Mizerany Family

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

3rd Annual Banta-Mizerany Beach Trip

Every time we leave the beach, we look forward to our next trip. After our Memorial Day vacation, we were sad as we headed home, but we knew we would be back in 6 weeks. Our mid July trip marked our 3rd annual Banta/Mizerany beach trip to the panhandle! The house we booked is owned by a family in Birmingham, and it worked out perfectly! It had a small private pool, is located in a gated neighborhood, close to the beach, and had a perfect location in regards to amenities. To top it off, we had five bedrooms to spread out in each night!

fun at the splash pad

shark that they caught...everyone gathered to see and take a picture

As always, we had a great trip! We had some delicious seafood, the cousins got to have plenty of one-on-one time, and my parents got to have all of their family under one roof for a week! The weather ended up being great the week we were there, so we got plenty of beach time! The kids fished, learned to surf, played beach baseball, built tons of sand castles, found lots of pretty shells and had several special desserts throughout the week! Now don't get me wrong, we had down time too. There were naps on the beach, fun on iPads, golf on TV for the adults and plenty of cocktails throughout the week! We even managed to exercise some with morning bike rides, walks on the beach and runs through the neighborhoods. Man how we love the beach and all it has to offer!

Nene and Poppy with the 4 oldest

sweet cousins under water in the Gulf

these two think they are so cool!

Walker loves the water

trying to catch bait fish with their nets

Fun in Rosemary...puppies and a zombie

Pres catching a wave

Bennett surfing

The Bantas and Mizeranys

Another trip in the memory book! Thanks Mom and Dad! We have more fun times to look forward to this year, and hopefully another beach trip will be booked for next summer!

Monday, July 6, 2015

Mom's Surprise 70th Birthday Party

Several months ago my father decided to throw my mother a surprise birthday party for her upcoming 70th birthday! It sounded like a great idea at first, but ended up being a little more difficult than we anticipated. Since my father isn't very savvy on his smartphone, she set up his phone where all of his emails go to her phone and iPad - which really hindered our opportunity to communicate behind her back. So my dad snuck in calls to me on his way to rotary, the gym and whenever he ran errands and we slowly pulled the party together.

Steve, the kids and I drove in Wednesday before her party to visit with a couple of friends and handle any last minute party details. Since she didn't know we were in town, we had to steer clear of Peoria Heights. The night of the party, Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, Brian's family and all of us went to the Country Club of Peoria to greet the guests.

About 65 people attended her party, and though she suspected something was going on when she came down the steps....she didn't know how big it would be, nor did she know that we were all in town! She was thrilled to see all of her grandchildren, and then seeing her sister through the crowd topped off her night! She cried some, and enjoyed talking with all of her friends over the next 2 hours.

grandkids with golf themed birthday cake

kids loved playing instruments

All of the family after the party

We all enjoyed the delicious food, and listening to the band play music from her era. After the party wrapped up, all of the family went back to my parent's house to hang out and catch up more. Saturday, we took the kids back to the CCP to swim. Then we enjoyed burgers at my parent's. Sadly, the Bantas and Blairs left on Sunday, so it was much quieter.

blue tongues from slushies

Kids spent almost an hour building stuff!

Though it wasn't raining like we anticipated, we decided to visit a new museum in Peoria. It was an interactive, science-type museum which all three of the children enjoyed. We were there several hours, and probably could have stayed longer if we weren't so hungry. So, we headed out for hotdogs and ice cream at one of my favorite spots....The Ice Cream Shoppe. Whenever I return to Peoria, I have to hit all of my favorite spots.

Walker loved the "floating balls"

Poppy showed him how it worked

who doesn't love ice cream?

Though it was a fast 4 day trip, not including our two travel days....we all had fun! The kids all traveled there and back wonderfully, and I got to see a few friends and spend time with my family. I'm still a little shocked that we were able to pull off the party, but mom swears she didn't know. So happy 70th birthday to my mom....who is really celebrating this week!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Walker - Almost 18 Months Already!

Look Mom - I can balance!

It is hard to believe that our lil guy will be 18 months at the end of this month. Time is flying by!! Walker is growing quickly, and quite the handful, but we all love him. So much so, that he is probably behind the learning curve for language since he has all of us and lots of friends talking for him and doting on him. In fact, he still doesn't say "mama" or "mommy." It breaks my heart, but what can I do? We read picture books and I state what everything is, but he calls everything "this," and everyone "dada." Hopefully he will begin to talk soon, as it would cut down on the frustration on both sides tremendously.

climbing into the washing machine

He is an otherwise typical toddler....screaming when he doesn't get his way, throwing toys and food when he is done with them and testing the limits whenever he can. The one thing that is so different about Walker from my other two, is how much of a climber he is. For the past few months, he has been climbing on and off furniture and tables, climbing up bookshelves and bar stools, and attempting the stairs all by himself. He hates his highchair, and prefers to sit at the table or on a barstool like the other kids. He certainly requires a close eye at all times. Things happen quickly with this monkey, but here are just a few examples:

1) One time he was out on the deck playing with Preston, who evidently got distracted by the TV. We came out to get him, and he wasn't on the deck anymore. We called for him, and began the mad dash all over the first floor of our house, but with no luck. Steve opened the door off the deck (which had been locked) on a whim, and saw Walker sitting on his car in the backyard! He had climbed through the doggie door and went down about 20 deck steps without falling! (16 mos)
2) Walker loves our appliances, and climbs into the dishwasher, washing machine and oven....thankfully when none of them are on.

3) Since he and Beckham have been raised together, they certainly have a bond. Walker feeds him, Beck steals his food, Walker stands on him, pulls his hair, but Beck has never bitten him.
4) Lastly, Walker is at the age where he is testing his limits: he can reach the counters, and pulls things down; he can open doors, bottles of water/sippy cups and loves to dump them on the floor, and whenever he gets caught doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing, he runs like he stole something laughing.

He certainly is cute, and thank goodness he is! He is definitely giving us a run for our money!

climbed onto the stool all by himself in less than 1 minute

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Camp Winnataska

Back in December I asked the kids what camps they wanted to do. I heard an overwhelming reply of "Camp Winnataska," so I coordinated with some of their friends and chose a week in June when they would go together. I try to send them early in the summer, before it gets too hot, however this year it ended up being SUPER hot the week that they went. Bennett was signed up for a week long stay, but Preston was only going for a half week.

Caroline, Pres, Carmen and Bennett at check-in

However, as we were getting the kids settled into their huts, we learned that there was an opening in Preston's hut for the second half of the week. So we asked him before we left if he would want to stay. He said "yeah, maybe so I can watch them burn down that stupid bridge." So before we left, Steve talked to the director, and told her to let us know if he can stay.

By Tuesday, I knew he would want to stay. All of the pictures I was seeing looked like he was having a blast. He had three buddies in his hut, Christian next door, and Bennett across the grass. We can send emails to the kids, but can't get replies. So I eventually heard from the director that he definitely wanted to stay, so I packed him another bag, and sent it up with a friend.

Bennett with her SCE girlfriends, all in the same hut!

It was certainly tough not being to talk to either child for 6 days, but to top it off, Steve was away on business that week. So it was just Walker and me all week long. At first he was a little confused, but he eventually got used to the quiet and was my buddy. However, come Saturday morning....I was MORE than ready to pick up my babies and hear all of their stories! Thankfully they both had a blast!

When the saw us, they ran up to Steve for a bear hug. Preston was tearing up, and Bennett was all smiles. They were both exhausted and hungry, but can't wait to return next year. Preston wants to go for two weeks!