Daddy's eyes are brown because... 8/19/11

Tonight at dinner Tye was talking about our eye colors and said his were blue, mine were blue and daddy's were brown. I said, "that's because daddy is full of hmmhmmhmm". And Tye blurts out "PEANUT BUTTER!" ROFL! He always is saying that daddy hogs his peanut butter, so I guess he thought that is why daddy's eyes are brown! lol He doesn't even realize how funny this is! Can't wait until he is older to tell him this story. :-)

Learning To Tie His Shoes 7/30/11

I have decided that I am a huge slacker as a parent. I guess having fun has taken precedent over teaching him things he should know. Maybe it is because he came to us behind and because he is so short/little that I don't think about these things until I realize, he really should already know this! YIKES! So one of the many things we are trying to teach Tye right now his how to tie his shoes. Daddy got the job this Saturday morning while Mommy was trying to work on something else.

Tye was super excited and so I figured it was a good idea to take some pictures of it! lol


He tried really hard and kept trying...Daddy was trying to show him how to do the "tree method" but with his little hands I thought the "bunny ear" method would be better. So we changed to the bunny ear method and he did great! Here is the first shoe he ever tied! Look how proud he is!

Then we had him practice some more and so he did the other shoe.

His biggest struggle is putting the bunny ears together and holding them with one hand.

Push it through the hole and pull!!!!

He did it!!!

So proud!!!!

Great job buddy! We are so proud of you! You got frustrated a couple of times, but didn't give up and kept trying and ended up doing each shoe twice! Now to practice a few more times and you will be a pro!

Chuck E Cheese 7/28/11

I feel like we haven't been able to do hardly anything this summer. Partly due to time restraints, also I have been watching the baby almost every week so some of the things, like going to the zoo or Busch Gardens have not been possible because he doesn't have a pass to those places like we do and finally money. With the purchase of the car, our "extra" funds have been depleted. :-(

So I was trying to find a fun thing to do that didn't take a ton of time (because I had to be home to watch the baby) and didn't take much, if any, money. I decided on Chuck E Cheese, we had several tokens left over from a previous visit, so we used all that we had. We also took all the "tickets" we have been saving for YEARS and decided to spend what we could! lol

Tye and I rode the "roller coaster" ride. He didn't think it was as fun or scary as the last time...maybe because I wasn't screaming next to him! lol

He had a great time playing the fighter jet game and also the race car game.

We played Skee Ball and I even played my usual ticket making game, Sponge Bob! lol But I got hardly any tickets this time...didn't have the touch today I guess! lol But I did do well at my other fun game, the bubble popping game! lol

Tye played in the playground part. He loves climbing and crawling and finding new friends! lol

He took my picture while I was playing the dog game...where you hit this huge button and it bounces the balls into the dog's mouth. I do okay with it. But think it is fun! lol
I resisted the temptation to get pizza or even the salad bar. We turned in our tickets and Tye ended up getting a car (which took 500 tickets--for something I could buy for like $2 max at Walmart! lol), a whoopie cushion that didn't even work right, a bookmark and a rubber shark. He REALLY wanted this hot wheels race track set, however, it was 4000 tickets! It has taken us 5 years just to get 650 tickets, by the time we get 4000 he will be 18 and going off to college! ROFL!

It was fun and he was happy and we hit Checkers on the way home instead...certainly not better than the pizza, I was hungry and couldn't resist the temptation anymore! lol Oh well, it was a fun morning!

Cars 2 07/23/11

Tye has wanted to see Cars 2 since the moment he saw the first preview/commercial on it. He was sooooooo excited to see they were putting out another Cars movie! He LOVES Cars! When the first one came out and we bought the DVD he watched it EVERY DAY for probably 3 months! I was so sick of seeing Cars! lol Now I like it again! lol

When Cars 2 opened I was out of town and so we couldn't see it that day. Then it seemed like every week after that either Tye had been naughty or we were busy with something else. Tye had been pretty bad Tuesday evening and then was REALLY bad on Wednesday. I thought it was going to be another week of that. So I told him if he was good on Thursday and Friday then on Saturday we would go see Cars 2. Bribery? Yes! BUT he has to behave first, not after I give him the prize.

He was so excited and freaked out for a moment in the car when we had to stop and get gas. He told me that we were "going to miss the show now because we have to stop and get this dumb gas!" lol I told him we still had 35 mins before the show started. THANKFULLY we had left when we did because it took me almost 15 mins just to find a dang parking spot! I finally went around to the back of the building and parked in the "back alley" lol (There is a little parking lot back there, but not many people park back there, which maybe is a good thing so we could find a spot! lol)

He LOVED it! Kevin and I both thought it was good and cute. Tye thought the different Mater disguises were way funny! It was cute to see him laugh out loud literally! lol :-) We enjoyed the show and will definitely be adding it to our collection when it comes out on video. :-)

McDonald's 07/14/11

Today for our summer playgroup, we met at McDonald's for the $2 Happy Meals and play time for the kids. I had my camera but forgot to take any pictures! lol We met Amanda and West there. Also Rachael was there with her two kiddos.

Mary, my friend who used to live in FL but moved to PA, has now moved back to FL and met us at McDonald's! I was sooooo happy to see her again. I had told Tye she was going to meet us there and he was super excited, until he actually saw her and then he was shy! lol Silly boy!

It was a fun day, the kids had a blast! West loves Tye and runs around yelling "A-Tye, A-Tye!" They are too cute together. :-)

Going Away Party for Brenda 07/02/11

One of my co-workers, Brenda, is getting deployed again with the US Air Force as a reservist to Ramstein Germany AFB. This is her 4th deployment in probably the last 6 years. She just got back in Feb and is now leaving again this month. :-( Poor girl barely can get her affairs back in order and is shipped out again!

Anyway, we had a going away party for her at Hard Rock Cafe. Seems to be the only place we go any more with the girls from work! I think because it is right next to where we work so it is easy for everyone to drive there right after work.

And as usual we had our messes! lol Cornelia decided to sanitize her silverware before eating. Well Loretta decided to help her out and added a few extra pieces. Of course, it became top heavy and the whole thing spilled!

The girls had an accident on the floor!!!!! hehehehehe

Here are photos of the group...Carmen and her son Bryan (this isn't the clearest photo, I think because it was dark and the flash wasn't fast enough).

This is Amanda and Capri!

Loretta, Crystal and Me! :-)

Noami, Brenda and Cornelia!

Look at that yummy food Cornelia got!!!!!

Crystal showing off her Hard Rock spirit waving her flag! lol

My brownie sundae! OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH YUMMMMMM!
"Don't even think about touching my brownie sundae!!!" hahahahaha Just kidding!

Okay she decided to share, Carmen was the only one who accepted though.

The group!

Then Loretta told the waiter it was Brenda's birthday. She was NOT pleased to see that thing be sat down in front of her! lol
We even sang happy birthday. Of course it was NOT her birthday, but since it wasn't her going away party, she deserved it. I think she ate two bites but that was it.

It was a fun evening. We will be so sad while Brenda is gone, she will be missed. We pray she will be safe and have a good time while she is there.

Busch Gardens 07/04/11

Today while other people spend their Independence Day on the beach or at a park having a picnic, we spent the day at Busch Gardens! lol This year we decided to get the Fun Cards, where you pay for a day and then can go back the rest of the year for free (an annual pass of sorts). I purchased the annual pass for myself because then we get free parking (so if we only go 3 times over the next year it will have paid for itself in the money we saved in parking!) Today was the first day we have actually had an opportunity to go.

Here we are at the entrance. The sun was in Tye's eyes so we couldn't really get him to put them down for the picture. :-( lol

As soon as we got inside they had this group of flamingos right out in the open. We could walk up to them, but we weren't really allowed to touch them, although Tye tried before the keeper told him not too.
But the one flamingo liked Tye so much he came right up to him and nudged him anyway! lol
Then we headed over to catch a show. Cirque Dreams, a cirque de solei show, but it wasn't for another half hour, so we went and saw the gorillas instead.

These two were right up against the glass and Tye wasn't sure what to do with them so close!

He was tired and hot! lol

Kevin decided to be King Tut! Tye refused!

Me by one of the mummies

Tye loved digging in the sand, we finally had to tell him he could come back and dig in the sand another day because we didn't want to spend all the time we were able to be there just digging in a sand hole! lol
Tye was the safari driver! hehehe Foreshadowing what was to come, I think! lol
This hyena was totally laying on his back taking a snooze. There were a couple of people that were being rude and trying to wake him up by tapping on the glass, but he was ignoring them! lol Serves them right!
Then we went over to the safari ride. They asked Tye if he wanted to be the navigator and he was ALL over it! He thought he was the bomb! lol

I thought this was a great shot of him and the driver. (You might want to click on it to see it larger and better.)

He was so interested in everything we were passing and seeing.

So serious! lol

Then Kevin and Tye went on the scorpion. I was going to go but they wanted a dollar to put our stuff in the lockers! Uhhhhh no! lol If you can't tell, Kevin is the one waving, they are in the back row!

And here they go upside down! Tye told Kevin after that he never wanted to ride it again! ROFL!

Then we saw the 4D Muppet movie! I picked the non-wet seats and found out half way through the show that Tye WANTED to get wet and ended up mad at me because we weren't getting wet! lol Ooops!

Tye wanted to ride the gondola car things. But first Kevin wanted to ride the log ride. So that mad Tye mad, but we were able to defer it. That was the longest wait for anything we did today. And let me tell you...it was NOT worth it! lol I got SOAKED!!!! I HATE being wet in my regular clothes. That is NOT my idea of fun and I paid the price. I will remember for next time for sure. I was miserable the rest of the day. I should have had Kevin take a picture of me, but I was in such a cruddy mood I didn't even think about taking a picture, all I wanted was to get dry! lol And guess what?!?! They don't have a stinking hand dryer in their bathroom!!! lol I was dripping all over my shoes and probably looked like a drowned rat!!! lol Next time I will not be going on the water ride! lol

After that we ate lunch, which was really yummy! And then rode the gondola. Now if we could just hit the train Tye would really be happy! lol

We saw this acrobat guys. They were really good...but aren't most acrobats good?! lol

Tye kept wanting to go on the train but every time we were at a location that was not a train stop, just a crossing. When we finally got there they had already closed and were not letting anyone else on. So we had to wait for 10 mins for the next one. Tye was not happy and did NOT want to go do something else in the meantime. We finally convinced him to go see the giant turtles next to the train station. Look at this big boy!

Tye thought this turtle statue was really cool and hopped right up on it! lol

Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?!

The guys on the train, FINALLY! LOL Look at his HUGE beautiful eyes!

Tye thought this was pretty cool...a HUGE treetop play area. We walked across these net bridges and then he hit the play area.

He was loving it!

Then he saw Big Bird!!!

By this time we were tired and ready to go. Thankfully we decided to leave when we did because just as we were leaving the clouds rolled in and it started pouring. We made it to the tram and were under the cover waiting. Then we got to the parking lot side and waited there long enough for it to let up and I ran to get the car. Kevin would have done it, but we would still be waiting there now for him to find the car! (Poor guy gets lost in a paper bag if he doesn't have his GPS! lol)

On the way home we asked Tye what his favorite part was and he said, "the train, the sky thingy (the gondola) and the tram"! lol I bet her would have been happy riding the tram back and forth! ROFL! We would have liked to stay for the fireworks but were just too tired. It was a great day! We are glad we have the fun card so we can go back again soon! :-)