Beach Boys

In Which Brian Returns From Florida and Leaves for Scout Camp

After a productive week in Florida, I flew from Tampa to Chicago on Monday. The plane had a couple delays, and then we landed in Green Bay at 7:38 p.m. My next flight, which would take me the rest of the way to Marquette, was supposed to take off at 7:55 p.m. But when I reached the gate at about 7:40, it had already taken off. Fifteen minutes early.

So instead of a quick 45-minute flight home, I waited about 45 minutes in the airport before the taxi came, and I ended up getting home at 2 a.m. Despite a Whopper at Burger King in Escanaba around midnight, I was not happy.

The original plan was for me to then leave the next morning, Tuesday, at 7 a.m. for Scout Camp. Because of the delays, I arranged to stay home an extra day before leaving. We went to the beach twice and played in the sand.

Just before I left on Wednesday afternoon, I witnessed an alarming scene: Jackson kissed his friend Anna, 2, in our dining room. According to Hailey, while I was gone Jackson and Anna held hands, too, and when the phone rang in our house, Jackson would say, “It’s Anna!”

While I was at Scout Camp listening to 500 preteens pounding on their tables at the mess hall, Hailey hung out with the boys and friends until I got home again on Saturday afternoon.

Grant is becoming comfortable on his feet. He can walk about a dozen steps without stumbling now, and he can stand from a sitting position without help. With this newfound power comes risk, however. This week he fell out of a grocery cart (Hailey’s still not sure how that was possible), fell out of the stroller onto pavement, scratched his nose pretty bad trying to get into our little pool in the backyard and ran into the piano at church. All in all, he’s fine except for a scab on his nose and a bruise on his eyebrow.

Bubbles, Bubbles and More Bubbles

In Which Hailey Writes the Update Because Brian is in Paradise

Monday morning Brian flew to Florida. He went to do some interviews for his thesis. He’s been working like crazy down there but managed to get a few moments with some friends, see his friend’s band, and watch the sunset on the beach.

We’ve survived fairly well here without Brian. We’ve spent lots of time with my friend Angela and her little daughter, Anna. Every time the phone would ring Jackson was convinced it was Anna calling to play.

Grant has his one year appointment and besides being in the 5th percentile for weight, he looks great.

Friday afternoon/evening Marquette had a bunch of fun Harry Potter stuff going on downtown. Angela and I took the kids. They each made their own wands, ate candy wands (pretzel sticks with white chocolate and sprinkles), and went to a little carnival. It was really hot at the carnival so Jackson and I played a couple games and headed home.

Saturday, I got a break from the kids and Angela and I went to garage sales. I got a cool race car and carrier for the boys. Jackson took to it at once and has been playing with it ever since. He hasn’t wanted Grant to get near it, so we’ve had some battles, but Saturday night when Jackson said family prayer, he prayed that Grant wouldn’t take his race car away.

Thursday morning we took a tour of a local dairy. We saw a bunch of freezers and a machine that fills milk jugs. Not the most exciting tour but we got free ice cream and each of the kids got a little stuffed cow. Jackson hasn’t cared too much for stuffed animals (except Captain Robert who sometimes is important). But he hasn’t let the cows out of his sight. We left them at Anna’s one night and he cried for them. It was a little out of character, but quite cute too.

Jackson loved the present Grandma sent Grant.



Opening Presents




Grant didn't eat one bite of his cake, this is as
close as he got.

Eating Cupcakes

A Day at the Beach

Anna and Jackson catching some waves.

Brian's brothers, Glenn and Neal, came to visit.

In Which the Brothers McMillan Dominate a Softball Practice and Grant Turns One

One day this week, Hailey was singing to a fussy Grant. Jackson walked in from the kitchen table carrying a book and demanded, “Mom, stop singing. I’m looking at this book.”

Neal and Glenn were in town during the week. I hiked Sugarloaf Mountain with them, and we wrote poems and offered each other feedback on them. We also played softball on my intramural team. The opponents didn’t show up on account of the rain a couple hours before game time, so we divided into teams of three and took turns at bat. The McMillan brothers were a team, and we stole the show, probably scoring a few dozen runs. Neal made a diving catch in center field.

Saturday was Grant’s first birthday party. Hailey made an elephant cake, and she made Grant a special one out of cupcakes. We stripped him to his diaper and set him on a painter’s drop cloth made of plastic to watch him attack the cake. After several minutes of poking at the frosting and wiping it on his legs, he started whining—he doesn’t like handling gooey food.

Jackson helped Grant by opening his presents and claiming them for himself. He also ran the dinosaur bubble machine given to Grant by Mom Merritt. Today, Jackson said that at his next birthday party, he too want to be “naked to eat the cake.”

Playing in the Sprinkler

Sparklers

4th of July Parade

In Which We Chase Candy and Jump off a Cliff

I was reading Jackson his wild animal magnets book, and we got to the leopard, which was missing. He said, “It looks like it got died. It must have got in the huge fire.”

On July 4, we went to a parade and had candy thrown at us by smiling people. Jackson stood close to Mom and was reluctant to chase the candy, but Grant crawled around on the street near the curb we were sitting on and chewed on Tootsie Rolls. Fortunately, we stopped him long enough to take the wrappers off. That night, we played with sparklers in the backyard. Jackson loved them, Grant’s hand got burned (he’s okay).

The next night, Marquette had a fireworks display, and we all went to the beach on Lake Superior to watch. I was worried we would be late when we got there at 9:45 p.m., but it stays so light at this time of year here that the display didn’t start until about 11 p.m. When they first started to go off, Jackson crouched low and put his hands on his head as if in a bombing drill. Once the fear wore off, he and Grant were enthralled by the explosions and colors in the sky.

On Friday night, Neal and Glenn arrived after a 13-hour drive from Kansas to stay with us for the week. On Saturday we got a babysitter and went with friends to play croquet at the park. I almost won. That evening, Neal, Glenn and I went with one of my friends to jump off a 15-foot cliff into Lake Superior. I was the least brave and went in last, and all my fears of the cold water were realized when I finally took the plunge.

Achoo

In Which Jackson Drags Home a Stick

Before Jackson woke up on Friday morning, I was playing with Grant in the family room. Then a sound came from Jackson’s bedroom: “I think I’m awake. I think I’m ready to play now.”

While Hailey and Grant took naps on Friday afternoon, Jackson and I walked to a small retention pond about four blocks from home. We fed Rice Krispies to ducks and watched dragonflies. Jackson picked a daisy and said, “This is for Mommy.” But a few minutes later, he dropped the flower in favor of a six-foot-long stick. The whole way home, he held my hand with his left and dragged the stick with his right. He said, “I’m going to use it to wake up Mommy.”

I play in an informal softball league through NMU. The games are played at a park with no diamond—just a grass field—and the families of the players sit on blankets to watch. Jackson sometimes takes one of the team’s bats (33 inches long) and plays with it during the game, so this week we took his little orange bat (about eight inches long) to see if that would distract him from the big ones. During the pre-game huddle, which happened to be around the full-sized bats laid out in a row, Jackson snuck in and put his little bat next to the big ones.

After Hailey read about Christ coming to visit the Nephites in America, Jackson took over the story and said, “Jesus came down and said, ‘Hey, you need to repent!’”

And now for a fact that is fun: in June, the high temperature in Marquette was 92; the low was 37. But don’t worry. That’s in Fahrenheit, not Celsius.