Hudson is 2!

Well, it happened. Somehow Hudson turned 2. I'm not sure where those years went. Two years ago I was just figuring out how to sleep with one eye open while I held my baby who refused to be sat down, and here I am with a kid that jumps and pulls the chair over to the sink to "wash the dishes". We had a REALLY amazing weekend celebrating his birthday. Saturday morning we took him to Conner Prairie, his favorite place on Earth.

 I can always count on him to look at the camera and smile...

Saturday evening we took the train from Forest Park to Tipton and ate at Pizza Shack on the Track with Mom and Dean. I was worried about the time (we didn't get back to the train station until 8:30 and he usually goes to bed at 7) and the ride being too long (an hour) but he did AWESOME!

  We might have had to bribe him with Pez at one point...

For some reason he started making this face on Friday. Glad I captured it on camera because he hasn't done it the last few days! Not sure what that was about.

 Of course he loves Pizza Shack almost as much as Danny so he had a great time!

When we left he got a balloon, which he had an amazing time with!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the Fire Station next door was open and giving tours and hats to the kids!!! He loves fire trucks so he was in heaven!

Then we headed home, and he was so great on the ride! He even laid his head down on mom for almost a full minute. I'm pretty sure it was the greatest minute of her life.

Then, just when I didn't think it could get any better, we found a poster on the wall at the train station with a train on it that said Hudson!! I asked if it was for sale since it didn't have a price tag on it. The lady working there said "Make an offer" which threw me for a loop. I said $10...and she said Okay! I couldn't believe it! So, that's adorable. We didn't get Hudson to bed until almost 9:30 and he still wasn't fussy! Danny and I talked later and agreed it was one of the best days of our lives! Everything was just perfect.

We got up at 6 the next morning to blow up balloons to hide in his room to surprise him when he woke up.

They were a big hit. I'm glad we got up early to do it because they were pretty much deflated 4 hours later. We got him a ride on Lightning McQueen that he could play with before cake and presents...also a big hit.

Mom and Dean came over around 2 or 3, and then Mike and Katie and Harper came over for a little bit and sang Happy Birthday to him!

I'm pretty proud of how the cake turned out. I had very low expectations when I started putting it together but I think it turned out cute, and Hudson loved it so that's all that really matters!

 And Hudson learned how to blow out candles so didn't need any help!

The rest of the day we just played with his new toys! We got him a new hot wheels track, the car, "Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site" (his new favorite book to read before bed) a Mr. Potato Head (he LOVES the app on the Ipad, so his mind was blown when he realized it was a real life thing) and a remote control Car. Katie and Mike got him a remote control excavator that he loves, and a book about trucks. Mom and Dean got him the worlds cutest bike....seriously. it is SO CUTE. And a drum set!!!!  I know it was only a matter of time. But he is a natural! He knew what he was doing right off the bat!

He also stole some extra cake off Dean's plate while we weren't looking...

No birthday is complete without a little pants-off cake eating! As sad as it is for me that he's getting older, it was an AMAZING weekend and I am so lucky to get to share it with this little guy! I don't know where I'd be without him.

Happy Birthday to my sweet pea, my sugar bear, my BFF, Bubby.

Hudson's First Haircut

Welp. It was time for Hudson's first haircut. His flip of hair on the top of his hair is my favorite thing I've ever seen, so I didn't want to cut that out. However, it was starting to get a little mullet-esque in the back which was not quite as cute. So we decided to take him to cookie cutters for his very first haircut!

Oh, he get's to sit in a cute firetruck?? He's gonna love this!

Right?

Well...maybe not.

I had to hold poor Hudson down. I don't know if it was not getting to play on the slide anymore, the lady spraying him with water, or her terrible breath, but something that was happening he was NOT a fan of. He still looks cute and he made it out alive!!

Ha!

Hudson's First Camping Trip

What to do at 1am when everyone else is sleeping? Update the blog I think I never have time to update!

Danny wanted to go camping for his birthday weekend, so we took Hudson to Raccoon Lake in Rockville, IN. I was nervous to take Hudson camping...because I was afraid he wouldn't sleep well (and he didn't) but it ended up being completely worth it! We went to the Lowe's Build and Grow workshop in the morning, and "Hudson" built a plane from the new Disney movie Planes (which we are going to go see tomorrow!)

After that we drove down to the campgrounds, about an hour and a half away. We got our tent set up, had lunch and went on a hike to the lake. Danny made a big deal of getting bologna sandwiches to bring camping...I didn't complain even though I haven't had bologna since elementary school maybe! But look how cute Hudson was eating it for the first time?

And of course drinking his dads Gatorade...

He was also very interested in his new bug viewer when we found an ant to look at on the microscope.

CUTE! Here's our campsite all set up:

 View from the back of the tent:

The hike was SO beautiful and green...luckily I had my phone in my backpack so I could capture some pictures of it.

As expected Hudson loved the lake as much as he did the ocean and lake in Michigan! He started trying to run into it right off the cliff as soon as he saw it. We played in it a little while and then hiked back.

We grilled hot dogs for dinner, played a little washers and made a few s'mores before attempting to get Hudson to bed.

We hoped to stick Hudson in the tent for bed, and be able to make more s'mores for us and play board games we brought...no such luck. We bought a king size blow up mattress, and Danny said Hudson thought we were trying to sleep in a bounce house! And it really did look like a bounce house! We tried to ignore him but he was knocking on the door of the tent and smashing his face up against it. Of course like any good mother I took a picture of it.

So we ended up going to lay with him so he didn't bother the other campers with his crying, and because it was heart breaking! It ended up being wonderful though..the weather was perfect and it was so relaxing to lay  there listening to nature sounds and not have TV, phones, facebook, etc to distract us. Something we definitely need to do more often. Hudson jumped around on us literally for 3 and a half hours before he actually fell asleep. Of course I hardly slept at all the rest of the night because he moves so much in his sleep, and all the noise the other campers were making kept waking me up. (Apparently not everyone goes to sleep at 7:30...they like to stay up and drink and party while camping. I vaguely remember doing something like that...) It ended up being worth it! We packed up early and headed home. We stopped at a 50s diner on our way and had breakfast.

It was Danny's birthday so we went with Dean and Mom to Pizza Shack on the Track for lunch and played cards. It was a great day and weekend! We can't wait to take him camping again soon! This time we will bring the pack and play and hope for better sleeping results!