Keeping Occupied

Right now Chase is plopped in front of the t.v. watching Sprout(The Wiggles specifically), and he just announced "Chase pooping" So I figured I'd try to knock out a few paragraphs before he says "time to change."  This may indicate his diaper or the channel, you don't always know:)  Potting training just isn't happening right now.  I know he's still young, but it would be nice to be making a little bit of progress.  

The little man has has grown increasingly more and more independent recently.  Some days this means he believes he can do the same things as bigger kids.  Since he has no fear, he doesn't realize that climbing on the jungle gym clearly marked "for kids 5-12 yrs" might not be a good idea.  As much as I try to protect him from getting knocked over and a little roughed up, he will pick himself right up off the ground and go in for more, so I allow him to hang with the older kids sometimes.  Please don't think I'm allowing my kid to get trampled all the time! 

 For example, he just got over his fear of bounce  houses and its fall festival season, so every time we go to an outing he wants to jump and bounce like a madman.  The problem of course is that out of all of the recent festivals, only one has had a dedicated little kid moon bounce.  Trying to explain to a two-year old that he can't bounce because he is too little just doesn't work some days.  Instead, I wait until the moon bounce is as cleared out as possibly, and then let him hop on in.  Most, but definitely not all parents, are mindful of the fact that a toddler has entered and keep their older children out for a bit.  Or at least say "Be careful around the baby." The past few times Chase has bounced there have been little girls that gravitates to him and will keep him safe. Yay for Mommy not needing to go in with him!  They kind of frown about that you know?  

Okay, the little man is ready to go get changed!

  One last quick comment regarding parents watching/not watching their kids.  I know I used to be hypervigilant about letting Chase play with other kids, but on the flipside some parents are just oblivious.  This drives me crazy.  A few months ago we went to an indoor play place and this one toddler was "bullying" the other kids. He was hitting other kids, and even knocked a few down. His mom mind you was not following the five ft. distance rule, and was running her mouth on the other side of the room.  This little kid had a balloon tied to his wrist(yet another safe idea as he is running around like the Tasmanian devil and going down slides) and Chase decided to touch his balloon.  The kid burst out in tears and ran over to his mom.  She immediately scooped him up, and the blubbering mess told her another kid touched his balloon.  This woman was quickly on the defensive, "how dare another child touch her kid's stuff" was the look on her face. Amazing. He was just beating the sh** out of other kids, lady.  He deserved way worse than my kid touching his precious balloon.  Maybe you should watch you kid from now on...

Rant finished:)

End of Summer Fun

Okay, gonna try a new technique here.  I used to wait til Chase was sleeping at night to blog, and since that clearly continues to not go well, I'm going to have to switch to nap time.  Since I am sure our followers have dwindled significantly due to my lack of updates, I am going to try to rally and make a conscience effort to post.  I know I've already said this a few times, so be patient.  Between the beginning of July when his travel started, and mid November(projected end date) I have figured out that Jas will have been home a grand total of maybe 25 days.  Needless to say, Chase has kept me very busy for the past few months.  So cut me some slack please!

To give you an idea of how busy it has been...I just tried to upload pictures, and realized that they are all still on the camera.  That's since the beginning of August.  Man, time really does fly, and I have some serious catching up to do.

Instead of doing separate posts for different activities, I'm going to combine a bunch of days.  When Jas is home for his 3-day stints we usually cram in as much family stuff as possible.  So sometimes we will hit up a museum and a festival in one weekend.  When he isn't traveling we like to bum around and not run around so much on the weekends, but  now Daddy time is precious.  He wants to share in as many fun activities with Chaser as possible.  Also, not gonna lie, it is hard to chase a two-year old around by yourself.  So although the little man and I do lots of fun stuff before I head to work in the afternoons, its much easier when you have a second set of hands.


First we'll share some Mommy and Chase outings:

Garden State Discovery Museum

Climbing up the slide of course! 

Giant Lite Brite

Following in Daddy's footsteps

Digging for dinosaur bones

 Kidz Village

We headed to North Jersey to meet up with my college roommates and their girls. Trying to coordinate our schedules was next to impossible, and we wanted to do it before school was back in session.  It ended up being a rainy day, and I got a ticket for the tint on my car on the way back.  But otherwise, we had a blast!

Literally a blast, as you can see:)

Chase enjoyed being in the middle of the rocket-ball launchers more than anything!

Out for a ride with my girls

Getting a picture of three 2 yr olds is next to impossible

Trips with Mommy and Daddy-YAY!!

Please Touch Museum

Since we have a family membership to the Discovery Museum we have a reciprocity with a ton of other museums all over the country.  When Jas was home we decided to head to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, and then to the Please Touch Museum for a fun filled afternoon.  The museum is in a beautiful new location, and although it was packed, there were a lot of great exhibits.

Vroom, vroom

Selling Rita's Water Ice with some girls

Just like in BIG

Not a huge fan of the carousel

Working off his lunch on the kiddie treadmill

Driving the trolley

 Daytrip to LBI

We hadn't been to LBI in years, and this makes me sad, since its where Jas and I met.  Enjoying another day of perfect weather on Jas' last day home we decided to take a drive down, and show Chase off to our old boss at Terrace.  It was 13 yrs ago this August that we met!  After we stopped in for lunch we headed to the lighthouse.  This was actually the first time that either Jas or I had been to the top. He carried Chase all 216 stairs!

I am still learning how to mess with the settings on my camera, so these shots aren't great. I am also still very slow with adjusting during different times of the day.  This was worst time of day, so I had to make do.   I'll never get better unless I practice under all lighting conditions!!

View from the top, and a neat shadow

Watching the fishermen

No fish, but he spotted a bird

Jas is coming home this weekend, so maybe we'll head to the Renaissance Fair! Maybe this weekend I will catch a shot of Chase smiling at the camera.  He always looks so serious.  He honestly will giggle and laugh like crazy, until I pick up my camera or phone.  What a bugger!

Bad Blogger

Sorry I have been a terrible blogger recently. Jas' has been traveling most of the summer, and Chase has kept me busy.  We've gone on a bunch of day trips, and I promise to post soon.  For this post I'm going to just share some more cute pics of Chase from Pat and Jenna's wedding.  I just got to see all of their awesome shots from their photographer!  

Arizona

So since Jas is spending most of the next few months in Tucson, I decided to take a few day off to fly out and see him.   His schedule is roughly work three wks(7 days a week/13 hrs a day) and then come home for three days.  The day I flew in he worked 6.5 hrs before picking me up at the airport at 1pm.  Nuts right?  Anyway, this was my first time away from Chaser for more than a night, so even though it was nice to get away, it was hard to not miss him like crazy.  We decided that his first flight should be with both Mommy and Daddy, and frankly I don't know if he would sit still on an airplane.  Jas also worked the whole time I was at the resort anyway, so it wouldn't have been that much fun for the little man.

The resort was beautiful, nestled in the Tuscon Mountain Park overlooking the city.  My luck of course was that the spa was closed for renovations the exact four days I was visiting.  I ended up relaxing, reading the last two books of Fifty Shades, hiking, and vegging by the pool with drinks.  Every night when Jas got home from being out in the desert we'd hang around the resort or head into town for delicious food and libations.  My last night he did comment however, that my visit almost made things worse because it would just mean he'd be more lonely when I left:(  Skyping for 3 wks just doesn't cut it!! 

The Resort

Golf Course

 Sunrise

 Morning Hikes

Mule Deer

Saguaro Cactus grow mostly facing Southwest

Matt my tour guide

Snake!

   

Prickly Pear Cactus made for some delicious margaritas!

Lantana are perennials in AZ!

Attempt at a shot from our room balcony with the self timer.  All dressed up for a night out:)

And of course from Instagram...

My daily view

The lazy river

Post hike pick-me-up and relaxation

 And of course some drinks and food!!!

All of the drinks were spicy and delicious!

Our first time having bone marrow....decadent!

Award winning Pozole and a Summer sangria

Tequila shots at 5:30 on the patio

 One of my favorite shots-

The resort wasn't crowded midweek, so I had the whole restaurant to myself

The trip was short and hot, but super relaxing.  I loved seeing Jas-but couldn't wait to get back to see the little man.