We’ve had another week of summer fun around here including the season’s last baseball game for Finn. Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein came down and watched him play. It was actually one of the best games of the season with several great hits and plays by the kids. There was so much improvement between the first game and last. 
After the game we went home and had a bit of rest before heading to the annual Dublin Irish Festival. It was a H-O-T one this year. So hot. We met up with a few of our neighbors and basically hung out in the kids play zone for a few hours enjoying conversation along with some food and drinks. We ran in to several people from NPC there too so it was nice to see familiar faces. Griffin went from inflatable to inflatable and worked in many sports activities too. He was really great at the football throw and gave a shot at kicking, which is pretty hard!
On Sunday we headed downtown Big City to see the Clippers play. Again, another super hot day, but thankfully our seats were in the shade and there were very few people around us so we had plenty of room to spread out. Reid did really well and spent time cruising down our aisleway. It was Family Fun day where the kids and parents can run the bases at the end of the game. Griffin and Reid (with Kevin’s help) rounded all four :). 
Some of these are kind of fuzzy (not sure I’ll ever be a great photographer) but they serve as good reminders of what our typical days are like at home. The loft is really a great playspace with the carpeted floors and all of the kids toys in one place. The boys like to play with each other and Lily and Brutus often get in on the fun together too – both with each other and with the kids. Brutus tries so hard to get everyone to play with him often bringing things he know he shouldn’t have!
Griffin had a dentist appointment this week where he got two fillings (a milestone I’d rather not have had at this age!). He did so great! They have a tv overhead so he happily watched a show while Dr. Nick worked quickly – we were done in 25 minutes. This practice is certainly efficient (and not inexpensive since we don’t have dental insurance for the boys or me. The used both laughing gas and novocaine – the mask helped to act as a shield where Finn couldn’t really see what was happening so I don’t even think he knew that he was being given a shot here! Afterwards we went to Bob Evans and had a tasty breakfast before I went in to work. Griffin was SO SAD that he couldn’t go with me to work that he cried for probably 10 minutes, just begging to go with me and “work” in my office with me. Poor guy, I was so tempted to take him with me – but I offered a movie at home and he took me up on that instead. He continues to do really well at swim lessons. It’s fun to see his confidence grow each week – just look at his launch off the side. 
George, Fred, and I took a trip this week up to Corso’s in Castalia, OH to see their shipping process in action. We are seriously considering changing our shipping process from a pull by order pick to a “batch pull” pick system where we pick 3-4 trucks at a time. We’ve been looking in to this process since last fall as it is one that would require a new shipping and supermarket-concept facility. Corso’s is very different from Millcreek as they service box stores (Lowe’s and Home Depot) and grow a very limited number of sizes, they have order minimums of shelf quantities, etc., but to see the process in action and view their setup was very helpful. It gave us many ideas and much to talk about!
Thankfully Debbie watched Griffin and Reid while we were out having fun. When we got home she was putting down a towel near the dogs water bowl. I got the towel and was trying to fold it and Brutus just wanted to play tug with it so I finally dropped it and this is what he did. Silly pup. 
Griffin has really been enjoying coloring. Nearly every morning he comes in when he wakes up and after a couple minutes picks out a picture and grabs his colored pencils and gets started. That along with Lily and Brutus snuggles are pretty regular around here. 
On Tuesday Reid had his 2 month well check (a bit late as we had been on vacation when we normally would have gone). He is doing great! I was surprised that he only weighs 13 pounds 8 ounces (66th percentile) as I thought he felt much heavier! He measured 23.5″ (55th percentile) 1 inch longer, though when I had her remeasure she got 24″ which I think is more accurate but she didn’t change what she’d written originally). His head is still a big one, lol, measuring 42 cm (98th percentile). 
One afternoon I was downstairs and I heard Brutus playing. I actually thought he was chewing his nylabone. I called for him and he met me on the stairs with a big half chewed roll of toilet paper! I walked up into my room and this is what I discovered! He’s always entertaining himself. 
For Griffin’s 4th birthday we gave him a big kid bike. It turns out it was a bit large and we were hoping to transition him right from his balance bike to a big kid bike with no training wheels. We finally gave it a go and he did pretty well! We decided to put the training wheels on though as he just isn’t tall enough yet to get safely off and on and stop himself easily. 
This week Debbie put some pictures in the app and one of them is the picture at the top this week of Reid. Griffin took it all by himself! He’s getting pretty good 🙂
I love that google puts these together. Makes my blog-making much simpler. 
On Thursday evening we headed to Dublin for the annual Kid’s Dash as a part of the Irish Festival. This is Griffin’s third year running with his cousins. It was really nice weather, almost fall-like with a breeze and low humidity. They had fun and this year were included in Dublin’s promo video they posted to Facebook!
Saturday was Griffins last t-ball game of the summer. It was a cool morning and perfect weather to spectate. We headed from t-ball to Emmaline’s birthday party which was full of fun frog activities. Kevin was even coaxed into helping get the kiddos prepped to play “push the lips on the frog”. 
We quickly stopped at home after the party to grab Brutus and Lily and then we were off for Enon for the day to visit with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte who are in town visiting Jim and Pat in advance of their 50th wedding anniversary party. Bretty and Missy were there as well as Sebastian and Alexis who were in town with baby Damian. They were visiting from Florida and luckily we were able to see them while they were here. Damian was born 6 days before Reid so it was neat to see them together. 
Sunday we headed to the Dublin Irish Festival for the day. We met up with Sean, Chris, Eliza, Max and Charlotte and we all enjoyed tasty food (I had a delicious potato pancake!), music, and a lot of children’s activities. The younger kids all loved the bounce and inflatable activities. Griffin loved being “ninja” on the red ball course (see the video below). He probably did it 6 times. He also was brave and waited in line to climb up a really tall inflatable and then jump from the top – which is probably somewhere around 20 or more feet tall! When you jump you land on a super tall (8′ perhaps) inflated surface to cushion your fall. He was so brave he barely paused at the top, just long enough for me to give him the thumbs up. I was so super bummed that somehow I screwed up the video recording and only got him reaching the top prior to jumping off and then at the end running off to hug Kevin. Ugh! Then I was unsuccessful in getting him to do it again. Oh well, it’s the courage he had we are most proud of!
And I love this picture of Griffin from May of 2014 (14 months old) and then from this week with Brutus. Growing too fast!
