Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

Halloween is now behind us. Andrew’s puppy dog costume, with its adorable floppy ears that drove him crazy, is packed away. We are left with close to 20 pounds of candy due to a remarkable lack of trick or treaters this year.

In other news, baseball season has come to a close with the Yankees once again ruling as world champions. The long, cold winter without baseball has begun. On the upside, I think there are less than 90 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training…

This time of year, my attention turns to my favorite holiday – Thanksgiving. There are 2 things I love most about the holiday: family and tradition. I love that my sister, mom and I spend days cooking before the meal and that, over the years, the menu has changed very little. I’m 31 years old and have yet to figure out how my mom can ALWAYS hear me and my dad sneaking into the tins of stuffing. No matter where she is in the house, no matter how quiet dad and I think we are, the sounds of her yelling for us to get out of the stuffing reach us before any of the stolen goodies can be enjoyed!

I also love that so much of the family comes together for the holiday. We are all so busy, but no matter where we were or what we were doing, we would always return home for Thanksgiving dinner.

Over the years, the guest list has increased. My grandparents drive out from Long Island, bringing a massive turkey that grandpa spends hours carving every ounce of meat off, while sneaking choice morsels to the dog. My uncle was always there. Then he got married and had kids and now they all come to the house. Hubby started joining us and the following year, so did his folks and brother. Andrew is the newest addition to the Thanksgiving table.

I am so happy that Andrew has a big family and that he has gotten to know so many of his relatives. I’m grateful that Andrew will get to have these special holiday memories and be surrounded by people who love him to pieces. These are definitely things to be thankful for.

Last week my family and I decided to take a last minute trip to Lake Tahoe.  My husband had been there before, but I never had.  I thought it would be a fun adventure for all of us since we are moving soon and it may have been our last opportunity to do so.  Living in the central valley of CA doesn’t make for great scenery, so seeing tall mountains, crystal blue water, and breathing fresh air was very exhilarating.

The trip was also a test to see how Jack would do on a long car ride.  The drive was a little over five hours.  Next week we’ll be driving cross country, so I wanted to see what we were in for.  Surprisingly, Jack did very well.  Aside from the expected tantrums, he was quite a trooper.  We tried to keep his attention on what was outside of our windows.  Whether it was pointing at the cows or passing by several trains (which to him was the best part).  We did eventually have to break out the DVD player.  It’s amazing how that little piece of technology can keep a child so still and so quiet.

On our trip we decided to go on a hike and show Jack the woods.  He had been on several hikes in the past, but each one gets more and more exciting.  He recognizes new and old things, and he is fascinated with the most basic discoveries. For example, he stopped and looked at every stone he could lay his eyes on.  This two-mile hike ended up taking a VERY long time, but knowing he was having a blast we would’ve stayed there all day.  He also loved to watch the little critters roam all around.  He encountered many birds, bugs, and his most favorite was a chipmunk.  I never heard him laugh so hard or see his eyes get so big as when he spotted the little critter.  I had to laugh out loud as I watched him wave and say goodbye to the chipmunk.  The little things kids say and do are priceless.

Am I the only one that LOVES those days when nothing is planned? This weekend (actually 4 nights), we had friends visiting from Phoenix. While I would love to say how great our get-together was; I am just too exhausted to even think about the great memories we made. We started with Friendly’s for dinner (our friends had never heard of Friendly’s!). Of course we drove 40 minutes (each way) to meet up for that dinner.

Saturday AND Sunday were spent at Hershey Park and Sesame Place. Now I am all for amusement parks, but I’ll be the first to admit, two amusement parks in two days with two preschoolers equals two headaches (for the mommies). Saturday was spent at Hershey Park waiting in a ton of lines, but a beautiful day for October. We also visited Chocolate World and Brady saw his first 3-D show. That was hysterical. The fish fly at you, bubbles fall on you, spiders crawl on you, and more. When those spiders came towards him, Brady hopped on my lap quicker than you can say jump! All in all a good day, so Sunday I could have used some peace and quiet.

Nope, not going to happen this weekend!

Sunday we arrived to another beautiful day at Sesame Place. We went there even though my son has NO CLUE who most of the characters are since he doesn’t watch Sesame Street. He knows Elmo; what kid doesn’t know Elmo. But Brady loved all of the climbing equipment, rope courses, and rides. Sesame Place was such a different experience than a regular amusement park, a lot more interactive activities, bouncies, and more. The highlight of the trip for my son was the parade. It was so cute, although he didn’t know the GIANT characters marching down the street at 4pm; he waved and yelled “Hi.” Then he proceeded to look at me to find out their names, and he would then yell “Hi Grover” or “Hi Oscar.” It was absolutely adorable.

So today is Monday. Today was our last day with our out-of-state friends. We laid low and visited a local corn park. Took a walk through a corn maze; picked pumpkins; bought some fresh food; fed animals; and had a nice slow paced day. Ahhh – can you feel the relief? So although I love taking my son to special places (we probably hit 7-8 amusement parks this summer), as a single mother, I have realized that one-day trips are good.

And I need to space them out!