Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Parks, Pops & Paps' Office, OH MY!

Well, we've done it again... another Caden and Mommy road trip here and gone!

On Monday morning Caden and I loaded up the car, who you should know by now we affectionately call Tilly, and headed to Waco to visit Nana and Paps. It just so happens that Aunt Ree Ree happened to be in town too... ACTUALLY it wasn't just so happens... it was all part of our MASTER plan to get to hang out with Aunt Ree Ree this summer. Since Aunt Ree Ree lives in the Swamp we don't get to visit her much, so we are always very excited to see her when we do! It's too bad Uncle Tag didn't make the trip too... we'll see him soon enough though! :) Did somebody say Port A?!!

Man I get off subject so quickly... back to Monday morning... and the car that is all loaded. When Caden and I arrived in Waco, Aunt Ree Ree and Nana were up and raring to go! First stop: Lion's Park! For you Baylor bloggies out there the way you remember Lion's Park and the way Lion's Park is today are TWO different things entirely! Lion's Park has been redone and revamped and it is AWESOME! It is very similar to the Kiddie Park in San Antonio and Kiddie Acres here in Austin... little tykes' theme parks are apparently ALL the rage! :) And of course we all know why...

As per usual Caden needed to have a good warm up cry before the fun could begin! The last two times we've done the amusement park thing he's done this... I guess he needs to warm up to the idea of the spinning and the flying and the floating...

Poor Aunt Ree Ree got to ride with the Chade during his warm up cry...


After he felt like he was nice and warm from his cry he decided to BUCK up and be a big boy the rest of the time as you can see by his "I'm an Awesome Cowboy" pose in the horse-drawn carriages!


Then Caden sauntered over to the rides that cost extra money! Of course he did! And he picked the fire truck to ride. Nana was sweet enough to scrounge for some quarters so we could get the FULL experience! What fun!


Then it was Mommy's turn... just to be sure that the warm up cry didn't decide to come back for a game time debut! We're FLYING!!!



Then it was time for the boats... he is a natural, don't you think?! He'll be driving around the lake in no time in Albi's boat... right?! HAHA!



Back to where we started with the rocket ships... this time went MUCH better!


Here is Caden ALL by himself on the carousel... HARDLY! I am awkwardly ducking behind the horse holding up the Chade so our professional photog, Aunt Ree Ree could snap a cute pic of the cowboy and his horse!


In case you haven't been able to tell by my red-faced lil' man it was H-O-T, HOT in Waco that morning. Not a breeze to be felt anywhere, so as you might imagine I was completely fine with riding a few rides! :) BUT don't worry about Nana and Aunt Ree because we ALL got to feel the wind in our hair at the end of the morning when we road the train! The train ride was by far my favorite thing... not that y'all care what I liked, but it was really neat! The train goes through a tunnel and out on the main road... it is a pretty fancy locomotive!



After our adventures at Lion's Park we braved the lunch crowd at Chick fil a and had us some dude nuggets. Actually, Chade was the only one eating dude nuggets, but we ALL enjoyed a yummy lunch nonetheless!

After lunch the boy was tired so we headed back home for a nap! We had a big afternoon planned for the Chade so he was sure to need his rest...

Monday afternoon was the highlight of our trip... we got to visit Paps at work! And as many of you know Paps is a high school principal so that means his office is a school which has LOTS of very cool things...

HALLWAYS...


Wall murals of BIG doggies...


AND THE BEST PART ABOUT SCHOOLS ARE THE...

Empty gymnasiums with lonely basketballs!




Caden literally RAN ALL across campus... up and down the hallways, up and down the bleachers, across and back along the gym floor! He was LOVIN' the free space to roam. We even got to sit in Paps' office and eat some graham crackers and finish up our Sonic drinks... what more could a guy ask for?

After we had definitely WORN OUT OUR WELCOME at McGregor High we headed home to see Great Poppa who came in for dinner that night!

While Nana was working her magic int he kitchen and after Paps had gotten home from work he gave Caden a very special present...

His VERY own Texas Rangers jersey! Justin is SO proud!



Caden looked like a DUDE in his jersey and was excited to take it home to show Daddy!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Chade was getting a bit impatient aka hungry so Nana gave him a few jobs...

To provide cocktail hour entertainment... Caden on the measuring cups!


To watch the weather report in Nana's old rocking chair!



And to help set the table...




Didn't he do a fabulous job? Nana has an entire drawer full of goodies that are safe for the Chade to play with and after seeing her set the table so nicely he decided to help out. He would take the plates and bowls one by one over to the table... what a good little helper!! :)

After a YUMMY dinner it was about that time... BATH and BED time and then it was time for Aunt Ree Ree and Mommy to introduce Nana and Paps to girl named Ali and her hunky selection of potential hubbies! I'm not so sure they're hooked, but we tired!!

The next morning Caden was up bright and early, ready to start a brand new day. He felt like he was going to need the extra protein so he asked his Nana to whip him up a lil somethin' somethin' in the form of cheesy eggs... and boy did he love 'em! For some reason Caden only likes Nana's eggs. I've made them before for him several times but he isn't ever interested! KK's grits and Nana's eggs... he's a grandmamas boy!




After breakfast we headed to one of Waco's many splash parks and had a great time splashing in the fountains. I didn't dare take my camera out there so there are no pics for y'all... sorry! After the splash park it was nearly time for lunch. We made a quick stop by the park and then ran through Taco Bueno for a yummy bite to eat and then it was POPSICLE TIME!!!

Poor Nana bought a GINORMO box of popsicles for the Chade when he visits, so we had to be sure to eat at least one a day to help her out. I even decided to take one for the team and have one! HA! Grape popsicles might be one of my very favorite things... YUM!

Caden is more of an outdoors popsicle eater for obvious reasons...







HOT, STICKY, MESS of a boy!!




After he finished his popsicle he was stripped down to his birthday suit for a quick hose off. He was enjoying the "freedom" so much that he decided to help Nana water her flowers while he was at it. AND apparently there is something about his birthday suit and his love for nature that made him relax enough to POOP on the sidewalk! GROSS CADEN! Ah, well... such is the life of a boy!!!

As you can see our fun was plenty in Waco and our memories MANY! There was lots of piano playing, lots of "yah-ing" and even a bit of GROWN-MAN-Caden-tooting for everyone at dinner! Caden is loved by his grandparents almost more than he is by his parents and if you knew how much my heart hurts everyday when I wake up to his sweet little face you would know that Caden's grandparents love him a WHOLE HECK OF A LOT!

Thanks for a fun few days Nana and Paps AND Aunt Ree Ree...

We'll be baaaaaaaaaaaa-ack! :)

1 comment:

Cori said...

Such a fun trip! Thanks for coming to play for a couple of days! Caden is a mess!