Memorial Day Parade

We couldn't resist grabbing some breakfast and watching a Memorial Day Parade to celebrate those who have given their lives for our freedom. It was perfect weather, not overly crowded and tons of dogs for Drew to squeal at.

Oh and the bagel thins from Einstein are PERFECT to keep a toddler busy and he loves to tear off his own bites.

He munched on his food, watched the bagpipes, pointed to every animal and waved to the firetrucks. It was just a lovely Memorial Day morning complete with a nice, quaint parade for our family of 3.

Fun with Drew

We've always heard the phrase 'you always want your children to have more than you did' by many parents. There is an innate sense of responsibility that us parents have towards our children and the yearning to provide the absolute most that we can is deep within our hearts.

Part of my desire as a mother is to take him out and experience as much as possible. I feel that he soaks up everything around him and therefore it can only do him good to expose him to as much as I can. Growing up, my parents were big on cultural activities around town and around the country and I feel blessed to have been surrounded by that. We saw and learned so much. Each week, I look forward to planning out little excursions on the weekends. It might not be huge events, but even a picnic at a new park, or a small exhibit can be an adventure for someone Drew's age and seeing him taking in something new makes me happy.

As zoo members, we will undoubtedly visit the zoo numerous times this year. I can assure you that each and every time will be a different experience, though, as we have already learned. On this past Saturday morning, we saw some kangaroo activity that a zookeeper mentioned she hasn't seen but only a few times in her tenure there. They were running all around their area racing back and forth and play-fighting with each other like little creatures who took one too many 'uppers'! It was a show that Drew couldn't take his eyes off of and we stood for a long time marveling at their speed, balance and funny ways.

Our friends showed us a little secret that we had not even known existed at the zoo. Tucked away in the Australian area was an area called the Lorakeet Landing. The enclosed room was filled with about 10-15 beautiful, singing, active lorakeets and I feel in love. These tame little creatures would fly right up, hoping you would have food and perch on a  post only a foot away. Their colors were beyond vivid and their songs were sweet. But not having a cage in between you and the bird was the best part.

After imitating the bears 'roar' and seeing numerous other animals, we were on our way out when I spotted a Ben and Jerry's. Mama can't resist ice cream when she's not calorie counting so we ordered the smallest size they had. Drew loves ice cream and got so excited with each and every bite. I wish it was part of every meal as I could never get enough of his adorable smiles. 

Later that evening we headed out to see what I had been SUPER excited for all week; a hot hair balloon launch of about 15 balloons! It's an annual event, part of a 4-day festival at a town about a half hours drive away. Unfortunately, after waiting about an hour, it sounded as though it was going to be too windy for the balloons to fly. We packed our blanket and snacks and headed toward the car knowing we could at least spend a bit of time walking around the festival.

In the back of my mind, I knew the minute we stepped away, they would launch those darn balloons. And guess what we saw 10 minutes after walking away?

They seemed to descend fast only confirming that it was, in fact, too windy for them all to launch. Drew still watched them soar, if only for a few minutes, before getting lost in the trees. As we sat and people watched after walking among the crowds for a bit, I smiled knowing that I found something fun that we could do each year here over the Holiday weekend. We will surely miss family, but starting our own family traditions is part of the responsibility parents take on. There were rides galore that Drew will enjoy next year, but for this year, the kettle corn made it all worth it. It was love at first bite.

As we headed toward the car after an eventful day with one sleepy monkey, we spotted the Chagrin Falls. They were beautiful, and a wonderful way to top of such a fun day. 

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back."              ~William D. Tammeus

The End of Vacay

The last couple days of vacation were spent shopping, watching swimming Dolphins, relaxing by the pool, playing with Drew on the beach, eating more great food, drinking more yummy drinks, late night star-gazing and of course, the obligatory card-playing with my family.

The last evening was spent on Captiva Island doing a little shopping and enjoying our last dinner out. We celebrated with some delicious sangria while devouring some really great Mexican food.

Then we strolled down to the Mucky Duck and watched the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. It was absolutely magical and vivid and was just the type of sunset that you can't peal your eyes away from. I felt so blessed to be standing there on the beach with my family watching something so spectacular.

Although vacations have to come to an end, the memories will never leave our hearts. It was a great time and I'm so appreciative of my parents for taking us on this trip! Happy 40th Mom and Dad!

Ft. Myers Beach

My brother's girlfriend recommended that we go to the Ft. Myers beach one day and I'm SUPER glad that we did! The sand was so white, find and beautiful.

Drew played in the sand, kicked around shells, watched the birdies and waded with everyone in the family.

We had lunch on the beach and even got my dad to put a floater of rum in his tea! The banana cream drinks and greasy food was DE-LISH and the weather couldn't have been better. It was quite a fun day in my book.

Also, by having Drew take a nap at the beach we were able to spend a lot longer there and get in some t-shirt shopping (as well as more drinks!).

I snapped this picture of my little beach bum wrapped up on towels under the umbrella my parents rented. He was wiped out from playing in the sand with grandma and walking around in the sand and really didn't take but a few minutes to pass out. Although I wish he would have slept for a few hours, his 1.5 hour nap was enough to re-energize him for the afternoon!

And if you're at the beach, you have to do a wave runner right? Derek, Summer, Mike, my father and I all took rides and none of us fell off! (I have a serious fear of sharks and KNOW there were some below us). Fortunately the waters weren't terribly choppy, yet we were able to get air a couple times!

We ended the wonderful day enjoying a cake that my brother and I surprised my mom and dad with for their 40th anniversary!

The Burn

This post doesn't have any pictures, but I feel that it's necessary to include on my blog. I debated about posting it as it definitely will hurt my reputation as a mother, but I want to include all aspects of our life, not just the good. Hopefully it will help someone else think twice.

On day 3 in Sanibel I awarded myself the Worst Mom in America award. You see, the cottage had outlets in weird locations around the rooms and we tried to child proof the entire facility as much as we could. All breakable items were put up high and any cords were removed or covered. I guess we didn't do enough as the event following was just terrible.

As I dried my hair in the bathroom while we got ready for dinner, I heard Derek yell and Drew begin to scream. I ran into the room and that's when things got fuzzy. Words like 'curling iron', 'grabbed' and 'burn' were swirling around while Drew screamed his head off. I remembered that I had plugged in my curler on the ground thinking the door to that room was shut and Drew would not venture in there. I grabbed my screaming child to see his right index finger red on the inside and jetted to the freezer for some ice figuring that he had gotten in there somehow and grabbed the iron.

And then I almost threw up. And started hyperventilating. And shaking. I burned my child. My sweet little boy might have a scar forever on the inside of his hand and it's my fault. He's only 16 months old and he just experienced something this painful and it's my fault. {Cue throat dropping into the pit of my stomach}

I won't spare you the details on the tears shed and words yelled, but in the end it could have been much worse than it really was. Apparently Derek grabbed the iron out of his hand VERY fast and he ended up only having one blister on one finger. He calmed down and stopped crying within 15 minutes (much unlike myself) and it really only seemed to bother him the rest of the trip when he would fall and catch himself on that hand. I, on the other hand, was pretty distraught the rest of that evening. Despite my mom telling me shit happens and assuring me that I was a wonderful mother and it wasn't my fault, the guilt you carry when something like this happens doesn't ever leave. I still can't believe I caused my little boy that much pain, all because I wanted to curl my hair.

I know stuff like this happens and it's called life, but it's still hard to accept. I'm hoping that my Drew won't remember the event and I can remove my Worst Mom in America award someday, but for now I'm still a bit shaken when remembering that moment.

Feel free to share your worst parenting tragedy as I'm hopefully not the only one who accidentally caused their child distress!

Touch Tank

We saw a sign while driving around on the island for a touch tank and figured we should try it out. Grandma and Poppa drove us over there one morning so that Drew could enjoying seeing some marine life and touching the sea animals.

We hadn't even made it into the building and Poppa had already picked up a crab for Drew to see!

The touch tank was pretty neat for Drew as they had starfish, crabs, snails, fish and more! Drew got to touch a lot and he loved banging on the 400 pound turtle shell they had on display.

Watching his little tentative self before touching each item was just precious. He would often look up to Derek or me as a confirmation that it was ok to actually touch the item. I love seeing his trust in family. 

But the kid is a boy after his mom's heart and really enjoyed watching the seahorses flutter around most of all!

And then he crashed. And I snuck a picture of my sweet, sleeping boy in the cottage's pack n play with his new manatee stuffed animal.

Tupperware and The Island Cow

As mentioned before, Drew loves to get into cabinets and re-arrange the items as well as take them one by one to whomever is around at that moment in time. Well someone went straight to work in our cottage and loved taking all of the tupperware to Poppa or Grandma. This task was great for when we all needed to get ready as it really did keep him busy. The cottage was huge and had tons of room for him to walk around carrying his pieces one by one. I didn't get a picture, but towards the end of the trip his favorite thing to do was carry the broom around the pretend to sweep our floors! I love how organized and clean my little man is already.  :)

That night we decided to venture out to the Island Cow for dinner and drinks, but wanted to snap some pictures beforehand. Drew is definitely at an age where he doesn't want to be held for long so getting a good family picture has become quite difficult. 

My brother's beautiful girlfriend joined us on the trip and I really like this picture of the 4 of us together!

The restaurant was so fun and we were able to get a corner table on the patio. Before dinner Drew got to play bags and enjoyed putting each bag into the hole. During dinner, Drew even got a balloon puppy made at the table by a balloon master. The food and sangria was delicious and I would highly recommend this place to eat if you're visiting Sanibel!

Thanks again mom for the delicious meals and drinks not only at the Island Cow, but all week!

First Beach Trip For Drew

When we got to the beachfront cottage it was perfect weather! And then a couple hours later the rain came. Our entire first evening at the beach was drizzly and the weather showed no change for the rest of the week on our phones. Fortunately, after the first day, we had barely any rain, clouds or sprinkles and enjoyed sunshine and warmth every day! Knowing that this time of year is traditionally the 'rainy season', we lucked out and really had gorgeous weather for 90% of the trip!

We couldn't resist taking Drew down to the beach as soon as we arrived despite the fact that we were all still in normal clothes. He went right to work picking up the shells and tossing them in and loved the little waves rolling over his baby crocs.

The second morning we ventured to the Ding Darling wildlife preserve for their drive through viewing. We saw SO much and would definitely recommend this for anyone visiting Sanibel. There were tons of birds and chameleons, but we also spotted an alligator, a crab, a snake, some huge pink birds and even a few manatees! 

Because we were only going 5mph, Drew was able to ride up front on Grandma's lap and watch out the window. Boy did this kid LOVE doing that. He checked out everything along the drive and it was so funny to watch his excited little facial expressions when he would spot something new. 

More pics to come of the rest of the trip!

Back from Sanibel

After 2.5 weeks away, it felt SO good to crawl into my bed on Sunday night. Work has been CRAZY so no long posts or time for picture editing over here just yet. You'll have to enjoy some Instagram pics for now.

My parents took our family to the beach to celebrate their 40th anniversary and my brother's med school graduation. It was beautiful and we had a GREAT time there. Drew loved the beach and we did something fun every day while still relaxing here and there with a nice cold beverage in hand.

Thanks again to my parents for the wonderful trip and I'll elaborate more in my upcoming posts on everything we did and add more pictures!

Deanna Rose Visit

I'm pretty sure after this last trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead we might have to invest into some baby goats. Last time we went, Drew was just a little guy who wasn't mobile, but definitely still enjoyed watching the animals. This time, our little walker got to go inside the petting zoo and interact with the baby goats.

It was CRAY CRAY. Like Drew was in his happy place and squealing nonstop and I was laughing at his little personality. Oh my gosh was this kid loving every minute of walking around and patting swatting the goats. He had to literally touch each one and squealed with delight as they pranced in front of him. I think we were in there a good 15-20 minutes but could have stayed all day. 

This place will quickly become a staple of our visits to KC. It's free, full of animals and has plenty of hand-washing stations for a mothers sanity. 

Thanks again for the trip Mimi and Grandpa! We all had a blast!

Busy Week

This handsome man has had quite a busy week with "Mimi's daycare" all last week! I worked from KC after I attended our annual company meeting and Derek's mom took care of Drew during the days all last week. I don't think she realized how much work it actually was and is thankful he took 3-4 hour naps everyday! I'm surprised I didn't catch her with a glass of wine and some ice packs each night, but it's probably because she's a champ.

I know for SURE that Drew has loved the one-on-one attention and would rather Mimi's daycare any day over normal school, but that can't happen living thousands of miles away. :( 

We are just so thankful that she was willing to watch Drew this week so that I could come in for my meeting and we could spend time with both sides of the family. Grandparents are the BEST!

And so is crawling all over them...

But Drew's favorite past time all last week? Playing in cabinets. And when I say that he did this quite often, I mean pretty much anytime we were near the kitchen. He had one particular cabinet in which he would take out each item and walk them over to us, then return them back into the cabinet once empty. Not my idea of "fun" but someone absolutely loved doing it!

On top of hours of playtime with Mimi, Drew took tons of walks, went on a run with mommy, played at the park, dined al fresco and even saw a buddy!  I was lucky enough to see my good friend Jenny and her little boy Carter last week for a playdate. Carter is just about 6 months younger than Drew, but is already quite the mover and shaker. He is such a darling little monkey full of adorable smiles!

More pictures to come from other KC festivities, but overall it was a great time in KC with friends and family!!

Doctor Bean

MY BROTHER IS AN OFFICIAL DOCTOR! We've all waited years for this day and now I can say that he is a real doctor! On Saturday night we went to his hooding ceremony and yesterday, the actual graduation followed by a lunch hosted by my parents. It all has felt somewhat surreal over the weekend because in some parts of my  mind, he's just my little brother who needed help tying his shoe or reaching a high shelf. He busted his a$$ during med school to graduate with awesome grades and all that hard work has paid off.

Next year he is off to Dallas to begin his residency journey and we can't wait to visit during those cold, Cleveland winters!

CONGRATS BEAN! 

We are so very proud of you.