Two Big Firsts for Chase

Chase started his first official sport, blastball! It's like tee-ball with one base that makes a honking noise when the kids jump on it. When the kids are fielding ground balls they have to yell "blast". There are no outs and no one keeps score. Chase has been asking to play sports for a long time now! I mean, this kids first official word was "ball"! Now, before I tell you how Chase did, let me say that we had to sign a waiver so he could play up a year. Instead of two and three year olds, Chase is playing with four year olds as well because the league did not have enough of one or the other. So, that being said, my son's attention span lasted about a whopping 10 minutes! We had our first team practice and Chase hit the ball, ran to the base, jumped on it a couple times to hear it honk and seemed to like it! Unfortunately, when the other boys hit, the older boys were able to get to the ball before Chase and I could tell he was losing interest quickly. He started making his way to the slides and swing set with Cory chasing him or was obsessed with the orange cone. Yes, that was my child, the one short of picking flowers! Fabulous! The other big thing that happened for Chase is he started his first day at his new school on Tuesday. As a mom, you are always apprehensive on how change will effect your kids especially at such a young age and Chase has never really liked change. Well, apparently HE changed lol! As we were walking him up to his new classroom, he noticed the slides and playground and started saying, "I want to tell daddy bye bye see ya later, I want to tell mommy bye bye see you later and I'm going to play in that!" pointing over to the playground. We handed him over to the teachers and he happily said goodbye to us and never looked back. I didn't know whether I should be sad or happy that he's so independent?! Its a little bittersweet but I know if he screamed I would leave feeling awful! So far so good!!

First Official Family Trip!

I had the ingenious idea to plan our first family trip for Labor Day weekend! We can finally start making some awesome memories as a family! And let me just say, there is never a dull moment in our current life! We started our trip bright and early Saturday morning! I had set an itinerary and we loosely stuck to it to my surprise. We were, of course, an hour behind leaving the house! With two kids and one of them being a very independent and opinionated two year old, that's pretty darn good timing! Chase refused to wear the clothes mommy left out for him so that added about a 25 minute tantrum even after he chose the same two shirts he always wears! At least this time the pants matched the shirt! I'm sure when he goes to school they must think he has no clothes!! Okay, back to my story... The car was packed and I made sure I had easy access to all baby supplies. Our journey began and we were off to San Antonio! Everything was going like clockwork! Chase was into all the books and games I got him, watched Netflix on Cory's phone and Shane took his morning nap. We made our only official stop, after a couple of bathroom breaks for Chase-e-poo, in Austin and met our friend for lunch at Freddie's Austin. Really neat place with a swingset for kids outside! (Great pick Sara!) Chase loved it! Then after our stop, we were all back in the car. The 2nd leg of the trip was a little more challenging because Shane did not understand why he was crammed back into his carseat. We finally arrived in San Antonio and checked into our hotel. We loaded up the cart with our bags, one for each boy and one for Cory and I to share, double stroller, diaper bag, bottled water for Shane's formula, bag of baby supplies, Chase's toys, pack n' play, etc. It was excessive but I was not going unprepared! I tried to bring the baby saucer but it would not fit in our Tahoe! So, we checked in and took Chase to the rooftop pool. Then decided to take the boys for a stroll around downtown. Um, has anyone been to downtown San Antonio during the day? It is filled with characters and homeless people that are out. Of. Their. Mind. Every single person we encountered had a neck tatoo on the side of their neck. And mind you, we stayed in a really nice hotel/suite on the riverwalk! Anyways, the first night was pretty challenging because Chase decided he did not want to go to bed. I'm sure it was from all the excitement of staying in a hotel and all the hype about going to SeaWorld in the morning. Mommy and daddy got no sleep to say the least! Next day, we woke up and headed over to SeaWorld for our brunch with Elmo and all the Sesame Street gang. This was priceless! If you ever go to SeaWorld, you HAVE to do this if you have little ones 4 and under! Chase had a smile from ear to ear and Shane was in awe of all the characters! The entire brunch the characters make their rounds over and over to your table and take pictures with you, and play games after brunch like hide n' seek! It was awesome! The only downside was Shane was the youngest (most kids were Chase's age) and the characters were all over him! They would not leave our table! Even Elmo insisted on holding him- I mean, there was no negotiation, Elmo was going to hold him! It was a little overwhelming and borderline stalker- ish lol! But sweet nonetheless! After brunch, because the park is not open until after brunch, we basically had the whole park to ourselves without any crowds. The weather was perfect! They have a big splash park in the Sesame Street town, lots of tunnels above the town and rides! Chase had the time of his life! After 4 hours of Sesame Street, we saw the Shamu show and then both boys hit a wall! We left after another hour of the splash park, and had a really late lunch hectic lunch. We had been feeding Chase sugar and juice all day to keep the energy up -don't judge us!!! We got back downtown and went to the mall, walked around, got room service and put the boys to bed, opened a bottle wine (yes, mommy and daddy need to unwind now and then), went to sleep, woke up, drove home, stopped for lunch on the way! All in all, it was a blast! A LOT of work at times but soo glad we did it!!!!! Cannot wait to go to Disney World hopefully next year!!!