August 14, 2011

Outdoorsy Fun!

Today, we woke up and decided to take advantage of the high-80's temperatures and go do some hiking at Petit Jean mountain/state park about an hour and a half away.  Of course, I ate before we left and we snagged some snacks for Jack on the way.  He howled and complained and grumped for about 2/3 of the ride and then he chilled out after we gave him cheese puffs and we only heard the sound of contented crunching from the backseat.  At one point, he dropped his Lightning McQueen and ordered Garry:  "When I say sit, you sit down!  When I say stand, you stand up!  When I say go up and down, you jump up and down!  Now get my Lightning McQueen!"  Haha!  It was bossy but cute. 

When we first got there, we checked out the scenic overlooks.  Jack was totally freaked out by the heights!  A lot of places there were no railings and I think he felt like he was going to fly off the side of the mountain.  Needless to say, we kept a close watch on him! 

We made good time getting to the Cedar Falls trailhead and soon realized that we chose the most strenuous trail on Petit Jean to drag a 4 year old along. Great.  The way down was awesome!  We saw all kinds of animals -- a few lizards, a baby snake, a snail, bugs, fish, etc.  After what felt like forever (a mile and a half of pretty rough terrain), we came to the falls and it was really pretty!  It is nestled inside a large bowl-like area with SUPER high rock walls which we had to skirt and slide along to get around to the falls.  It was a bit scary but we made it.  We walked behind the falls and over to a little shore where Jack promptly stripped off and got in the water.  There were other people there with kids and a couple of other groups there as well.  The water was SO nice and cool and we all splashed around for a bit before heading back.  Then, my  blood sugar crashed.  >.<  I started getting a bit lightheaded and nauseated a mile and a half back in the woods and had an all uphill, over boulders, up rock stairs trip back to the top.  I had to stop twice but we made good time on the way back and Jack was GREAT for the whole trip!  He had an absolute blast and already wants to do it again!  On the way out, we stopped and grabbed some sandwiches and some hand-dipped ice cream and I still ended up losing weight, haha!  We are going to have to do this a lot more (but take food so that we are prepared this time).  And yes, that first photo is Jack peeing on a tree, lol.

Tasting Pine Straw

Rock Climbing

Woohoo!  I'm on a stump!

Poking a snail

He was saying that snails say "meow" (spongebob reference).

Pointing at some fish

BIG jump

Cedar Falls

Testing the water.  It felt good!

"swimming"

Just hanging out

He found a rock lol.



Daddy and Jack behind the falls



A view from behind Cedar Falls

My view from behind the falls.

My cutie pie.  Still has brusies from his shots.  :(

Drinking him some Sprite after the long hike back

Ice cream!

August 13, 2011

Oooookay...

Today was kind of uneventful.  I shot a wedding for a strange little group of people, lol.  The bride was really, really shy and wanted to do "fun" photos but seemed afraid to do any in front of her mom.  I haaaaaaaate editing formal photos and that is what about 80 percent of her photos will be.  TEDIOUS!  Also, no one found it necessary to inform me that the minister would be standing in FRONT of the couple for half of the ceremony, so I had to scramble to the side to take the photos so that the couple would be in their own wedding photos, lol.  I was right in the bride's line of vision and she was staring right into the camera as she recited her vows.  Weddings...oy.

While I was there, Garry took Jack to Fun Factory.  There were TONS of other kids there and Jack ended up getting irritated and trying to choke another little boy.  What in the world am I going to do with that child?!?!

Here are a couple of the wedding photos, since I don't have any pictures of Jack from today.



August 9, 2011

It's All Fun and Games Til Someone's Face Gets Smashed...

Today was a pretty ordinary day.  I got my running out of the way early because I am always excited on Tueday since I take every Wednesday off.  I worked on cleaning up the house a bit while Jack played.  He didn't seem to feel so great (probably from his shots) so he mostly chilled out in front of the tv.  After Garry got home, I took Jack outside and he was having SO much fun swinging and singing "Old MacDonald" with me.  Garry set up his bounce house and they were getting really rowdy chasing each other around when all of a sudden...WHAM...Jack falls out of the it and skins up half of his face.  Poor little guy.  He was VERY upset and it even gave him a little nosebleed.  To make him feel better, we took him to 3 Flamingos (frozen yogurt place) and he got some strawberry yogurt.  On the way home, we got him a happy meal and he was okay after that.  I felt so bad for him that I let him sleep with me, lol.  I am a sucker.

So we got home from 3 Flamingos and guess who we saw?  The ice cream truck, lol.  So, Jack got extra ice cream for later.

And here is a couple of photos of Hefty loving on Critterbug.  He LOVES his babies!



August 8, 2011

The Sky Is Falling!!!!  Oh wait....that is just rain.

So for the first time in about a bajillion days, it actually rained today!  It was just a small storm going through but it did thunder and lightning for most of the day and it was WONDERFUL!  It was the first time that the temperature didn't break 100 in like 2 weeks.  It was still in the way upper 90's but we will take what we can get. 

School!!  Or, maybe School??

Okay, I am seriously fed up with trying to get Jackson into preschool here!  Finally, I was able to go register him for Arnold Drive on base yesterday but I knew he was due for a couple of shots so we went to the Immunization Clinic first.  When I get there, lo and behold, he is due for FIVE shots!  How does this happen?  I was just there on Valentine's Day and he had 4 shots which "caught him completely up to date".  Geez, poor kid.  I told him beforehand what was happening and he did really well.  He squealed when they gave him the MMR shot because it burns pretty badly but it was over quickly and I gave him his lollipops that I brought.  When we got out to the lobby, he saw a little girl sitting there and he said, "Don't go in that room over there."  Haha! 

So, I took TONS of paperwork to the school to register him but they gave me a piece of paper saying I don't work and told me I have to go to legal to get it notarized.  Seriously?  So, off we go in the rain...my poor child with the sore legs and me who has run 5 miles and hasn't eaten anything all day (it was around 3:00).  We got the stupid paper notarized and I spent 30 minutes filling out what seemed like the same piece of paper and suddenly the lady says "Oh! We need a copy of your closing papers from buying your house as proof of where you live."  Wha?  I told her the lady on the phone  told me to bring a utility bill.  "No ma'am...we need a copy of your closing papers."  I called Garry and asked him to bring them.  He did and I finished the paperwork and then a really fun thing happened.  My blood sugar bottomed out and I came within about 30 seconds from passing out.  Yay!  The lady had to grab me a coke.  I was so glad to get home.  Now I just have to wait and see if he got in.  :/

Jack spent the rest of the day playing.  He loves making videos with my phone and he will run around and act all crazy.  He also kept an eye on me and tried to chase kitties with his remote controlled cars when I wasn't looking.  Unfortunately for him, Mama sees all.  ;)



Jack's Shirts I Have Made

August 7, 2011

Stuff Jack Says

 

Since Jack is always coming up with some funny, crazy thing to say, I have a feeling that this will become a regular feature.  Every morning, Jack crawls in bed with me around sunrise.  Well, lately I have been sleeping with my hair down because I straightened it 2 days ago and I don't want a random ponytail crease in my hair forever.  Anyway, I felt Jack playing with my hair as I fell back asleep and he asked me to sing the "Flower Song" from Tangled.  I sang it really fast (I was half-asleep) and asked him why and he held up his little hand, all wrapped in my hair and told me that he wanted to get rid of his boo boo like Flynn did in the movie, haha!  Such a funny kid!

Later we were taking a walk and I said something about wishing my driveway was straighter and made a hand motion and said that it would be nice to just zip right in "like fffaaaahhh" and Jack said "Mommy, you should not say that word!  It is a bad word!  You should NOT say the fudge-word."  Haha.  I had to explain to him that I did not actually say the "fudge-word".

We FINALLY got a break from the heat today, which was good because I needed to get outside for a while.  I filled up the hummingbird feeder and the bird feeder and then let Jack play in the hose pipe for a while and he had a great time.  I started the day kind of bummed out because he was so difficult yesterday but ended up having a good time.  :)

He is currently strumming Garry's electric guitar with all that he has, singing a very rock and roll version of "Old MacDonald" complete with many "Oooohhhh" and "YEAH!" exclamations and interruptions to sing the "Accidents Happen" Thomas the Train song and "Secrets" by One Republic.

The first picture is of people who are sick with "the spots".  I also included a photo of part of my front yard, which I cut in 114 degree weather.  I am super-proud of that, haha.