Festival Festivities!!!

Ahhh... festivals.

The magical places where $100 can disappear from your hands in a manner of minutes... the land of $5 lemonades, $6 corndogs and $20 carnival rides...

Nothing says summer like a rip-off... I mean, a festival... right??

I'm kidding about the rip-off...

Kinda...

Either way, last weekend was the annual Festival of Balloons (as in the hot air variety) and Neal had to go on Sunday and help his friend Cheyenne with his National Cornhole League, which had a space at the festival.

So we figured we'd all go and make a day of it.

Unfortunately, the balloons launch early on Sunday morning in a "good-bye" ceremony so we totally missed seeing any and all hot air balloons... which is part of the whole point of the festival... darn.

Austin, naturally had the best time!!

He checked out the fire truck and got to climb up in it and pretend to drive..

He also enjoyed showing the fireman his scab on his knee and getting some sympathy.

*cough, attention whore, cough*

Apparently I was the same with "wounds" and had to show everyone and their mother and reveled in the sympathy. The apple doesn't fall far...

Austin also played a fishing game and won a blow up alien he named Gloopy (from an alien character on his Umi Zoomi show)

Gloopy now is a member of the family. He protects the house while we are gone during the day, he gets invited to dinner, offered bites of food and drinks of milk, and nonnies at bedtime.

Welcome, Gloopy.

Austin also made a toy sailboat that he got to paint!

Ok, honestly... I whipped out my mad carpentry skills and hammered that bad boy together while my kid played with the safety goggles in the booth. Those nails are in there good too, if I do say so myself. Daddy didn't raise no fool when it comes to hand tools!

He painted his boat green and yellow. And for the record, he picked those Duck colors out all by HIM-SAY-ELF... quack!!

Then we saw some Storm Troopers and I..... uh... I mean, Austin... wanted to track them down!!! He wasn't too sure about them, and has never seen Star Wars, so I told him they were like policemen from outer space.

He did manage to give them a fist bump while I geeked out.

They were fabulous posers.

We had to ride a few carnival rides while we were there.. I mean, when in Rome, right??

Daddy was the lucky companion for Austin's first roller coaster ride!!

We think he had fun. Maybe. Not sure... but he didn't hate it, according to Neal.

But he did love the firetruck ride that went way high up in the air!!

We left the festival with a very tired little toddler, a new alien friend, and a lighter wallet. Hey, less weight to drag around, right??

And, I might add... the $6 corndog was delightful and worth every cent!

The Glynn's Go Bend!!!

Ok, so the title.. it's an inside family joke involving a nice old man once who didn't speak English well and gave driving directions to my Grandma to "go long... go Bend... go Albany."

So I had to incorporate that. :-)

Sometimes I get a bug up my ass and tell Neal we need to be better about doing this-or-that... whether that may be spending more quality time as a couple, or more quality time as a family, or whatever.

My newest thing is... we need to get out of the house and explore more. Go on more day trips. We live in this gorgeous state that has an ocean, a desert, mountains, trails, waterfalls and more... and our day trips had consisted of one (yes, ONE) trip a year to the coast. And that's about it.

Sad, in my book.

Time to make memories. Get out of the house. Show Austin (and soon, Owen) the great state of Oregon. Burn some gas. The toddler can nap in the car... so let's go!!!!!

So we went to Bend on Memorial Day and it was the best day!

The drive out there went smooth, we had some breakfast on the run, Austin played some games on his Kindle and just chatted our ears off.

Our first stop was the High Desert Museum. If you've never been, GO!!! One of the best places for kids I've ever been! Super interactive, interesting and with outdoor space to run!

Statues to play on, caves to explore, fish galore.. and trails to race Daddy on!

There was even a quiet spot to sit and watch the chipmunks run around...

The outdoor area of the museum had a homestead area and Austin loved it! There was replica of a high desert house from 1900 (totally decked out inside, and a guy dressed in period garb playing the part of a homesteader!!) where kids could scrub the porch, pump water, do laundry, and dig up potatoes.

Austin was quite a good little homesteader and worked real hard!!

There was also a replica 1900's sawmill, barn, outhouse, pantry..... It was very cool!

There was also modern equipment on display and we had to get a picture by the "big digger!!"

Inside there were exhibits about the Native Americans who used to populate the high desert, replicas of their camps and homes... a little "main street" of a founding town back in the turn of the century (complete with store fronts and all that!) and native animals.

Again, super impressed with this museum and how much there was for kids to do and interact with. Austin got to pet a real tortoise too!

At the snake exhibit all he kept saying was "I don YIKE SNAKES. I don YIKE snakes."

I taught him well. :-)

After the museum we grabbed lunch at a local burger joint. This was BEFORE I knew I had gained a bit too much weight... so call it my "last supper" if you will...  because it was GLORIOUS. And I probably won't eat anything like this again for the rest of my pregnancy...

We ate lunch in Drake Park and brought along some of Austin's toys.

He and Neal played baseball, golf, had a water gun fight (which I was the target of!) and monkeyed around in the sunshine.

We will definitely be doing more day trips like this... it was one of the best days we've spent together as a family!

After the park we were going to make one more stop, up on a look-out point.... but little man passed out in the car immediately and started snoring. So Neal and I just drove up, snapped a pic from the car, and then headed home.

Thanks for the gorgeous day Bend! We heart you!!

Austin's Favorite Things- 2 years

I meant to do this when Austin turned 2... it wasn't until I was looking back at old posts that I remembered this was something I wanted to do when he turned 2 and then every year after.

Well, better late then never!

Austin's Favorites at 2 years

Favorite color- ummm.. "geen!".....ummmmm "wed!" ummmm.... "beyou!!!"

Favorite toy- no brainer on this one.. his bat, ball, glove and baseball helmet. It's contstant "pay baseball" in our house!!

Favorite fruit- strawberries, raspberries, watermelon

Favorite TV show- Team UmiZoomi... the tiny math superheros!!

Favorite thing to eat for lunch- PB&J's. At school he loves the bean burritos

Favorite outfit- sweatpants

Favorite game- baseball, of course. 

Favorite snack- crackers and hummus, raisins, fruit snacks. 

Favorite animal- Albert the Alligator.. and real alligators at the zoo and elephants

Favorite song- Skit-ta-ma-rinky-rink

Favorite book- Goofy's Big Race

Favorite friend- Barrett. He loves his big yard!

Favorite cereal- Cheerios! Except he drinks the milk after. Gag. 

Favorite thing to do outside- go down Barrett's slide, over and over... and ride his scooter!

Favorite drink- anything.. he loves water, milk, juice... he gets a sip of fizzy water ("pop") when I have some.

Favorite holiday- Easter was fun! The Easter Bunny brought a scooter!

What do you take to bed- Albert the Alligator, a small pillow, Button the Bear, Buddy the Bear, some other bear, Goofy, and two blankets. There is an inch of bed left for him. 

Favorite Thing to Eat for Breakfast- a "cocktail" (a bit of orange juice mixed in with his green smoothie juice) and a breakfast cookie.

The Little Hobo Kid....

It was school picture time a few weeks ago at Austin's daycare.

I didn't really notice it was picture day, so I didn't really pay attention to what he was wearing that day... or think to bring nicer "picture" clothes to have him change into.. or notice what shoes he was wearing..

And the result is that a dirty, holey-shoes, crazy-haired little hobo kid was captured on film.

I may or may not have laughed so hard I cried when I saw these...  I mean, seriously!!!!!!!

I showed Neal and his reaction was "geez... who is this kid? Do his parents not care what he looks like??"

We couldn't get over how funny his wild hair (that will not be tamed no matter what we do), the dirty pants and the destroyed shoes were (he's really rough on shoes.. he drags his toes while riding around on trikes and scooters, so shoes last about 2 months before there are holes in the toes).

And that smirk??? Quintessential Austin. Always got something up his sleeve, always trying to be charming.. always a little bit of a stinker.

Austin's Bday!!

So I am really late in posting.. I've been distracted lately with life, and keeping up on my posts has really fell on the wayside.

Instead of a Project 857 post to recap Austin's family bday on 1/25 (because frankly, I didn't really get any pictures... I was just enjoying the day with my family) I'm just going to recap his real birthday which was Friday, 1/24.

What's better than waking up as a 2-year-old??? How about waking up as a 2-year-old who gets a donut for breakfast!!!

He was pretty delighted with the candle, the singing of Happy Birthday and did good blowing out his candle! And oh darn.. he didn't finish the whole donut and we had to help him out a bit. :-)

I took him in to school and his little friends decorated a card for him, and made him a Birthday crown that he wanted to wear all night long after I picked him up.

And he wanted to vacuum when we got home. Ok.... whatever floats your boat, there birthday boy.

Neal and I had him open presents from us that night, and he knew exactly what to do with them!

Thomas the Train stuff!!!!! All right!!!!!! He wanted it all set up immediately of course. Poor Neal.. Dads always get stuck setting up complicated toys. After about an hour, and a few head scratches we had a large (oh crap where are we going to store this thing???) Thomas set all rarin' to go.

If you can't tell, Austin thought it was worth the wait though!!!

He also got a smaller Thomas set... and got tired of posing for pictures.

I really can't believe my son is 2. I really can't. I don't think I can get into the sentimental feelings I have about him growing up or I would just ramble and blubber all over the place. But I will say this (in case he ever reads my blog posts)... I was a little scared and unsure when I was pregnant with him, but he is by far, the best, my amazing thing that has ever happened in my life. No words sometimes... and for someone who has no trouble being expressive.. to be speechless is a very big deal!

He is my heart and my soul and he always will be. My first baby, my Bambino, my little tornado. I'm so thrilled and honored I get to be his Mommy.

Ok.. I got through that in one piece!

The next day we had our whole family up to our house for brunch and to celebrate Austin! My parents, Neal's parents, Lori and Richard, my brother, sis-in-law and niece, my grandmothers, my Aunt from San Diego, my Uncle... we had a house full! It was awesome!

And left us like this:

Birthdays can be a lot of work!

Here's to the coming year and all the life adventures raising a 2-year-old will bring!

I learned it from watching you!

Ok, so that title may not be in the best taste... (anyone else think of the 90's say no to drugs commercial??) but it's kinda funny because that is what this post is all about.

If you haven't noticed, my son is a mini-Neal.. looks just like him in pretty much every single way. If I had a dollar for every "holy cow! You look like your Dad!" and "hello little Neal!" and "wow, we know who your Daddy is!!" comment I've had from people, Momma would have a new designer handbag. Just sayin'.

Austin just loves to do everything just like his Daddy.

Eating his morning Cheerios and watching cartoons or ESPN.. their little morning ritual and I just adore watching them!

 Having a little Friday night cocktail and saying "cheers!" to the weekend. Nothing like a cold glass of carrot/orange juice to kick off the weekend... ahh.. refreshing. *Clinky!*

 Learning the proper execution of the "sports-on-TV-floor-lounge" Not to be attempted until your belly is full of dinner, pants are taken off, and Sunday NFL is on.

Every good baseball player knows how to "take a knee" when he's listening to the Coach.

When we found out we were having a son I hoped and prayed that he would grow up to be a good man like his Daddy.... by the looks of it, he is well on his way! Love my guys!!

The Yes Man

I am writing this down because this is a freak of nature folks… rarely seen, barely believed… and I don’t know how long it will last..

Austin says “yes” to everything.

Can you believe it? A toddler who doesn’t relish in saying “no” and refusing everything that is offered to them????

Now, don’t get me wrong.. he still refuses things, but he doesn’t say “no" or shake his head. His way of refusing.. say food… is to fling his body sideways onto the floor or couch while flaying his arms around and smacking the food over, or onto the floor (to Henry’s delight) or anywhere else in a 10’ radius.

Drives me nuts.

I am actually trying to get him to just tell me “no” if he doesn’t want any yogurt instead of projectile flinging it across the room as he flings himself away from it.

But, I digress… this post is about all the things he says “yes” too and how super cute it is….

Do you want to take a bath?

Yes (he nods yes, by the way.. sometimes he’ll actually say it.)

Did you have a good day at school?

Yes.

Do you want a string cheese?

Yes.

Can you put on your jacket so we can go bye-bye?

Yes.

Do you want to go play in your sandbox?

Yes.

And my personal favorite….

Do you love Mommy?

YES!

Ok, so maybe I ask him this like 25 times a day because I never tire of seeing him nod “yes” to that question.. and like I said, this might be short-lived and any day he’ll start saying the dreaded “no” to everything.

So I’m soaking it up while I can! 

Mother's Day... crazy-eyed kid couldn't sit still!!!