Whatta Weekend!

We had a fabulous weekend - very busy but very fun. Saturday we woke up and heading down to Burlington to visit Great Grandma TT, Uncle John and cousin Stephanie, catch a North baseball game, and go to Steamboat Days! The trip down was fairly uneventful - the kids were fine watching Cinderella and pretty well-behaved. We had few incidents of Addison pointing at Carter and making him cry when she wouldn't stop - have I mentioned that she knows how to push his buttons? :)

We stopped to visit Great Grandma TT first and got to see her new place! She looked great and her new home is very nice. Addison and Carter had fun trying on all of her necklaces and making friends with the ladies in the lunchroom.

Next up, was lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings for Matt, Katie, Addison, Carter and I while my folks and Joanna went to the baseball field. We joined them there after lunch and Carter and Addison had fun playing on the bleachers and running around. They got a little cranky around nap time so we decided a little drive was needed. We hardly made it out of the parking lot before both kids were fast asleep. Not knowing where to go, Katie and I decided to drive past my mom's parent's old house. It looked almost exactly the same except for a few bushes had been removed by the front of the house. It was a little bittersweet knowing that we would never again celebrate a holiday at that house or that Carter won't get to run around in that backyard. I have so many wonderful memories in that house!

We made it back to the baseball field just as the game was wrapping up - North lost :(. Then we decided it was time to head down to Steamboat Days, which is Burlington's version of the fair. We went to Kiddie Land and let Carter and Addison ride of the rides. Below is a breakdown of what Carter felt about each ride:

• Carousel - not a fan but to be fair he had just woken up from a not so long nap
• Cars - he loved it! Carter and Addison rode together
• Dumbo - he seemed to like it especially when the elephant was up in the air - he rode with daddy
• Hot air balloon - he was terrified at first but warmed up to it - again, he rode with daddy

Then, we let them play the duck pond and each won a little stuffed animal (because we paid for 2 tries not because either of them picked a lucky duck). Carter picked a baby puffin, which is actually a penguin but looks like the puffin he has at home. He is very consistent with his lovey choices. Now he has:

• Mr. Pig and Ham
• Giraffe and Other giraffe
• Puffin and baby puffin

Silly boy! My grandma wanted to boys to dual it out at the squirt gun game and Matt won!! So Carter got to pick another prize! Matt tried to get him to choose the brown bulldog but Carter ended up with a blue puppy. He clung to his prizes the rest of the afternoon :). After a couple of more duals at the squirt gun game, because Addison needed another prize too, we headed to Grandpa's ice cream shoppe for some ice cream before heading home.

Sunday was the air show. We were going to go with the Meyers but they only had 3 free tickets and both Matt and I didn't wnat to spend the money when we weren't sure how Carter would do. It was a good thing too because we went to a baseball field in Davenport to watch the planes and Carter did not like the jet! The first time it flew bye he started crying and saying, "I want to go home." He actually started walking back to the car and after I had just got done telling him to wait (we had to pick up our stuff) the jet flew back over and Carter turned around and ran to me, flung himself in my arms and held me very tight! I don't remember the last time he held on so tight - if ever! Needless to say, we packed up and went home.  Maybe next year!


Monday I took the day off. The plan was to workout in the morning and go straight to the pool after. Wouldn't you know that we woke up to rain and cloudy skies. Boo! So we decided to go to Monkey Joe's for some day off fun. I wish I would have done a better job documenting Carter's first experience at Monkey Joe's because he was pretty fearless but needed my help because he wasn't quite big enough for most of the inflatable sides. He was way more cautious this time around even though he is now big enough to go on most of the inflatables by himself. In fact he wouldn't go down any of the slides this time. I followed him up and made him go down one and you would think I was torturing the kid!. Instead, he preferred to play in the younger kid area. Where he would go down the tiny slide and then run over the the inflatable ring and fly in head first. He is nothing if not predictable!

After Monkey Joe's we headed over to Sam's for some lunch - way cheaper pizza over there :). Then it was nap time. And wouldn't you know that after the kids woke up from their naps the sun was shining?! So off to the pool we went! Carter even got the courage to jump off the diving board himself (into my mom's arms of course!). It ended up being a GREAT day off!

"Fun is good."  ~Dr. Seuss