On Sunday, we hit up the Kids and Family Expo at the Orange County Convention Center like we did last year. Not that it was expensive ($7 for kids) but it was funny that you had to pay for kids three and up which meant we missed Colby getting a freebie by one day! We will be running into more and more times where we will have to pay for Colby now, I guess.
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| The view of the convention hall from up above as we walked over. |
It opened at 11:00 am so we made sure to be there right then so that the kids could do some of the extra rides/activities before it got too busy. Last year we didn't do much of that because of the extra charge and because there were too many weight restrictions but this year there was more stuff they could do so we ended up getting the wrist bands. That way they could do everything as much as they wanted. They were fairly pricey at $12/each but the kids said they would pay half from their own money so we agreed. I'm glad we went early because later in the day the lines got pretty long but for the first hour and a half, they did the activities multiple times.
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| There were lots of bouncy houses to Colby kept busy since he was too small for some other stuff, obviously. |
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| Hard to see but Duncan is pushing one of the girls in the giant ball. |
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| Calleigh and Colby together racing Aubree and Brady. I think it ended in a tie! |
When we weren't doing that, we strolled through the hall, visiting all the booths which were giving out lots of freebies like backpacks, stickers, candy, frozen yogurt and ice cream among other things. We also went to a couple of stage shows including Medieval Times like last year. Once again, Calleigh got chosen for the same part of the show up front and she was excited! With Colby getting older, we have noticed we don't need the stroller as much as once did and we decided to forego it this time. Unfortunately, I don't know that we chose wisely as he got pretty crabby at times and wanted to be carried. I also didn't bring a binky because I was certain he wouldn't fall asleep with all the activity going on (and, of course, we didn't have the stroller) but he kept crying for his binky in the afternoon. I kept telling him I didn't have it with me and there was nothing I could do but then I suddenly got an inspiration when I saw that part of the expo included a special baby section. We made a beeline over there and sure enough, there was a booth set up specifically for Colby's brand of binky, MAM. They had various ones on display and I asked if they had any they were giving out. Sadly, they only had newborn ones but I took it anyway and Colby got such a huge kick out of having a tiny binky. He put it in his mouth for a minute but then he wouldn't keep it in because he didn't want anyone to see him and think he was a baby. It cracked me up! I put it in my pocket and every now and then, he'd ask for it. He'd touch it and stick it in his mouth for a second and then give it back. Somehow that seemed to do the trick and he quit whining and crying for the rest of the time.
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| Frozen yogurt sample. They only had pistachio left but they liked it just fine (reminded me of my Friendly's days because we had pistachio ice cream but it was definitely one of our LEAST popular flavors) |
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| This is a local homeschool mom who wrote some neat books based on the group activity called "Two Truths and a Lie." She had this machine built so that kids could play against each other. |
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| She is supposed to hold that joust up by herself, the joke being of course, that it's impossible. |
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| Brady watching the battle. |
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| Once again, we were winners! They give away door prizes and last year we won Medieval Times tickets. This year I heard them say my name over the loud speaker again and sure enough, we won Crayola Experience tickets. There are probably thousands of people that attend this event so we couldn't believe we won two years in a row! |
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| Once in the car and away from the public eye, in went the baby binky! |
Monday morning we had Colby's three year well visit appointment. Everything went great!
Colby - 3
Height - 36 1/4 inches (25th - 50th percentile)
Weight - 30 lbs, 2 oz (25th)
Shirt Size - 3T
Pants/Shorts - 2T
Shoes - 7
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Dr. Smith. I just saw in a local magazine that he was voted one of the best pediatricians in Central Florida and I whole-heartedly agree. We love him. He is such a wonderful Christian man and was telling us all about his daughter's mission trip to Israel this summer.
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Tuesday the kids had their ice skating lessons start back up. I was wondering if Brady would put up a fuss about it but he didn't say a word. I was also thinking we would have to go through the process of changing him from his assigned group to be with Aubree but he didn't blink an eye about being by "himself" in a different group. I was amazed! It really is much better this way because than Aubree can go at her own pace and not worry about sticking with him. The only snafu we ran into was that Brady's ice skates were too small (now in a 10) so we had to rent some. Calleigh's were also too small but she still wore them. When we measured her feet afterwards in the pro shop, she measured at 4.5 and she had been wearing a 3. So mercy, guess her feet were squeezed in there! Unfortunately they didn't have her size in the shop so we will just order off Amazon again (likewise for Brady). But at least I was able to get a good measurement to know what to order. Incidentally, when Calleigh wears my flip flops, they look like they fit perfectly. My goodness. I wear a size 7 women's but a girl's size 5 is apparently the equivalent of a woman's 7.
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| That's Brady to the left with the teacher, Cheyne (pronounced "Shane"). Cheyne isn't Brady's teacher this session but Brady went up to him during the free skate and Cheyne started skating back and forth with him. This is what he did last session during free time. I was wondering if Brady would think to do this and if Cheyne would remember him. Yes and yes! |
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| Had to make a run to Costco after ice skating as we were out of frozen fruit for our smoothies. So Costco pizza for supper! |
Duncan had the day off on Friday so I asked if I could take a "Corey" day and he readily agreed. Woo who! I hadn't taken one since Mother's Day so I was very excited. The good thing about going out on a Friday rather than a Sunday is that Goodwill is open earlier and later on Friday's. Of course, we had things to do to prepare for Sabbath so I couldn't stay out as late as the hours would allow but it was still terrific. Duncan used the passes to Crayola and took the kids to the Florida Mall for the day (which is where Crayola is).
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| I guess this was a store at the mall? |
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| The girls convinced Duncan that I had said Colby could get a Build-A-Bear when he was three so that is what they did. I'm sure I probably said it but have no recollection! Colby named him "Besty." |
Some other activities from the week...
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| Art class with Rosa. Brady decided not to do it this week. |
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| Measuring the length of the ark since we were studying Noah that day. First we had to measure a string 10 cubits long and then when had to move it 30 times down the sidewalk to measure 300 cubits (about 450 feet). |
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| I decided to try doing an afternoon tea time on Thursday at 4:30 to see if its something we want to do on a weekly basis. It's supposed to be a time to talk about our school week and share something like a poem or whatever. We had British crumpets and the kids got to pick a fruity herbal tea. We decided that good old plain, decaf black tea is the way to go (I know they already like that but forgot to pick some up). I also only like plain tea so I can't blame them. |
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| Colby was the only one who really drank the fruity tea. Go figure! |
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| Pretending to call Papa and Gigi to thank them for his birthday presents. |
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| Duncan took the kids to try out the new Dunkin Donuts that opened right near our neighborhood. |
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| You never know where these kids are going to set up camp. |
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| We got some yellow watermelon at Trader Joe's. Apparently it's just as good as the red kind (I didn't try it). |
A couple of things I forgot to mention in the last post. One was that Calleigh threw up again on Monday, August 8 which was the morning after we had gotten back from Nova Scotia. She went four plus months and I was hoping it was over! I'll just continue to monitor before taking another step. The second thing was that Colby had his elbow pop out (aka, nurse maid elbow) a few Sabbath's ago. Brady grabbed his arm to prevent him from going up the stairs and Colby started wailing. He couldn't lift his arm up so we knew what it was (as a reminder, Calleigh had this happen about three or four times). Duncan fiddled with the arm for about ten seconds and heard the sound as it popped back in. Phew!!
One quote from Colby before I close. On Sunday morning as Colby was lying on the floor on living room and I was sitting on the couch, I called out to him.
Me: "Colby, didn't you have your birthday yesterday? How old are you now?"
Colby:"I'm three. Your baby is growing up!"
That he is!
Enjoy the long weekend.
