Monkey Joe's

Last Thursday, we met a friend from work at Monkey Joe's for Isaac's first bouncing experience! The first bouncy toy was in the toddler area, I got in with him and set him down and he just started screaming. Great...I just wasted $5 right? Well, I let him walk around on the floor and look at everything for a little longer. Then I tried again on one of the big kid toys. I picked him up and carried him in and tossed him over the first hill and down a little slide. I waited...he looked up at me from the other side...still waiting....there it is...a smile and a giggle!!! Woohoo, we're in business!! So, I jumped over and put him up and over the next slide. Another laugh. Finally to the big 10 foot slide at the end. It took some doing, but I managed to climb up the flimsy little people squares high enough to put Isaac up on top of the big slide. I was trying to hold him up there until I could climb up and go down with him. Have you ever tried climbing up a slippery bouncy toy with dress socks or while trying to hold on to a toddler who wants to go down a slide?? It doesn't work well. He wiggled loose and went down the big slide by himself, and I fell backward (thank god there were no other kids behind me to be crushed by my large self). I panicked for the brief instant that he was out of my sight. The panic gave me the ability to get up on my feet and hurdle over the netting on the edge of the toy just in time to see him rounding the corner and running back to go again. Relief!! Moral of the story...2 people per daring toddler at Monkey Joe's!

Here are Brian and Isaac on the wall I fell off of. :)

Brian joined us when he got off work and we all ended up having a great time. Definitely worth the $5 and definitely a week day activity. I couldn't imagine how many children must run around that place on the weekend, and I don't plan on ever finding out!! It was crazy enough on a Thursday for me!!

One tired little boy!

Here's a video of the fun!

Circus, Circus!

Nana and Grandpa came up this weekend to take Isaac to the circus. We had tickets for the 11am show on Saturday, but we showed up early so we could take Isaac down to the floor to enjoy the pre-show. I wasn't sure how he would react once we got down there and got close to the clowns. From my past experience, kids either love the clowns or are terrified of them. Isaac, of course, loved them. He was amazed by their tricks and probably would have been content to hang out with them all day. His favorite part though was the animals. During the pre-show, Asia the elephant came out to paint a picture. When she came through the door, his expression was priceless and he clapped and clapped. It was too cute.

We made our way up to our seats to enjoy the show. For a one and a half year old, I thought he did pretty well as far as having to sit on someone's lap for almost 2 hours. He did get squirmy, but it was nothing an elephant cup of icee couldn't fix. Nana and Grandpa spoiled him absolutely rotten...popcorn, icee, glowing light wand, and even a picture on the plastic elephant!

After the show we made our way around to the animal open house. They had the elephants, tigers, zebras, and horses in fenced off areas in the parking lot. Isaac loved seeing the animals. We only had to grab him twice when he tried to climb under the barricade to go up and touch the elephants! Crazy kid, I'm so glad that he loves animals as much as he does!!

Here is Isaac meowing at the tiger!

Look at That Shiner!

I picked Isaac up from school on Wednesday afternoon, and as I peaked through the window to see what he was up to I noticed something out of the ordinary right away. My little angel had a black eye! According to his teachers, he was attempting to "multi-task" and was climbing into a chair holding a toy. When he tried to turn around to sit in the chair, he slipped off the side and landed on his face on top of the toy that he was holding. They said he cried a little and said "owwie", but when they tried to put ice on his cheek he just wanted to eat it. So they put him down and off he went, back to playing on the same chair with the same toy. What a trooper!!

Clownin' Around

Isaac has suddenly taken an interest in dressing himself up in crazy outfits. My sister and I have a number of pictures from our childhood of us dressed in crazy outfits. So, it always makes me chuckle to see what he comes out of his room in next. These outfits are just a few from the last few weeks.

Outfit #1 -

Outfit #2 -

Outfit #3 -

Cowboy Up!!

On Saturday night, we took Isaac to the State Fairgrounds for the NBRA bull riding and barrel racing championships. Oma, Opa, Rhonda and Cindy all came along for the fun. We bought Isaac his very own cowboy boots and cousin Madeline was nice enough to lend us her cowboy hat for the weekend. He looked absolutely adorable!! We had front row seats and a great view for all the action. Isaac loved it when the bulls came down our way. He'd yell and wave at them "go back"...meaning run back to the gate where they left the arena. He was nice enough to offer one of them some popcorn, yelling "popcorn bull" and holding it in his hand out over the railing! Thank goodness the bull didn't take him up on it!

They also had an area at the end of the arena blocked off so that the kids could ride on those poor horses that they drag around in a circle. I figured I might as well give the horses the pleasure of riding my little cowboy around too. Last time he rode the horses (the first time he rode a horse) was just after his first birthday and Brian held him on the whole time. This time, he sat right up there and held on by himself. I walked around with him once before I realized my little baby is growing up fast. I stopped and let him ride by himself. He was such a big boy!

The rodeo finished up at 10pm. That is the latest Isaac has ever stayed up on purpose. He had so much fun. We buckled our cowboy into his carseat and he talked and talked, and then all the sudden he was sound asleep. We all had such a great time and can't wait for more cowboy adventures in the future!

More Snow!

Isaac was so excited to wake up to snow again on Saturday morning! He absolutely could not wait to get outside. He even made his way out in his footed pajamas when we let the dogs out. I thought he'd stop and look out at the snow from the edge of the screen porch, but he stepped right out into it and marched himself straight out to the yard. He was ready to play!! We brought him back in and bundled him up so he could go back out and play. He showed Opa all around the yard, and they played in Isaac's playhouse while I worked on a snowman. Here is Isaac with his new buddy. The snow didn't last long, but we had a great time for the few hours that it was on the ground!

Snow Days!!!

The weather people FINALLY got one right. It snowed on Friday night just like they predicted. Isaac, well more like Isaac's never too old for snow parents, didn't waste any time getting outside to play in it either. Here's a pic of the first 15 minutes of snow. You never know how long it's going to last, so you have to get out there quick!!

Lucky for us, the snow continued slowly for most of the night followed by sleet all day Saturday. When all was said and done we had about 6 inches in our neighborhood. Saturday was really cold, but we all bundled up and went out to try the sledding. The best hill in the neighborhood just happens to be the one that is the entrance to the neighborhood. We spent two days making sure it was good and packed down for sledding so now unless you have 4-wheel or all-wheel drive, there's really no getting out that way!!

We found that the best sled to use was the old metal runners type. Rhonda (the neighbor two doors down) is educated in metal runner sleds and she bought pvc pipes to go over the runners. This made the sled really fast. I'm not sure who ended up having more fun....the kids or the adults in the neighborhood!

Here's a pic of day one sledding...Daddy & Isaac riding, Rhonda providing the push! Here are Isaac and I watching Daddy fly down the hill.

Isaac getting pulled home on the sled.

Isaac chilling in his long underwear (thanks Nana!) and having a snack after sledding.

Sunday was still cold, but there was no sleet and no wind, so it was a bit more pleasant to be outside. The overnight cold froze the top layer of sleet into a solid sheet of ice. This made for great sledding with the inflatable sled. Yes, we are very prepared for fun in the snow - we have 2 inflatable sleds and 2 snowboard sleds - Rhonda and Cindy have 2 plastic saucer sleds and the sled with metal runners - one of those 4 types is pretty much always guaranteed to work!

Here is Isaac sledding down the driveway on the inflatable sled.

He thought he was pretty cool riding in this!!

After a few times down the driveway, we tied a rope to the sled and headed off to the big hill. Isaac is much easier to tote through the snow in the inflatable sled!!

Here is Isaac with Rhonda and Cindy riding down the big hill!

Isaac probably had the most fun exploring in the back yard.

That's my little man hiking through the snow!

Isaac and Mama hanging out in the snow!!
We all had so much fun playing in the snow this weekend. It's melting now, but they are saying today that we might have a chance for more this weekend! Could we really get that lucky?