Mike promised Ian roughly a year ago that he’d take Ian fishing after he turned 5. In true 5 year old fashion, Ian needed an exact date so Mike told him May 1st. Needless to say, May 1st came and went without fishing. In fact, we didn’t get around to going fishing until July 30th! Whoops!
Right before we left to go fishing, Ian ran upstairs and pulled this hat out of Mike’s closet. Apparently, Ian decided that it is essential fishing gear. LOL
It was about 890 degrees out that day so the first thing Ian did was beg for something to drink:
This boy, with his gorgeous brown eyes, was all about the “wormies”:
Going fishing for the first time!
We might need to get him a hat that fits. LOL
Grandma and Matthew holding down the fort and snacking on some cheese balls:
Watching the fishing action:
Ian came up to pose too!
More fishing:
Have I ever mentioned Matthew’s use of the “stop” hand? I really love it. NOT.
Inching ever so closely to the water and a trip back to the house in punishment for not listening:
He caught a fish!!!
Grandma and Grandpa trying to get the darn thing off the hook:
Another fish!!!
AND ANOTHER FISH!!!!
Since our little fishing pro caught 3 fish, we wrapped up the show and headed home. Matthew was bored and it was super hot out….plus, we had more fun going on at the house!!!
After fishing, we headed home and had a cook out. Mike grilled up some yummy chicken and we had a feast on our back patio. After dinner, we set up the fire pit because we planned to have s’mores! Not only that but Mike and the boys were planning to camp in the backyard! A super fun night!!!
Testing out the tent:
Peek-a-boo!!!
Hanging out around the fire:
S’more time!
After a bit, we decided to put out the fire and get ready for bed. Mike and the boys settled down in the tent and I headed in the house.
After probably 30 minutes or so, Ian came in the house and said he wanted to sleep in his bed. LOL My boy can’t even rough it in the backyard! I don’t blame him. 🙂
The next day, Matthew was definitely feeling the pain of sleeping outdoors. He couldn’t even make it until nap time before crashing in the playroom:
What bad Buffalonians we are! The Anchor Bar, in downtown Buffalo, claims to be the birthplace of the chicken wing and has world famous wings….yet, I’d never gone before and Mike (a born and bred Buffalonian) had only gone one time. What kind of people are we?!?!?! LOL
Well, we ended that drought in July by going TWO TIMES in a week. 🙂
On July 22nd, we met my very good friend Lauren and her family at the Anchor Bar. Lauren lives in NJ but her family had vacationed in Toronto and Niagara Falls. They stopped in the area to meet us for dinner before heading back home.
I’ve known Lauren since our wedding planning days. Long before either of us had kids. Needless to say, it was awesome to finally meet the men in her life. 🙂
Ian and Ryan bonding over cars:
Danny was ridiculously adorable:
Mike joining in:
I was so amused when the toys came out at the table. Matthew and Ian grabbed for Ryan and Danny’s cars and Ryan was all about Ian and Matthew’s. LOL
Danny and Pat made this straw contraption and Danny actually got milk out of it! LOL
Ian and Ryan bonding over an iPhone game. I believe this was the exact moment that Lauren was convinced to give up her Blackberry and get an iPhone. (Sorry, Pat!)
Our boys from L to R: Danny (2), Ryan (4), Matthew (3) and Ian (5)
Us:
The following Friday, ANOTHER friend was driving through town. This time, Margaret and her family were heading from Cincinnati (via Cleveland) and on their way to Toronto. They decided to stay overnight so that they could visit the Falls and we were able to make plans to meet for dinner. Knowing that visitors to Buffalo are always looking for wings, we made plans to eat at Anchor Bar again.
Our second visit to Anchor Bar was much more hectic because they were much busier. Thankfully, we were able to get a table pretty quickly. (Apparently they had set up tables for a party of 10 or 11 but not all the people had arrived so they sat our party of 9 there instead.)
It was soooo awesome finally meeting Margaret and her family. We met online probably 5 years ago on a mommy message board and she’s been a great friend. The Margaret’s kids were so stinkin’ cute. In addition to a great meal, Margaret (a Walt Disney World EXPERT) and I got some time to chat about our upcoming Disney World trips. I can’t wait to compare notes with her after we both go!
The kids from L to R: Aileen (2), Liam (5), Doug (7), Matthew (3) and Ian (5)
I love how Liam is reaching out for his sister:
Margaret and me:
Ian took this picture of Aileen and I thought it was too cute:
So, how were the wings at Anchor Bar, you asked? Eh, okay. Not the worst we’ve had. Not the best. Every bar, pizzeria and random restaurant in the area makes pretty good wings so I don’t think it’s worth dealing with the hassle of going to Anchor Bar when you can get some from the place around the corner. The biggest issue with Anchor Bar is that it gets soooooo busy with tourists which results in a long wait (and a lack of parking). That being said, Mike enjoyed his pizza logs and I had a damn good beef on ‘weck there the second time. And you can’t beat the good company we had while we ate! 🙂
The next day (7/17), the Alts arrived in Muncie. Whenever we get everyone together, I usually stop taking pictures. There are typically way too many people in any given space and my camera is never nearby. On this day, we went to a cookout at the Wagner’s house. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were 11 kids in attendance, 7 of which were 3 years and younger. Holy flippin’ chaos!!! Needless to say, no pictures were taken that day. We were too busy trying to make sure our kids didn’t throw a tv out a window or climb out on their roof. LOL
Our last day in town (7/18), we did the standard routine but I actually took a few pictures this day. All 6 of them. 😉
Court and the kids at Grammy and Papaw Jones’s house:
I really wish Siss was more in focus:
Very serious little girl….trying to figure out who I am and what the heck I’m holding in front of my face:
The good news is, I’m kind of silly so I got some smiles:
I got a smile out of this one but he couldn’t tear his eyes from the tv:
Silly Aunt Amanda:
Later that night, Courtney, mom, Aunt Sherri and I all went to the movies to see Harry Potter at the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. It was AWESOME!!!
The last day of our trip was Tuesday, July 19th. We got ready quickly and were able to pack up the car fast. We were on the road pretty early and made good time driving home. We only stopped one time, at lunch time, to get gas and eat. We had another potty incident on the way home with Matthew but I’ll spare you the details on that. LOL
Thankfully, Mike and I took Wednesday off of work so that we could do laundry and just chill out from our vacation. It was a fun but exhausting trip and we were glad to be home.
We spent our days in Muncie doing our normal routine: errands and/or visiting in the morning, lunch out, go to the nursing home to visit Grammy, naps spent either at the hotel or at someone’s house, then the evening spent visiting more people.
Day 4 of the trip was our wedding anniversary. We celebrated by taking a trip to Target to get Matthew some new shoes that wouldn’t bother his toe. LOL
After that, we did our “Muncie routine”. After nap time, we went out to Sherri and Bill’s to visit and to go to the Muncie Dragway for some drag racing. None of us have ever gone before and it was a lot of fun. I imagine the boys will enjoy it even more as they get older.
Matthew lost interest a lot quicker than Ian did…but he kept himself pretty amused with the gravel and bleachers. LOL
Video:
We started our third day of vacation off a little bit slower. We didn’t get to bed until 11pm the night before and we had a hotel room to pack up. After we all got ready, ate a light breakfast, and packed our belongings in our car, we headed towards the Indianapolis Zoo.
The zoo was kind of an unknown in our schedule. Generally the boys aren’t too interested in the animals when we’ve gone to the Buffalo Zoo and the entire trip turns into a fight. Our trip to the Indianapolis Zoo had the added features of an extremely late bedtime the night before and 9,000 degree temperatures. (Yay! Heatwave!)
The first thing we did upon entering was to rent a stroller. We didn’t bring a stroller from home because the boys really don’t need one but I figured the heat would wipe them out. In addition, Matthew had hurt his big toe the night before while running barefoot to the hotel pool. He tripped and pretty much ripped the skin off his big toe. Needless to say, it hurt to put shoes on his feet. We put him in flip flops but we knew he couldn’t do a lot of walking with the injury and those shoes.
Please note that Matthew is pushing Ian in the stroller. Ian wanted to sit in the stroller within about 10 seconds of being at the zoo. This is particularly funny to me because Mike is very anti-stroller for our trip to Walt Disney World in November. He thinks Ian won’t need one. Silly man. LOL
Our first stop of the day was to see the tiger exhibit.
We wandered a bit and found some monkeys….
At that point, we pretty much immediately stumbled upon the area of the zoo with the playground and the splash pad. There was no way to avoid either and we knew the second we walked past them that the boys wouldn’t want to see anymore animals. Since we still had a full zoo visit ahead of us and we didn’t bring a change of clothes for the boys into the zoo, we decided to go to the playground and leave the splash pad as the last thing we did before we left for the day. The boys were pretty content at the playground so we stayed there for a while.
After that we got lunch for the boys. We ordered food that they didn’t eat and ended up throwing it all away because Mike and I didn’t want it either. (Please note we had a late lunch the day before and a very light breakfast on this day.)
With the failed attempt at lunch out of the way, we went to the shark tank to touch the sharks.
The boys were absolutely fascinated but would not hold still enough to let the sharks get close. After Mike and the boys walked off, I was able to touch one. It was really cool!
Our next stop was to the theater for the dolphin show. At this point we started losing Matthew. He was absolutely exhausted and couldn’t decide if he wanted to see the show or not. He was alternating between excitement and hysterical fit.
Terrible picture of the theater:
Shortly before the show started, Mike had to leave the theater with Matthew. They went back to the playground while Ian and I watched the dolphins perform. It was an awesome show. I was really disappointed that Mike and Matthew had to miss it.
After the show, it was pretty clear we needed to leave soon. Ian asked to go to the splash pad (for the millionth time) so we headed in that direction.
I seriously think the boys could have spent the entire zoo trip at the splash pad. We were there for a while – probably close to an hour.
You can see Matthew standing behind Ian’s right shoulder in this picture:
I love that Matthew has a Buddha-belly but you can still see his ribs. LOL
Do you see my timid son standing under the bucket, waiting to get drenched?!?!?!
Unfortunately, the fun had to end. Of course, my extremely overtired, hot and hungry children responded pleasantly to being told it was time to go. 😉
We went out to the parking lot and changed the boys into dry clothes while standing between cars. We do it ghetto-style in the Samulski family! LOL
Once they had dry shorts on, we buckled them into their seats and headed towards Muncie. As I mentioned before, we were on our way to Muncie when Matthew yelled “DADDY!!! I NEED TO GO PEE PEE!!!!” Mike got off the highway right away but we were at an exit where they were building a business park. There wasn’t anywhere we could take Matthew so we pulled the potty chair out of the car and let him go in the road on a dead end.
Like I said before, we do it ghetto-style in our family. Just keepin’ real, my friends! 🙂
About 10 minutes after the roadside potty break, I looked back and found this:
We got to Muncie pretty quickly and went to visit my grandparents. After a short visit, we went to dinner at a local pizza place that we looooove.
Remember how we had hardly eaten since lunch the day before? Well, we made up for it at dinner. I think Mike and I polished off a large pizza in about 32 seconds and Ian ate both his AND Matthew’s spaghetti dinners. I’m not really sure what Matthew ate. LOL
After dinner we went to our hotel to check in. Then it was off to a classic car show with Aunt Sherri and Uncle Bill!
It was a good but exhausting day. 🙂