Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Playground Fun!


This poor kid is STILL not 100%.  This stupid, stupid cold that snuck in during his teething is just not letting up.  It's down to a runny-then-kind-of-stuffy-nose and a cough that usually shows up after sleeping or just randomly at night.  Fun.

I'm in the "get the kid out of the house for some fresh air" camp, though, so we've managed a few playground visits during times that I know it'll be pretty empty.  It's also been pretty chilly here, so we've had the opportunity to break out our winter clothes...Yay!  (Seriously, I have coats and sweaters that I've really missed for a few years.)
Here's my Easy-E at our local playground.  He was so happy to be outside, playing :)


We seem to find ourselves heading down to the Strip about once a week...and usually on the weekends.  It just works out that way and also makes for some pretty stellar people-watching.  Holy crap - people wear the craziest things here just because it's Vegas.

Two weeks ago, we met up with Uncle Scotty & Aunt Cheryl - who we haven't seen since our wedding in Jamaica.  They were in town for a couple days, so we had dinner and caught up...and they got to meet Mr. Ezra!  Well, we tried to catch up - it was mostly me chasing Ezra around the restaurant and into the casino while Jordan got to chitchat with them :)  Either way, they're awesome and we're so happy to have been able to see them.

The next weekend (which would be last weekend) we went to Town Square, which is just off the Strip and very reminiscent of some walky-shopping areas in North Texas.  It's got a ton of awesome stores, some restaurants and, surprise! a cute playground in the middle!!  We really didn't expect it to be there, but it made for some good times for E-Man.
Here's Ez up on the stage, getting ready to bow to his adoring fans ;-)

He refused to try the other slides...only going down this one - despite the fact that he would nearly fall off or bust his cute little face each and every time he went down...

He just climbs up ladders by himself now.  What?

The whole playground is a bunch of mini-houses with ladders and steps going up and slides going down.  Even the insides of these houses are set up with fully-set tables, etc.  It's super cute.  Here's Ez and Jordan in the maze!


Ezra has made up his own sign for "fountain."  Actually, I've never looked it up, so he might really be signing it correctly, purely by coincidence....who knows.  Either way, we went to watch the fountains at the Bellagio, upon Ezra's request, and ended up also fulfilling another request...a train ride.

Well, not really a train.  It's a tram.  Between the casinos.  Whatever.

Yep, we intentionally park a little ways away from our destination just so that we have the opportunity to ride a tram.  Suckers.  That's what we are.

Here's me and Ez outside the Aria.  We found these awesome chairs and had to try them out :)

And finally, here's the happiest kid on earth...riding the tram.  It's the little things, folks...the little things...













Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Spooky Side of Shark Reef!

The weekend before Halloween, we took Ezra down to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.  They'd decorated it for Halloween and had a couple people passing out candy to the kids.  It's pretty small, but cute...and Ez really likes fish and turtles, so it was kind of imperative that we check it out :)

Here's Ez and Jordan down on the Strip

See the fish...trying to attack Ez's head?  Yup.

Me and my Easy-E, surrounded by fish!

The boys, checking out the stingrays.  Ezra was really more interested in throwing the plastic eyeballs at the rays ;-)

Look at the face!

Cheeeeeeeeeessssseeeeeee!

Scary!!

Ez and I after our walk through the aquarium.  He likes all the fountains lights inside the casinos...we might have a problem...

Stumbling around Mandalay Bay...

Naturally, we walked down to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show!  Here's Jordan and Easy waiting for it to begin...

Hanging out amongst the gods and goddesses at Caesars Palace...

Look!  The Eiffel Tower ;-)  Also, let's just ignore that fact that the flash played an awful trick on me and my purple sweater. 

There's all kinds of terribly-made costumed characters lining the sidewalks on the Strip.  Ez is IN LOVE with Minnie (and all the classic Disney characters) right now, so he snuggled with her and got a hug :)


Friday, November 9, 2012

Playing Catch-Up

I got so behind posting pictures that I just completely forgot about a few that I thought were pretty damn cute...


Here's Ezra's 25-Month picture!  They don't exactly make the onesie stickers for 24+ months, so we're just going to have to make a sign each month :)  

A sleeping Ez.  He's such a sweet, sweet boy.  Also, notice the blanket - it was mine when I was a baby :)

 Is that The Cat In The Hat or Ezra?  

 And finally, this was Ezra's reaction to all the political commercials here in the swing state of Nevada.  HOLY CRAP, it was insane.

Ez and I are finally starting to get over these crazy colds.  My voice is mostly back and he's a little less leaky/miserable.  Having a sick kid sucks...I'm just glad it doesn't happen often at all :)

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Easy-E and I left San Diego around 10:30 on Halloween morning.  We'd had a pretty rough night of sleep - he was so stuffed up and just uncomfortable trying to breathe through all of that congestion, and I started getting sick overnight as well.  He couldn't inhale through his nose and I couldn't swallow because my throat was swollen...we were quite the pair ;-)  

So, after a quick stop at Peet's (I totally regretted not going back to Papalecco's again for coffee and Ez's egg & cheese croissant), we headed home.  He was pretty content for the first hour.  Then he realized that he was stuck in that damn carseat and was not too pleased.  His cold and his teething pain just got worse and worse.  I tried everything I could to make him comfortable - frozen blueberries (his favorite), his teething tablets, the iPad, his toys...you name it, I tried it.  I had to stop twice and getting back on the road was really difficult after taking him out of the car.  
He actually screamed the whole time we were at a rest stop just outside Barstow.  Like, walking around, looking at trucks, in the bathroom....people must've thought I stole him from his mama :(  Poor kid wasn't happy.

We finally made it home by about 3:45.  Much later than I'd anticipated, considering the completely uneventful ride down...but we made it, nonetheless.

As soon as we passed the big inflatable slide at the make-shift pumpkin patch a couple blocks away from our house, he started whining "Sliiiiiidddee!  Slllliiiiddddeee!"  Naturally, after such a horrific ride home, we had to make him happy by taking him to the slide ;-)

Yep, we're suckers when it comes to this kid.

And here he is in his Fireman costume!  He's been wearing it since the day I bought it for him and practicing saying Trick or Treat (tick a tee) with his candy pail.  He's so freaking cute.

To start off, Ez thought it would be easier to just take candy from our house, rather than put in the effort to walk around and collect it from the neighbors ;-)

Once again, getting this kid to look at me for a picture is near impossible...but he's still ridiculously cute in his costume...

Ez started off by trick or treating over at the next door neighbor's house, just to make sure he had his game face on...

He ended up visiting a few houses around us and coming back home to help me pass out candy...which, he loved doing.  So much so that when he woke up the next day, he grabbed the bowl of candy we had on a table, took it to the front door and knocked on the door himself :)  I think he's got himself a job next Halloween (after he collects some candy for me again ;-))

Friday, November 2, 2012

Oma's Pumpkin Patch!


One of the big reasons why Ez and I went back to San Diego was to visit Oma's Pumpkin Patch.  We thought we were starting a tradition last year by going with our friends...and we really wanted to continue it this year.  The kids have a great time, it's got a lot of different things for them to do and has a ton of cute photo ops :)

We arrived a little later than expected, so we had to hop right on to the tractor-pulled hayride.  Since it was so dark already, I didn't get any good pics of that -- but Ezra really enjoyed the cows (despite the overwhelming stink).


Right after the hayride, we made a beeline for the cottonseed hill.  There were a lot of punkish older kids hoarding the saucers, so we got the little ones to roll around and act crazy...thus frightening the punks and causing them to leave their saucers for our kids to play with.  Genius, right?!
Here's me and my E-Z.  I look a little strung-out and he looks a little sick...so what?

One of his friends got the crazy-party started with her insane rolling around.  Her folks are going to be pulling cottonseeds out of her clothes and shoes for the next month!

I told him that tiny leprechauns had hidden their gold in the cottonseed...
Just kidding.

Ez, driving a tractor!  Please excuse the dust...you couldn't see it but everytime I took a photo, it was clouding the picture :(

You can't really tell here, but this tractor was painted to look like a cow.  Ez really liked this one...probably because it was a huge pain to get him all the way up into the seat :)

By the time I pried him off the tractors, he was pretty pissed at me.  He didn't want to smile at the same time as he was looking at the camera...so this is the best I could get...

...And then he got to "milk" the fake cows...which made him happy again.  This kid and milk....

Disregard the Happy Birthday wishes...

Ezra picked out a perfect pumpkin!

Thugs, roughing up the pumpkins...

You can see how my normally happy, smiley kid was just about to hit that "I'm sick and don't want to do this anymore" wall.

But he rallied for a group shot!  That's my boy!

We ended up grabbing a late dinner at the same place we went to last year.  Not because the food was particularly good (it's okay) or the service was phenomenal (they seem to really be annoyed when kids/babies arrive)...but because there really isn't much for options in Lakeside ;-)  They gave us our own room in the restaurant (same one as last year!) and the kids were generally well-behaved, so it was a win.





Thursday, November 1, 2012

Back in San Diego...which can only mean one thing -- The Zoo!!


Ezra and I took a quick trip to San Diego a couple days ago.  I just can't stay away ;-)

The ride down was completely awesome -- Ez checked out the cars and trucks and "Slides!!" (any mountain with a smoother surface is a slide, according to my kid), he watched every episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sid the Science Kid, Super Why, Cat in the Hat, and Dora the Explorer that I'd put on the iPad....and even caught a nap.  No crying, no whining, and we even made it there without having to stop a single time...it was perfect.

We arrived around 7 and grabbed some pizza at Bronx.  I know what you're thinking..."You weren't even in San Diego for an hour before you went to Bronx?  You're obsessed."  

And my response is yes.  Yes, you are correct.  It's that good.

It helps that we were both hungry and we were crashing at our friends house that is a block away from there...so back off.

The next morning, we were up bright and early to meet some friends at the zoo!  Ez has been signing his zoo animal signs since we left San Diego a month ago, so we just had to go for a visit.  

Easy-E has also been drooling like a Saint Bernard, has a runny nose and has been sporting some rosy red cheeks lately, which can only mean one thing....more teeth!!  Yay!  

(That was said with all of the sarcasm that my tired butt could manage)

That said, he really didn't seem to be bothered by it until Tuesday.  Then it just got progressively worse and he started seeming a little sick, too.  You can see the progression in the pictures that I took while we were there ;-)

Ez and his best buddy, walking along the path to the monkeys and gorillas.    ...And all is right with the world...

The little monkeys, checking out the other monkeys ;-)

He's such a big kid now...I can't believe how much he looks like Jordan in this one...

The shadows make him look even more mischievous than normal :)

I'm king of the world!

Ezra and Claire, BFF since 2010.

Nancy had her stroller and the baby, so I took the kids on the SkyFari (there's a 4 person limit per car).  Like always, getting both kids to look at the camera at the same time was nearly impossible.  They'd both say Cheeeeeeeessseeeee! but be looking in different directions.  To be fair, we were also high above the zoo...so there was a lot to look at that was WAY more interesting than me and my camera ;-)  Also, note the sickly face he's got here...boo for teeth and colds ganging up on my boy.

We had a great time at the zoo and Ez fell asleep as soon as we got back home.  After his nap, we headed out to Oma's Pumpkin Patch in Lakeside with our friends.  More pics to come!!