Harmon hooping again!

Harmon played basketball again this fall and he was INTO IT! It helped that he had a classmate on his team and others in the league but, more than anything, he really seemed to get – and enjoy – the whole concept. He took A LOT of shots and scored on more than a few of them. I’m hoping the rest of his teammates didn’t find him to be too much of a ball hog! At the end of his season, he had a banquet and attended the Bradley @ U-M basketball game. It was this game that really jumpstarted his new-found love of Michigan basketball.

The North Pole

The last few years, I had heard about a train in Owosso that is called the North Pole Express. It’s actually the train that The Polar Express was based on and it offers rides to the North Pole each winter. It’s pretty pricey so we hadn’t done it yet but, this year, Harmon’s best friend Jackson invited us to go so we decided to just do it. Jackson’s Mom simply said “we want to do it while he still believes” and that sold me!

So, on Saturday, Dec. 17, we made our way to Owosso. They boys were dressed in their pajamas and all was going well until we got near Brighton … and Simon puked. At this point, we figured it was just car sickness so we stopped at the closest Kohl’s and fortunately found him some cute "Cars" pajamas on sale.

We had planned to stop somewhere nice for lunch but with the puke threat looming, we just stopped at McDonald’s. After downing about half of his Happy Meal, Simon threw up again. Luckily, I hadn’t put the new pajamas on him yet.

The rest of the way to Owosso was, thankfully, without incident and we met up with Jackson and his family at the train station. The ride to the North Pole was fun and all the boys were wide-eyed and excited. When we got there, they saw Santa and were able to play, ride some carnival rides, eat dinner, etc. Although Simon did well on the train, the carnival rides shook him up and, yep, he puked again … before AND after his dinner.

By this time, Simon was miserable and just wanted to leave. We felt so bad for him. He made it back to the train station OK and then slept the entire way home.

Although Harmon had a great time with Jackson (thank GOD for Jackson’s parents), Simon declared that he never wanted to go to the North Pole again!

Cold Stone

My parents still come to Ann Arbor on Wednesdays to watch the boys. They get to spend a lot of quality time with Simon (finally) most of the day and then, at 3 p.m., they head to St. Francis to pick up Harmon.

And, more often than not, on the way back home, they stop off at Cold Stone to get Harmon ice cream. He loves ice cream and he’s usually starving (that’s what happens when you skip most of your lunch so you can a) talk or b) be the first in line to go to gym) so it’s a real treat for him. And, after 3+ months of doing this, it’s more than a treat, it’s practically a tradition. He’s probably rocking some chocolate ice cream as I type this!

Butt Rogers

Along the way, Simon has picked up a few choice words from TV, big brother, Daddy, etc. Some of the most popular have been damn it (Daddy), butt crack (Harmon) and now … introducing … Butt Rogers.

In Toy Story 3, Ken Doll tells Buzz Lightyear “Zip it, Buck Rogers!” But, of course, that’s not how a two-year-old boy hears it, no way.

To his preschool boy ears, it came out “Zip it, BUTT Rogers!” And he takes every opportunity to say this. His favorite time to say it is at the end of the phone call. It goes something like this:

“OK, love you, bye bye, Butt Rogers!”

What can you say ...