Thursday, May 27, 2010

Big Shoes to Fill

Parker decided to try on his uncle Carsten's shoes last night and then was ready to hit the town!

Mom's Lil' Cowboy

Last night Parker found one of my step-mom's cowboy hats in the closet and he came out wearing it. It was too cute!
Saying "Cheese"!!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tempe Beach Park

Yesterday Parker and I got to hang out with Chris' sister, husband and three of her kids and we went to Tempe Beach Park. It is this really cool splash park and the kids loved it! The weather was PERFECT, not too hot and not too cold. It was great to be able to spend time with them and for the cousins to play. (The rest of the pictures will be posted on my facebook page)
My niece, Lizzy
My sister-in-law with 2 of her kids, Ella and Lizzy
Parker was good at holding up the line on the slide!
My brother-in-law and Ella

Nap Time

Well, Parker has now decided that he no longer wants to sleep in the crib (at least the portable one, which is a different one than the one we have. I bought the cheapest crib from Walmart to leave here in Arizona when we come to visit and it looks like it might be a little shorter than ours). So I took out the little mattress that comes with it and put it on the ground with a pillow and when I came to check on him this is what I found...I have finally figured out how to get him to nap. I don't even put him in the crib anymore, just on the ground! I have to put the baby gate in the doorway since he can open the door and I got tired of walking back and forth down the hall to put him back in our room. Some days he falls asleep with the door open, other times he falls asleep behind the door with it closed. Now, it will be interesting to see what he does when we get back home with his normal crib and whether or not he'll want to sleep in it after not sleeping in a crib this whole week! He may be getting into a toddler bed a lot sooner than we had anticipated!!

Denver Airport- Flight to Arizona

After the museum we headed to the airport. We'd never been there before and thought the architecture was pretty cool. Now, the goal was that Parker would be soo tired from the museum that he would be really good at the airport and even sleep on the plane. That turned to NOT be the case! Luckily Chris was able to get a pass to go through security with me to help with Parker. He had really only slept for about an hour by this time (3:00pm) and so he was really cranky. While we waited at the gate Chris and Parker walked back and forth on the moving sidewalks in front of the gate. However, when it was time to board the plane, Parker didn't really want to go. Anyways, I did my usual seat thing where I pretend I bought 2 seats so I don't have to hold him the entire time...except that that backfired because the plane was COMPLETELY full, even the 2 extra pilots that were on the flight had to sit in the cockpit with the other pilots!!! Now, normally it wouldn't have been too bad to have to hold Parker the whole time, except that being 8 months pregnant and not having a ton of room to begin with makes things a whole lot more challenging! He was pretty good at the beginning though and then decided he wanted to throw his car at my drink sitting on the tray of the girl next to me and ended up spilling some of it on her (oops!). I felt so bad, but luckily it was just Sprite and it got on her pillow mostly. Towards the end of the flight Parker had decided he had had enough and started crying, then would take out his pacifier and sadly say "Dadda" with huge tears running down his face. I would then calmly tell him that Daddy wasn't here and we would see him in a week...which would then cause him to cry even harder! It broke my heart :( When we started to descend the pilot said we would be on the ground in 20 minutes, however, I'm pretty sure it was a lot longer. Parker cried pretty much the entire time we were going down (I'm pretty sure his ears were hurting him since he didn't even finish a dum-dum that a lady a couple rows back handed us) and then like 2 minutes before we landed he had fallen asleep!!! This was supposed to happen at the BEGINNING of the 2 hour flight, not the last 2 minutes. Anyways, it was definitely an adventure that I don't really care to repeat, so we'll have to see how our flight to Salt Lake goes on Sunday and hopefully I'll be able to have 2 seats to myself and that he won't be as cranky! Wishful thinking I'm sure :)

Children's Museum of Denver

Last Saturday we took Parker to the Children's Museum of Denver before we went to the airport. He LOVED it! There was so much there for him to touch and play on/with. It was a nice way to finish off the week and be able to do something together as a family.
First stop...Fire Truck!
There were buttons to push for the lights and sirens and of course the HUGE steering wheel, which Parker liked a whole lot!
Next...the "Choo-Choo's"
Bubbles anyone??
Shopping Time...
Climbing area with tunnels and stuff...
My little artist!
Last stop...another little climbing area (not as interesting as the last climbing area though!)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Swimming

Last Friday we left for Denver and stayed at the Hyatt Place Dever Tech Center, where I got a REALLY good rate online. It was the nicest hotel we had ever stayed at, and quite frankly, I was a little nervous about staying there because it seemed too nice to stay there with a toddler. But it was okay, there were quite a few kids there also. In the morning after breakfast Chris and Parker went swimming for a little while..Parker LOVED it!
Splashing water in his face...such a funny expression!

Kansas Views

Basically this is all you see for MILES!!!

Wind Farm on the way to Garden City, KS

Fowler, Kansas

This post is LONG overdue, especially since we are moving out of it this weekend...however, before I left last Friday, I finally took some pictures of the house we have been living in for the past 5 months.

Front
Back
Tiny Kitchen!
Kitchen/Back Door
Parker's Room/Storage (I had already started packing, so things are a little out of place)
Living Room (Looking from front door)
Our Room
The ONLY Closet
Bathroom

A little about Fowler, KS:
~ NO stop lights
~ The only street that was paved was Main Street
~ Population: About 500 people
~ NO Grocery Store, have to go to Dodge City (about 40 minutes away)
~ Had to travel to Dodge City for church
~ NO Mailboxes (had to get a PO Box)
~ Only 2 little restaurants (A small diner only open until about 4, and a "family" bar, that we never went to)
~ Closest Walmart is in Dodge City along with a TINY mall.
~ The weather is crazier than Idaho! VERY windy, all the time.
~ The streets are usually deserted by about 9 pm