We had a birthday party Saturday afternoon at Gymboree for Beth in our play group. It's amazing to think that Isaac was one of the younger members of our playgroup when we joined and now he's getting to be in the older set. Crazy! Isaac skipped his nap so I was afraid he was going to be a BEAR. I was wrong: not the first time. We used to go to Gymboree classes last summer and stopped when he started preschool a couple mornings a week last fall. I wasn't sure how Isaac would react. The teachers remembered us and Isaac. He was much more attentive than he used to be in class--I think age, plus preschool has helped him. He actually sat and listened to instructions. I could not believe it. He loved playing on the equipment. We may consider a summer enrollment after school is over this spring.

As I reflect on our last week I realized Isaac has had a really good eating week. I mean, some weeks it's a fight to get him to eat anything nutritious. Maybe we've turned a corner here?? Not sure, but I'll take it! He ate half a pork chop tonight plus the baked beans and two pieces broccoli.

First Day of Spring Celebration

Isaac and I met Melissa, Ella and Nora at Rita's Frozen Custard Friday afternoon. They were celebrating the first day of spring with free italian ice. I'm not sure what's italian about the ice--it just has flavored sugar water on top. What's not to love? Isaac and Ella had cherry. He was stained in red dye the rest of the evening.

Memorial Park Playdate

Isaac and I went to meet up with some of our friends from church last week. We met at Memorial park. He loved eating the bread more than feeding the ducks/geese, however I didn't get any pics of that. We had a picnic lunch after playing for a couple of hours. It was a really chilly morning. Before we left the house at 10 I checked weather.com and it said sunny in Athens. The sun didn't come out until we were leaving at 12:30. Isaac didn't seem to mind the colder temps. that morning.

Isaac is going to be a peace maker/hospitality king. He always wants to make sure everyones' needs are met before his own. For example, he wanted to share his placemat with Thomas. Also this week Isaac shared his granola bar with his friend Sophie at the Y. I was told he gave her the "big piece and I keep the smaller one." He's really caring--like his father--I hope he stays that way.

Weekend in Chattanooga

We had a great weekend in Chattanooga!

On Saturday we visited the aquarium. Two large buildings of exhibits and a separate building with the IMAX theatre. Isaac's favorite parts were the pancake turtles and penquins. I loved the butterfly room. It was really peaceful and not too crowded. Donavan preferred the River building that featured animals from a variety of rivers in Tennessee and across the world. Oh, Isaac was really fascinated with the dragonfish in this building. We went and saw Under the Sea in the IMAX and Isaac felt asleep for a 10 minute cat nap. Oh, I hated to wake him, but we had to leave the theatre.

We dined and slept in a train car at the Choo Choo hotel. It's a really cool idea and Isaac enjoyed it thoroughly. Surprisingly, it was not noisey although it was a bit outdated--the facilities felt old. Well, they were old trains. It was a no nap day for Isaac so by 6 p.m. he was ready to crash. We ordered room service. Bad idea--expensive (of course) and not overly delicious. Isaac ate his whole dinner--hot dog, applesauce, fruit and fries. He did share a few fries with him mommy. After Isaac fell asleep Donavan and I watched Nim's Island, a really cute movie.

On Sunday, Isaac slept in until after 10. We actually had to waken him up to start our day. We went to the Children's Museum, which was really, really impressive. Isaac loved the art and music section. They had individual rooms with percussion, strings, etc... where you could play the instruments. they were sound proof rooms and Isaac always wanted to keep the doors shut. I don't think he wanted to keep other people out, but enjoyed listening to the drums, etc.... We spent over an hour in this section. He also loved doing rubbings. The museum also had a water play section, mechanical section, hospital (where Isaac checked Donavan's heart beat), a magnet room and dino exhibit. Isaac liked playing in the sand and pretending to unearth dino bones. The second floor had a special "my house, your house" exhibit, bee hive area and reading room.

Chattanooga has a free electric shuttle system downtown which was perfect. It wasn't very crowded since it rained the entire weekend. We hopped on at our hotel and traveled downtown for the aquarium, children's museum and food. We ran out of time, but another trip back should include the zoo and incline rail car.

Movie and Singing Time

Isaac and I went to see his first movie in a theatre this week. We saw the Disney movie " Bolt." It was a cute flic about a dog that kept Isaac' attention. I'm sure it's against rec. from the American Academy of Pediatrics to take a 2.5 year old to a movie, but we had fun. It's his spring break this week and I wanted to make it special. He doesn't look overly thrilled in this picture standing next to the movie poster, but like anything new Isaac always looks very serious. He continually asked how the "mobie works." Since I worked in a movie theatre in high school and some in college I explained about the projection booth, etc...however I'm sure the technology has changed a lot in the last 15 years.

Last night Isaac, Donavan and I were playing ring around the rosie and Isaac sang it so beautifully before the camera came out. I wanted to get it on video, but of course he got silly when the camera came out. I still shot the video.

We finally visited Rita's last night. It's a frozen custard/creamery shop close to us in Athens. They support St. Joe's in a variety of ways and we had yet to make a stop. It's really reasonably priced and sell everything from custard to gelato. Isaac loved his mango smoothie. We're really excited about biking over there for snacks this spring--before it gets too hot to do any biking in Athens.

We're heading to Chattanooga this week for a trip to the Acquarium.

Little Percussionist

I'm glad we currently don't have anyone living above or behind us. I really need to find the drum stick we got Isaac for his birthday last year from Gymboree.

Play time at Bishop Park

We went to play at Bishop Park today with some friends. We met Julee, Ryan, Connor, Melissa, Ella and Nora there. Isaac loved running around, climbing in the trees and venturing over to the baseball fields. We had a picnic lunch and Julee brought the very popular snoopy snow cone machine. He was exhausted by the end of the play date. It was a beautiful day (low 80s) and sunny. I think we're supposed to get rain for the next few days so we enjoyed the nice sunny weather while it lasts.

Helping in the Kitchen

Isaac has been a big help in the kitchen this week. He likes cracking eggs and washing pots and pans. We always have to re-wash everything, but he's trying. Sometimes it seems like he's making more messes than helping out, but I'm trying not to discourage him. Last night he helped me make Greek pizza. Since Donavan was home he snapped a picture of us. BTW, what do you think of my new glasses??

Swimming at the YMCA

Isaac, Donavan and I went swimming this morning at the YMCA. We had the indoor kiddie pool to ourselves for the hour and a half we were there. As you can tell by the video Isaac enjoyed jumping off the edge into the pool. He didn't wear his vest today as the water is only 2 feet deep. I think the swimming wore Isaac out as he took a 4 hour nap this afternoon.

Georgia Baseball Game

Pictures from the Georgia baseball game this evening. Go Diamond Dawgs!

Snow in Athens

It snowed in Athens on Sunday. Isaac slept most of the afternoon while Donavan and I (mostly me) enjoyed watching the snow fall. In the last 6 1/2 years of living in Georgia this is the first snow fall we've encountered. After nap on Sunday we took a short walk in the snow. Isaac wasn't too sure what to think of the snow. A lot of people have lost power. Ours went off for a period on Sunday evening, but came back on before midnight. Something has happened to our wireless internet router during the outage so I'm working off a "free unsecure site--" probably not the best idea.

Monday morning Isaac did some sledding. Isaac enjoyed the sledding. If you turn up the volume, you'll hear him say "wheeeee." He had a lot of fun until he sled into a puddle of water and got very cold. Then, it was time to come inside. It's warming up quickly so the snow will likely be gone by Tuesday. It is nice to have an extra day at home with Donavan. All schools, most businesses and county offices are all closed today. We probably got a total of 3-4 inches--which is a major snow storm for the southeast.