Halloween 2011

This Halloween turned out to be pretty cool despite us not knowing at all where to go. Since we didn't really know the area in Tampa very well we decided to go to the mall. The Brandon mall is huge and they were doing trick-or-treating from store to store. It wasn't the ideal for Halloween but it was going to work just fine. We showed up early and started out trick-or-treating adventure around the mall, stopping here and there along the way to actually purchase a few things one of which being a new iPad for Scott that the best buy Mobile in the mall didn't have but held for us at the big Best Buy across from the mall (this comes into play later).
Most all stores were giving out candy and some were giving cookies and one even gave us each a candy corn shake. Think Vanilla shake with candy corn in it, I wouldn't buy it but it was fun as a sample for the occasion.



Here is Chance drinking/eating his candy corn shake at the mall. So after we went all the way around the mall we headed out to the Best Buy to pick up Scott's iPad. Since we aren't super familiar with the area yet we took a wrong turn and ending up getting on the interstate instead of going into the parking lot. So, we went down to the next exit and decided to turn down the first big road to see if it would take us back to the Best Buy. It did not, but it did take us directly to a perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating. There were kids walking down the street and lots of people sitting out in their driveways with bowls of candy. Since we had plenty of time before Vest Buy closed and besides it was Halloween we asked Chance if he wanted to trick-or-treat some more and of course he said yes. So, we parked the car and headed out from door-to-door. It was perfect, everyone was friendly, it was a great family oriented neighborhood.




Chance at a house completely decorated for the holiday, graveyard and fog machine included. We collected more candy for over an hour then headed back to the car.



Chance's blue pumpkin was completely full of candy by the time we made it back to the apartment. And of course we dumped it out in the living room floor to inspect it. Not only did he have a lot of candy but it was quality candy as well, lots of chocolate and specialty things. All in all a great Halloween.

Swimming Class Graduate!

Last Saturday was Chance's last Preschool Level I swimming class. He graduated with flying colors. As a matter of fact he was the only one in his class that mastered all the requirements and got the OK to move on to Preschool Level II class. He loves swimming and can't wait to go to more classes, unfortunately they don't have classes in the winter so he will have to wait a little while but I will keep my eye on the website and as soon as they start up again next spring I will sign Chance up for the next level swimming class. I love that he has something physical that he likes to do so much and is very good at it. I love swimming and went through all these same swimming classes he is doing now, it's so cool to see him having such a good time and doing so well.

Chance Face

Chance wasn't really mad in this first picture he just made this roar face and his fist happened to be in the shot so it makes it look like he was really angry.

The next picture is just him being his cute self.

Back to the Aquarium

When we were at Guppyween Chance really wanted to go in the water play area but they had it closed for the event so I promised him we would come back the next day. Annual passes are awesome!




The next day I dressed Chance in his swimming trunks and off we went. He played for over two hours in the water area. climbing and running and sliding and getting soaking wet.



There are water cannons on the pirate ship, the kids can shoot each other or the ship. I climbed all over the pirate ship with Chance and I didn't get wet but it was a close call. If there are kids using the water cannons there is only one little corner that is safe (dry) I hid there till they were done then made a run for it.




This slide doesn't look very wet in this picture but he was mostly dry at the top and after the short trip to the bottom he was soaked.

Tampa Children's Museum

I am trying once again to catch up on the family blog and to that effort I am mostly going to just be writing captions on these photos rather than trying to tell the story of the day as I normally do.
On Halloween during the day we went to the Children's Museum in Tampa. We have been to a lot of children's museums and this one is definitely one of the best ones.



After making a paper airplane this contraption helps you fly it by giving it a boost. Place the airplane between two little wheels and swoosh up in to the sky it goes. Scott and Chance are launching their plane in this picture though the plane itself was too fast for me to capture.



Chance is wearing a fireman hat and driving a firetruck. The screen shows real street scenes from downtown Tampa as he turned the wheel and made the lights and sirens whir.



Here Chance is turning the crank around and around to "earn" money so he can make the train go around and around high above our heads. You can't see the train in the picture but Chance made it go around on its track many times, he still loves trains.




In this picture Chance is a weatherman. He is standing in front of the green screen and watching himself on the monitor.



On the first floor of the museum there is a replica of Tampa Bay with water flowing everywhere. There are boats to maneuver through the river and bridges roll balls across. Chance is turning a crank that moves a "boxcar" across the water and over to a train where you can then transfer your cargo and move it along the tracks. This was one of my favorite spots in the museum.




In one area there was an exhibit (not sure if that is the right word) reaching three stories tall! You could climb up and down in it exploring the different levels of the Florida aquifer. A great idea and lots of fun as long as you are not afraid of heights.

The Batcave

Just a couple pictures of Chance playing with his new batcave.

Two Wonderful Gifts.

Chance and I spent a few days at the apartment in Tampa last week and when we arrived we had two wonderful surprises waiting for us at the front door from Nana and Grandpa Von. Well, really they are for Chance but we can all enjoy them. I was thinking of setting them aside to open when Scott was in town but Chance is too smart for me, he immediately looked at the labels and said "It says Chance, it's for me".
The first box we opened contained a huge book on the human body. There are brilliantly colored pictures, charts, diagrams and more along with tons of wonderful information that will make this book so incredibly useful for years to come.



Chance opened it up and started to ask questions right away. He was very interested, so much so that he picked it to read at bedtime for the next two nights. It's a great book because it will grow with him. For bedtime now we read the captions for the pictures on 10 pages each night and talked about what was in each picture.



The next box we opened was full of even more wonderful surprises. There were 15 wonderful works of art, a box to store them and an easel to display one at a time. Each piece of art is a print of a masterpiece by a famous artist. The back of each print is full of information about the artist's life, the inspiration for this work and info about their other works as well.



The first thing Chance did was pop the bubble wrap that came in the package. Then he lay each piece of art on the floor all over the living room so we could look at each one. Then after looking them all over he chose the Van Gogh to put on the easel first, then we put the easel on his shelf. The plan is to display one piece as we read parts of the back for storytime and bedtime then when we finish reading we will pick a new piece of art to display.



A big thanks to Nana and Grandpa Von.

Guppyween

The weekend before Halloween the Aquarium was having Guppyween. There were games for the kids and trick or treating all around the aquarium. Unfortunately I didn't know it was happening until we got to Tampa so we didn't have Chance's Halloween costume with us but it didn't matter. He had a pumpkin for candy collecting and that is all he needed.



We walked all around the Aquarium looking at all the fish and looking for people in Orange shirts with big orange bags of candy because if you say the magic words
(trick or treat) they will give you candy. Chance learned that really fast. Here he is waving at the horseshoe crabs



Chance is tossing little beanbags through the holes for a prize. He got to pick anything from the box and his choice: a green spider ring.



Inspecting his candy haul.




On the way out I saw a Guppyween banner hanging on the fence and decided it would be a good place to try for some pictures of the two of us. We took a bunch and none of them were great but there were a few cute ones.