Tuesday, September 8, 2015

August Happenings

While Daddy was out of town in the beginning of the month, we took a trip to the Springs Preserve.  They had a Dinosaur exhibit on display for the summer, and I was worried how Nolan would react to the huge, realistic looking dinosaurs.  To my surprise, he absolutely loved them!  As soon as we walked in, he ran over to them and started laughing SO hard!  He would roar back and laugh, and run back and forth between the T-Rex and the Triceratops.







They had activities for the kids throughout the exhibit, so we spent some time coloring a few dinosaurs, riding a triceratops, digging up some fossils, and even got to wear these adorable little dino tails at the same time!  There were lots of interactive, educational games, but Nolan just wanted to drive our Jurassic Park jeep into walls and bushes.  Once we were done with the activities, we stopped back at the roaring dinosaurs to laugh and say Bye!










We explored the rest of the Springs Preserve, and found some fun waterfalls, an old train, cool screens on the floor, and lots of animals on display outside (but it was SO HOT)!  Nolan loved the Flash Flood exhibit, and we missed the train ride by 2 minutes, so we'll have to check that out on our next visit!  The funniest part of our visit was when we were inside, walking over a glass enclosed floor with rocks and water on the bottom (see through).  Nolan's depth perception was just not matching up, and he kept trying to step down through the glass, when obviously he couldn't.  He was so timid about crossing the floor and I couldn't help but die of laughter and film his silly moment!












We finished with lunch at the yummy Divine Cafe, and came home to have a long nap after a big morning outing!

We spent a morning outside playing on the swingset and snapped some cute pictures of Nolan styling his sunnies and Hi! shirt.




I braved the drive thru car wash with Nolan, and he voiced that he was NOT a fan.  Poor kid!


Nolan thought it was hilarious that he trashed his toys all over the house.  He wasn't laughing as much when we picked them up together afterwards. :)


We sucked down some fruit in our fab ReSqueeze pouches (lifesavers!)


He had a conversation with himself in the mirror, repeating No over and over... Not sure why!?


Nolan also says "Again" quite often for something he wants to do or watch over, and has learned "One time" for "One more time" and does the cutest hand movement with it!


Since we've been renovating the backyard, we've made lots of trips to Lowes and Nolan has become quite familiar with the stone yard.  He runs around since it's normally empty, and on this particular day, he felt like playing a game of "Throw the Boxed Water, run, kick, pick up, repeat."  Whatever keeps him entertained, right!?





I made the mistake of introducing Nolan to the "Whip and Nae Nae" song and video, and now he asks for it all the time.  He goes nuts when it comes on and dances like crazy, knows some of moves, and just loses his mind!  Here is a just a peak of what it normally looks like when Nae Nae is playing:


We spent a playdate with our friends Kelly and Nolan at Run Plus Fun, where the boys climbed all over everything and surfed the rainbow bridge over and over again!  We ate at Blaze Pizza for the first time afterwards and it was ah.may.zing.  I may have brought Jason back two days later.....







We spent a weekend at the rec center pool, and Nolan has gotten so brave since the beginning of the summer.  He absolutely loves jumping into the water and says, "Again! Again!" after every jump.  We've even gotten him used to going underwater and he doesn't mind it at all.  He completely wears us out at the pool and is super upset when we leave, so as much as he's hit or miss with the splash pads, he's a huge fan of swimming and being emerged in the water!  I'm so glad it's something he enjoys and I look forward to getting him in swim classes next summer!






We celebrated my birthday with dinner at Outback (because, Blooming Onion, yes!?) and dessert at Crepe Shack and Waffles.  Dinner was delicious as always, and Nolan behaved so well at dinner, so that must have been his special present to me!  Dessert was SO good, and we all shared a yummy banana split, mint and black raspberry ice cream crepe cone.  We will be going back ASAP... It is legit!



Nolan has started collecting and gathering his toys and piling them together around the house, so one morning he decided to grab all of his friends while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He also felt like taking smiley pictures with mama, despite the fact that we had just woken up not long before!


His hair turned into looking like a troll doll one afternoon.



We spent a day at the mall, and after being locked up in his stroller and quite frankly, being very, very over it, we took a break at the play area where he ran around, climbing and crawling through all the structures.


Nolan took some adorable pictures with his sideswept hair, and I can't get over how old he looks in these pictures, but still has parts of baby to him like those yummy arm dimples.  Don't grow up!



Outside, we play with lots of chalk.  Nolan has a bit of trouble saying "Chalk" and this is the closest he can get to it. Haha!


We've been watching another old video that I used to watch when I was little, "Disney Sing-Along Songs" and Nolan absolutely loves all the characters and songs.  His favorite part is Winnie the Pooh, and has a blast pretending to light off fireworks just like Mickey for the grand finale.  It makes us SO excited for our Disney trip we have planned and booked for December!



Little man decided to crack us up by smearing his face on the sliding glass door.... I think the picture explains it all.


We spent a day at Wet n' Wild with our friends Aaron and Althea.  I wasn't sure how Nolan would like it, but he did surprisingly well!  His favorite part was the lazy river, and loved floating with his new life jacket and pretending to swim.  He grew to love the little toddler slides- every time we would sit down to go, he would say, "No, no!" but once we splashed into the bottom, he would say, "Again, again!" and run towards the line to go again.  So even though he was scared each time, I know he really enjoyed it!  He wasn't a fan of the wave pool, and had his moments in the play structure.  It was a fun day to spend cooling down in the August heat, and us adults even enjoyed some big kid rides- where Jason and Aaron braved the insane drop of these water slides!  Yikes.








Nolan snapped some sticks he discovered in the front yard while exploring in his "Aw, Snap" romper!  How fitting.





We did some shopping at Town Square, and Nolan played at the playground for a bit.  We decided to take a ride on the choo-choo train and he wasn't quite sure if he liked it or not.  Maybe a few more times will help him decide!







Nolan does the fakest laugh when he hears other people laughing around him or when he thinks something is really funny.  It cracks Jason and I up every single time.  He's a nut!


It was National Dog Day, so of course we had to give Harley some extra loving!


That's all for August!  Here comes fall.... the best time of year!  ...Until then!