STOMP

Last year I went to the show STOMP at the Fox Theatre with my friend Leslie, and it was amazing! So when I heard that it was coming back to the Fox, I wanted to take Bob and Colin. I thought that Colin would really enjoy all the percussion even though it would be really late for him. It was a risk. The show started at 8pm and would probably go until 10pm, and Colin really likes his sleep.

So the show was last night (Bob's birthday), I fully intended to get Colin to nap but with Bob's birthday and wrapping presents and getting the house ready for Bob coming home from a work trip to Colorado, the nap just didn't happen. My bad.

When the show started, Colin's eyes got so big! He said to me, "I like these guys". I'm thinking all right, we are going to make it! The shows energy and excitement will keep him awake.

Unfortunately, about 15 minutes later he started in with "I wanna go home." Darn! So I tried to get him to go to sleep on my shoulder with the show going on but he said it was too loud. I really wanted Bob to see the show, so Colin and I went out into the lobby and found a secluded bench where Colin laid down and went to sleep.

After a while, I put Colin on my shoulder and went back to see what I could of the show. I ended up at the back watching the last 30 minutes, and I didn't miss the trash can sequence where three guys stand on top of these big 50 gallon trash cans and walk around to the beat of the music, it's my favorite part! And I got to watch this while Colin was asleep on my shoulder -- talk about a sound sleeper!

All in all, maybe I should have waited a couple more years before introducing Colin to his first show. But at least Bob got to see all of it, I got to see half of it and Colin liked what he saw.

Dad's crown

Bob turned 40 yesterday! Yikes, I'm next!

So I gave Bob a book of paintings by one of Bob's favorite artist, Ferjo. I asked Colin what he would like to give Dad for his birthday, and immediately Colin said, "A crown". So we made a crown for Bob's 40th birthday!

The sand squeaks

Finally! A trip to the beach with my parents (Colin calls them Grandma and Grandpa G.G.!). First, Grandma and Grandpa flew on an airplane to Atlanta Thursday night, then we rented a mini-van which made Colin very happy.

Friday morning, we all loaded into the mini-van for the trek down to the condo in Destin. When we got there, we were driving along the ocean and after about 10 minutes of driving, all of a sudden, Nathan says "GAAAA"! pointing to the water. Apparently he just noticed it and was very excited about it! Nathan also does this when he sees big trucks, diggers, and things like that. Although not as loud as when he saw the ocean for the first time.

After checking into the condo, we immediately went swimming in the ocean. Nathan just went flying into the water! I have a hard time believing this is the same kid that I took to swimming lessons and whimpered the whole time in the water. I think the difference is the feet touching the bottom thing. Swimming lessons were in a pool where I had to hold him the whole time.

Dinner that night was at Buster's where Giggles the Clown gave Colin and Nathan balloon turtle watches and Mickey Mouse ears hats.

The ocean was much clearer and prettier on Saturday where we spent all morning in the water. This trip has probably made us beach snobs because I don't think you can find any prettier beaches than Destin. The water was so clear and the sand so white and sugary ... and squeaky! It was very strange. Whenever I walked it would squeak!

Unfortunately, while we were playing in the ocean, Nathan swallowed too much water or had a little bug or something because he vomited all over me (yuck!) and took a very long nap after that.

While Nathan napped, my folks and Colin and I took a walk. Bob stayed at the condo to be with Nathan and take a nap himself. The goal for our walk was pina coladas at a Tiki Hut that we saw. But we didn't know how far down the beach it was. Turned out it was quite far, and Colin was getting really tired. Said that his leg hurt and it looked like there was a rash there. My dad got stung by a jelly fish earlier, so maybe Colin had too. So no pina coladas for us.

Saturday night dinner was delivery pizza, and the activities for the night was watching Husker football. The Huskers lost, but it was to the number one ranked team, USC -- I think. Obviously I didn't watch the game. Hard to believe that I'm from Nebraska, huh!

More fun in the sun and ocean Sunday morning. Then lunch at the Whale's Tale, a beach-side bar and grille where we watched a couple parasailing and the starlings trying to steal a bite to eat. Colin met a little 2 1/2 year old girl that he let borrow his new toy cell phone. Something Colin would never do with his little brother, of course!

I was really proud of Colin in the water. He was a little tenative at first but did really well. Even went under the water a couple of times (by accident) and didn't complain too much. Bob eventually got Colin on the boogie board too. The water was the perfect height for him, just chest level.

Of course Nathan had to do the boogie board thing after seeing Colin on it. However, instead of laying on it like Colin, Nathan would sit upright. Took a lot of effort to keep the board from dumping him. Then Nathan decided to stand up on the board! It was so funny, he looked like the littlest surfer dude! But when I tried to get Nathan to do it for Bob and my folks, he fell off. Bad mom! After that, Nathan decided it was time to play in the sand ... forget about doing the water thing!

We collected lots of shells for Colin and saw lots of critters in shells -- Hermit Crabs I believe. We left those in the ocean! I even saw a big crab, well 8-10 inches maybe, in the water! I pointed it out to my mom, so what does she do? Tries to catch it! It wasn't too happy about that, tried to pinch her. Of course, this is the woman who got bit by a bat when she tried to catch it. Had to get a bunch of shots after that incident. Fortunately, my mom didn't get hurt by the crab.

Sunday evening, we reluctantly left Destin to go back to Atlanta.

Nathan's puzzles & words

Doing one of his favorite puzzles wearing Colin's swim goggles
Nathan has developed a passion for puzzles! He will carry one around all day and even takes them to bed with him! His favorite are the wooden ones with the little knobs on the pieces. He will take the pieces out and put them back, over and over again.

His word for puzzles sounds like "pu pu" or "pa pa". Which reminds me, his word for milk is like "ma ma". So when it sounds like he asking for mommy or daddy, it's really milk or a puzzle! However, he does say Colin's name quite a bit, although that sounds like "caa". I think I know who is number one in Nathan's book -- and it's not mom or dad!

Asheville road trip

Looking at a baby chick at the Farmyard of Biltmore Estate
This past weekend we made the annual trip to Asheville so Bob could judge beer at the MALT Homebrewers Competition. It's the second year that we have done this.

We left Atlanta Friday afternoon, getting into Asheville with time to check into the hotel and get settled a little before going to an early dinner at the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company. What a fun place! Surprisingly, it was very enjoyable considering that Nathan didn't nap in the car. Actually, Nathan didn't nap the whole weekend except for 30 minutes in the car on the way back to Atlanta on Sunday. But I digress, the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company had an excellent Porter and yummy dough-knots (aka bread sticks tied into knots!)

Saturday was the competition. So we loaded everybody in the car bright and early to take Bob to start drinking! The way back to the hotel took much longer than anticipated. The car has a GPS navigational system that I relied solely on to get me back to the hotel. This was a mistake! At one point Colin asked if we could go to the hotel and I replied (while sobbing) "I'm trying but I'm lost!"

When we finally got to the hotel, Colin says, "I had fun, I'm glad you took the long way." I think he was trying to cheer me up ... it worked.

Once we had breakfast at the hotel, another car trip to try to find a swimsuit for me. The plan was to go swimming with Colin in the hotel pool while Nathan napped. I did not consider how tough it would be to find a swimsuit at this time of year. But as you recall, Nathan didn't nap at all this trip, so a swim session with Colin didn't happen anyway! I did find the mall (and my way back!) where there was a kid's play area for Colin and Nathan. They had a great time.

The afternoon nap was a disaster. I really need to work on modifying the plan when things don't go as planned. I was so counting on Nathan napping, then taking Colin to the pool (still didn't know what I was going to do about a suit though.) Things got real ugly, but I won't go into details because this blog is all about things I want to remember. I don't want to remember things getting ugly.

Finally the babysitter arrived and I was off to retrieve Bob from his beer judging thing to go drink more beer! We went to Carmel's in downtown Asheville with Ellen, a friend who used to live in Atlanta but now lives in Asheville (lucky girl!). Carmel's was amazing! I highly recommend it. Then off to Jack of the Wood, a brew pub and Barley's, a beer bar. Have you noticed that everything we do revolves around beer?

On Sunday, we went to the Biltmore Estate. Only one day left on our annual pass that we got last year! We were going to check out the winery but it didn't open until 2pm, so we checked out River Bend Farm on the estate. The best part of the farm is the farmyard where the kids got to meet chicken, sheep, horses and donkeys up close and personal. It was actually a little too up close for Nathan, although not napping in two days, I'm sure was taking a toll on his temperament. Every time one of the sheep would bleat really loud, Nathan would cry and cry. Colin was even a little apprehensive about getting too close to the animals but by the time we left he had petted a chicken, sheep and some little chicks. I was so proud of him! Boy, what city kids we have!

Time to drive back to Atlanta, which was not a fun trip but no sense in going into that which I don't want to remember anyway, huh?! Next weekend we are driving to Destin, Florida. I really hope Nathan decides to nap for that trip!

Dragon*Con

Matt, Tracy & Colin
Colin & the Blue Lady
Atlanta hosts America's largest convention focusing on science fiction, fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film. In other words, it's a convention for the geeks out there that love star trek, dungeons and dragons, star wars and everything else geeky! Don't get me wrong, I love geeks, and I'm pretty geeky myself. So I use that term with the utmost respect and reverence to the convention attendees.

A couple of Dragon*Con attendees are friends of mine from Nebraska. Matt, Tracy and Mark stayed with us over the weekend while they went to the "Con". On Saturday, Colin and I joined them and saw some of the sights, and boy, there were some amazing sights! A lot of the Dragon*Con people like to do really bizarre and interesting costumes! See the picture above of Colin and the Blue Lady. Colin really liked her! But surprisingly Colin was not impressed by many of the costumes and was much more fascinated by the hotel's atrium and glass elevators!

At one point Tracy let me borrow her badge so I could see some of the convention. So Tracy and Colin decided to ride one of the glass elevators up and down 47 flights several times. Tracy said that they went up and down so many times that Colin was ready to get off the elevator!

And just to spice things up during the Dragon*Con weekend, Nathan learned a couple new tricks. He can now climb up on top of the stool all by himself. Bob was in the kitchen and then all of a sudden, there was Nathan sitting at the counter on top of the stool! Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm so scared of Nathan falling off of the stool! The other trick that Nathan started doing also involves climbing. Nathan can now get to the second level of the kitty condo.

So this morning Matt, Tracy and Mark left for the airport when Colin was at school. When Colin got home from school, he asked where they were. I told him that they went home. He got the biggest tears in his eyes and said, "I didn't want them to go." Colin really had a good time with them around and is going to miss them!