Road Trip!!

On Wednesday we are going to begin our road trip all the way from New Orleans to Portland, OR. Scott will be working his last day in Dallas so Chance and I will leave here with Deedle in the morning on Wednesday. We will meet Scott in Dallas where we will spend the night then move on toward Portland on Thursday. We plan to arrive at Nana and Grandpa Von's house on July 4th.

We will be doing all we can to keep in touch along the road, I will be trying to blog any fun things we do along the way but since we are doing five 8 - 9 hour days I am not sure I am going to feel like taking my laptop into the hotel room at the end of the day, in other words there might not be much full on blogging until we get to Portland. So, here are some ways you can follow our journey.

Rayna's twitter account: http://twitter.com/qemorio (or you can follow along in the left column of this page)

Rayna's Facebook page: Here

Scott's Facebook page: Here

You will need your own facebook account to follow us there but it's another place we will be updating along the way.

Here is the direct link to the road trip photo album too.

Farmer's Market

On Saturday we went with our friend Nancy to the farmer's market. It is really really hot here and even though we got there when it opened at 8am. Chance didn't want to walk very long and since we are leaving town on Wednesday and can't buy a bunch of things anyway Chance and I got a Popsicle and waited while Nancy shopped.

Chance is turning into just a little boy (not that he hasn't always been), he has started those little boy things that you just don't experience the same way with a little girl. Like asking me to read him a book that he calls "Mister Snotty Pants." The title is actually Mister Clumsy but he thinks it's hilarious to say it's Mister Snotty Pants. The days are full of race cars and sword fights and as he gets older toddler sized fart and poop jokes. I don't know if I'm ready for the little boy sense of humor that is quickly creeping up on me.

Largest Equestrian Sculpture in the World

That's right, IN THE WORLD! A friend recommended we stop by this sculpture while looking for things to do in Dallas. So we looked it up and headed over. It is a pretty impressive sculpture and the horses are larger than life galloping through a fountain fashioned to be a stream.

It was very hot out in the square so Chance started out wading through the water and ended up swimming.


We all had fun exploring Dallas, it was great to be together.

Happy Father's Day!!

We couldn't do all that much for Father's Day this year but it was great that we were able to be together. So many special days have been spent apart in the recent years that you have to learn to appreciate every holiday you get together.

And even though we spend a lot of time apart we still get to do lots of fun and wonderful things together. Like this past Friday we were able to go blueberry picking together. It went so much faster having two adults picking to fill one bucket and when we got home Scott found this easy and really tasty recipe for blueberry crumb bars. Then on Saturday one of the moms from our playgroup offered to watch Chance for a few hours while Scott and I went out to lunch. It was really nice to have lunch at a nice restaurant just the two of us.

Although we couldn't do all I had hoped for Father's Day this year I just want Scott to know he is the best Daddy in the world and I love him very much.

On the Grassy Knoll

Another Day we went walking around downtown Dallas near the station where Scott is working. We walked a little way to find a great fun piece of art. Since I am sure you have picked up by now that we like to take in art and do our best to appreciate it we had to get up close and personal with this one. Chance had a good time posing for pictures at this one.

Just a few blocks from the station is a place I totally forgot was even here until Scott reminded me. Below you can see Scott and Chance in front of the old book depository. I love these shots of the two of them walking away, in these pics Chance look so much like a little Scott.

We walked all around the JFK memorial and then crossed the road to the grassy knoll. That's me and Chance below on the Knoll. By this time Chance had decided he was no longer in the mood for photos and so is running to get out of this one. He has become moody like that recently but from everything I read it is typical of a three year old so we just keep telling ourselves it's a phase and trying to keep some control while letting him learn to be his own person. It's easier said than done some days.

This was a fun thing to do, I am very happy we got to see these downtown locations and a little piece of history. I had no idea Dallas was so large or had so many great locations to visit. We didn't have a ton of money to spend or lots of time but there are all kinds of museums all over Dallas and a Zoo and world class Aquarium, I had no idea until we spent this weekend here. A little trip like this is exactly why I love to travel, I learned so much about Dallas that I never knew before and got to experience the city in a way you just can't do from an armchair. When we get the opportunity to travel along with Scott it's great because not only do we get to see him but we get to hang out in locations that we would never choose to go to otherwise.

Fair Park Dallas

We spent last weekend in Dallas with Scott. It was great to be able to spend the time with him and cool to hang out in Dallas which is a place none of us had really spent anything length of time. One of the places we went was Fair Park which is the only completely intact site of a pre 1950's World's fair site and home to the largest collection of Art Deco exhibit buildings, art and sculpture in the world.
It was a nice park with fountains and lots of places to explore. The first photo is Chance playing near a fountain when we first entered the park and the second is him hugging a Mammoth statue outside the natural history museum. The Mammoth was a life size replica of a Mammoth found in Dallas many years ago.
Before we left the park Chance got completely soaked having a great time running through a fountain that was the sister to the fountain in the first picture.

Infancy to Independence

Infancy to Independence is a parent run non-profit preschool. Or at least that is what it is supposed to be and what it was when it was started back in the 1970's now it isn't as structured as I imagine a preschool to be but it is still much more structured than just a regular playdate. Which is something I think Chance could use a bit of, more structure. He has a good time at I to I we sing songs, do crafts, have snack time and free play. And the last two weeks we have set up a water slide and kiddie pools to let the little ones play which was soooooo much fun.

It's only one day per week which is good to give us something else to do once per week that I don't have to totally be in charge of planning. Since I organize the playgroup we are a part of I often feel a burden even when we are having fun because it is my responsibility to create that fun. It's nice to do something that someone else is in charge of for a change.

Today Chance found the dress-up station at I to I. They have lots of Halloween costume type dress up things for the kids to play with and today all the little boys were dressing up then chasing each other around the room. Chance wanted to be Batman and so for half the day he was.

These pictures are from last weeks I to I. All the kids had a great time sliding down the water slide. He went down then jumped out and ran around to go down again. Chance did a good job waiting in line for his turn. I was very proud of him for being so patient.

I used to think Chance didn't like crafts. He likes to paint and draw with markers but when it came to crafts he just wasn't interested. I have learned that you just have to find the mediums that interest him. Give Chance a glue stick and he will craft up a storm as can be seen from this awesome sheep he crafted at I to I.

Look what happened yesterday

Can anybody tell me what looks different?


I'll give you a hint:

Sun Tea

A few days ago I found out something pretty neat, Chance likes iced tea. It doesn't sound like a lot but I love tea hot and iced and recently I have had some in the fridge nearly all the time. Adding another food or drink to the kind of short list of things Chance will willingly eat and drink these days is a very good thing.
After I figured out he liked iced tea I knew it was time to start making sun tea. Luckily I had a gallon pickle jar in the fridge with only one pickle left inside so we made some pickle relish then cleaned and recleaned the jar to get rid of the pickle smell. Yesterday morning we put tea bags in the jar then filled it with water and set it out in the yard to wait. It's pretty hot here so it was full fledged tea in no time at all.

A Silly Morning

This morning was a productive but silly morning. First Chance came in and jumped in bed with me, after a few minutes of that he left to play in his room little did I know he had stolen my eye mask. When he came back in the room he had his foam sword attached to his leg and my eye mask on his head. He's silly but oh so cute.
The productive part of the day came when we ran out of jelly. I had a box of pectin in the cabinet and frozen fruit in the freezer so I thought hey why not just make our own. So we did now we have plenty of jam to last for a while.