calls them "cake meatballs."  I used a chocolate cake mix and cream cheese frosting.  I was planning on dipping in pink or purple chocolate that I had leftover from ReeRee's graduation, but I didn't like how they were melting or the taste as well as plain chocolate bark.  I dipped half the balls in sprinkles and covered the other half with pink drizzle.

I took the above styrofoam container of pops for snack at school and put two pops in individual baggies for each child to take home as a treat. 

Of course, Camden had one for breakfast to test them out before taking them to school.  She approved!

Birthday Girl

Since we were out of town on Camden's actual birthday (Tuesday), she had her school celebration on Wednesday.  The shirt she wore last year still fit, so she was decked out to announce her specialness!  

A few things to know about 3-year old Camden:

* She loves PUZZLES!  Books and cars and other toys are fine, but her favorite indoor activity is doing puzzles.

* She loves watching Nick, Jr. shows on the laptop.  It's the way she winds down before bed.  Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies, Dora, Umizoomi, Olivia, and Wow Wow Wubbzy are top picks.  Can you believe the names of cartoons?!?

* She loves to have her back (and bottom) scratched as she starts to fall asleep.  The back of her arms are another spot she often requests.

* She insists on climbing in and out of her car seat and attempts to clip all the buckles.  She actually can do everything except pull the strap tight (although she attempts that too).

* When eating out, for breakfast she likes fruit smoothies and a hashbrown from MickyD's.  For lunch or dinner she would choose a "booger" and apple fries from BK or nuggets and french fries (and fruit cup) from the Cow Place (Chick-fil-A).

* She has started to do a lot more drawing and writing.  She'll draw something, then tap her finger beside her mouth and say, "something's missing" before adding the next feature on her masterpiece.  She also likes to have a pad of paper and make a list for me to take to the grocery. 

* Going to a hotel is an often made request...she equates that with swimming and wants to go on a trip every weekend.  Fortunately for her, we make frequent hotel stays and she is becoming a very good fish in the water.  With her swim vest on, she can swim end-to-end, turn in circles, and float on her back.  She's getting braver about putting her face in the water and jumping off the side into our arms..."look out below!"

* She copies things I say all the time.  She "drives" a boom-boom (car-shaped shopping cart) and says, "Come-on people" and "Are you kidding me?" as we pass people in the aisles.  I think she may have heard me say that a few (hundred) times as I drive down the road.  She also does a lot of "Uuhh!" when something odd happens.  I never realized how much I said it until she started.  For instance, this morning on the way to school, we passed a tractor on the road.  Camden said, "Uuhhh!  He's supposed to be in the corn field.  Silly tractor!"  That's almost verbatim.  She uses such complete sentences and big words.

* If we let her, she would stay outside, play with the hose, eat fresh blueberries and yogurt, and be naked all the time.

* She likes to do flip-flops (somersaults) off the foot stool and loves to jump on beds and couches.  A dance/tumbling class is on schedule for August.

* She always says her grace at dinner (God is great...) and has learned to ask to leave the table when she is done eating.

* She is a light and a joy to both Kevin and I.  While she's begun to have a few more "grumpy" spells and struggles sometimes to listen and obey, she sure is one big blessing to us. 

Sketch

A sketch we did on a machine at Chuck E  Cheese's.  We thought it was flattering of all of us...even with the strange expression on Camden's face.  You can sure tell how much weight Kevin has lost...both of us are finally on our way to our desired healthy status.  It's still a few months away, but looking favorable!