Summer Fun: Byrds meet the Fish

It can be hard trying to find things to do with Bryce that don't require re-financing the house or that is not outside where we will pass out due to heat exhaustion.

I got these Summer Saver cards from work, something the City of Tampa is promoting, and the Aquarium is on there. We got half off our admission and Bryce was free so we were able to go for $20. We brought our lunch and, although it was hard not to buy a cute, way-over-priced, stuffed turtle at the gift shop, we literally only spent money to get in. Oh, and Mike had to buy a Diet Coke (can't make it through the day without one...slight caffeine addict.)

We took Bryce back in August of last year but he really didn't care too much about the fish.

(Look how little he was! This must be my Florida Aquarium uniform....)

This time he loved it. He is at an age that he can appreciate the displays and loves the birds and turtles and fish, so it was a perfect outing.

We strolled him through the first time around and then ate and then went back through part of it and let him run around. It was absolutely packed but he was able to find a spot on each display to see the fish, etc.

The otter was swimming around and he liked the ducks and the big snook.

There is a large aquarium that holds all different kinds of fish and a logger head turtle. We parked Bryce right next to the glass. The turtle was swimming around and at one point, was heading right towards Bryce. Bryce grabbed my arm and would not let go!! He thought for sure that turtle was coming for him! He was also very excited about the red balloon in the tank...we have a very balloon-obsessed, little boy here...and all balloons are "yay-yoh" ("yellow")...

Remember the 80's movie Splash, with Tom Hanks? Well, Bryce found his Darryl Hannah...wouldn't leave the poor broad alone.

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We had a good, cheap, not too sweaty day. :)

He is 1/8 Italian...

Bryce LOVES spaghetti. We like Vodka sauce. No, not because it is made with vodka but only because I don't like red sauce and the vodka sauce is really tastey. Put the phone down folks, don't call the Hotline on me...the vodka obviously is cooked out of the sauce.

Or is it.....maybe the Vodka is the reason Bryce was soooo messy last night. Hhhhmmmmm.

(That explains why Mike was so messy too then.....) :)

We tried it with (use your best Italian accent here people) Rigatoni because Bryce thinks it's hilarious when he puts one finger in each end of the rigatoni noodle. Anything and everything can be a toy (refer to previous Non-Toy toy blog.) Food is a given.

It was in his hair, his diaper, his ear, on the floor. He spared the beige curtains. This time.

His new phrase: "Make a mess." But he says it all jumbled together...

After he was done eating, he went straight to the bath tub. Did not pass go. Did not collect $200. Took off the diaper and dove in!

He practiced his bubbles and kicks. I wonder how spaghetti-bath water tastes??

I am letting his hair grow out so we of course I had to give Bryce a "BATH TIME MOHAWK."

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We are slowly morphing from Byrd to Fish...

Bryce had his swim lesson last night. He did really well. He gets distracted fairly easily, but then again, so do I. It can be kind of boring because we do the same songs and skills each week but I know that at his age, repetition is the way he learns.

They made the parents tread water for a minute while holding their child...safety training. I was pooped! That is not easy. Bryce is going to have to step it up...I don't know how well mama would do trying to save him. I guess if anything ever happened, adrenaline kicks in to make up for the endurance some of us (not me of course) might not have. :)

The big excitement was playing in the splash pool. Mike thinks it's a little chaotic- babies and kids probably ranging in age from 6 months to 7 or 8 years old. Plus parents and all of the slides and water, it can be a little stressful. But, Bryce had fun and we slid down the "BIG" slide a couple of times and sat on the water gun.

He didn't want to leave and threw a fit but we managed it, calmed him down and reminded him that we would come back.

We can definitely tell he is getting more comfortable in the water. He saw a little boy crawling around or floating really, on his belly and so Bryce tried it. He had been doing that in the bath tub too.
Here are some pictures:

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Peaceful Sunday Morning...

Yes, that is the Altima and yes, the front, passenger-side window is shattered. The real question is, how did this happen?

A. The Byrds went to the mall to buy Bryce some new Crocs and when they went back to the car to leave, 50 ninjas were surrounding the car. One of them threw a throwing star and hit the window. Chuck Norris popped out from the sewer and took on the ninjas, defeating them all (with one hand tied behind his back, while eating a Subway sandwich).

B. Bryce has a nasty slice.

C. It is proven that high heels can be classified as a weapon.

D. Bryce wanted to see if he could give Mommy a heart attack by locking himself in the car, in the driveway, in Florida, during the summer, at noon. Spare key you ask? Couldn't find it. Cell phone? In the locked car.

..........If you guessed "D", ding ding ding!!! You are correct and you win a bill for $240 for a new window and a prescription for Xanax for the remaining years that you are a mother!

I think we have officially become the "Crazy" neighbors of the neighborhood. I had to run over to the neighbors to use their phone. I basically just ran inside their house and the step daughter of our neighbor let me use her cell phone. I told her I had to run because my baby was in the car. I don't think she understood the "sit-chee-acion": BABY LOCKED IN CAR: MOTHER FREAKING OUT!

He was only in there for about 8 or 9 minutes but it seemed like a VERY long 8 or 9 minutes. Mike was at Home Depot and didn't answer my call because he didn't recognize the number. I eventually ended up calling the police, who called the fire department (who probably called child services....)

The step daughter finally realized what was going on and said she might be able to Jimmy the lock with a coat hanger. Bryce was smiling but I could see him starting to sweat so panic mode was elevated from "oh my God" to "SHI%....Need to hurry up!"

Mike finally got home and as I was on the phone with the dispatcher, I heard him saying he was going to break the window, I asked if that is what they would do and how long until they would get there and she said, yes, they would just bust the window and she had no idea how long it would take for them to arrive. Then I heard the window break.

Mike said he had to hit it several times before it would shatter. Glass went everywhere.

Bryce was fine, just hot and sweaty. We thanked all of the neighbors and when the fire truck came 15 minutes later, told them that he was fine and sorry for the trouble.

I spent the next hour vacuuming out the car and the driveway and my purse and the 3 bags of crap that were in the car (toys, clothes, etc.).

Luckily I had Bryce there to remind me every 5 seconds about the "mess."

"Mess. Mess. Mess." Thanks buddy. :)

An Outdated Post b/c A) my life is extremely busy & exciting & I can't be bothered OR B) I am lazy and have zero patience for the very SLOW laptop....

So, what have the Byrd's been up to lately? (Random order...)

-Bryce has expanded his vocabulary. He repeats everything.

-He loves bluegrass and says "Yeehaw!"

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-At night we lay down and he goes through roll call: Daddy, Yiaya, Papu, Papaw, Cacoon ("Raccoon"), and then he starts over. (Sorry Katie, still no "Grandma" yet.)

-New light in the dining room and the entryway.

-New pictures in the living room.

-Bryce started swim lessons at the YMCA today. He did really well. The swim instructor was young and less than enthusiastic but nice. We sang songs that related to different skills...he did great. The boy next to us cried most of the 30 minutes and I noticed that Bryce was slightly influenced by him. He would get pouty every once in awhile. He loved jumping off the side but was not overly anxious. He waited for me to count to 3 (he helps me count now) and then held my hands and jumped in. Next class is Wednesday. We will be "submerging" on July 13th....I'll let you know how that goes...

-Bryce can say golf (gee I wonder who taught him that one) and golf club.

-The 4th of July BBQ was a ton of fun. Family and friends ate burgers and hot dogs, Mom's macaroni salad, corn, Grandma's happy banana pudding, and all kinds of goodies. Bryce was wound up and was excited to have Jacob and then Leslie's boys Jackson and Aidan over. He ran around and wanted to show everyone his toys. Uncle Bobby and Aunt Tonya bought him a Super Bubble Machine. Loved it. More importantly Bobby and Tonya brought TCBE....The Cutest Baby Ever....with them. Summer Ann is getting big! So sweet and easy going (I know, Tonya, I should come over when she is hungry at 3:00 a.m. and see how chill and relaxed she is) :)

(Uncle Bobby didn't take his meds...)

Good people, good food, good times.

I have wanted to have a get together like that for a long time. I love being able to have people over, feed them (even if it's not what I have actually cooked...thank you Publix...and Mike, Mom, and Katie), and have everyone enjoy themselves. The lay out of this house is perfect because it is so open and spacious. Definitely could use some bar stools (found some just don't know why I have to have champagne taste- $300 each) and outdoor fans for the back porch. Mike loaded up on fireworks (explosives) that he bought from Sam's Club and Mel bought some in NC. We have decided that next year we will only buy the mortars and maybe some sparklers and Pop Its. All of the other little stuff is a waste of money. Go big or go home, right!?!?

The neighbors had a pretty good show too and we found a couple bottle rocket remains in the yard on Sunday and tons of pop it scraps (the kids loved those because that was the only "firework" they were allowed to touch.

-RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. The retention pond across the street has been bone dry since we moved in but was almost full this past week due to all of the rain. We even were under a tornado warning on Thursday. Mel-dog called me in the morning as I was getting out of the shower to tell me she was "hunkering down" in her bathroom with Otis (her boxer) because there was a tornado in Riverview and it was heading our way. Mike threw some diapers and water in Bryce's bathroom and then laid down in Bryce's room on the floor...waiting for the infamous train sound. I of course had to finish drying my hair, wouldn't want to have the roof blown off and have the news crew snap a photo of me pre-blow drying.

Minor freak out later and no tornado. Drove to work in a severe thunderstorm and was 45 minutes late. Love summer time in Florida.

-We went to Denise and Jeff's going away party. They are moving to North Carolina. I will miss them. Denise and I have known each other for awhile and have shared many memories that only her and I can reminisce about, hiking all over the country and sharing a time in our lives that we can never experience again.

Bryce danced with two little girls. He was so cute! He would dance and then run over to the table with all of the food and steal a grape and then run back to shake his booty some more. Dance, grapes, dance, grapes. He was dubbed the Grape Bandit.

-Papaw bought a real kite for Bryce. Bryce can say "kite" and, with Daddy's help, got to fly it. We are going to take it to the beach this weekend.

-We are going to Melbourne Beach again this weekend. Staying at the SeaView Resort Motel again. Room 6 please. Can't wait!!! We are leaving early Friday and staying until Sunday afternoon. The shuttle is scheduled to launch Saturday evening. Hopefully it won't be scrubbed.

I am excited to spend pure quality time with Bryce. It is hard to not clean or do stuff around the house when I get home from work or on the weekend. When we are away, I am able to focus only on him and it is wonderful! We are going to collect more shells for the bathroom jars and build sand castles and do whatever little-man wants to do.

Mike is excited because I am "letting him" bring his metal detector.

Will post lots of pictures when we get back.

-He ate a Subway tuna fish sandwich today and loved it. Had a mayo mustache (eeww).

-Bryce has a temper and thinks that if he bangs his head on the kitchen cabinets he will a) get what he wants, and b) that he is somehow hurting me. Hopefully this behavior will fade out by the time he is 16 otherwise I don;t foresee too much dating in his future...

-Bryce likes to act like he is going to give you a sweet kiss on the lips and then licks you and laughs.

-I tried to give him a haircut. I trimmed his bangs while he was eating in his highchair and tried to trim the back . Not fun or successful. I have now decided that we are going to grow his hair out on top and see what happens.

-We have learned that sandhill cranes will attack you. They are not afraid of 6'1" tall men who are grilling burgers while holding a golf club. One will make a lot of noise while the other one digs up your new sod and the third one charges you. Not friendly neighbors.

-Jen's baby boy's name is Dylan John Hobbs. Hey are doing well and he is gaining weight and goes to the doctor for his next check up on Wednesday. Can't wait to see them again.

-Mike and I have learned that we would not make it on Amazing Race...we have a hard time hanging pictures in his office. (We would be entertaining though so we might actually want to go ahead and submit our video.) The pictures turned out fine and no blood got on the carpet. :)

-We went to Home Goods and Mike wanted to know why everyone knew my name.

-I went to IKEA. Again. I thought you didn't get a personalized shopping cart until your 1000th shopping trip? Hhmmm.

-Bryce does not care for fireworks. He calls them "Pops" and stayed up until midnight on Saturday.

-Bryce likes to sleep with a pillow now. He also likes to "fist bump" and gives high fives.

-We are learning how to read. Papaw and Grandma bought him a reading program that includes flash cards, videos, books, and tons of music. He loves it. He will repeat all of the words when you read them and he is glued to the t.v. when the dvd's are on. His Harvard app was sent off last week. Let you know how that goes. Here we are eating yogurt (which already grosses me out) and watching one of the dvd's. Utensils optional...

Melbourne Beach the Sequel coming soon! :)