Weekend Fun

This past weekend, Abe and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. Technically, our anniversary isn't until this upcoming weekend, but opening day for deer season comes first (that was totally a joke, I just like giving Abe a hard time for ditching me on our anniversary!)

Abe and I spent Saturday in Jerome. We visited the old ghost mining town, walked around the little shops "downtown," toured the 100 yr old stage/cinema theatre that they are restoring (very cool), and then had a fabulous lunch at The Asylum (the restaurant located in the Grand Hotel, which used to be the Verde Valley Hospital, and is known as one of the most haunted places in the country-totally up our alley!) We then headed back to our beautiful town, took a scenic drive through the pines and checked out what can only be described as our dream house, and then went to dinner. We had dinner at the 129 1/2 Grill, which is this cute little jazz restaurant downtown. We laughed at some lady that had drank too much and was enjoying the music even more, we had great food, and finished off the night with more movies (we watched a few Friday night, also). We also went to breakfast Sunday morning at Wildflower. All in all, it was a fantastic anniversary weekend!



Meanwhile, Cole was spending his first ever weekend away.



Friday afternoon, John, Paula, and Paula's dad, Pops (who was visiting from Ohio), came and took the little man for the weekend. We all went out to dinner, then they drove away with my kiddo in the car. I will admit, it was rough for me. I always thought I would enjoy having him go away (and getting a break), but I really, really missed that stinkin' kid. And (I think typical of parents) everything Abe and I did all weekend, we would say how Cole would love this, or we'll need to bring Cole here, or make the sound effects that Cole makes when we would see fire/garbage trucks and motorcycles.

However, while I was a little sad he was gone, he was having a grand ol' time (and being a perfect little boy on top of that). Here are some pics of his weekend festivities (courtesy of John and Paula)

Carving his own pumpkin with Gaga.

Reading books with PG.

Watching movies.

Hanging by the pool (it was 102 out!)

And baking cookies!

Of course, you have to wear a hard hat for such manual labor!

Here is one of several videos they took. I just though this one was funny, and totally captures Cole and his personality.

Of course, once they brought him home on Sunday, he turned back into his little "devilish" self (which we had been worried that he would be while he was away!), hasn't slept at night more than an hour and a half straight (having only woken up once a night while he was away), and been screaming, yelling, and crying pretty consistently ever since.





But darn it, I'm glad he's home





Abe wants to try to send him back for a month!

Bowling

Tuesday I took Cole bowling with our MOMS Club. He really enjoyed it the first 3 frames, and then had a total two year old melt down, including SCREAMING, running for the fire alarm door, playing in the water fountain, playing with the cups and water cooler they had set out, slamming locker doors, you get the picture.

I think, ultimately, he had a good time, and was actually quite the little bowler (he got 103 the first game and was at 60 something the second game before he flat out refused to bowl anymore!)

How stinkin' cute are his little bowling shoes?

Patiently (yeah right!) waiting his turn.

For those of you who have never been bowling with a two year old, this is how they do it.
(Watch the video for a better idea. Cole is OBSESSED with this video, which is the reason I assume that he enjoyed himself!)

Music to my ears!

I was able to catch Cole doing his AWESOME cover of "oompa loompa" today! Enjoy!

I'm back

So- I've been away for a while, and oh the amount of things that happen when one takes a break. I won't bore you with all of them. Cole and I took a trip to Utah with my family (I may post pictures of that later), I started a blog for my MOMS Club (sorry, its private), Abe took a trip to Alaska, I have been dealing with endless amounts of drama (boring to talk about), and helping with my upcoming 10 year reunion. Cole and I also took cookies to the firemen on September 11, as part of a MOMS Club function, where Cole made friends with the firemen and got his very own (plastic) helmet! He was in heaven and now yells hi at the station (which is down the street from our house) all 4+ times a day that we drive by. That's just what I can think of right now, though I know there was so much more!

Cole has started saying several more words including but not limited to, MA- FINALLY!!!, "hops"- for when he's showing off his awesome hops, and "housh"- house. He sings the "oompa loompa" song from Willy Wonka- his new obsession (he doesn't sing it well, but he gets the gist of it), and he has become an expert eye roller- which is so hard to not laugh at! He has also been consistently saying "plis" which is so hard to turn down, though he still won't say please when you ask him to. He is definitely quite the entertainer, and makes me laugh most of the day!

We also went on a MOMS Club "camping" trip this past weekend. We stayed at a KOA, hence the quotes around camping. We'd never been to a KOA before, and it was interesting. I think it would have been ultimately enjoyable if it hadn't been for the I-40 within throwing distance, and the railway, not far beyond that, keeping us up most of the night. We did have a good time though, and really enjoyed getting to hang out as a family, too.

Cole had fun. In an effort to try and "pack light' I neglected to bring toys- I know, WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!?? I guess I figured there would be stuff for him to do, and kids to play with, so carting toys was unnecessary. Abe ended up pulling out his tool kit and letting Cole play with his tools- he enjoyed it way more than he would have his toys, so it all worked out.

Dozer taking a break on the cooler.

Cole still playing with the tools- notice the "tongue of concentration"

This is one of Cole's friends from playgroup. He's a bit bigger than Cole, so I had to assist with the teeter totter momentum.

These next few are from our MOMS Club potluck dinner. We sure had quite the turn out!

Cole kept running up the ramp at the Kabin next door, and jiggling the door knob (a cabin which I believed was occupied. Poor people, dealing with my obnoxious kid playing with their door and running around on their porch, not to mention the gathering that formed just outside their door!)

We finally gained control by doing this...

Shortly after, Cole came up, told me bye bye, shook my hand (which he picked up from a TV show) signaling he was ready for bed. Really, he was ready for this...

Dozer taking a break on the luggage.

Breakfast in bed.

(This really wasn't his breakfast, more of a morning snack. We went and had real breakfast at a cute little diner in Williams. Notice he pulled the DVD player into bed with him,too!)

We needed to get the camper packed up, and needed Cole wrangled. This was what we came up with, and as you can see, it was pretty devastating!

Thinking about making a break for it...

Before the other MOMS Club people began arriving, we broke down and bought Cole some toys at the little KOA convenience store. Here he is playing with Dad.