The coolest park I've ever seen

This last Saturday we went to the coolest park I have seen.  Gerry had suggested it, I myself had not heard of it but like to try out new parks.  Boy I am glad we did.  Apparently Round Rock raised 1.4 million dollars to build this park.  It started with a dad that wanted a park that his son who was in a wheel chair could have fun and experience all the joys that parks have to offer to kids.  I probably can't even do it justice describing it.  Its huge with a play scape with wide walk ways and slides.  It makes it even easy for parents to navigate through without worrying about hitting your head.  It had a swing section with all sorts of swings for children of all ages and mobility having a swing made specifically for wheel chairs.  There was a music area that they called the rock stage.  It had drums and all sorts of thing to hit to make noise.  Another area was a full sand pit complete with tons of sand toys.  Or if you wanted to cool off they have a water section with water tables and toys.  But to top it off it had a mock town that mimicked Round Rock with an HEB (grocery store) a Seton Hospital, library, fire station.  There was streets with working street lights that went green yellow and red.  The kids could ride their scooters or trikes around this pretend town without the worry of cars.  The whole time Ethan was yelling "whoa" or "yeah" I don't think he knew which way to go because each area offered something that was a little kids dream.  We had almost as much fun exploring this park as he did I think.  I couldn't believe how quickly he mastered the slides on the play scape.  He wanted to go on the tallest one time after time.  After we left and went home he didn't last long before he was fast asleep.

While Ethan was asleep I ran out to do a couple of errands and I found a pool on clearance for 6 dollars so I picked it up figuring it was hot and would be something to pass the rest of the day.  He was so excited he climbed in it before we even got it blown up.  He cried when Matt took it outside to fill it with water and didn't want to wait for me to put him in his swim suite or lather him in sun screen.  Matt had a great idea to put his slide my dad had got him for Easter in the edge of the pool.  He had his own water slide!  At first he had Matt hold his hand as he slid down but soon he was climbing up and flying down the slide into the water.     The first time he did it he got dunked pretty bad and we thought up thats it he wont do it again but to our surprise he jumped out of the pool and went again.  As the afternoon wore on he walked around the backyard collecting things to throw into his small pool.  When I finally brought him back inside he walked straight over to Matt who was wrapped in a blanket on the couch (since he had joined Ethan in the pool at one point and the water was cold) and climbed up and fell asleep on his chest.  TWO NAPS in one day he hasn't done that since he was a little little guy.  It was a great day!

Going

Wipe out

Soaked

Matt and Ethan cooling off in the pool

Tucker enjoying the entertainment from the shade

The tonka truck slides down well too

Easter

With all of the excitement of Ethan's haircut I forgot to post a blog about Easter.  As I was loading new photos from the camera I realized that I didn't put any from Easter on (the pictures of Ethan's haircut were all from my phone).  We had family come out from California and New Orleans!  Ethan had his Papa from my side his Gigi, Great-Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Uncle Brian all out to celebrate Easter.  I think the high light of the visit was taking them to the Driskill Hotel for Brunch and Easter itself.  One of my favorite spots in Austin is the Driskill Hotel, it holds a lot of historic charm.  The inside is beautiful with touches of classy old western, high ceilings with architecture detail that dances throughout the building.  We waited a while to get in for Brunch but we past the time by admiring the lounge and resting in the high backed over sized chairs.  In my opinion the food was worth the wait.  Matt and I ordered Ethan a cinnamon roll that probably could have two people rather than a small toddler!  Quite a few of us had almond crusted french toast and eggs mixed with colorful potatoes, all going a long with the decadence of this hotel.

On actual Easter Ethan got up super early, so by the time everyone came over for breakfast he had fallen asleep on the floor of the living room with his rump in the air.  We gestured for everyone to come in quiet so they could witness how cute he was sleeping there.  He slept like that for a good twenty to thirty minutes while everyone chattered a way.  We continued with tradition of having linguisa and eggs for breakfast.  After breakfast we went to Bill and Gerry's house.  Bill had gotten the kids a Easter pinata that was in the shape of an Easter Bunny.  The kids had fun taking turns smacking it with a crocket mallet.  I was so proud of Ethan he marched right up there and hit it hard.  Only after a couple of turns did he hit it hard enough it swung back at him and knocked him down and that is when he had enough.  I thought this year he would really like hunting for eggs but he really was not that interested.  In fact he hopped on his motorized quad and watched the girls run from egg to egg.  He did grab one and got so excited he ended up running off totally content with that one egg. I have a bunch of photos from the visit and Easter that are worth more than my words so here they are!

Ethan hated the tie I got him he cried this was the only picture we got of him in it

Papa and Ethan 

Ethan thought it was great fun to feed Uncle Matt his Diet Pepsi's

Ethan and Gigi clapping

The ham was entertaining us with his dancing.. he got big boy under pants in which he had to try out  his sweet moves in

He offered Great-Grandpa his shades

Hey I've seen him in silly shade before when I was a kid!

We caught a photo of his funny sleeping position

This years cousin photo wasn't quite so picture perfect but I love it!

Ethan cruising looking for eggs

hitting the pinata

Ethan felt that cousin Sadie should enjoy some chocolate... too bad it was melted and he got it on her pretty white dress

blowing kisses

My first hair cut

There has been an on going debate about when the right time to cut Ethan's hair would be.  Every time we decided we would do it, it seemed as though his hair laid flatter or his curls would lay perfect and we would back off on the idea of cutting it.  I love those curls and wasn't quite ready until the other day I looked at him and realized that his bangs were in his eyes.  I know being a girl and having bangs before that it is very uncomfortable to have hair in your eyes.  That is what made me finally proclaim "I think its time."  Honestly I think Matt would have done it sooner as he liked to refer to him as a red neck baby in the bath because of his rat tail down his back when his hair was wet.  But he was patient with me to come to terms with cutting my babies curls.

We made an appointment at 1pm figuring he would be in a great mood after a nap.  His nap was killer and he woke up in a fantastic mood.  We made a quick stop at Walmart to get some rubber maids bins, so I could organize his baby clothes and pack some of the stuff he no longer uses away.  He insisted on riding in the big part of the cart and we took him out since there wasn't enough space for the both of them.  When we put the rubber maids in he pointed and screamed, insistent on riding in the big part of the cart again.  Who were we do deny him! (Especially since he was making such a fuss about it...).  He rode all the way up to the register in the bins standing up like he was manning a ship.  Matt even picked up the bin he was in and placed him on the conveyor belt. The lady at the cash register loved it! We picked up Gerry and went to lunch where he proceeded to be in a great mood as he played in the booth.

Then it came time to go get his hair cut.  When we walked in it had a cute child's chair that was a mini cooper set in front of a TV with a movie playing.  A kids dream to be able to pretend to drive while getting a hair cut.  The second I walked over to the chair it was perfectly clear that he was not going to drive happily as the lady cut his hair as he clawed his way back towards my arms.  I suggested that we forgo the car and have him sit in my lap.  This seemed to help a little but not much.  The second she tried to put the cap on it went from bad to worse.  He started ripping at it trying to yank it free from his neck.  I told the lady "I don't mind a little hair" so she took it off and started working on his fly away hair.  She was amazing working around him as he screamed and threw himself from side to side.  He acted as if he was being tortured.  We tried to feed him candy but this only seemed to distract him for a second before he started screaming again.  This didn't stop her at all, she just kept snipping away.  She even busted out the buzzer to do his side burns, something if I was in her position wouldn't even consider.  At one point Ethan yanked her comb out of her hand and she just grabbed another without skipping a beat.  The whole thing was very comical considering it was just a hair cut.

Once she finished and we started walking toward the cash register he started clapping and waving and smiling saying "yay" as if it was a piece of cake.  We ended up tipping the lady 5 dollars which was huge considering his hair cut cost 14 dollars, but we figured she earned every penny.  Not to mention our embarrassment of the whole salon witnessing this whole ordeal.  Matt asked if she had any other kids that screamed like him and she just looked at him and said not one as bad as him.  Matt then smiled and said "that's my boy!"  When we got home he took another nap that lasted two hours long.  He hasn't taken two naps in probably six months.  I think all the screaming really tired him out!

Right ahead dad!  (before of his hair)

He heard the buzzer and thought they were going to make his hair look like Daddy's

I think this says it all

Please help me

Cute as can be with my new hair cut!