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!  😀

Vacation to Iowa!

Vacation to Iowa was great! It was nice to get away from the daily grind for once. No rush hour traffic. No cell phone. No worries!

We left at about 3 AM on Thursday night.  It took us about 14 hours and two tanks of gas to get from Ohio to Storm Lake, IA. (Can you say “Empty wallet and pooped?”) Have you ever driven across the Midwest? It is sooo exciting!!! Here’s a picture I took through the rear view mirror with my camera phone to show you just how much fun we were all having… 😆

Momma and Ace sleeping in the car on the way to Iowa

We stayed at a hotel in Storm Lake called King’s Pointe. We reserved a double queen suite with a crib and a lake view a few weeks before hand, but when we arrived we got a handicap double queen room with a parking lot view. 🙁

The handicap room would not work because it had no bath tub for Ace, and we really wanted the lake view with a balcony (the hotel was non-smoking and the balcony would be our smoking area 😆 )

After a bit of persistence they gave us the room we reserved and all was well.

Dad and Momma on the balcony at Kings Pointe in Storm Lake Iowa

The hotel had an indoor and outdoor water park! (I was so excited…I’m just like a little boy when it comes to this kinda stuff 😆 )

King’s Pointe Indoor Water Park Resort

The closest Ace has been to going swimming was splashing around in the bath tub, so I was very curious to how he would react to the swimming pool. After a few minutes of scared-shitless-ness accompanied by a white-knuckled-death-grip on Dad, Ace started to relax and enjoy himself!

We had so much fun being in the water with him that we really didn’t get out to take many pictures of his first time swimming! Here is one that I managed to snap of Ace and Momma lounging in the pool…

Momma and Ace In The Pool

Even though he thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool, he was utterly amazed by the fountain…

Ace Staring At The Fountain

…or was it the Bud Light sign? 😆

One reason we went to Iowa was to visit some old friends who’s daughter was graduating from high school. We went to the graduation, which was in a small non-air-conditioned (Can you say “Hot As Balls?”) gymnasium.

Ace has been self-propelled for a while now and really likes it that way. Ever since he has learned to move under his own power, he absolutely forbids to sit still. It was hot in the gymnasium… sweaty, and smelled like the locker room after football practice! So, I took off Ace’s restraints (joking!) and took him outside to play in the shade while Momma stayed inside to watch the graduation ceremony.

We get outside and there is no shade! So I’m chasing after Ace in the burning sunlight on concrete hot enough to fry an egg when I smell something a bit different than the sweaty smell I had become accustomed to in the gymnasium… You guessed it…I smelled a baby biscuit getting baked in Ace’s diaper!

Luckily I grabbed the diaper bag on the way outside, but there was no where to change him.  So, Ace and I head off on a two mile trek to the car where we enjoyed a fresh diaper, a drink, and 45 minutes worth of gas wasting air-conditioned heaven! 😆

The drive back to Ohio was not so nice. Ace had some of his molars breaking through the skin, and he was not enjoying the car ride a single bit.  So, we stopped half way and grabbed a hotel room in Illinois.  Luckily, I travel a lot for work and earn TONS of hotel points, so we got a room for free for the night. The hotel had a pool where we spent most of the evening splashing around…

After a good swim and getting a good nights sleep we headed out in the morning to finish the last half of our journey home. We took our time. We stopped for a packed lunch at a rest stop with Mr. Smarty Pants himself…

Smarty pants eating his lunch at a rest stop

…and then Ace napped most of the rest of the way home…

Ace relaxing in the car on the way home from Iowa

Despite the sore rear ends from sitting in the car for over 28 hours, the mix up with the hotel room, the incredibly hot gymnasium, the fried diaper biscuit, and the crying restlessness of a teething child strapped into the back seat of a gas guzzling SUV…we had a very good time and enjoyed the visit with our old friends!

Back to the grind… Ughhh… 😆

COSI – An Electrifying Experience!

Hello everyone!  I’m writing this from the hotel room in Iowa!  Why can’t life be one big vacation? 😀

Last weekend Momma and I took Ace to the Center Of Science and Industry, commonly known as COSI.

This place is sweet! (especially for a big dork like me).  Ace is kinda little for most of the things there, but he still enjoyed himself.  It was a very electrifying experience!

An Electrifying Experience

Ace is all about figuring out how things work; from spinning the wheels on his toy trucks to opening and closing the dishwasher door.  COSI is full of things that move.  His actions create a reaction.  All of the exhibits are totally interactive and I’m sure he will enjoy it even more as he gets older.

But for now he enjoys being able to see and touch everything…

Ace at COSI - Playing in the Floating Ball Exhibit

The top floor of COSI is specifically for the younger kids.  Ace had a blast up there.  He was able to drive the ambulance!  Pushing buttons by the steering wheel made the lights flash!

Ace at COSI Driving The Ambulance

We always knew that he liked playing in the water in the bath tub, but never knew how much he really enjoyed water.  He probably spent the majority of his time playing in the water with Momma!

Ace at COSI - Playing In The Water With Momma

COSI was a blast for Ace, Momma, and I.  We bought a season pass here as well, so don’t be surprised if you get hear about more fun experiences from COSI!

As I mentioned earlier we are currently in Iowa for vacation.  The hotel we are staying at has an indoor and outdoor water park and Ace was able to go swimming for the first time in his life!  Stay tuned for more pics and awesome Ace adventures! 😀

Bath Time, At Home, Of All Places

Back in November I wrote about how I destroyed our bathroom and then posted a video of Ace taking a bath in the sink. In that video, Momma was quoted saying…”Fix the bathroom please!”

See, we bought our house and planned to renovate every single room. However, due to some unexpected problems with the renovations, we ran out of money and time. We had the downstairs bathroom complete, which had a fully functional shower, but the upstairs bathroom, which had a bath tub, had been put on the back burner and never got finished. (or started for that matter)

I ripped everything out of the bathroom, including the walls. It was nothing but a floor, ceiling, and some studs. (Puffing out chest: No I’m not the only stud in this house 😀 )

This was fine when it was just Momma and I, (except for when Momma was pregnant and wanted to do nothing other than take a bath…oops my bad), but when Ace arrived we realized that the upstairs bathroom would eventually need to be finished…for the simple fact that a bath tub would eventually be needed.

However, Ace has been taking a bath in the sink since he was born. He fit…with room to spare! It was a perfect little baby bath tub at just the right height. No bending over and cramping of the back. No wet knees from kneeling on a wet floor…life was good.

Then one day Ace grew up. No longer can he stretch out in the sink. He is just a bit too big now. So, Ace either got a bath at Grandma’s house or I bathed him in the shower with me.

Well, with special thanks to Uncle Brandon (my extremely skilled bathroom renovating brother), we have a fully functional bath tub…in a bathroom with walls!

It is not finished yet, but this is a huge step! Hell, nothing has been done in that room for six months, and in one day Uncle Brandon and I installed a new bath tub, with new plumbing, and hung drywall on ALL the walls. It almost looks like a bathroom now! (minus a sink and a toilet…and paint…and some kind of flooring other than a throw rug)

So, now Ace can get a bath at home…without looking up and seeing my junk…here’s proof:

The New Bath Tub

 

Toys In The Bath Tub

 

Ace In The Bath Tub

 

Ace Playing In The New Bath Tub

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath!

I while back I mentioned that I destroyed our bathroom. Well, the bathroom is kinda scary and cold now so we have been giving Ace a bath in the sink.

Check out this video that demonstrates why I seriously need to finish the bathroom!

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