One of the cutest things Jack does lately is talk to his things. Like many boys his age he is totally into Thomas the Tank Engine. We bought his all this Thomas stuff for his birthday in May. He has all these trains and pieces of the Island of Sodor.
Tonight we were playing with the Engine Wash and he was putting all the trains through the wash. I grabbed some video of him talking to Toby. Too cute!
Jack had a week of firsts… first airplane ride; first trip to Florida; first boat ride; and his first trip to Disney! The Shaw’s and Cervone’s headed down to Orlando to visit the Magic Kingdom and all the other parks. We all had a lot of fun.
The airplane ride was decent. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the airplane, its that he didn’t like sitting in one spot for so long. We had movies and coloring books, but it did not matter. But it was only a 2 hour flight, so we all survived.
Disney was amazing. Jack loved every minute of it. He LOVED meeting all the characters (or guys, as he calls them). He loved the rides; even Goofy’s Barnstormer, which might have been a little too big for him, but he loved it none the less. He even enjoyed the 3D shows. At one point he was reaching out at the stuff.
Two things were constant throughout the trip: Jack would put his finger in either the eyes or nose of the characters and I would be soaked in sweat. It was soooooooooooo hot. So hot. Hot.
All in all we had a great time. And anyone who read my Facebook post saw the line of the vacation… After waiting 30 minutes to see Mickey and Minnie it’s finally Jack’s turn. They turn to him and open their arms in a big hug. Jack goes running towards them… then right past them to the big mouse eared pumpkin saying, “Look at this pumpkin!” The photographer said she had never seen that before.
You will see in the photos a picture of Minnie Mouse shrugging her shoulders next to said pumpkin.
Everyone looks forward to Joe’s Ultimate Lido Beach BBQ each year. This year we looked forward to it because Jack was another year older and we knew he was going to love the beach.
We were right. Jack loved digging and playing in the sand. But most of all he LOVED playing in the waves. I took some video with my phone. Next year we’ll be riding the waves!
Sunday we went to Long Island to Grandpa’s Farm… okay, so its a little patch of dirt behind Grandma and Grandpa’s house with a few tomato plants… but still. There were a lot of tomatoes for Jack to pick. And there are few things Jack likes more than putting things in a container. Last week we spent about a half hour emptying a bucket of blocks and then putting all the blocks back in the bucket.
This past Saturday was the hottest day of the year. It was so hot we couldn’t even go to the pool. So, we figured we would escape the heat and make use of our Membership at the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum in CT. Jack really loves it there and it was air conditioned.
Jack had a great time as usual. He loves the Construction area. This time he spend his time shoveling the rocks into piles. We also played in the water tables, played in the rain forest and saw a snake and a hawk. It was a lot of fun and a great way to beat the heat.
It what I hope will become an annual tradition, the Shaw Clan took to the road this 4th of July and headed to Langhorne, PA to visit Sesame Place. I don’t think we could have had a better time! Jack absolutely LOVED it. The look on his face when he saw Bert for the first time was incredible. He was mesmerized. Then we went to a show and he sat there with the biggest grin on his face. Because it was 4th of July weekend, they also had fireworks at night. We weren’t sure how that was going to go since he was going to be up late and had never seen them before. Well, just like everything else, he was totally enthralled. It was such a great feeling seeing him have such a great time.
… and I haven’t even started talking about the rides yet! He loved the rides. The water slides, the regular rides. He even went on the giant cargo net thing (for anyone who has ever been to Sesame Place you KNOW what I’m talking about)! It was such a great day. We can’t wait to go back!
It seems like only yesterday we were leaving the hospital and bringing home this little crying baby… and Jack. And now, here he is, in his Terrible Twos. We opted out of the big party this year for a series of smaller family parties. There will be plenty of time for big ridiculous kids parties and we had the big first birthday last year. It was nice to have some smaller more low key events. Add this to all the other May/June events and the fact that Jen and I were leaving for Maui Memorial Day weekend, we had more than enough to do without having to plan a big party.
He had a great time this year. He loved the cake and ice cream and cupcakes. Things were much better than last year when he refused cake and then cried so hard he threw up. He really is growing up to be quite the little man. Jen and I are so lucky.
Here are some highlights…
The Shaw Family took their first official vacation this past weekend. On a whim we decided to head down to DC for the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We jumped in the car on Friday night after work and made the 4.5 hour journey. It wasn’t bad. Jack fell asleep about 7:20 and slept almost the whole way. He woke up a few times crying, but only for 30 seconds, and then went back to sleep. He did, however, wake up when we got to DC… and was awake.
The hotel we stayed at was WAY to nice for a family vacation, as evidence to the fact that the entire lobby was a chic lounge with people in expensive clothes drinking expensive drinks with very loud slow techno playing. The bell hop was yelling, “Baby coming through,” as Jen and carried Jack in a blanket through this club.
We got to our very fancy room and got our very small rental crib. That was a no go. So, Jack slept with us and spent most of the night kicking me in the ribs and pushing me off a king sized bed. The next day was fun. We walked around and saw the parade and a lot of the monuments.
Jack’s 2 favorite things were the WWII Memorial with the fountains and the DC Metro Police on the horses. At one point Jack was yelling, “Horsey ride! Horsey Ride!” I’m just glad he didn’t tell the cop, “Jack’s turn!” Getting back to the hotel was not so good as Jack was tired and wanted to stay by the fountains. But he slept better that night, which was nice.
All in all it was a great trip and we can’t wait to do it again!
Jack had a GREAT Christmas this year. He’s still too young for Santa (and he SURE didn’t like him too much), but he got the concept of presents. Of course, the first gift he opened at Nana and Poppa’s house was a toy vacuum cleaner. And we all know that Jack’s favorite thing to do is clean. So, he proceeded to ignore the rest of his gifts and vacuum the whole place!
Christmas at Grammy’s house was fun. He got some nice toys and played with Aunt Jessica’s dog, Maggie. He was a little hesitant at first, but was feeding Magie goldfish by the end of the night.
Unfortunately Jack got sick and couldn’t make it to Grandpa and Grandma T’s. But he did get some very nice gifts which he opened at home and we sent pictures to them so they could see.
Jack had a great Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Grandma T’s. He even had some little friends to play with. He was laughing and running around. It was a lot of fun.
Of course, he still won’t eat any Thanksgiving food except corn… which he ate about 4 ears worth.
Maybe we’ll be eating turkey and stuffing by next year.
