Vacation – Day 2

9-17-06

Jack,

The second day of vacation, we kind of relaxed and enjoyed the resort itself. The resort that we are staying at has at least three different pools, multiple playgrounds, an activity room that is a lot like the room at a preschool center and the grounds are covered with lots of little lizards.

There is an unlimited number of activities to do with a little one where we stayed.

Your dad had been talked into sitting through a timeshare pitch for a free breakfast, so we went there and it ended up being a great morning for you. While we got pitched to, we sat in the playroom where you could grab any toy or activity that grabbed your fancy and play with it to your hearts content, so we sat back half-listening to the lady and “manager” that had been brought in to sell us and nodded and ummm-hmmm’ed while watching you enjoy the heck out of yourself. After we finished there, we went out to the outdoor pool which has a very shallow end where you can go in and out on your own and sprouts that you loved to put your Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls into to see them get sprayed and fly into the pool. Woody would float on the top of the water, but bubbles came out of Buzz’s helmet and he would sink to the bottom. This was a fascinating game to you and you were content to play it for most of the rest of the day.

After feeding the ducks and chasing lizards and playing on the outdoor playgrounds, we wound up back in our room bright and early where we watched television and kicked back falling asleep early and after a very eventful day.

Love,

Mommy

9-16 continued…

Jack,

You took your morning nap on the way to Sea World and then we went around the park. Things that I thought would grab your attention would for a short while, but didn’t hold it for very long….

Feeding fish to Sea Lions. Ummmm-naaaah!:

A show with dogs, cats, birds, mice, pigs and ducks in it all performing tricks? Let me think about this…. Nope!:

A thousand pound whale propelling itself out of the water and making a big splash? That’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t come right back out of the water? It needs a fish treat or a breather between tricks? Yeah…. Let’s go!:

What DID grab and hold your attention at Sea World? The video arcade where the land of teenage boys on vacation with their parents and younger siblings find refuge with each other in a land of electronic sounds and flashing lights. You felt right at home. You climbed on a driving game and planted yourself there, pressing the buttons and spinning the steering wheel like you belonged there and knew JUST what you were doing.

After playing here for awhile, we tried our luck at some games. You weren’t really good about recognizing boundaries and wandered behind the games where the vendors and game employees were. I know it’s my duty as a mom to step in at this point, but not before I took a few pictures of the flustered workers trying to convince my very independent son that he shouldn’t be back there with all the fabulous colorful overstuffed prizes. It was cute and funny.

We did end up over in the child’s area where you played in the water and carefully lined up bark on the edges of the water area. This may look like it just happened but it didn’t. Each of these pieces of bark were artfully and carefully arranged in this formation. Please admire:

What a great first day!

Love,

Mommy

Vacation - Day 1

9-16-06

Jack,

When you grow up, you will learn the challenges of life. There are many of them, but one that you won’t be aware of till it happens is the challenge of traveling with a toddler. You are an especially easy-going toddler, so I can only imagine what it would be like if you weren’t.

The flight was interesting. Imagine if you will the challenges of confining a ball of energy to a space of 2 feet by 4 feet for three hours. Now, also imagine that you can’t explain to this little ball of energy why it can’t move outside of this area and so it thinks you are only being a major butt.

When something like this happens, you become a little desperate saying things that you never thought you’d say, like:

“Hey, Jack – want to watch Toy Story again?”

“Jack, look! You can open and close the window blinds and this tray goes up and down”

“Honey, you walk across Mommy and Daddy but you can’t climb on Mommy’s shoulders…”

“Excuse me, sir, but do you have some milk on this plane? We’re about to go into full-fledge meltdown…”

All things considered, though, it went fine and we made it to Florida in one piece. I was a little frazzled when we got here teetering on the verge of losing my sanity. I found an extra dose of patience in about 9 Krystal burgers, a large fries smothered in chili and cheese and two packets of Whoppers, but not before almost murdering the guy at the hotel at check-in that tried to sell Clay a time-share while I was trying to keep you from pressing the buttons on the security door and jamming the computers in the lobby that were set aside for business travelers.

This morning, though, all that craziness was forgotten and we are officially on vacation!

You wouldn’t think that a toddler would know the difference between home and vacation or how they might do things differently because every day is a holiday, right?

You would be wrong. You woke up at about 5:30 AM, but you wanted to watch Toy Story between a sleeping Mommy and Daddy with your milk and Cheerios. Not a bad setup, huh?



And now for a Public Service Announcement:

This is your Brain…


This is your brain on Toy Story….



Watching you watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 is one of the cutest displays of toddler expressions that I have ever seen. There’s:

When the dog, Buster, comes to find Woody in the bookbag…



Woody’s arm rips…



Woody gets kidnapped by the Collector…



Woody makes friends with the Round Up gang:



Zurg fights Buzz Lightyear on the Elevator….



The other toys try to find the suitcase with Woody in it at the airport…



Andy comes home to find all the toys and loves them all…



I also find the toddler positions of movie-watching to be fascinating.

First, there’s reclining position:



Sideways position…



I don’t even understand THIS position….



And the up close….



I’ll blog more later, but needless to say, Toy Story has figured prominently in this trip so far!

Love,

Mommy

Another Macy's Ad

9-15-06

Jack,

As if the first day of vacation wasn't exciting enough, you were in the paper for Macy's twice again today! Here you are!

What a cutie pie!!

Love,

Mommy

ANTICIPATION!!!

9-14-06

Jack,

It's the day before we go on vacation and my excitement level is through the roof!

This level of excitement makes me nostalgic because it brings back memories of this feeling from Christmas mornings and birthdays when I was little and knew I was about to hit the toy jackpot topped with as many sweets as I wanted as opposed to any other day of the year when they weren't in such abundance.

Tomorrow afternoon - you, me and Daddy are all leaving to fly to Florida for a week of family indulgence. I say "indulgence" because that is exactly what this next week will be in my mind. Indulging on food, family, fun and without a care in the world.

I sometimes worry that when I build things up in my mind, they can't help but turn out to be disappointing but I don't think that will be the case here. If we never leave the hotel room, I will be satisfied (but that WON'T happen) because your Daddy and I are totally jonesing for some serious alone time with you and no interruptions of work and home and all those little details.

At this moment, you are hanging with your Grandma Rose and Daddy is going to be picking you up this afternoon to go to your 18 month doctor's appointment to get your shots out of the way before we head out tomorrow.

Also, our dog, April, will be coming home today from the vet. Yesterday, she had a tumor removed and is recovering. Unfortunately, this means that we will be leaving a recovering mass of mixed breed on the floor of our house to be tended to by your Aunt Erin and Uncle Brett who will be shoveling pills into her wrapped in bologna as she sits around and mends. Not a nice thing to do to people that you care about - leaving them with that responsibility - but they are graciously saying that it won't be a problem so I don't end up stressing about it while on vacation (isn't family great?!?) Rest assured - the next time any of them need massive drugs administered to them via bologna injection, they can be sure to come to us for help!

Tonight - packing and trying to catch some zzzzz's before the big trip. Baby boy - I can't wait to spend this time with you!!!

See you very, very soon!!!

Love,

Mommy

Check out these adorable pictures of you and Daddy - you both are so cute!
You definitely have your Daddy's mischevious streak. Can you see it too?