So Close to Two... Catching Up

We've been busy, yet not very busy over the past couple weeks. Mostly, I'm just a lazy blogger because Evan's bedtime has moved back a little and I don't have time to write after he finally goes to bed. Okay, I have time, but I don't feel like it.

And, I was out of town for a few days. And, we've been planning a get together. And, we've started a house hunt.

This week, Evan turned 23 months. Just one more month before he's two. Unbelievable.

He's so smart and I think he speaks really well. I'm just amazed by him every single day.




He has a favorite song and I use it to get him to do things. It's called Here Comes the Lightning, but he calls it Rain, Rain. Quite often, I'll sing it when we're listening to it. And he likes to say, "Mommy! Stop it. Walk away." He learned that from daycare... and he needs to learn that he does not tell his mommy to walk away. That's what happened here...

Some call it abandonment, I call it giving my
son exactly what he asked for. Later, dude. 

Yes, it's not a very kid-friendly song. We're trying to phase it out before he learns the words.

Some randomness...

The school bus was a big hit at Touch a Truck Day

But the RTA bus won first prize by
giving away coloring books

The Troy Strawberry Festival was a huge hit

By the end of the day, his whole face, hands
and clothes were red from the berries

Enjoying some outdoor time

Where'd the squirrel go? I dunno! 

Big Pimpin' (in mommy's hat)

Trying out some new park equipment

We met up with some high school friends at the Cincinnati zoo. I'd say it was good to catch up with them, but there was no catching up with us chasing two almost-two year olds around a busy zoo. Evan loved the giraffes. 

We're working on getting him to start taking on more responsibilities. I mean, he's about to turn two. It's about time, right? 

We're also trying this a bit. So far, no dice.

To those people who get mad when people compare dogs and kids:




And this...

Listen carefully after he counts. That last word starts with an F...and ends with art.
Oh, my kid. 

VA Beach Vacay (part 3)

This is the end. Seriously.

We started our last morning by making a trip back to VA Beach. This time, though, it was just to walk along the strip and visit all the tacky beach shops. We had a great time strolling around and saying goodbye to the beach. And, we got Evan a license plate for the bike he'll be getting for his birthday next month. 

After our shopping, we hit up a local diner with great online reviews. Evan was a big fan. 

"Bye bye, beach. Later, Beach"

Evan <3 Grilled Cheese 

We found these at the shops too. When was the
last time you saw candy cigarettes? 

After a late and long nap, we hung around the hotel until it was time to meet up with Annie and Michaela. Evan and I explored the hotel grounds a bit-- hoping not to get shot up by the locals. (Seriously, it was not in a bad area... apparently the carnival brings out the gun carrying teens.) 

The kid loves seeing himself in the camera

<3

"Say Boogers!" 

He loved these chairs we found

He learned how to push the buttons. Luckily, he didn't
realize what the buttons actually accomplished, so no
worries about him pushing all the buttons. 

We met up with Annie and Michaela at a park once Annie was off work. The kids had fun playing. Evan loves some good sliding. 

We went for a pizza dinner (with the biggest pizza ever) and then back to the hotel to swim. We had the pool to ourselves and it was good family time. Evan loved the pool; Michaela was a little unsure. David, Annie and I got good workouts lugging those two around, "racing" with them and playing games. 

"Is this for real?!" 

After Evan went to bed, Annie and I chatted for a while. It was nice to be able to talk-- our lives keep us too busy and we never get to chat. It was sad to say goodbye. 

We got up early on Thursday to get on the road. Evan was almost as wonderful on the drive home. We stopped for lunch, and then we stopped at a park in WV and then we stopped for dinner. Again, 11 hours and 3 stops. The kid is unbelievable. 

The WV Capitol building from Daniel Boone Park

"Can I take this rock home with us?" 

We had a great trip. It was way too short but we were glad to get back at home and back on our normal schedule. 

And, we came home to a yard full of flamingos, courtesy of our friends.

VA Beach Vacay (part 2)

Monday morning was a repeat of Sunday morning. We met Annie and Michaela at the beach and spent the morning splashing in the waves, playing in the sand and collecting shells. I can't wait until Evan's more interested in shell collecting. It's one of my favorite things to do at the beach. I was glad to learn that Michaela was a fan... even if she did take some of the good shells I found for her and toss them right back into the waves. The jerk.

40. Collect Seashells

The beach wasn't in VA Beach proper, but in Hampton. And it wasn't on the ocean, but on Chesapeake Bay. As you can see from the pictures though, you would never know it. It was actually very nice because there were barely any waves and minimal wind. Plus, it was a beach park with a playground, pavilions and picnic tables, bathrooms/showers and plenty of free parking. Win, win, win. Annie's lucky to live so close to such a nice place.

Mr. Cool

Seeing them next to each other like this makes it not so
unbelievable that they weigh the same.
Skinny Girl + Solid Boy Forever

They look like they're about to solve a mystery. 

My favorite girls <3
Annie-Kaya

Salt Water + Sand + Baby Toes 

24. Splash in the Waves

We picnic lunched at the park and then went our separate ways for nap time.

After nap, we headed to Old Town Hampton. We visited Carousel Park, which is... wait for it... a carousel. We got there just 5 minutes before closing so we rushed to get on and were the only ones there. Evan loved riding the "horses". Maybe later in the summer he can get adventurous and get on one that goes up and down.

Weee! 

Could Annie and I be any cheesier?
"Uh, duh...hi?" 

25. Ride a carousel

After the carousel, we went to a local ice cream parlor. It's what I wanted for my birthday since we didn't do any sweets at Annie's cookout. I'm pretty sure this was Evan's first taste of ice cream. He was quite excited.

I think the picture speaks for itself. He liked the ice cream.

How do you know you're on vacation? You have ice cream before dinner. Boom.

After ice cream we went to a park called Air Power Park. It was sort of like an airplane graveyard, even though, I don't think that was the intent. There were probably 5-6 airplanes that hadn't had much upkeep and a small building (museum?) in the middle. More importantly, there was a field of clover and a playground.

I can't even begin to caption this. It's my fave.
Kids being kids. 

The kid has no fear when it comes to slides. 

Funny side note about that field of clover. It was filled with goose poop. I was walking with Michaela and told her to watch out for the turds. Later, she told Annie to watch out for the turds. Annie said, "OMG! Where did she learn 'turd'?" Haha...oops.

It was an action packed day. We had dinner and hauled everyone off to go to bed.

On Tuesday, Annie had to go back to work so we ventured to Virginia Beach. This is where our vacation took a turn for the worst. First, there was the packing. Our hotel was closer to Annie's house, which put us 30-45 minutes away from VA Beach oceanfront. Since we couldn't just run back to the hotel, we had to make sure to remember everything. And then there was the drive. And then there was the parking... hard to find, expensive street parking. And then there was the carrying of all the stuff while keeping Evan from running out into traffic. And then there was the hot sand on our feet. And then there was the tent (half tent, actually) building. And then there was the wind. Oh gawd, the wind. And then there was the kid who just wanted to climb on me... while both of our skin was covered in sweaty, sunblock-y sand. There's no feeling quite like moist sandy skin rubbing on moist sandy skin. I'd rather be dead. Apparently it didn't bother Evan though because he just kept climbing and wallering all over me. And it was hot. So, so hot. And did I mention the sand? And then there was lunch that was sandwich leftovers from the day before that no one really wanted to eat (but the seagulls enjoyed). And then there was the nap that Evan would. not. take. because of the wind and the heat and the sand. And then there was disassembling the tent and carrying all of our stuff across the hot, hot sand with overly tired and fit-throwing 2 year old. And that was the end of our beach time.

"This day is going to suck." 

"Hey, what are those birds doing?" 

"Throw us some more sandwich!" 

"Yep, this sucks." 

We're not really beach people. Everyone was much happier after a nap.

We played at the hotel pool that afternoon. Evan really enjoyed the pool. It made me excited to get our backyard pool set up for him and to take him to the pool/splash park up the street this summer.

Time to swim! 

We had our one and only seafood meal on Wednesday night. It was a total hole in the wall, but well reviewed on the interwebs. (What in the world did people do before the internet? Seriously.) Evan ate like a monster-- his fish and fries, some of my crab cake, some hush puppy, and a couple of David's scallops. The kid is a serious seafood lover.

Just hanging.

It was a very calm and relaxing afternoon/evening after our hot and sandy morning.

To be continued...

VA Beach Vacay (part 1)

Since we've been back from our VA Beach vacation for over a week, I figured it's about time I finally write a post about it. I'm so on top of things, eh?

If you want to just scroll through the pictures, here's the gist: fun vacation; Evan was amazingly good the entire time.

And here's the first part of the long story...

Since Hawaii was off the table for this year, we chose to visit Annie in Virginia Beach this summer. Virginia Beach, Maui Beaches... practically the same thing. Not.

For the drive, we planned for the worst. I mean, with eleven hours in the car with a toddler, how could we not? For the drive down, we had all of his favorite snacks, new toys and new books ready to entertain him plus all of his comforts of home-- his blanket, his sleep sheep (white noise machine), and several old standby stuffed animals. The drive goes through a lot of rural Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia so I mapped out locations about every 1-2 hours that we could stop for food, gas and/or parks.

Evan was perfect. He chatted and watched traffic, napped, chatted and snacked, looked at his books and played peek-a-boo with the passenger. We only stopped three times. Once for a leisurely lunch, once when he tricked us with his new favorite phrase, "diaper change", and once to stretch our legs. The leg stretching stop was in Charlottesville, VA at the grounds of Monticello.

Snoozer

Country Roads

Monticello Stroll

It was late when we got to our hotel but Evan had been cramped up in the car all day and, of course, Annie and Michaela were excited to come for a visit. The kids took no time at all to warm up to each other.

Checking out the hotel amenities

Sharing! 

Hugs <3

Enjoying the 7th floor view

I love how he looks at her like, "Okay, Boss. What now?" 

42. Visit Loved Ones

Side story: There was a carnival in the convention center parking lot across the street from the hotel. That first night, before I went to bed, I noticed a ton of police and ambulances. It was chaos and I wondered if something had happened with one of the rides. The next day, there was a huge sign: "Carnival Canceled." We looked it up on the local news. There was a shooting. Five shot, one dead. I'm so glad we chose such a safe hotel. 

The first full day of our vacation was also my birthday. My wonderful guys got me a spa gift certificate and a homemade gift certificate for one night in a hotel alone. That means no baby crying, no husband snoring, no dog licking her butt, no cat climbing on my legs. It sounds so glorious. I can't wait to take advantage of it. (Luckily, I have some travel coming up so I'll save it for a while so I can spread them out.) 

After breakfast, we headed to the beach with Annie and Michaela, aka "Annie-Kaya". Evan was interested in the sand but wasn't as crazy for it as I would've guessed. We spent a perfect morning playing in the sand and standing in the waves. He wasn't to excited about the cold water or the way the sand washes away under your feet when the water goes out. 

43. Wiggle Our Toes in the Sand

Evan's first walk in the sand

Love these two

Working hard on sand castling 

Beach Baby

I believe this is how I would like to spend every
birthday from now on: my toes in the sand, the cool
breeze in my hair and my two favorites digging at
my feet

We all got lunch together (free Firehouse sub for my birthday, woot!) and then parted ways to get the kids napping. After nap, we headed to Annie's house for a cookout. The kids had a great time playing while Annie grilled us some goodies. Michaela got me a gigantic balloon for my birthday. Such a sweet kid. This is how life should be-- going to each others' houses for dinner, the kids playing in the backyard while the adults chat. I wish we could live closer to each other.

Happy Birthday to me!

Needless to say, Evan slept like a rock that night.

To be continued...