Rainy Day Entertainment

Yesterday was rainy. And cold. The rain and cold makes for a very deary day. Z and I desperately needed to get out of the house, but cold and rainy days aren't the best for outside activities. So what did we do? We did an outside activity... inside! Well, inside the car at least.

We decided to take some bread down to a nearby "lake" (its really just a large pond) and fed the ducks! When the weather is nice we like to take stroll around the "lake", but because of all the rain, the walking path was pretty gross. Needless to say, the flooded walking path and the rain clouds looming over our heads made us stay in the car. Which was actually pretty fun!




Zachariah thought the ducks were "so cute" and could not wait to hop up in the front seat and feed them some bread. He kept saying "aww. there so happy!".




And he was right. They were happy. In fact they were so happy that they decided to call all of their friends over to our car.

Oh goodie.

I'm not gonna lie. I am so incredibly glad we had to stay in the car to feed the ducks today. They frighten the crap out of me (not literally). Those white creatures and the canadian geese that reside at this pond are vicious. No joke. They are horrible animals and they will poke your eye out for a measly piece of bread. Its a battlefield out there.




When we ran out of bread Zachariah was content to just sit and watch the ducks and vicious geese. They stuck around to see if Z would offer himself up as live bait, but once they realized he was staying put they waddled off to find some other source of nourishment.

Stupid ducks.




All in all, this little outing was just what we needed to make our dreary day less dreary. And that, my dear friends, makes for one happy mommy and toddler. :)

Firworks and Horse Rides and Funnel Cakes! Oh, My! {Independence Day Post #3}

I am FINALLY wrapping up my Independence Day posts. Regardless of how late I am, here it is. The final post of our 4th of July weekend. I know you have all been waiting with great anticipation (ha!), so I will just get right to the point.

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to an event put on by a church here in town. There was jumpy things for the kids, horse/pony rides, a drum line, marine corps band, a couple church choirs, cake walks, carnival food, and fireworks.

Despite the rain that postponed everything, it was a lot of fun! Due to a guy talking for WAY to long before the fireworks started, Zachariah stayed up way past his bed time. We seriously didn't get him home and in bed until midnight. We were all completely exhausted, but I came home with a few cute pictures and a lot of funny stories. :)

Lets start with the drum line, shall we?

A local high school's drum line came and preformed. I think its safe to say that everyone enjoyed it (I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good drum line?), but I am pretty darn sure that Zachariah enjoyed it more than anyone else there.

Seriously. He loved it. He would play the "air drums" and dance his heart out. We had strangers standing around video taping him instead of the drum line. It cracked me up. I took a couple pictures of his dancing... but they do NOT, under any circumstance, do it justice. He was just so funny!

Here he is. About to break it down. Feeling the rhythm... becoming one with the drums.

And then BAM! He breaks it down. He was dancing like there was no tomorrow. When the drum line left, he ran after them and said "I want that". His first three word sentence. We are going to have to get him a drum set, or some bongos at least.


Immediately after the drum line came the Marine Corps Band.

Lets just take a moment and discuss how much I love Marines. Okay?

I love Marines. I feel week in the knees when I see a group of handsome men in dress blues. That is all there is to it.

End of discussion.

Back to our regularly scheduled program. *ahem*

Zachariah sat with my Dad (a former Marine, mind you) for the first bit of the band playing. And then he started feeling the rhythm again. There was not a thing he could do about it.

So he got up and danced some more. And drummed. And danced. And drummed.

Have I mentioned how funny this was??

Ok. Moving on to the horses.


Zachariah loves animals. He loves making animal noises, and he loves seeing animals. So when he saw the pony rides, he went a little crazy. He wanted so badly to get to them. So we waited in line... all the while it was obvious he was pretty pumped.

Getting on the horse was apparently not what he had been expecting. Because he sure enough freaked out.

This picture makes me laugh every time. This is Daniel walking Zachariah to the exit after the meltdown. Haha.


After the pony rides, we decided to head on over to the big dogs. Errr... horses. Yet again, Zachariah was going CRAZY in line, whining because we couldn't get him there fast enough. But as soon as he got close, he freaked. But dad gum it, mommy wanted to ride a horse. So ride it we did. Screaming toddler and all.


After all the drama, all the activities were closing down and we went to find our places to get ready for the fireworks. Little did we know it would be 2 freaking hours before they actually started, but ah well. Such is life.

While we waited we indulged in a nice healthy snack. Grease and sugar are healthy, right? Right?

Despite the lack of nutrition, Zachariah ate about half of that sucker. I am surprised he didn't puke.


Due to Zachariah's cuteness, he had captivated everyone's attention around him. So while waiting for the fireworks, Daddy and Zachariah preformed some tricks for the crowd. :)

Here is Zac with his Nana. Aka: My mom. She went and stole a balloon from some kid that was not so deserving. That kept him occupied for a good while. Thank goodness for Nana's!


And now, the fireworks.

Say it with me now....

Oooooo!

Ahhhhhhh!

Daniel took this set of pictures. I loved the whole sequence of the fireworks thing going on here. :)
Well folks, that concludes our Independence Day Weekend. We were one tired crew, but we had a lots of fun with our family and friends!


Hope everyone had just as much fun as we did!! :)

Our Day...

was filled with lots of fun. I neglected housework (typical) and did not drag Zachariah on a single errand. We just had a fun, relaxing morning doing what Zachariah wanted to do. Without any time constraints whatsoever. And you know what? He was SUCH a happy camper all day long.

Oh, and I took a lot of pictures. Because I am a picture freak. So you are going to just have to bear with me. :)

We started the day eating breakfast on Zachariah's playroom furniture. But we moved it into the kitchen. He LOVED this and did really well staying in his chair. So we may try this again!

(and in case anyone is wondering... he is eating a scrambled egg, a whole wheat blueberry pancake and a whole wheat sweet potato pancake. With a side of juice. Yeah... he can put down some food.)

After breakfast we headed to the play room and played in there for a good hour. We played with his Little People toy (a new favorite), and then we dove into some coloring.

Though we have tons of coloring books, we like to color on this spiffy material that Daddy brings home from work. It covers over half the floor and Zachariah has a BLAST coloring all over it.

See? Doesn't that look fun?!? Oh how I love to color.

Anyway, after our coloring we decided to get dressed and head to the lake for a walk. I didn't bring my camera though, because I needed my hands free in case I had to protect my son from the killer geese. *shudder*

We ended the morning with some play time on Mommy and Daddy's bed (Another current favorite of Zachariah's).
And yes, I am pretty sure he is having a pillow fight with himself.
Crazy kid.

Hope your Thursday was just as great as ours! :)

Park Fun

Zachariah woke up a bit whiny. To be honest, he has been whiny and fussy all weekend. And since I just do NOT have the patience to be stuck inside with a whiny toddler today, we decided to go to the park. Much to our surprise there was some type of special event going on (still have no idea what it was called) and there were lots of fun activities that kept Zachariah "ooo-ing" and "ahh-ing".

He played in the bouncy thingy and loved it. He has never worked up the courage to get in one of these before... but since we got there right before the rush, he had the whole thing to himself! Until a school group came and almost trampled him. But I wont go into that in fear of the horrible things I would say about the so called "teacher" in charge of them.


After the stampede incident, we walked around and found some horses! Oh how he loved this. As soon as he saw these miniature horses he started making the "horse sound" and pointing vigorously. He would give the horse (named cricket) two pats on its back, then walk back to me with a proud look on his face. It was the cutest darn thing to watch.



There was also an animal show with some really cool lizards. He LOVED that. But the darn lady skipped right over him when she was letting all the kids pet the lizard. He was signing "please" with all his might. He was heartbroken when he realized he wasn't going to get to touch that lizard. :(

But he was a big boy and didn't shed a single tear. So we went over to the play ground and he had the whole place to himself... which cheered him right up! :)




Overall, it was a pretty good morning! And of course, anything that ends with my baby being a happy camper makes mommy a happy camper. :)



Happy Monday!

Fun Weekend

Yesterday we took a road trip to Columbus, GA to visit some family. Zachariah had SUCH a fun time playing with his cousin, Jackson! They are only 2 months apart, so they both had the running thing down pat. It was so cute to see them running around together. They were EVERYWHERE. I was actually very shocked to see I got a picture of the two of them sitting still!


Let me just say how proud I am of my little man. He sat in a car seat for an hour and a half on the way there, he sat in a highchair at a restaurant once we arrived, he socialized with a large crowd of people all day AND he let several people hold him (which very rarely happens). All of that on no nap whatsoever (which NEVER happens. This kid loves his naps). He was a trouper throughout the whole day. No whining, complaining or attitudes were had. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

What surprised me even more, was that he fell asleep on the way home. He never falls asleep in his car seat. I don't think he has slept in the car since he was 6 months old. He slept for a solid hour too! Yet again, pleasantly surprised would best describe me.

Anyway, enough of my babble. Here are some pictures I took on the way home. I call these "the evolution of a nap". :)

the eye rub

the giraffe to the nose
(don't ask me why, but this is how he goes to sleep. he
has to put the giraffe up to his face. every. single. time.)

...and sleep finally takes over

I love pictures of him sleeping. I cant get enough of them.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Finally!

I have been trying to upload these pictures for two weeks now, but blogger has had a few issues with the size of the photos. So I have finally taken the time to re-size them so I could share them with you all. :)

Anyway, these pictures are from the first time Zachariah played with Play-Dough. I was a bit paranoid about him attempting to eat it, but he did really well! Once he figured out that we weren't sitting at the table to eat, he was good to go.

These first two pictures are of Z "pretending" to eat the play-dough. It was cracking me up. He would piece to his lips and say "Mmmmm!". Then he would look at me and give me the cutest little smirk.

Zachariah's cookie cutter of choice was definitely the pig. He has since moved on to other things, but the pig was his favorite the first day. I showed him how to do it one time, then he took over from there. I was amazed at how fast he figured everything out. I just love watching his little mind work!

Anyway! Without further adieu, here is the evolution of Zachariah's Play-Dough pig...

Needless to say, he was VERY proud of his first play-dough animal. :)

I just want to add that we were given a TON of play-dough accessories by our goddaughter. Cookie cutters, stamps, utensils... you name it, its probably in our stash. But at the end of the day, its a good ol' play-dough ball that really kept my little man entertained. :)

Happy Wednesday!