2010 Vacation – Outer Banks, NC

Again this year we went to the Outer Banks for vacation.  We had a great time!  There were eight adults that went so we were able to split the cost and rent a really nice beach house!

Our Vacation Rental House At The Outer Banks

To get to the house you had to drive eight miles on the beach!  There were no roads to get to the house.  If you ever go to this part of the Outer Banks make sure you do your research and only attempt to drive on the beach at low tide.  :D   We got stuck twice on the way to the house and had to be pulled out both times.  :D

But, once we made it to the house we were able to relax in the pool and hot tub…

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

And our house was also in the Wild Horse Reserves, so there were wild horses everywhere!  They came right up to our house and even slept in our back yard…

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping In The Back Yard

And when we were not playing on the beach…

Jared At The Beach

Jared At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

…we went out to look at the famous light houses…

Currituck Light House

Currituck Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

… saw the Inn at Roadanthe (From the movie Nights in Roadanthe)…

Inn At Roadanthe

Inn At Roadanthe

… saw all kinds of cool critters…

The Lizard

The Lizard

A Dragon Fly

A Dragon Fly

Pink and Yellow Moth

Pink and Yellow Moth

The Cool Bear

The Cool Bear

Whoever said vacation was relaxing?  :D   At the end of every day we were all pooped…

Ace Worn Out

Ace Worn Out

Ace, Calling It A Day

Ace, Calling It A Day

… and now we are back home…planning next year’s vacation.  :D

If Prison Wasn’t Such A Bad Place…

Ace and I were at the playground behind the neighborhood school the other morning.  The sun was shining (for once), and I was bound determined to soak up every ounce I could get.  It was going to be a good day!  I was taking loads pictures with the new camera and Ace was enjoying the curvy slide, the swing, and the bouncy bridge at the playground!

Everything was great!  We were both having a good time until…….I came across the first person that I wanted to literally strangle the life out of!

I have seen many people in my life.  Probably in the multiple tens of thousands I would guess.  Most of them are nice people.  Some are jack-asses, but not a single one ever fired me up like this one.

So,  I was helping Ace climb up the ladder to the bridge that leads to the slide when I heard, from around the corner of the school, a lady…sorry, wrong word, she was far from a lady…a bellowing woman yell at the top of her lungs… “SHUT THE F*CK UP!”

It caught me off guard.  I mean after all, we were at a school…ya know…where kids are present?   …and then she yelled it again…and again…and again!

Finally the bellowing woman rounded the corner of the school building with two other adults, three kids (maybe 8, 10, and 12 yrs old), and a dog on a leash.

They finally made it over to the playground…and of course had to play on the same piece of playground equipment that Ace was on.

I could hear one of the boys (the 10yr old) whining to his Mom (biologically..not emotionally) that he wanted to walk the dog.

She yells again, “YOU HAD YOUR F*CKING CHANCE TO WALK HIM AT HOME!  YOUR BROTHER IS WALKING HIM NOW SO SHUT THE F*CK UP AND QUIT YOUR DAMN CRYING!”

The boy cries more and asks again.  “Please Mom…I just want to walk the dog….please please please…”

The woman stands up and starts to unbuckle her belt.  The boy runs and screams…”GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE!  ONE MORE CHANCE MOMMY!  JUST ONE MORE CHANCE!”

At this time Ace has just made his way up onto the bridge and is walking across it.  I’m standing on the ground below him.

The lady whips out her belt and chases her son around the playground.  The other two adults with the group were laughing hysterically.

The boy runs up the ladder onto the same piece of playground equipment that Ace was on…and the Mom follows with belt cocked.

The boy stops about two feet before he gets to where Ace is and…WHACK!  She whipped the boy with her belt diagonally across his upper back.  And if a belt across the upper back wasn’t bad enough…it was a STUDDED BELT.  You know, the ones with the big stainless steel spikey looking things…!

After she cracked the boy…it was silent.  The laughing stopped.  The boys screaming stopped.  The only sound I could hear was the panting of the crazy woman.

I didn’t say a word.  I was speechless.  And then she looked at me and said, “Go ahead and call f*cking Child Services.  They can raise them.  I gave birth to them.  I can do whatever the f*ck I want to them.”

Aaaaand now I am pissed.  If a look could kill I’m pretty sure she would have died ten times over.

If it wasn’t for the whole going to prison thing I could have easily strangled her right there with her belt…

And then to top it off the other adults start laughing and yelling at the boy to stop crying.  His crying was scaring the little boy (Ace).

“No..you bunch of hill jack, loud mouth, studded belt swinging, piece of shit parents who think it’s funny to chase a little 10 year old around the playground putting all of these other younger kids at risk for getting hurt are scaring him!”

Man, that would have felt good coming out of my mouth…but I held it in.  It definitely went through my mind though!

No matter how bad I wanted to, I knew I couldn’t say anything.  These were the kind of people who honestly don’t care.  If they would go through all of that trouble to punish a boy for asking to walk the dog, what do you think they would do if I threatened to call the police?  And I was there by myself with Ace.  Nope.  I was not putting him in any kind of danger.

So I sucked it up…and kept my mouth shut.  I got Ace down from the playground and we walked over to the next playground area.

No stupid hill jack, loud mouth, studded belt swinging POS Mom was going to ruin our day!

Freeing Up Some Space…

So many times I take pictures and forget I even took them.  I downloaded all of the pictures off of my digital camera and realized that I completely forgot to write about the awesome time we had on a mini vacation in September!

The whole goal of this mini vacation was to get out of Dodge for the weekend, and go down to see the leaves changing along the Ohio river.  There were a few other festivals that we were planing on attending as well.

So, we loaded up the truck, and we moved to Beverly….not really…but we did go to the hills.  Not the Hollywood Hills, but the hills of Kentucky!

We drove down on a Friday night after work and got into the hotel kinda late.  Ace was zonkerred out and Momma and I quickly followed his lead.

Saturday morning we got up early to go to a harvest festival/car show a few towns over.  We get to the little po-dunk town and there was nothing…not one car being showed.  We drove around the 5 whole blocks of this town to realize that their website was wrong.  We finally found a sign advertising the car show… THE NEXT WEEKEND.

So much for the car show.  We had all day and a full tank of gas.  We just started driving and saw a sign for a National Park.  We had not visited a National Park since we lived in Colorado.  Ohio just does not have many extreme wilderness areas…ya know?

We paid for our day pass and drove about 10 miles back into this forest until we found ourselves parked at the end of a hiking trail alongside the Ohio River.  Ace has never been hiking…let’s do it!

Off we go…hiking through the forest.  It was pretty muddy because it rained the night before, and Ace hit every mud puddle along the trail.  I rolled up the bottoms of Ace’s pants to keep them from getting too muddy…and I had to roll up mine as well.  :D   We were having fun!

The cliffs were amazingly high…and steep!

Tall Cliffs Near The Ohio River

Tall Cliffs Near The Ohio River

Ace got to see a lot of things he had never seen before…big cliffs, the Ohio River, people riding horses, and even a few barges hauling stuff down the river (one was hauling port-a-potties…a whole barge full of porta-potties!)  :D

We hiked and hiked…and hiked!  I’m surprised  that Ace’s little stubby legs still worked!  But he did stop a few times to take a rest…

Taking A Rest While Hiking

Taking A Rest While Hiking

We hiked all the way back to the truck where ace decided that there was something wrong with the front tire..

Dad, Here Is The Problem...

Dad, Here Is The Problem...

And after he fixed the problem…not real sure what he did…we headed back out on the road.

We came across a little park that marked a battle site from the Civil War…or something.  ( I never have been a history buff.)  There was a cannon that was used in the battle, and for some reason an old cabin.

Looking Down The Barrell Of A Cannon

Looking Down The Barrell Of A Cannon

Notice the jacket that Momma is wearing?  It’s the one I reviewed…  :D
Which by the way has been moved over to the new DadThing Reviews Blog!

Sitting On The Front Porch Of An 1800's Cabin

Sitting On The Front Porch Of An 1800's Cabin

We quickly bored ourselves with a history lesson and headed back out onto the road.  This time we ended up at the Louisville zoo!

Just so happens they were having a trick or treat night!!  So, we got Ace dressed up in his best Fire Fighter Uniform and went to keep all of the zoo animals safe from any blazing infernos.  :D

Firefighter Halloween Costume

Firefighter Halloween Costume

And wouldn’t you know it…Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow from Oz were there!

We just had to meet them…and get our pictures taken with them…

The Tin Man and Dorothy

The Tin Man and Dorothy

The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

Dad and aat the Emerald Palace!

Dad and Ace at the Emerald Palace!

Notice the bottoms of my pants?

Yup, some ‘tard forgot to roll them back down after hiking… :D

I guess Momma is right…I am special sometimes.  :D

How Do You Know You Spend Too Much Time Playing Bejeweled Blitz On Facebook?

Bejweled Blitz

Bejweled Blitz

So how do you know when you spend too much time playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook?

Maybe you check the leader board while on break at work to make sure that no one has beaten your score!

Could it be that you find yourself organizing the cans in your cabinets into groups of three?

Do you dream up ways to sabotage that person’s computer who will always get 200,000 points every single week and you’re lucky to get 100, 000?!

Or maybe…just maybe…a good sign would be your two year old, who only speaks the language of Nick Jr, running around the house saying, “One Minute…Go!”…”Bang Bang Crash”…”A New High Score!”

Maybe…just maybe…that would mean that you play just a little too much.  :D

More Of A Treat Than A Trick

Ace Trick Or Treat 2009So this year was a pretty fun one for Trick-Or-Treat!

The past few years Ace could really give a crap.  I think it was more of an inconvenience for him actually.  He probably saw Trick-Or-Treat as just wearing some uncomfortable clothes…being made to walk (ride in the stroller or Dad’s arms) an insanely long distance…being surrounded by people with bad customes…and it was all for nothing!  He didn’t even like candy!

But, this year was a different story.  I was so proud of him.  We took off from Grandma’s house walking…yes actually walking this year.  He was carrying his candy bucket, kept his hat on, and only tried ripping his costume off a few times.  :D

Ace walked house to house, up and down stairs, for six whole blocks without even being asked to be carried.  (My arms thanked him)  :D

There was some people trying to be scary to the little kids by wearing scary masks while passing out the candy.  We walked up to one house and here comes a girl about Ace’s age with tears flying.  I thought about walking past this house to keep Ace from getting scared, but then I changed my mind.  After all, Halloween is all about being a little scared, right?

Ace walked up to the scary guy with some weird mask on and just stared at him like he was thinking, “What the hell is wrong with your face?”  Ace took his candy and calmly walked to the next house.  I was rolling… :D

After about 6 blocks Ace has had enough and his candy bucket probably weighed about as much as he did.  We called it a night and went inside to check the candy for tampering.  There were a few pieces where I deemed that a taste test was necessary…  :D

Next year’s post will probably be about how out of breath I will be after chasing him from house-to-house, keeping him out of the street, and my sugar deprevation.  :D

Social Networking For Two Year Olds

We do not know any other parents with kids Ace’s age.  All of our friends either have 4-5 year olds or babies.  No toddlers.

So, Ace has really been deprived of interacting with other children his age.  Do they have a Facebook for toddlers?  He is an only child (although we have been working hard to change that, just no luck yet), but does get to interact frequently with older kids…which is good…but not what he needs.  We do not want him to grow up and be socially retarded.  :D

So, Momma found a “Mommy & Me” class for them to take, but there was only one other kid there besides Ace.  So, she dug a little deeper and found a Gymboree class for him to attend.  Tomorrow will be Ace’s third class.

It really is kinda fun…even I enjoy it!  Miss Alissa, the teacher/activity leader is very good with kids.  She sings and dances and is extremely animated which draws the toddlers’ attention away from their shoe-laces (or whatever may have caught their attention).

There are multiple group activities separated by “play time” where the kids can go down the slides, shoot some hoops on a two foot tall basketball rim, climb different obstacles, and interact with each other.

The first visit Ace was very shy (gets that from me) and the second visit he opened up a whole lot.  He actually participated in the group activities, but not so much with the other kids.

However…so far Ace has successfully knocked down a girl, head butted the same girl, and climbed on top of a girl…the same girl (whoa whoa buddy!).  Aren’t little boys mean to the girls they like?  I’m going to have to watch these two… :D

Overall it is a good time had for all, and I hope that Ace gets something valuable out of it.  Momma has already made a friend with one of the other Moms there and they are planning a play date outside of Gymboree.   Maybe Ace has made his first friend his own age?  We’ll see…  :D

OBX – The Outer Banks

We spent the last week of our vacation in Duck, NC.  We (PaPa, Grandma, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Mike, Livi Shea, Ace, Momma, and I) rented a beach house about 500 ft from the beach…our little home away from home…

Ace and Livi

We were greeted in NC by Hurricane Bill with large bone crushing waves and high winds, but everything calmed down by the third day.

We did not do a whole lot there (isn’t that the point of going to the beach?). 

Ace, A.K.A. FishBoy, and Olivia had never seen the ocean before so they were in complete amazement when the waves would crash down and roll over their feet…

Ace and Livy Playing In The Ocean

We went on a Dolphin Cruise where we took a relaxing boat ride out into the sound and saw live dolphins in the wild… Did you know that wild dolphins have pink bellies?  Me neither…

Dolphins In The Wild

The Dolphin Cruise was a sunset cruise, so we got to see the sunset…it was breath taking to see the sun set over the water…

The Sunset Over The Water

And the skies after the sun set were equally as eye cathcing…notice the moon peeking it’s head out into the daylight…

Beautiful Skies

As fun as the dolphin cruise was, nothing beats playing on the beach.  Of course someone has to be buried…

Buried Alive

…and sand castles have to be constructed with precsion…

Sand Castle

We even got to experience the beach at early morning and at night.  At night the crabs run wild.  We went down with our flashlights and chased the crabs across the sand back into the water.  Those little buggers can scoot!

We got up early one morning to watch the sunrise.  I have never in my life took time to sit down and watch the sunrise.  I mean, I’ve seen it rise while driving to work, and I’ve been outside when it has risen, but to sit and watch it’s every move is something that I will have to try and do more often.  The view was overwhelming…

Sunrise On The Beach

All in all we had a fantasic time!  It had to be one of the most fun two weeks that we have ever had.  Momma is already busy planning next years vacation…

Jared and Momma On The Dolphin Cruise

Two Year Old Wrestles Alligator!

On our last day in Orlando, we stopped in for an afternoon of Gatorland!

If your are weary of large bone crushing jaws equipped with flesh piercing teeth…you could not even get in the front door…

Gatorland Entrance

And once inside you better keep your fingers to yourself, or else you might go home looking like a veteran maintenance man. :D

Gators Galore

They also had a bunch of colorful birds…  Apparently these little buggers will bite you pretty hard too.  I did not get close enough to find out… :D

Tucan Sam

But the least colorful, yet most intriguing, were the white alligators!  Can you imagine seeing one of these bad boys running at you leading with their mouths wide open salivating as they imagine what you would taste like?

Leucistic Alligator

They are not albino, they are leucistic… They still have skin pigment around their mouths and their tails.  Albinos are known for their red eyes due to lack of pigmentation.  The leucistic alligators have bright blue eyes…

Leucistic Alligator With Blue Eyes

Don’t let them baby blues fool you…  :D   These guys are just as big and dangerous as the colored variety.  :D

We got to see some crazy dude wrestle an alligator too!

Gator Wrestling

After watching for a few minutes, Ace and I decided it would not be that hard to wrestle an alligator if we worked together.  :D

I distracted the gator by making hand bag jokes about his mother.  Ace ran up and jumped on the gator’s back, riding him like a rodeo cowboy.  After Ace had the reptile worn out, I jumped on the gator’s back too and subdued him by grabbing his jaws…nearly losing a finger…and pulling his head back till he tapped out in submission.

Then I yelled, “Ace, look over at Momma so she can take your picture!”

Ace Wrestling an Alligator

And there he is the 2 Year Old Gator Wrestler.   Sitting proud atop his defeated opponent!

What are you talking about?  Tape? Where? I don’t see any tape around that gator’s mouth? That must be a glitch in the photo…  :D

Why Leave The Hotel?

The second day of our vacation we decided to just hang out at the hotel.

The hotel was more than just a hotel…it was a resort.  There was over 100 acres with 30 buildings, a pool, a grocery store, a restaurant, a bar, multiple ponds, and three pools.

This main pool was the most amazing pool I have ever seen!   Orlando has been built around entertaining kids, and this pool sure followed that tradition.  There were fountains, waterfalls, and volleyball nets in the pool.  Here’s a quick pic I took…

The Big Pool

Pretty sure Ace is part fish…  Once the kid got wet…we only took breaks to eat and sleep.  :D

Ace Swimming

After swimming in the morning, Ace went to feed the ducks…which was one of the activities for the kids. (There was a new activity every half an hour.)

Feeding The Ducks

And as a bonus we got to feed a few turtles that decided to crash the party and steal some bread…

Feeding The Turtles

On our way back to the room I snapped a few pics of some of the hotel scenery…not that kind of scenery…get your minds out of the gutter.  :D

I was talking about some of the fountains…

Hotel Scenery

Hotel Scenery 2

And to end the day the hotel had “Movie Night at the Pool”.  They brought out a projector, lit a fire to cook some smores, and popped some popcorn.

We did some swimming, then chowed down on popcorn and smores.  And on the walk back to the room, Ace gave up….  If someone was carrying me…I would’ve gave up too.  :D

All Tuckered Out

Hello From Orlando!

Hi everyone!  If you follow me on Facebook (my profile) you already know that we are on vacation in Orlando this week.

We drove 15 hours from our home to Orlando on Monday night and arrived in Orlando Tuesday afternoon.  Tuesday night we just hung out and recooped from the looong drive.

Wednesday we got up and headed to Sea World!  Ace was rarin’ to go!

Ready To Go To Sea World

We were there when the park opened and had Breakfast With Elmo and Friends…

Breakfast With Elmo

While eating Ace got to meet all of Elmo’s friends.  He got a hug from Telly Monster…

Hug From Telly Monster

…and tickled by Bert…

Getting Tickled By Bert

…and his picture taken, on stage, with Elmo and Big Bird…

Picture Time With Elmo and Big Bird

After breakfast we pet the Sting Rays…

Sea World - Petting The Sting Rays

…and pet the dolphins…

Sea World - Petting The Dolphins

…and fed them too!

Sea World - Feeding The Dolphins

The Dolphin show was simply amazing with the acrobatics, high dives, and stunts with the Dolphins…

 Sea World - The Dolphin Show

It was so cool that Ace sported this face for much of the show…

Your Guess Is As Good As Mine - Funny Face

Overall the first full day in Orlando was a blast!!! 

We have two full weeks of vacation planned including…hanging out at the hotel resort, going to Gator Land, and driving up to Duck, North Carolina where we will rent a house for a week and spend some time at the ocean!

Gotta go…Ace is ready to go to the pool!  This kid is a fish!  :D

On A Whim…

Ever just do something on a whim?  Ever just get in the car and drive not knowing exactly where you will end up.  Momma and I used to do that a lot.  Just drive, grab a hotel for the night, maybe see some local attraction, and then drive home the next day.   Kind of nice to get away from the normal grind ever now and then…

We haven’t done that since Ace was born though.  It’s kinda hard to just hop in the car and go.  You gotta have a diaper bag, diapers, sippy cups, car seats, teddy bears, blankets, toys, extra clothes, and I’m probably forgetting something…I usually do.  :D

So, we kinda improvised…we decided at the last minute that we were going somewhere, but we had to know where we were going.  We can’t risk not being able to find a room, so we had to make a reservation.  We packed all of the stuff that Ace needs…see paragraph #2 (and by the way the thing that I forgot in the list was baby wipes…luckily we did remember them in real life though :) )

So we started planning about 8PM, left at 10PM, and got to the hotel at around Midnight.  We got up in the morning, enjoyed the continental breakfast (Holiday Inn Express has the best breakfast…gotta get the cinnamon rolls), and then we headed to Indian Lake.

We made it to the beach, but it was a bit too cold to go swimming, so we just let Ace play in the shallow waves.

It felt good to step outside the lines of normal daily life again.  It felt good to just go somewhere without thinking too much about how we were going to get there, what we were going to do, when we were going to leave, and how much it was going to cost.

No worries…  Kinda like being two years old again.  No wonder he is always in a good mood.  :D

Beach Bum

Giant Boy

Playing In The Sand

The Karate Kid Pose

That Crazy Blue Elephant

Well, that crazy blue elephant has returned again this summer…reekin’ havoc upon Ace in his very own backyard.

That Crazy Blue Elephant

That damned thing comes out every time it gets warm and teases him with a small shower of cool water, just big enough for a three foot tall person to run through and cool down on a hot summer day.

And then once he gets close enough to enjoy the small shower… WHASHOOSH!  The elephant explodes with a massive flood of freezing cold water that pours down on him…sending him into shock and he runs for his  life…  :D

He reaches safety just in time to see the monsoon turn once again into a small pleasant shower.

And then he does it again…and again…and again…

But after a while he starts to catch on…

DSCF2497

…and he realize that there is a certain someone ( with a camera ) that is enjoying this a little too much.  This certain someone turns a knob connected to the hose every time the monsoon rains down on him.

He is getting smarter…wiser…more experienced.  It looks like that certain someone will have to step up their game in order to keep fooling this toddler.  :D

A Weekend Of Backflips

Today we were at the ballpark watching one of our friends daughters play softball.  Ace and I went to the playground.  :D

Of course, Ace is not quite big enough for the playground.  He can’t climb up to get on the slide, and he is not tall enough to jump on the swing set.  So, Daddy gets to play too.

Ace was swinging…Dad was pushing…Ace’s hands keep getting lower and lower on the chain.  He was eventually holding on to just the rings on the swing’s seat and not actually the chain.

He was getting wobbly and I was afraid we would end up in the emergency room.  So, I stopped the swing…raised his hands back up on the chain…made sure he had a good grip…and gave a slight push.

What’s Ace do?  He lets go!

It couldn’t be at the lowest point of the swinging arc.  No no no!  It had to be at the very tippity top.  Right where the swing stops moving forward and start coming back down.

So what happens?  Gravity.  That’s what happened!

Ace fell a few feet and landed on his back in the gravel under the swing set.  Of course I’m the only Dad at the playground, so all I heard were a bunch of Moms gasping for air…like that was going to stop him from hitting the ground so hard.  :D

It knocked the wind outta the little guy, but we walked back over to where Momma was and a sucker made everything hunky dory!  :D

And if you thought that was bad…

We were in the backyard playing.  Actually, I was working and Ace was playing.  I see Ace climb up the ladder on the swingset to go down the slide. He has only mastered this feat in the past few weeks and is extremely proud of himself for being able to slide by himself.

When I see him get to the top I usually give him a big smile and a “Yey!”  Positive reinforcement, right?

So I give him a big smile.  He smiles back.

Then I see is his eyes get big…

I see him falling backwards… (of course all of this is in slow motion) :D

His feet are above his head…

He’s coming full circle…a full backflip…

Only about a foot from the ground now…

…and SMACK!  His face hits the ladder.

My eyes shut as I see his face bounce off of the piece of steel.

I open my eyes, try to remain calm, and briskly walk his way…

I can hear Ace crying…

Damn this is a long 20 foot walk…

Screw being calm…I’m running…

I find Ace lying face first in the grass…

I pictured black eyes, blood, a broken nose, and a trip to the ER.

I picked him up…roled him over…his face looked OK (for a screaming, slobbering 2 year old)…his arms appeared to be attached and in one piece…by God we may have come out of this one unscathed…but we go inside for a Momma inspection just in case.  :D

Luckily all he had was a nice sized Goose Egg right between the eyes!  No trip to the ER, no black eyes the next day, no blood, no broken bones…just a bit of swelling, a bit of crying, and a Dad whom you would have thought just saw his kid fall off of the Empire State Building .  :D

And people wonder where the gray in my beard comes from…  :D

Rocks and Shit

We spent the weekend in my home town at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Riding the 4-Wheeler, lying by the pool, going swimming, and doing a little bit of partying on Saturday night.

Ace, however spent the weekend sharpening his speech skills and getting lessons from some of the best out there… :D

Aunt Amber and Aunt Amy taught him some silly Frog song and he spent the weekend running around saying “mmmmm-eckkkkk  mmmmm-eckkkkk  mmmmm-eckkkkk-eckkkkk “.  Don’t ask me… :D

Aunt Amy also thought it would be just darling for him to start his flirt training.  She successfully got him to say “Hey Gurrrl!”  to a few of his potential future mates.  You better watch out girls!  :D

Grandpa pulled in the driveway in his old truck, but Ace could not see him.  Ace looked to the sky and said “Hewicoptur!”.  I think he is indirectly telling you it is time for a new muffler Gramps.  :D

And last but not least, Ace was walking barefoot across the patio when someone noticed he was not putting weight on the heel of his foot.  Everyone thought he may have stepped on something sharp.  So, I picked up his foot and brushed off a bunch of dirt and rocks.  I announced to the peanut gallery that it was just some “Rocks and Shit”.  And of course, Ace proceeded to copy my excellent English lingo and announce by himself that it was just a bunch of “Rocks and Shit!”, “Rocks and Shit!”, “Rocks and Shit!”

Can’t Bose make some curse word canceling headphones?  I mean hell they make the noise canceling ones!  :D

What Happens At Grandma’s House…

Looks like Ace has moved up in the world.  No longer does he need to wait for me to pull out the ole’ junky John Deere to cruise around the yard.  He just goes to his Grandma H’s house and rides his very own…

Ace's John Deere

And he looks like a pro…

Ace Cruising On His John Deere Mower

If only he could figure out how to push the pedal to make it go.  Bending over pushing the pedal with your hand while making laps around the yard will reek havoc on your back…so we found an old walking cane. 

Not for me to be able to walk afterwords, but to be able to reach the pedal while standing somewhat upright.  :D

When we got tired of mowing, we moved on to ole’ faithful…playing with rocks.

These Are Some Big Rocks

What is so amazing about rocks?  Anyone?  I wish I knew.

And when rocks are not fun anymore…making a mess is.  Especially when that mess includes an old sandbox full of rain water that the dog has been bathing in and drinking out of for the past week…water, dirt, dog hair, dog spit, grass clippings, and one wet Ace…

Splash!

So what happens at Grandma’s house doesn’t necessarily stay at Grandma’s house…when Dad has a camera.  :D

Free Enfamil and Enfamil Coupons

Free Enfamil

We got a few of these free Enfamil samples in the mail, and since Ace does not drink formula anymore, I figured I would offer them here for free.

I have one sample can of Enfamil Lipil and one sample can of Enfamil Next Step Lipil.  They both have never been opened and expire in 2010.

I also have three coupons that expire June 30, 2009.  I am offering these for free as well:

  • $5 Off Enfamil Next Step
  • $4 Off Enfamil Next Step
  • $5 Off Enfamil Lipil

Leave a comment stating which items you could use, and I will mail them out as soon as possible.

Enjoying The Sunshine

So, yeah…it’s been a while.   I lost my password to the site…or something. :D

No really, we have just been super busy gettin’ ready for summer, and most recently enjoyin’ the summer like weather here in Ohio.

Since it has been a while since you all have seen a pic of Ace, I figured I would upload a few pics of him outside enjoying the sunshine…

Bike Riding Is Fun

Bike Riding Is Fun

Getting So Big!

Getting So Big!

Yet, Still My Little Guy...

Yet, Still My Little Guy...

PS:  Ace is all healed up from his surgery, and back to having more energy than Dad.  :D    I took a before picture of his outie…  If I can get him to hold still for two seconds, I’ll get a pic of his new and improved belly button and post a before and after.  :D  

Stay tuned…I’m going to get my old blogging shoes out of the closet and dust them off.  :D

The Big Birthday Party!

Last year Ace had a big birthday party because it was, well,  his 1st birthday. :D

This year was not an exception.  His party had quite a good turn out!

Last year there wasn’t really a theme, other then “Blue for Boy”.  This year the theme was “Fire Trucks“! 

Even though the themes of the two parties were not the same there seemed to be some similarities…

Cool Birtday Cakes:

awesome-birthday-cake
Last Years Cake

Firetruck Birthday Cake
This Years Fire Truck Birtday Cake

Messy Cake Eating:

the-crusher
Last Years Messy Cake Eating

Messy Cake Eating - 2nd Birthday
This Years…Less Messy Cake Eating.  Notice he is actually using the correct end of the silware this year.  :D

Funny Hats:

Grandpa's Funny Hat
Last Year: Grandpa S’s Funny Hat

Momma's Fireman Hat
This Year: Momma’s Funny Fireman Hat

Uncle Charlie's FIreman Hat
This Year: Uncle Charlie’s Funny Fireman Hat

Overall the party was a success.  Thank you Momma for throwing such a good party!

What will next years birthday party bring?  :D

It’s that time of year again….March for Babies!

Hello everyone…it’s been quite a while since my last post…although I have been following several secretly, so I thought I would mention it’s that time of year again!

March of Dimes is having their annual March for Babies (formerly WalkAmerica) and I have decided to participate again this year! Last year several readers/stalkers were responsible for helping me reach my goal so this year I have doubled what I did last year! My hope is this year to earn $250 for March of Dimes and to pray that one day all babies will be born healthy!

If you are able and willing to help please donate via the following link, and if you can’t due to your personal economic crisis I understand just pray for nice weather that day! You never know about an April in Ohio!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ace!

Two years ago today Ace made his first appearance in this world.  It’s amazing how fast time flies…can it really be two years already?

Momma is sad that her little baby…is not so much of a baby anymore.  I am excited that my little boy is becoming…well, a little boy.  :D

So, what has happened in Ace’s 2nd year?  A whole lot…

Ace has figured out that the world extends much farther than the walls of our home.  The boy loves to be outside, at the park, riding on the mowerswimming in the pool, swinging on the swingset, or at the zoo

He no longer fits in the kitchen sink for bath time, so we had to actually finish installing the bath tub in our upstairs bathroom.  He has some foam letters that float in the bath tub, and at only two years old, he can tell you what every single letter is…both upper and lower case.   (He’s a genius)  :D

Ace spent his summer going new places and doing new things.  Remember going to COSI, doing the chicken dance on the field at Cooper Stadium, going to Iowa for vacation, and swimming at the beach?  We had a blast last summer…

Not everything last year was cheerful and happy though.  We had to put down our family dog, Buddy.  And after trying for 11 months, we got pregnant, and then mis-carried.  Ace was young enough that he wasn’t really affected though, which is a good thing.   

Last fall Ace drank his last bottle, went to his first fly-in and demo derby, went to Circle-S-Farms, and dressed up like a Vampire for trick-or-treat.

Winter time brought on Wildlights at the Zoo, an amazing Christmas, a new fish tank, and locking Momma out of the house:D

So what will next year bring?  So far we have a two week vacation planned at the end of summer, which I’m sure will provide some good blog fodder.  Other than that I’m sure there will be some more mower riding, swimming, playing, and hopefully….some potty training!  :D

Ace’s birthday party is planned for this weekend, and I know of at least one present he is getting that will get some exposure time here on DadThing.  Stay tuned to hear all about his newest big boy toy!  :D

Bouncing Off The Walls

While Ace can be one hyper kid, that is not what this post is about… :D

We recently took a trip to the awesome World Of Bounce!

world-of-bounce

World of bounce is fairly new here in the central Ohio area and is so much fun!

Ace, his cousin Olivia, Grandma S, Momma, and I all went for the Family Bounce Night.  Which was quite the deal…  We got to bounce for 3 hours, a large pizza, and drinks for everyone for only $25.

Ace ad Olivia loved it…

ace-and-olivia-loving-the-world-of-bounce

They had four different “bounce houses”.  The one pictured above was a bouncy basketball court.  They also had a huge slide that was probably over 20 feet high, and also two other giant bounce houses with slides, ladders, and numerous obstacles to bounce off of.

The coolest part was that the adults were free to bounce too!  Let’s just say that I forgot just how much fun it was to slide!  :D

Here are a few more pics…

wordl-of-bounce-1

world-of-bounce-2

Ace was one of the younger and smaller kids there.  Most of the kids were 4 to 10, I would guess.

ace-the-little-guy

Of course there were exceptions to the rule.  There were some kids pushing the 12-14 age group and they were being kinda rough seeing how there were much younger kids around.

The funniest part about the whole trip was when we were in the basketball court bounce house.  Ace had a thing for the only yellow ball in there.  He would grab it, throw it, run after it, and grab it again.

Then the older/rougher bunch of kids came in there and they grabbed the yellow ball.  One of the older kids fell down holding the yellow ball and Ace saw the opportunity.  He ran right over and took the ball out of the kids hands.

The older kids looked at each other like “What The…?”.  It was funny because most of the kids would leave when the bigger kids got close to them, but Ace went up and took his ball back.  I loved it!  :D

But anyways, if you come to the central Ohio area and have a few hours to bounce around…check it out!