Keeping up with the Manssons: Splash Pad Mania

So, here we are...three weeks later. Scary part is I don't know how three weeks have gone by since my last post. We really have not been very busy. I attribute it to Jillian phasing out the morning naps, which means I really don't have time during the week to post a blog. But she is actually sleeping at the moment, so I am going to try my best to get a decent post up here.

Cold!!!!

Lets see, Summer has arrived early this year with lots of 100+ days already. Usually may is not too bad, or maybe we have just been spoiled for the last couple of years with cool Mays. Who knows. All I do know is that we have done lot of swimming and kiddie pools, plus lots of playdates at splash pad parks. Unfortunately for Henry, most of the playdates I do now are during his school so he does not get to join in. I do try to do something with him on the days he is off from school, but he has only been to one splash pad out of 3. Jillian loves them and I think Henry really enjoys them too. We will definitely be doing more of them now that both are big enough to enjoy them.

I have spent a few morning with Jillian cleaning out the play room. Well, really purging all the infant and baby toys out that we no longer use. I am getting to the point where I don't want any more infant stuff taking up room in the house and am willing to basically give it away. Seems crazy since we have had this stuff for years, but I would rather it go to someone who need it.


How do you tire a kid out? 2 Hours at a splash pad.

We also had our first birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza (for those of you who don't know what PPP is, it is the same as Chuck E'Cheese). I have never taken Henry before due to his food allergies, but since it was for one of his good friend's birthdays we made the trip. And it was a trip, this particular friend has moved about 20 miles away and it took us 30-45 minutes to drive to the PPP. It was fun, but CRAZY. They didn't have that great of selection of games, but Henry enjoyed the simplicity of some of the games where you won tickets. He was also obsessed with watching the Terminator game. I don't know what his new fascination with guns is (it really must be a boy thing), but all he wants to do now is play guns. On a side note, I always tell people that my kids don't sleep in the car and I get a lot of 'yeah...right' looks, but I am documenting that my 3.75 year old and my (2 days shy of) 17 month old, who played for just over 2 hours, ate 'pizza', and rode home for 35 or so minutes in a very warm(it was over 100 that day) vehicle DURING nap time were STILL BOTH AWAKE when we got home. Seriously...why don't my kids sleep in the car?

Other exciting news is that our TV blew up. Well, it didn't really explode blow up, but more of the bulb exploded. So...we were without a TV for a few days.

Almost total solar eclipse

We were lucky enough to be in the path of the solar eclipes over the weekend. We didn't quite see the 'ring of fire' where the moon blocks the sun completely and you see the ring around the shadow of the moon, but we did have a really good view. It was amazing the drop in temperature during the eclipes. The kids were not nearly as interested as we were, but were happy to spend 30 or so minutes in the yard with a Ladybug pop (which is homemade Popsicle of pureed strawberries with blueberries in it.)

I also had both of the kids tested for food allergies. It was just a simple finger stick and they test for 120 major allergens. Plus they break dairy up into different things (like whey and caisen). So we can pin point what Henry's allergies are, plus know if Jillian has any. I think Jillian may have a thing with nuts, but we will see. Hopefully, I will get the results from the test back this week. Andrew is very hopeful that neither of our kids will have an allergy to anything, but I am pretty sure that there is something going on in their little tummies.

I know...another dollar int the therapy Jar. But Henry has now taken to using his underwear as a holder for stuff. Yesterday he had his water bottle in there...oh boy!