The Summer 'O Fun Weeks 5, 6, and 7-ISH

Well hi there and Happy Hump Day! I feel super behind on our Summer 'O Fun posts because vacation prep, actual vacation, and the return, about whipped us. It takes me a little bit to recover and redeem our home and regular schedule.  

So let me BAAAAACK up and catch up. 

I had big dreams for Week 5, but essentially all we did was shop and pack for vacation.  As I mentioned in my last post, once I started trying to pack, I realized we ALL needed ALL the things. Shorts, swimsuits, shoes, underwear, everything.  My little buddy was a TROOPER and literally ran errands with me the entire week.  This is seriously the only picture I have of that week.  

Bless it. He was such a good sport and really only begged for this Iguana, which he said was going to be his "beach buddy".  He also remembered this toy jigsaw ALL WEEK LONG (he had spotted it in Target that Monday), and I finally took him back to buy it with his "chore money". And yes, the noisy jigsaw came on the plane with us too.  Sorry, fellow passengers.) 

Week 6 was spent in the glory of the sunshine and sand in Orange Beach with Jeremie's family, and then Destin with my friends for a couple of days. You can read all about our fabulous Beach Vacation here. 

So imagine my disappointment when one day, my toes are in the white sands of the Emerald Coast, and the next, they're in a toddler sandbox in the Texas heat. #backtolife #backtoreality

I will say as much fun as we had, we are always happy to be home and back to our regularly scheduled programming.  We've still got a lot of checkmarks to put on the Summer 'O Fun bucket list, so we threw our laundry in the wash and got right to it!  

Our first stop in Week 7 was the Dallas Famous Northpark Mall. I know, if you're local, you are thinking it's BLASPHEMY that I've never been to Northpark, but I haven't. It is a pretty decent little drive and we have great shopping in Plano...but WOW. This mall is lovely and fun and has some really great stores.  I will say most of them are a little out of my league (every picture I snapped of G had stores like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's, or Cartier in the background), but regardless, it is just a beautiful mall to even walk around in.  (I had several people tell me about the little playhouses on display, and there were several, but FYI-they don't let you play in them anymore; they are just for looking) : ( 

A great feature is that Northpark has a library INSIDE the mall, and they do all types of activities, like story time, in the atrium.  (Check out all their activities here!)

Me and my neighbor Lindsey took the kids and they had a great time! 

This exhibit was G's favorite. The men actually move their axes up and down, and Greyson's STILL doing it! 

The kids LOVED the famous turtle and duck pond! This is a small feature, but super cute and you know kids get the biggest kick out of stuff like this! 

Greyson was also OBSESSED with sliiiiiiding down this curved wall, which I could tell was QUITE the popular pastime for all the kids! 

We had lunch in the foodcourt and on the way out, I swung into Nordstrom to see what all the fuss is about this "Blardigan" (blanket + cardigan) that one of my favorite bloggers, Sheaffer, raves about. 

Let's just say it was worth ALL THE RAVING and I immediately pulled out the birthday cash and purchased it. And even though it's 175 degrees outside, my house always feels like a meat locker, so I'm already wearing it.  

Greyson had a BIG TIME in the BIG dressing room with the adjustable mirrors.  In more shocking news, I've also never been in Nordstrom but I was SUPER impressed with their dressing rooms and friendly Sales Staff.  They swooned over me and Greyson and even gave him a balloon. I REALLY appreciate a friendly Sales Staff at any store.  Some places make you feel like a big inconvenience/annoyance when you're shopping with your toddler. But hey, sometimes Mama's gotta shop. Looks like some more Nordstrom trips will be in our future.  

On Friday, we were scheduled for a playdate with our Square One friends.  We all couldn't decide on a place (we vetoed any outdoor activity), so at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, I committed to everyone coming over the next morning for a Banana Split Party. Why I can't be normal and MUST slap a theme on EVERYTHING, I do not know. It's the burden I must carry. Luckily, my floor had been sweep in the last 48 hours and I actually had a lot of random goodies that made a pretty decent Banana Split bar. 

Mamas, THIS IS WHY I have an entire cabinet full of seasonal paper products. After seeing what a cute theme this was, I realized, with more time, you could do A LOT with this! The toppings are endless!  This is really the perfect Summer 'O Fun party theme!

Since we were scrimpin' though, I ended up with Neapolitan Ice Cream, strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, MM's, Butterfingers, pecans, fudge syrup, and of course, cherries on top! 

I'm pretty sure Greyson is the only one who ate a full out Banana Split with all the toppings, but HEY, SOMEBODY WAS. Plus, I got the leftovers. ; ). 

It was great having all the little ones over to ransack the house play. I love having a full home with lots of chatter and laughter! This group started out when all the babes were newborns; we'd all bring them in their carseat carriers and just set them on the floor! Now, they're like a pack of wild bobcats, and most of the mamas have had #2! 

So that's our past 3 weeks!  The clock is ticking away at the Summer 'O Fun; only 4 weeks until "school" starts back! These last few weeks will probably seem the LONGEST and the HOTTEST, but we're still enjoying checking things off our list! 

Hope you're Summertime livin' is easy and you're having a great one! 'Till next weeks, folks!

Memorial Day Round Up

I can't report about our weekend without recognizing the Veterans that lost their life for our freedom. Jeremie and I were talking yesterday and we both feel like Memorial Day tends to come across as a well-timed 3 day weekend that is used to mark the kick-off for Summer. And while safely and freely enjoying our friends and family around the grill is precisely what our Veterans FOUGHT FOR, I think that we (me included) tend to overlook the real meaning of the day. I realize that for many families, Memorial Day is an incredibly painful day. For you, I am praying. And THANK YOU, to all Veterans who have made the ultimate sacrifice. You were certainly in my thoughts as we were going about our weekend. 

Looking back at our pictures from this weekend, we squeezed in quite a bit! 

We kicked off Saturday morning with a birthday party at Bahama Bucks, which will certainly get you in the Summer spirit! This place makes the BEST shaved ice/sno-cones, which Greyson had yet to experience. 

This picture looks quite enchanting, but this is really more what I was dealing with for an hour and a half......

I can still SEE YOU, Greyson, and you need to leave the palm tree ALONE......

Thanks to my sweet neighbor for taking this...I feel like I'm never actually IN the picture...

Greyson enjoyed picking out his flavor and watching them make his sno-cone!

After an ATTEMPTED nap (must have been all the sugar), we finally rescued Greyson from his crib and hit the road. We had made a last minute reservation at The Adolphus Hotel (our favorite downtown spot) and everyone was ready to hit the pool!

We stopped at The Dollar Tree to pick up some pool toys and Greyson wore these goggles the entire ride to the hotel. 

I LOOOVED the newly remodeled lobby! Still some of the old touches, but just more fresh! (The only thing that made us go hmmm....is the "artwork" above the fireplaces. Seriously, we thought it was covering something special to come, but that BLACK RECTANGLE IS the art. Ok. )

The rooftop pool CERTAINLY did not disappoint! How awesome is this little oasis tucked inside all the skyscrapers!? We had only planned to stay one night and after being at the pool about 30 minutes, we were like...did we bring enough clothes?...ok...let's stay another night!

Greyson was obsessed with the pool, which was perfect because the long white part running across is about 6 inches deep...so he loved playing in that area!

We enjoyed some French fries and watermelon.

Afterwards, we headed to one of our new favorites areas, Trinity Groves, which is where we went for our anniversary. I LOVE this area! It's so charming!

This time, we hit up Souk, which was the MOST amazing Mediterranian restaurant. Lil' G enjoyed a chicken kabob while we chowed down on a delicious appetizer platter. Sadly, Mr. No Nap started to melt down so we didn't have time to order entrees. 

He DID seem to make a miraculous comeback when we passed by The Cake Bar. So of course we had to go inside and get a piece of chocolate cake.  Listen y'all. This place is like heaven on earth. SO MANY cakes just right there in front of you waiting to be devoured!!! We will most certainly be back.

Greyson and Dad had some pillow talk when we got back to the hotel.....

ALL THE FEELS....this makes my heart explode...

The next morning we had donuts in the room. 

Unfortunately, the weather was a little yucky, so the pool was closed for the morning.  So we changed things up and headed to Klyde Warren Park for some splash pad and food truck fun.

After nap time, the pool was open again! It was still cloudy and the water was freezing, so I let the boys have it to themselves.  If I were really playing the social media envy game...I'd just post this....

"Current view"

But if I were really honest...I read about a page and a half the entire time.  A larger portion of our afternoon was spent in the pool bathroom trying to get G to potty. Just for him to do it in his pants right after we got out. So clearly I do not have a picture to honestly reflect our real experience. #reallife #pottytraining #swimdiapers 

We headed to Dallas famous "The Rustic" for dinner which was a great atmosphere but slightly disappointing because of the limited menu. (Unless you want to eat a fried chicken buffet....DON'T go on Sunday.) It was still fun to see it and the enclosed kid-friendly backyard was pretty awesome! G is still a little too young for us to just let him loose though, so it's good and bad. Our eyes are on constant scan mode. He was a pretty cute little i" for the Big D sign! ; ) 

More hotel shenanigans when we returned. This child stayed up later than he EVER has...but he also slept later than he ever has too!!! Praise the Lawd.

He didn't sleep in the bed with us....but did attempt to...it was pretty sweet.  G sort of has an addictive personality though....so if you let him do something ONCE, it's a THING. And his sleeping habits are too good too mess with....so we just settled for some good snuggles. 

The weekend was had to say goodbye to! We had a great time and can't wait for our next staycation!

Summer O Fun Week 3

Summer O Fun Week 3 was a success. Everybody stayed healthy so we got to check off some more things on our Summer Bucket List. We showed up at Tom Muehlenbeck Rec center all ready to go and for the SECOND time we were there when the pool was not yet open. I gave the ladies at the desk a BIG OLE EYE ROLL because it was completely their fault that I didn't check the hours, right? (At this point I could hear my hubby's voice in my head: "Katie-did you check the hours before you went?" Mamas: ALWAYS CHECK THE HOURS BEFORE YOU GO SOMEWHERE. Because getting a toddler in and out of the carseat needlessly will make you wanna cuss.)

Anyway, we rolled with the punches and hit up another splash pad in Richardson that we've been wanting to go to. This was our first splash pad experience and I was nervous, because Lil G won't even run through the sprinkler in the back yard..... even though he's obsessed with it. BUT, it was a huge success! He LOVED it!

#stud

 

Next up was CooCoo's an indoor bounce house place in Plano. And I will have to use Google Images because G was terrified of this place and the enormous bounce houses. I forced him to "face his fears" and took him down one of the big slides. Let's just say we left right after that. The only thing he REALLY wanted to do there was ride the "choo-choo" which I had told him about earlier and even put a "choo-choo" shirt on him. Well guess what, the choo-choo was out of order. BIG EYE ROLL to the young lady working the counter about that too because I'm sure she single handedly broke the train. (Think I need a convoy with the Lord about my attitude?) This place was actually great, and is perfect for kids a little older. It was just a little too big and scary for G.

 

The only thing I wanted to do was sit in the random massage chair in the middle of the room.... don't think I had enough quarters though ; )

 

Never EVER EVER promise your child a train ride unless you are 100% sure it's gonna happen.

Not wanting to waste a car seat exchange, we walked next door to Jumpstreet, which is one of those indoor trampoline places. They had a nice little area in the back for the little ones. It was less of a FAIL that CooCoo's was, but I wouldn't necessarily called it a WIN. G was interested in the trampolines, but MOST interested in the car toys, that of course take $76 of change to operate. So essentially, we could've just gone to the mall and at least I could have gone to Macy's.



 

There were a couple of smaller bounce houses with tunnels which G did not go near because he still had PTSD from CooCoo's.

Both activities still earned him a LONG nap, but we made it to the library in time for the puppet show that afternoon! (One of our bucket list items is to visit all the Plano libraries, there are 5.) And they have the most amazing activities like Storytime, Puppet shows, etc.

 

Greyson LOVED the puppet show, especially the Guinea Pig who moderated the show.

On Friday, we had our "regularly scheduled program", our Square One playdate, which is every other week. My friend who hosted has a girl and a darlin girly play area in her house. And just look at who was enjoying it the most.

 

 

We shoo-ed them into the backyard where we had a pool and popsicle party!

 

Greyson and Claire seemed to be in cahoots the whole morning. I feel like they'll be stirring up trouble soon.

 

Friday we made a trip to Trader Joe's to get some appetizers for dinner. (We call it "App Night" here at the Wells.) I knew they had the little kid buggies so I went mentally prepared that the purpose of this trip was for fun. I did a quick run down the appetizer aisle with G in my buggy then let him down and have his own buggy while I followed behind. This was a good plan because I already had what I wanted so I could just let him go. He did much better than I expected.

 

 

In my head I was picturing Indy 500 with him crashing into people and shelves. Not SO! He casually strolled his buggy up and down the aisles and actually picked out some apple sauce and put it in his cart! It might as well have been my heart he picked up off the shelf because that just melted me and made me realize how fast he's growing up! When we got to the check-out he put his applesauce up on the counter!!!! 

 

 

The Trader Joe's trip was not on the official bucket list but it was so much fun; I love when the random things are the biggest hit! Although I'm worried that I just had beginners luck and next time will probably be a complete disaster and meltdown.

 

Saturday we went with our neighbors to The Lot, a neat restaurant in Dallas. They have a ton of outdoor tables surrounding a huge sand lot that the kids can play in while you eat. AMEN TO EATING WITH TWO HANDS! Can I just say all these years Jeremie and I have taken for granted a restaurant outing. I love how all the hip young singles and unmarrieds look at us like "YOU'RE CRAZY, you should stay home people"....... and yes, with kids, it is more complicated, but you know what, you still gotta live life.  And places like this make it easier. THANK YOU, THE LOT. Even though our child was CAKED with sand sealed with water from the misting machine, we got to eat our entire burgers and carry on a conversation with the other adults at the table.



Superman got sprayed down with a water house we found in the back of the building before we put him in the car. He got a bath in the Wal-Mart pool before his nap.

And we're still enjoying our backyard in the afternoons! I got Greyson some golf clubs and you see whose hogging them.

This week the heat index hits 100, so here we go Texas!