Kid on the Beach
We went on vacation over a MONTH ago. I just now re-sized the pictures I took so they would not crash the blog. Sorry about that readers reader Mom! You have been most patient. I took soooo many pictures– these are just from one evening walk The Son and I took while The Hubs…took a nap maybe?
We could have been at the beach.
Our condo was steps away from a gorgeous beach. If we got sick of the beach, there were outlet shops right across the highway. I saw no reason for us to get in the Huckablazer and drive 45 minutes to the Airforce museum. The thing about having a son is….Mama can be out voted. Dangit. First they appeased me by letting me go parasailing–but then we spent hours here. It was….mind numbingly boring. If I could have seen more history I would have been okay, remember I was a polisci geek–I love history. I saw no history. Three year olds do not like looking at dioramas and maps, they want to see “MORE JET PLANES MAMA!”
Whatever. (sidenote: The Son totally looked at me today and said “Whatever, you can just do what you want.” Who taught him that?!)
Oh, and on the way home we stopped at the navy museum. I did not even bother taking in my camera that time.
Here we have lovely picture of a jet thing. It was cool according to The Hubs.
This is where we spent the bulk of our time. Cock pit training thing.
Some of us were very excited.
Some of us are still talking about it.
How did he know what to do here? I am quite certain that the Wiggles have never covered air warfare.
He told me this button “made the fire that goes POW!” Great. So much for him not knowing about guns.
I wonder if this lever would have ejected me back to the beach?
Back outside to look at the helicopters. Mama gets left behind.
At least I have my camera to keep me company. Why does this say Army if we are at an Airforce museum? Still do not know the answer.
Look! A flower to take pictures of! There are approximately 49 pictures of this hibiscus in my camera–and two of the helicopter. I can’t help it. I am a stereotypical girl–and proud of it. Next time I get dropped off at the condo.
Just Chute Me.
Do you guys have a life list? It is a very trendy thing for bloggers to do now, which is exactly why I don’t have one–but if I did–parasailing would totally be on it. I have wanted to go parasailing since I was aware it even existed–at least twenty years.
When The Husband and I were on our honeymoon, we were going to go parasailing in the Bahamas. We were on the boat. They started putting on our harnesses…and, the boat broke! No parasailing for us that day. The Husband hoped I would forget about it, it seems he never really even WANTED to go pararsailing, he was just going to do it for his new bride! I did NOT forget. I did my research and we found Just Chute Me in Destin. Their reviews were hands down the best. I booked a “flight” for myself and told them I would be bringing two observers along.
We drove out a good ways off shore. Honestly the view from the boat was spectacular, but I did not notice since I had few pterodactyls in my stomach.
My inner dialogue : “This is going to be fun. This is going to be fun. For heavens sake smile so The Son does not freak. If I die, it will be a cool way to go.”
Please do not be blinded by my thighs. We Huckablogs are pale people who firmly believe in sunscreen.
“This is not scary! This is awesome! Beautiful! Peaceful!”
“Ooh. Look! I see fish!”
“No worries, I am having FUN!”
“This is so worth every dime (we got a discount for The Son and all of us were given the coupon rate, it was $90 for all three of us, not including tip–which you should absolutely do.). I have never seen such colors of blue and green.”
“It is impossibly QUIET up here. I am a Mother of a Pre-Schooler, I NEVER hear NOTHING.”
Back on board the boat, someone is not so thrilled his mother is 800 feet up. He wants his mama back.
The boat stopped and I just kinda dangled there.
They had asked if I wanted my toes to get dipped. I said yes. Knees? Yes. Hips? Yes. Back? Um. Shoulders? No. This all seemed fine before I went up and even while I was up in the air–but as they pulled me in to “dip” me? I saw HUGE JELLYFISH!!
I am not exaggerating for blogs sake here–THERE WERE JELLYFISH BIGGER THAN A MIATA. LOTS OF THEM. And I was being “dipped” right on top of them. I was thinking of that scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin and Dory were jumping on top of the jellyfish so as not to get stung. “So stay on top? What was I thinking? You DO NOT TAKE SAFETY ADVICE FROM A PIXAR MOVIE. Well. I hope it does not hurt too bad.”
I had jellyfish all around me, but did NOT get stung once. I think that they were really deep but I could not tell since I was so high when I spotted them. Those sun bleached boat drivers knew exactly what they were doing.
Little boy was glad mama was back. I was glad for the hugs and kisses–but had SO MUCH FUN. I would do it a thousand times more. Just wait–as soon as this kid hits six–we are going together.
It was a good way to spend a Wednesday morning–and we ALL had fun.
Photo credits: The Husband and blond beach bum driver dude. (my camera)
More beach pictures soon!
Filed under Photography, The Husband, The Son, lexapro lexplains it | Comments (3)Herbie Party: part four, people came!
Three year olds are so capricious. They start out hugging their friends.
They nicely share a burger.
They let the grown ups chat and eat.
They get out their wiggles in a healthy manner.
They even share new swing sets nicely.
They maybe take turns with the one basketball (which is really a dog ball, shhh!).
And then someone gets hit because of a beach ball, even when there are more beach balls than guests. And, a certain birthday boy spends three minutes of his party in time out.
It is not just The Son, even H, one of the sweetest three year olds I know, has problems with sharing every once in awhile. Who could blame him! Look how cool Herbie is!
Presents were opened–and put away to prevent further sharing problems. I love my kid so much…but I know him and his special toys and what happens to the person who tries to play uninvited. And, we want to keep these friends. More on the guitar later.
Oh goody, more cars! I swear we could open a line of dealerships. Except he keeps removing all of the cars’ tires. I am now extremely proficient in hotwheel tire care.
And, here we have Sweet Baby G, and my MMiL, in a photograph I like to call “A Hint.” She does look nice holding a baby girl. You had better get on it BiL.
Remember how I said this was the last birthday post? I lied. There is one more, called the after party jam session.
Filed under Photography, hostess with the mostess. | Comments (2)Herbie Party: Part two, Decorations.
Party details! Herbie is a white VW with red and blue racing stripes and a 53 in a white circle. For the party I stuck with Herbie’s colors but used the number three instead of 53. It was SO, SO easy, I felt guilty at how good it looked.
No one comes to a three year old’s birthday party to be impressed by the food, right? I doubt it, so we kept it really simple. Burgers, chips, fruit salad, baked beans, and of course the cake. I did not really get a chance to eat until after the party, but it sure tasted good to me!
Balloons, streamers, ribbons, and pictures of a photoshopped, number three Herbie. Easy Peasy.
There were only three children invited; four including The Son. Adults do great eating off of their laps, but three year olds, not so much. For the kids table I moved his little picnic table inside and Herbie-ed it up. Here it is with the take homes for the kids… a picture of the guest of honor Herbie, Crayons that were also Herbie-fied, and the coloring books I made. I searched online for pictures of Herbie that could be made black and white, or already made coloring sheets (found here, but we never got our autographs so whatever.) I did some detail work on the front and back in publisher and had it all printed at my favorite-in-there-every-week copy shop and Voila! Custom coloring books. They turned out cute, but some of the images were kinda pixellatey. I went in to this project thinking it would be cheaper than goody bags full of plastic crap and candy, but honestly–they were kinda expensive because of copying costs. The cover was card stock and all of it was on a larger than normal size paper so it could be folded and stapled in the middle. I am not sure I would recommend this take home–goody bags would have been so much easier.
More decorations. Oh, notice the paper plates and cups. I HATE paper cups and plates, but they were SO MUCH EASIER to set out and clean up. Sorry Martha Stewart and you know, THE EARTH, but I may be a convert.
The Son loved these so much that I did not take them off of our light fixtures until after we got back from vacation.
Herbie confetti. Yeah I know. Overkill.
Balloons were everywhere, these were our second batch. We had unfortunate popping and deflating issues with the first batch.
The only decorating I did outside was designating spots for the car show, balloons on the mailbox, and red and blue stripes and a three on the front door. It was cute!
I was really pleased with this party’s look. It turned out great, was easy, was unique and fit my kid just perfectly. Next up is the car show portion of the party.
Filed under Photography, The Son, hostess with the mostess. | Comments (2)Herbie Party: Part One.
You have to start with the cake–when you have a cake that looks like this, you always start telling about the party by telling about the cake. It is of course by Stacey, maker of the famous Pokey Little Puppy cake, and swimming duckies the year before. This year it was Herbie. If you have been reading this site for long at all you know that Herbie is king around here, and nothing less than a Volkswagen car show starring Herbie would do for The Son’s third birthday.
There are so many details I love, and the ONLY one I came up with is to have Herbie be the number THREE car instead of FIFTY-THREE.
How cute is the bumper? I hated to even put candles in it, much less eat it.
Can you see the side mirrors? LOVE THEM.
Last year he needed help to blow out the candles. Not this year!
Oh NO! It is…wait for it….HERBICIDE!!! You can thank my Dad for that one. Now you know where my sense of humor comes from. The Corn does not fall far from the stalk.
In case you were wondering, it was chocolate and it tasted as good as it looked. Yum. Every single crumb was eaten.
Postcard
Dear Internet,
I am here–with my sweet husband and my adorable son and we are having a great time. I would say that I wished you were here, but I don’t. The three of us are enjoying each other, walks on the beach, chasing seagulls, picking up shell fragments, giggling at every single wave, building sand castles, jumping in pools, reapplying sunscreen, eating yummy seafood, and deciding what to do next (PARASAILING!). See you next week.
Love, Me.
I closed comments on this post because for some reason it was getting spammed like crazy and I am not spending my precious vacation moderating comments. Sorry, the losers ruin it for us all.
Filed under Photography, The Husband, The Son | Comments Off