Sun Harvest

There is a place here in Fort Myers called Sun Harvest Center. It is a small packing plant for citrus, if you have ever purchased a citrus of the month club it may have been packaged here, that is the kind of thing they do. They also have free samples and lots of lots of different kinds of juices to buy as well as other tasty things. Chance and I went the other day just to check it out. I hadn't been in a long time and I thought Chance would like seeing the behind the scenes of the fruit packing and juice samples as well as playing on their playground. Well I was right on two counts. Chance liked watching the guys packing Oranges and Grapefruits in boxes through the glass and he liked playing on the playground but he did not want any juice samples. He is going through a picky eating phase. He used to eat everything but now he only eats what he knows and loves. He will grow out of it I am sure because we do not make him special food. He eats what we eat or he doesn't which means he will eventually have to eat something he isn't familiar with but that was not the case on this outing.


My favorite was the Strawberry Orange juice so I picked up a jug to bring to the house. pic #1 Chance watching the packing process, pic #2 Chance playing on the playground.

Early Easter Eggs

Because Scott is not going to be with us for Easter this year we decided to color eggs together a bit early this year. This weekend we grabbed an extra dozen eggs and an egg coloring set then got to work. Chance had a good time picking which eggs went in which colors and how long we should leave them in each color to make them darker or lighter.

Doing egg coloring a little early was definitely a good idea. When Scott is gone little traditions like this don't feel as whole so I am glad we were all able to do it together. The egg in the last two pictures says I Love You Momma in French.

And then there was a pony aka Sofia's Birthday Party

Sofia, one of the little girls in our playgroup turned 3 years old recently so they threw a party at her house to celebrate. We had been to her house before so Chance knew where we were headed, he had a great time as usual playing with toys and eating cake, actually two cakes. The first cake was a home made one that was built to look like the Grinch but at the last minute it fell over so Sofia's Grandma ran out to get one form the grocery store but so she didn't feel bad about the first cake we all ate a piece of that one too which was really tasty even if it did fall in on itself.
An hour into the party a pony showed up. Chance followed me to pet the pony then he went back inside to play with cars while the other little kids waited in line for their turn. When everyone else had gone I went in to fetch Chance. He wasn't scared at all and he did a good job of holding on tight, he seemed to enjoy riding on the pony but as soon as his turn was over he went back inside to play with cars again. What I learned from this is riding a pony is ok but its not worth getting his own pony for a future birthday because he would just as soon play with cars. In this house ponies are decidedly for girls.

Last Saturday Part 2

It's about time right? Well, we have had a busy week, but back to last Saturday, it started out with a trip to Lowes for the Build and Grow workshop then went on to a St. Patrick's Day parade uptown. One of the members of our playgroup lives just half a block from where this parade runs so we went to her house early to hang out before the parade. Chance had a great time playing with the toys at their house, they have a 3 year old boy too so there were a lot of things that were exactly what Chance likes to play with. After an hour or so we walked up to the parade route. There were lots of people but everything was very laid back so there was plenty of room for us to sit and wait for the parade. Soon it arrived and we waved to the riders to get some throws. We got lots more beads (like we need those) as well as other St Paddy's Day items like this umbrella Chance caught all by himself, he likes it very much and walked around with it as much as possible for the next couple days.
This second picture is Chance and Emile in Emile's wagon riding to the parade route.

Build and Grow Workshop at Lowes

Today was a long day that I am going to put into two posts because we did a lot and I am tired and it is almost baby bed time. The first thing we did today was something that was introduced to me by Heather, her and her son, Tyler have been doing these workshops for a while but today was our first one. Every other Saturday Lowes has a build and grow workshop for little kids. It is free and all the materials are included plus they gave Chance an apron and a patch for completing his project. Today the project was a tabletop basketball hoop. When we first walked int eh room, Chance was a little overwhelmed because it was different and people were banging nails with hammers but as soon as I showed him the picture of what we would be building he got excited to build. The kit was pretty easy, I would hold the nails in place and Chance would hammer. At times I was scared for my fingers but Chance did a wonderful job and in the end he had a basketball hoop that even has a scoreboard built in. Chance likes to "find" the numbers by turning the wheel as much a shooting hoops I think.
He doesn't want to wear the apron but I will attach his patch and hang it in his room till our next workshop.
One of the other fun things about these workshops is every Lowes in the country builds the same thing so no matter where your friends are you are building the same thing as they are, like Tyler and his Mom, Heather are in Virginia but they built the same thing today, check them out here.

Visiting the Children's Museum

Yesterday we had a playdate at the Zoo, the morning was beautiful but 5 minutes after we got in the gate it started to rain so we left the zoo and headed to the Children's Museum, good thing we have memberships at both places. On this trip we didn't even enter the toddler area. We stayed downstairs and played with all the "big kid stuff" In this first picture Chance is playing with a kaleidoscope he turned the handles on each side while looking through the middle. He was pretty impressed.
In the second picture he is getting measured to see how tall he is. If you stand still on the metal circle little waves come down through the air and tell you how tall you are. Chance is 3 feet 4 inches tall.

There is a special exhibit at the Children's Museum right now about kids with disabilities and all the different ways you can learn and do things. There was a section with a wheel chair for you to get in then wheel yourself up the ramp through the door around the room and back down the ramp. Sorry this picture isn't very good. Chance did a great job he didn't need any help at all once I showed him how to make it move.

Now the above picture needs a little explaining but it's really pretty cool. There is a area with two seats at one table, on each side of the table there is a little box with blocks in it, each side has the exact same kind of blocks. Then there is a curtain in the middle of the table. What you are supposed to do is close the curtain then set up your blocks and tell the person on the other side what your blocks look like, then they are supposed to setup their blocks to match your only based on what you say and not seeing. Then you move the curtain to see if your blocks match. Well, first I set up my blocks telling Chance what to do then when we moved the curtain he had set up his blocks the same way as mine. Then we closed the curtain again and he put out his blocks telling me what he was doing so I could set up my blocks and when we moved the curtain this picture is what it looked like (mine closer his farther). He did an excellent job listening to my direction and giving direction to me so our blocks matched.

Visiting the Art Museum

On Sunday we went to city park because the weather has been so nice the last few days but decided while we were there to check out the Disney exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art. It has been here for months and is leaving next week so now was the time. The exhibit is part of their promotion of the new movie The Princess and the Frog. There was beautiful art and animation cells along with clips from the different movies showing the animation process. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit and were a little disappointed actually. We know the the movie in the end was about a princess but over the years Disney has made plenty of "boy" movies, Cars, Robin Hood, Jungle Book, Sword in the Stone or even Finding Nemo but not one of these movies was included in the exhibit. It was all the princess' and I love the princess' as much as the next girl but Chance watches all those other movies so it was full of characters he knew nothing about. I know the princess' sell but most animators were and still are boys so I don't really see the win in leaving out all those movies. Anyway after the Disney area we walked around the rest of the museum where we found Quintron. Quintron is a musician who is spending 8 hours a day 5 days per week recording an album as an exhibit in the museum. He picked all the paintings that surround him for inspiration and is actually recording as you walk around and watch him. You can see him in the picture below. Quintron is also the inventor of the Drum Buddy which after seeing them work and playing with one both Scott and I really want one. They use light and lots of other internal stuff that I didn't have the time to read all the signs and find out to make drum beats. The first two pictures are Scott and Chance playing with a Drum Buddy.
This was a lot of fun for our last day together this week, Scott is in Salt Lake City till Sunday.

Playdates all Week

This past week has been a busy week for us. But it was good that Chance had I were out of the house a bit the first few days to give Scott plenty of time to recoup from his long flight home on Saturday/Sunday. Our first playdate of the week was on Monday, we went to Nancy's house. Everyone brought their play tents (you can see Anne and Clarabell in the second picture) so the little ones to climb and crawl through. After playing in the yard for a while we walked across the street where there is an old school that the school district had to abandon this year because the building has foundation problems. They have told Nancy that she can come over to use the playground any time she wants until they get the building fixed so we went over to let the kids play. Pic #1 Octavian and Chance drawing on the chalk board and Liam rolling a ball. Pic # 2 is Me reaching to catch a ball while Chance does the same monkey in the middle style.


On Tuesday we went to a playdate at one of our playgroup members, Erica's house. This is a great group to have together because they all have older kids about Chance's age and except for me have babies that are about the same age too so while the little one's played in Sofia's room the babies played in the front of the house. I'm glad that Chance has so many great friends that he loves to play with but am sad that he's being left behind by the group and the shifting family dynamics. Me too for that matter, my days of organizing this group are numbered. Pic # 3 is Chance and Lilly being very nice taking turns drawing on the easel. Pic # 4 is L to R, Andrea with Avi, Erica with Rocco and Debbie with Jack.




Wednesday we took a day off from playdates but Thursday we had a playdate at Delachaise Park. where everyone got together to play on the playground. One of the ladies who lives nearby even brought a little basketball hoop for the kids to play with, which Chance just loved because he has a basketball hoop at home and so he knows just what to do. Pic # 5 Allysa and Chance being pulled in the wagon by Andrea (Allysa's Mom) Pic # 6 Octavian and Chance are great friends but they are almost always into something. This time they were putting rocks down the hole on the top of the orange road cone, not too bad so we left them to it. Pic # 7 Addison and Chance swinging.

Our last playdate of the week was Friday at Audubon Park. Everyone brought their instruments and blankets. The weather was beautiful everyone sat on the blankets and the little ones played music and ran around. One of the Moms brought a bunch of bouncy balls for the kids. Chance loved holding the handle and bouncing all over then pretending to fall over and laughing, then doing it all over again.

Last days in Florida

Our last days in Florida were spent hanging out mostly. The weather was so nice we would take little hikes around the property. It's 5 acres with wide open spaces and lots of trees in one corner so we can run around and explore through the woods. We would let Deedle run free on our hiking adventures which he just loved. This first picture is Chance by the gate and the next two are Chance and Deedle hiking along together. In the next one Chance is getting ready to throw the ball for Deedle. And the last one is just Chance looking cute on one of our hikes.





We also met up with my friends a couple times while in Florida the first time we all went out to dinner and the next time We went over to Carol's house for dinner at her place. She has a 6 year old boy, Chase. I couldn't get them both to stop playing and look at me for anything so the second picture is all I got from that visit. It was nice being able to let Chance play with Chase. I think this is the first time he really missed his friends and playdates because a few days before we left Florida he was asking to go to a playdate with Octavian. Next time we go to Florida I will have to work harder to get together with friends who have little ones to keep Chance being social. This next picture is Chance and Syed when we all went out to dinner, you can see Chances new red car on the table that Syed so generously gave to him, Thanks Syed, he is taking a nap with that car right now.




Then on one of our last days in Florida we went to a family friend, Jim's house. Jim has a small farm in his backyard, with chickens, turkeys, rabbits and lots of kitty cats. Sometimes he has pigs too but not for this visit. Chance had a great time chasing the turkeys and helping to feed and water (first pic below) the roosters. He also got to pet a baby turkey (2nd and 3rd pics below).





Alright that covers the end of last week, I better get started on this week before it's gone already. More posts coming soon.