A FREE Carnival!

When I heard the news about the "Good News" carnival this weekend, I thought it sounded cool but knew we wouldn't be able to make it since it was little Dylan's birthday party that day.  Turns out, sweet Dylan ended up getting sick and his birthday party was cancelled, so we decided to see what it was all about.

Anthony had to work Saturday, so me and my little man headed out early to grab breakfast and make it there before the thousands of people I was expecting showed up!

 

All I can say is I am SO glad we went - it was a breeze to get in, and it was SO cool!  Imagine an entire fairground arena FULL of every bouncy house you could imagine, including games, snocones, popcorn and drinks - for FREE.  Plus, it was Christian-based and so kid-friendly that I was really impressed with that they did.

Nolan jumped right in and I have to admit that I was a bit nervous on him going into all of the big ones alone (they were all supervised inside and I had a dress on - ha), but he did just fine!  I should never underestimate this guy.  He climbed up the tallest ones with no problem and make it through in record time!

There he is on the right...that was a long way straight up!

 

I tried to get a picture of him on the way down the slides, but he was literally a blur in every single one.  Case in point...

 

 

We were able to make it through about 7 of the bouncy houses before it was time to play some games and start heading home.  He did a good job at some of the games, and was even more excited that he got TWO lollipops...lol. 

 

 

We didn't get to go on the biggest slide there, but it was so amazing.  It was literally the biggest bouncy house I had ever seen.

 

 

This is Nolan standing in front of about 2/3 of it.  He was covering his ears because the speaker was announcing the next stage act, and he thought it was too loud :)  We had such a fun day.  It was really a great time to do something with just the two of us, because let's be honest, if Daddy was here I would have been on the sidelines the whole time while they dominated the slides... :)

 







Mama y Papa Came to Visit!

We got lucky and Mama and Papa came through town for another visit this past week!  We usually only see them about once a year, so we were so happy they spent a couple of days with us this week.  I have to admit, it's nice to have extra hands around the house and I know Nolan LOVES it when they come to visit.

We just took it easy and played with Nolan and even had dinner out one night.  Between Mama cooking one night and dinner out, I didn't have to cook two nights out of the week which is like a vacation for me :)

On our way to Mexican for dinner...Nolan's choice!

There is always plenty of fun when they are around.  Anthony and his dad have the same amount of energy, which Nolan just soaks right up.

We got Nolan's pool out one day after work and enjoyed the weather.  I think we all ended up wet at some point, but it was fun!  They turned the slip n' slide portion of Nolan's pool into a basketball court - complete with sprinklers.

Going in for the lay up!

 

We had such a nice visit, even if it was short.  The upside was that they came back into town on their way back home, so we had them for a quick night again!  This time, Donovan was with them which totally made Nolan's night :)  He had a big boy to play with and Donovan was so sweet and patient with him.  I just love this picture we took at dinner!

 

 



Pool Party and Post-4th of July Fun

Since our 4th of July weekend ended up being pretty laid back, we were happy to have a fun pool party to attend this weekend.  Mom and Tom were there, which made it even better because it's a full-time job watching Nolan around the pool and I was happy to have the help!

Henry and Susan have an awesome pool area, and their son and his family came and some other neighbors of theirs that we have gotten to know.  There is one guy that always smokes lots of different kinds of meat that turns out amazing.

Daddy and Ollie showed off their diving skills (Ollie, at 72, did a BACK FLIP!), and of course Nolan wanted to try everything too.  Thank goodness I caught him before he actually tried!

He didn't want to go off the diving board...for about the first 30 seconds :)

Post-splash - ha!  He loved jumping in from wherever he could.

 

It was such a fun night with great people.  We all were exhausted by the time we were done, and the boys clearly played themselves out.  Anthony went to put Nolan to bed, and I saw this on the monitor when I went to see what was taking so long :)  My boys - I love them more than life itself.

 

Nolan looked super comfortable :)

 

Fourth of July

It was the most low key 4th of July possible this year, and that was just fine with me!  The actual Holiday itself was on a Tuesday, which meant we had to work Monday, so it was kind of broken up.

Summer itself is usually pretty tough for us anyway - Anthony works a lot more and our yard basically takes up ALL of our free time.  So, some movie fun, a cookout with the neighbors, and lots of movies at home was just fine with me!

Anthony took Nolan to see Despicable Me3 while I grocery shopped for the cookout with our neighbors.  He made it all the way through, but only wore his 3d goggles about half the time - I can't imagine what that looked like - ha!

Anthony sent me this pic and said they were watching with Mark Whalberg - ha.

Nolan matched his $20 Minion...

 

We ended the evening with our neighbors, the pool and lots of food on the grill.  I finally have the back porch in a good place this summer, so it's been nice to enjoy it out there.  It's kind of a pain to clean everything up afterwards (read: 1 million kids toys), but the boys had a great time so it was worth it!

 

 

We also spent some time at the playground.  I wish the school had more trees since it's SO hot and really sunny, but I sat in the shade and watched Nolan and Anthony run around like crazy people.  Nolan is getting a lot better at climbing and a LOT better at holding on or catching himself when he falls.  Takes my breath away to watch him, but he's a climber for sure!

 

This is my "I got this Dad," face :)

He made it to the top and of course had to show his Spiderman webs...