Our visit to the states so far has gone pretty well. It took about a week for Jackson to get days and nights straightened out. It was a rough week, but well worth it obviously in the end. We've spent some nights at Mom and Matt's house, some at Aunt Sheila and Uncle Don's house, and one at Dad's house in KY. We've gotten to visit with LOTS of people, too.
Camden's graduation and party were last weekend. We had only been in the states for 4 days, so Jackson and I were both pretty tired for the party on Saturday. Jackson did REALLY well for having to sit through a 2 hour ceremony.
He was climbing from lap to lap, but didn't really fuss very much. The four days up to the graduation were pretty hectic. In between trying to get Jackson onto a normal schedule, Sheila and I were making posters, scrapbooks, and photo albums for Camden's party. We ended up with two tri-fold posters, one sports article scrapbook, one sports photo album, and one everything else photo album. It was a TON of work, but well worth it. Everything we did got lots of attention at the party and Camden even thanked me. 
The rest of the week was pretty much spent just hanging out. Mom gave me a pedicure one day. I spent another day driving around to the WIC office in Troy, Wright-Patt to drop off records and confirm my appointment, and the mall.
Then this past weekend Jackson and I headed to KY to visit with Dad and Grammy and PaPa. We got there for lunch on Saturday (Skyline is tradition and it was great!). We spent the afternoon at Grammy and PaPa's, had mexican for dinner, then went to Dad's for the night. He has two mastiff-bull mastiff mixes (Luna and Athena). They're ginormous. When I opened the back door to the car, one stuck her head in to see Jackson. He freaked out. He loves dogs and is used to being around them, but none that big. Once I got him out of the car and held him, he was a little better and they were licking his feet and legs. Then we went inside and Dad made them get in their bed in the living room. Then Jackson was a little better with them since he could approach them on his time and with my by his side. He got to where by the time we left, he would go to their bed by himself and try to get them to give him kisses. On Sunday we went back to Grammy and PaPa's after lunch for some more visiting, then back to Tipp City for dinner. It was great to get to hang out with everyone, despite having a brief power outtage.
Dinner Sunday was Bob Evans to celebrate Mom's birthday which was Saturday. There were 14 of us so it was a pretty big group. Everyone had a good time, and of course it was good food. Ben (my cousin) had french toast but couldn't eat it all. So Grampers was giving some of it to Jackson. He's had french toast, and syrup before. But we usually just drizzle a little syrup on the top for flavor, and this was pretty much soaked in it. He was getting a little antsy and tired, so after we were done eating, I let him out of his high chair. He ran around like a little maniac. Still behaved, and stayed right by our table, but RAN. I think that was a combination of sugar and trying to keep himself awake. When we went home, Mom and Sheila were getting him ready for bed and he got sick. I think that was a combination of french toast, syrup, and running. He was fine within seconds and wasn't running a fever at all. Lesson learned.
Today was a trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Jackson, Mom, Taylor (Camden's girlfriend) and I headed there around 9:30. On the way there we were discussing GPSs since we were using one. Mom and I were telling Taylor about the time Mom, Matt, and Camden followed Mike, Jackson, and I from Apple Valley to Cedar Point using a GPS. It was new, and we convinced Matt that whatever way it told us would be faster than anything we could come up with on our own. He reluctantly agreed to trust it. We ended up going down gravel roads in the middle of nowhere and some farming access roads. Within seconds of telling this story, the GPS sends us down what appears to be a driveway/alley in the ghetto of Dayton. Taylor was amused.
I was a little worried the museum wouldn't have anything age-appropriate and fun for Jackson, but figured it would be worth a shot to try. Turns out I had no reason to worry. There were ALL KINDS of things for him to play with and do. Of course there were plenty of things that he couldn't do, too. Right after we walked through the door we found, "That Kids Playce." It had a fossil digging pit, tunnels to climb through, a play house
, big blocks to build with, balls to kick, a tube slide, and best of all, a water table. He had a lot of fun crawling in the tunnels with MiMi. 
The digging pit said not for kids under 3 since they might put the shredded rubber in their mouths, but that's not an issue with Jackson so we just let him go and he dug right in. 
The water table of course was a hit.
Then he found the slide.
We couldn't get him away from it. He would get to the bottom, say, "more" and run back to the stairs. Mom was helping him at first, then even though he was capable of doing it on his own he wouldn't go up unless Mom or Taylor was at the top to "help" him by sitting there and looking at him.We eventually were able to drag him away from the slide and we headed upstairs. There we found a (pretend) general store, a vet office, a legoland, some stuffed animal displays, some REAL turtles (Taylor and I thought they were fake then one moved its head and we both about had a heart attack), a car "garage", and a zoo type area with a few live animals. In the general store, he pushed around a little cart and put some "groceries" in it.
He was starting to get a little tired so he would get mad very easily when he got his cart stuck against the wall and had to have help to move it again. The car drew his attention and many times he went back to it saying, "Caa, caa" (his version of car). 
There was also a tube slide that started on the second floor and came out on the ground floor. We tried to keep him away from it because I thought he was too little, but he wasn't giving up. I went downstairs to catch him and Mom came down the slide with him anyways, so he was fine. Then he lost a shoe and had a fit when I was putting it back on (tired) and threw his head against the floor (ouch!). We went back upstairs to look at the live animals before heading out. He really liked the geese (which we called ducks) and kept saying "kaack, kaack" (quack quack). You could get really close to the turtles, and he seemed to like that, too. 
We walked past a dragon exhibit and stopped in breifly to see what they had.
Mom found a little dragon hand puppet that Jackson liked and kept giving kisses to.We made a pit stop before leaving and Jackson and I were waiting in a little eating/vending machine area. He was pretty tired at this point and when I told him no about something, he laid down on the floor with his head down.
(pic is him getting up--I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera.) Yeah, tired. Some more museum pics:
We went to Olive Garden for lunch, and had a nice time. He behaved despite being tired. And he (and I) napped as soon as we got home, though not for as long as I would have anticipated.
All in all, it was a great trip. Jackson had a lot of fun. It was exhausting for everyone, but definitely well worth it. We may be heading back another day for a repeat. Although next time we'll go AFTER a nap so he's nice and fresh.
Who had more fun? Jackson, or MiMi?
ReplyDelete