Cool Breezes with a Side of Busch Gardens

We've been meaning to get an annual pass to Busch Gardens for a while so when I saw the weather report for last Saturday, I knew it'd be the perfect time to go!



If you want to see an extremely irritable me, then take me to a theme park in the middle of summer in Florida & that's what you shall get! So I avoid any outdoor activities during the summer like a plague, but during the cooler months, you can't get me inside.



So we headed out on the brisk morning with a cooler packed with lunch & snacks in order to cut costs. I was so excited for our family outing!



First stop was Elmo's tree house in Sesame Street Land!



And we even braved the soaring suspension bridges that hung miles above the ground! Okay, maybe not miles, but it did seem pretty high!





At first Cam liked this bounce house made of ropes, but quickly changed his mind & became totally freaked out. He seriously would not budge from this spot so I was able to go inside & rescue him! It was so funny when he initially didn't trust the ground beneath him when he first left this rope hut. He was walking along as if the ground was about to give out.. poor fella!



Next it was on to a few rides which Cam loved!





And speaking of something he loved, this "cloud jump" was too cool! I was kind of jealous & wanted to go in & run around too!

Cameron even befriended another little boy & had a bounce partner for a while!





We were able to crawl through a tunnel of fish & watch the bats hanging from the trees above. Bats give me the heeby-jeebies!



And lucky for us Cam napped in his stroller for about 45 minutes so we were able to relax at the pub & enjoy a brew!



As we walked around the park, we kept commenting to each other about how well the grounds of Busch Gardens are maintained. Everything is perfectly groomed & bursting with color.







Before we headed home, we took a break by this fire hydrant, enjoyed some laughs, ice cream & music from a cool, little band!



We had such a great day & plan on taking full advantage of our annual passes while the weather is nice & cool.



And even though it was a really chilly evening, we wanted to play outside before it was time to turn the clocks back, thereby getting dark at 5:30. Ugh!



And I was SO excited to wear my new Bears hat that Mike surprised me with! The poor guy had enough hints from me about how much I wanted this hat.

We had an absolutely awesome Saturday!

Potty Time!

While at daycare, Cam is put on the potty every hour or so & actually pee-pees on the potty about once per day. Yeah, I just said pee-pees! That's what happens when you have potty-training on the brain! Anyway, we put Cam on the potty every night before bath but he's yet to actually go. Each evening as I hang out with him by his potty, I kind of, sort of hold my breath in anticipation of seeing him pee in that darn potty!



But thus far he just plays with his cars, talks to us, pushes on his PP every now & then & occasionally smirks & giggles as he sits there. But, no pee-pee! But, we're not stressing about potty training at all since he's only 25 months old & we don't want it to be a negative thing for Cam. We'll just keep working at it & know that he'll get it one of these days.



In the meantime, I'll use it as a time to sit & hang with my favorite two-year old in the whole world!



Have you ever seen a cuter butt than this?



If anyone has any potty training tips, I'd love to hear them!

Play Date

Saturday we headed over to our friend's Jill & Josh's house to have a play date with their daughter Avery. Matt & Kelly were there with Leah as well & the guys hung out & watched college football as the kids were able to play & the gals chatted. It was a lot of fun & Jill even had a little photoshoot of the kids in their Halloween costumes.



Cam & I had a good time cruising around the patio on these bad boys! I think I may have had more fun than Cam as I caught sight of him shooting me a look that said, Get a hold of yourself, Mom! But maybe it was just my imagination? Probably not.



But I decided to play nice & let Leah borrow my cruiser!



This picture above just screams CAMERON! If you ever wanted to see a personality in a picture, this would be the one for Cam. What a goofball! We've been trying to work on reducing Cam's whining & encouraging him to "use his words" rather than resort to the fingers on the chalkboard whining we're currently dealing with.



He is such a sweet kid though & has a precious heart. Tonight I had him on his little potty before bath time & as he sat there, he looked at me with the sweetest expression & said, Maaamaa! in a voice that was full of love. Then he leaned forward & gave me the tightest hug & my heart literally melted. Well, not literally. I'd be dead if that happened.



It makes me feel warm & fuzzy when I see parts of his personality that resemble mine. The fact that he is extremely opinionated, very impatient & very passionate with his feelings be it good & bad. How can I get frustrated with him when it's my fault that he's the way he is?!



And here's sweet, little Avery! We had a great time at our play date & feel lucky that we have friends with kids around Cam's age.

Oh & just a side note, if you noticed that Cam's outfit is a little strange, it's because he had a football jersey on earlier in the day. Once the jersey came off, he looked like he was a student at Juilliard!

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party!

Friday evening we hosted our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party! Click here to see 2009's festivities.



Cameron was wearing Daddy's shoes & ready to party!



This year was a lot more exciting for Lauren & Josh since little baby Greenie was also joining us!



We served Monster Eyes which were sausage balls with olives for eyes... YUM!



I think we went a little overboard on the appetizers! By the time the pizza was delivered, no one was hungry. I made a sesame chicken dip which you can see in the front/middle on the green, leaf-shaped plate. It was tasty as all heck, but made a boat-load! If you're interested in trying it out, click here, but cut it in half unless you're having a HUGE group.



And here's my little stinker, voicing his opinion as usual! He does this a lot. Gotta love the terrible twos!!



It's carving time! Check out that huge stem on Josh's pumpkin! And if I had my guess, Josh would say, That's what she said! if he were to read that huge stem comment!



As you can see, Brian was very happy to be carving his pumpkin which happened to be a butt. Yep, a butt.



Look at the concentration on Kelly's face!







Brian & Cheryl had to hit another party after ours so we took a picture of their pumpkins first. Brian's butt is on the left & Cheryl's moon is on the right. Nice butt, Brian!



Look at these three little angels! Yep, three since Greenie Baby is also included!



I'm so lucky to have such awesome girl friends!



Here's my happy moon!



And here's the whole lot of them! From left to right: Lauren Bronson's mummy, Lauren Green's Frankenstein guy, Matt's grim reaper, my moon, Kelly's ghosts & Josh's deranged clown. For some reason Mike's pumpkin isn't in this picture!!



And Halloween weekend would certainly not be complete without our yummy pumpkin pancakes! These are absolutely delightful! Click here for the recipe.



Even the world's pickiest toddler loved them!

Happy Halloween!