Birthday Extravaganza!

In light of Cannon's recent health issues, we wanted to take it slow last week.  I had originally planned on taking him to Disney for one last time, but thought it might be too much for him since we were also going to a kid's concert Thursday night.  Cannon was back to his normal self on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and he kept asking to go to Disney (I had never told him I was going to take him).  I made a last minute decision to take him on Friday for half a day.

Very excited about the concert!

So Thursday night was the concert.  He likes this show called the Fresh Beat Band.  They do lots of singing and dancing.  We don't have cable, so he only gets to watch it once in a while (usually on the computer).  I bought him these tickets several months ago, so we have been looking forward to it.  I marked it on the calendar for him to see and we did a countdown.  He was very excited to go!  Before the show started we walked around and looked at the merchandise.  I was surprised that he didn't ask me to buy him anything, but I ended up getting him a music CD anyway.









Once the show started he seemed a little star-struck.  He literally sat on the edge of his seat just watching!  One of the characters, Shout, came right up to our row!  I thought that was pretty cool!  Cannon had a great time and I even enjoyed myself.  It was only an hour and a half, with a short intermission, and that seemed like the perfect amount of time.   We got home at around 8:45 pm, so it wasn't as late as I expected.

Magic Kingdom

Woody!

Friday morning we took our time getting ready for Disney.  We left around 11am, which was great timing because Cannon ended up sleeping in the car.  I didn't really have an agenda, I just wanted to let  him decide what we do (which is what we usually do anyway).








 We saw Goofy and Woody, but no other characters.  I was hoping to see more because that is his favorite part.

He looks miserable, but this is his new "smile" for the camera

Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride

 We rode a few rides, Aladdin's magic carpet, Peter Pan, Goofy's little roller coaster,  the steam train (twice!), and the carousel.  I always bring our own food in so we don't have to spend a ton of extra money, but this we did get an ice cream too.  We just shared a big chocolate ice cream.  It was good timing because it started to rain really hard when we were in the ice cream parlor.  We ate our ice cream and waited for the rain to go away.  It was kinda of fun. We left before dark and Cannon slept on the way home.  I'm glad that we went one last time. 

Mint chocolate chip ice cream cake with chocolate cake

Saturday was Cannon's birthday.  He was so excited!  He was nice and slept in until 7:15.  As soon as he woke up I had him stay with Ryan while I went out to get donuts.  He was so excited to get donuts for breakfast!  We also let him open up the three little presents (from Ryan's parents) which were Spencer the train, Thomas and train, and Sir Topham hat in his car.  He has been waiting since February for Spencer!  Almost every day he would ask about Spencer and say that he was getting Spencer for his birthday and that Grandma was going to the store to get it for him.  He was beyond excited!  So he played with his new trains the rest of the morning.  We were going to have a little pool party for him, but it rained almost the whole day.  So we just had a little party with just the three of us.  We had pizza and an ice cream cake.  He barely ate any pizza so that he could eat his cake.  And then he barely ate any cake so that he could open his other presents!  His other presents were a marble run and the Thomas the train roundhouse (the shed where all the trains park).  He was SO excited for the roundhouse!  And he played with that for the rest of the night until he had to go to bed.

Cannon also got a balance bike too.  We had to wait until today to try it.  He "walked" it around our building three times.  I'm sure it will take time to start gliding with it.  Today he figured out that the handle bars make the bike turn. He asked to ride it again this evening, so that's a good sign!

Today he had his well check.  This one was nice because he didn't have to get any shots.  Cannon brought along his own medical equipment to his appointment: stethoscope, otoscope, thermometer, shot, and IV (all toys except the stethoscope and IV).  His doctor and nurse thought that was cool.  He is 38.75" tall and weighs 35lbs. He goes back for his second hearing test on May first to re-evaluate the hearing loss in his right ear.  This time it will be with two audiologists, so hopefully I can get some answers.

Intense eyes!

I remembered some other funny things that Cannon says.  Instead of answering with a "yes," he will say, "Of course."  I love it!  The other day we saw a lizard and I asked him if he wanted to touch it.  He said, "No, it's very scary."  Then I asked if he wanted me to touch it and he said, "Oh, of course!"  And he also calls lizards "fella" or "little fella."  I forgot to tell Ryan about that and he witnessed it for the first time yesterday.  He thought it was so funny!




 So things have settled down here and it feels nice.  The weather is gorgeous this week, highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's and 60's.  So we'll be spending lots of time outside!

Happy Birthday Cannon!

I can't believe my baby is three and that he's not a baby!  Babies and kids under three are my specialty, so we're entering new territory here!  With each birthday, I am always amazed at how much he has learned that year and I look forward to the growth of the coming year.

Cannon seems to have more energy than the typical boy his age.  His favorite way to get from here to there is by running.  He runs everywhere and all day long!  However, he loves to dawdle when it's a time I need him to be fast.  Cannon is always moving his body and likes to climb on things.  He is also very touchy-feely and likes to have his hands or feet on you.  He loves to wrestle and do anything physical.

We spend a lot of time outside too. He loves nature walks and going in and out of bushes.  He is a total wanderer and just likes to walk around forever.  He is also a "bolter," meaning he will run away at a moments notice, so I really have to keep my eye on him!  We don't have a fenced in yard and there have been lots of times when I turn my back (to clean up Blue's potty) only to have Cannon quietly run into the front of our building.  Or the time when he ran from the children's area of the library all the way to the front door! Or the time at Disney he bolted and ran into a lady's wheelchair and bruised his face.  He is very quick and sneaky!  He also likes to hide and play chase. 

Despite his high energy levels he does spend a good portion of the day playing quietly with his toys.  Of course, trains are his favorite.  For a while, he was playing this one game he made up about going on a train.  He had a hat and a whistle.  He would direct me and Ryan or me and Blue to go on the train (which was in the bathroom) and then call, "All aboard," and do some other business.  He kept his hat and whistle in the same place every day.  He also likes to recreate scenes from the books we read.  He does this with his trains or just by himself in the grass or house.  I think he is creative with some of the stuff he comes up with.

Cannon still loves reading.  He used to be very picky and selective with the books he would choose.  But now I can read almost anything to him.  I am taking this window of opportunity to check out different kinds of books from the library to expand his interests.  We keep books downstairs on the bookshelf that I read to him during the day and Ryan (when he's home) reads to him at night the books he has in his bedroom.  Cannon used to pick the same few books to read each night, but now he chooses five books each night from his shelf.  When they are done reading them, they put them on the floor next to the rocking chair.  Cannon goes through two shelves of books and then we put them back up again.  His two favorite books at the moment are Hero of the Rails and Misty Island Rescue (both Thomas and Friends books).  We read those multiple times a day.  He also loves a number of other books: any book about trains, and Thomas and Friends book, Knuffle Bunny (especially the second book), Tonio's Cat, Big and and Shrimpy, the Rainbow Fish, any Mr. Rogers First Experience books (making friends, going to the hospital, potty book), Five Little Monkeys, Llama Llama Red Pajama, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Mike Muligan and the Steam Shovel, I Love You Forever, All the Ways I Love You, Where the Wild Things Are, Bear Snores On, plus many more!  I love that he loves reading!

Something Cannon usually avoids are puzzles.  He just has a hard time understanding them.  He can do the shape ones, like the boat fits into the boat cutout, but the jigsaw type he has a hard time with.  When it comes to his play, I never push him to do anything he doesn't want to.  However, I do place things in his play environment as an invitation and whether or not he plays with something is up to him.  I also don't show him how to play with something, that is up to him as well. I found a puzzle book with a set of five Thomas and Friends puzzles, with 12 pieces each.  I thought that would be just the right challenge for him. One day I set out four pieces of the puzzle, the four pieces that made up Thomas' face.  Cannon was able to work out those pieces all by himself and then he asked for more pieces.  I gave him one piece at a time to let him try and figure it out.  It actually took him a few weeks to finish the whole puzzle.  It was so hard for me to watch him struggle, get frustrated, and give up when he would be so close.  But it was so rewarding to see him finish it after all that time!  He was so proud of himself!  And then he asked for another one.  He was able to complete the next puzzle in less then 10 minutes and then he went on to do two more puzzles.  I still wouldn't say that he likes puzzles, but they do pose a rewarding challenge for him.

I have come to realize that Cannon gets overstimulated easily.  That can be from too many options, too many people, or too much noise.  Usually when he gets overstimulated he gets a little bit hyper.  This can happen when we go to new places too.  Instead of having a kid that clings to you, he wants to run around.  I'm sure a part of this is his natural curiosity and need to explore.  It helps a lot when I prepare him for situations and tell him what is expected of him.  This is also why I try and keep his available toy options simple.  He has more toys in his closet then he does in his play area, but it works well for us.  When he has too many toys out or when the room is too messy, he stops playing.  I only keep out the toys that he is thoroughly interested in and everything else rotates through.  He plays so much longer-up to two hours!  Every month or so I go through his toys and change up what I need to. 

Cannon has a good memory, especially for names.  He want to know everyone's name!  Whenever we read book, he asks what their names are.  Our dog calendar, he asks what their names are.  Anyone around us, he asks what their names are.  And an answer of, "I don't know," is not acceptable.  So sometimes I just have to make up names.  Cannon also loves to talk about past events.  He is getting good at remembering details from the day, past weeks, and even months ago.  I think it helps too that I take a lot of pictures of the things we do.

Cannon recently learned the word cousin.  He likes to look at our family picture we have on display.  He names everyone and understood aunt and uncle.  I don't remember how we got on the subject of cousins, but it came up.  We talked about who his cousins are and now if you ask him to name his cousins he can.  He sometimes gets a little confused about a cousin versus a friend, but for the most part he understands.

For a while now, Cannon has known the difference between a boy and girl.  We use the correct terms for boy parts and girl parts and he knows what he has.  Then he learned that boys and girls don't have the same parts.  This rocked his world.  So then he kept asking about all other body parts to see if they were the same and we often have conversations like this:

C: "Daddy has a penis?"
Me: "Yes, Daddy has a penis."
C: "Mommy has a penis?"
Me: "No, Mommy has a vagina."
C: "Mommy has agina?"
Me: "Yes, Mommy has a vagina."
C: "Blue has agina?"
Me: "Yes, Blue has a vagina."
C: "Daddy has eyes?"
M: "Yes, daddy has eyes."
C: "Mommy has eyes?"
Me: "Yes, Mommy has eyes."

He would cross check every body part between me and Ryan (a boy v. girl).  I love to watch him think about things!

Oh, what else about Cannon?  His favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.  He loves anything mint flavored.  He likes pretending he is a cat. He likes to sing and make up his own songs.  He is starting to say funny things too. The other day he randomly told me that he knows about 15 and 17.  Okay.  He likes to be funny and make people laugh.  He does these weird faces and he knows that it will make me laugh every time!  When he is feeling very confident he struts and will walk around like he owns the place!

Cannon is always keeping me on my toes!  He drains every bit of energy I have, but it's worth it!  I love that guy!

Fort Lauderdale

We left for Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. Cannon was feeling like himself again, so I expected a nice fun relaxing trip.

For a few weeks now, we have been reading books about trains. Cannon knew that we were going to ride a diesel train. He is also obsessed with pistons and always asks me to point them out. I wish I got a picture of one of the conductors. He was a silver-haired man with white teeth and a shining smile. As we watched our train pull up, the conductor saw Cannon and yelled, "All aboard!" It was perfect! Just what Cannon was expecting! He enjoyed the train ride and even took a nap on my lap. He mostly enjoyed just looking out the window. And we ate a snack in the dining car. The train was about an hour and half delayed, so Cannon was anxious to get off.




Impatiently waiting for our train to arrive.





No train ride is complete without a peanut butter samich!

Ryan picked us up and we ate dinner at Bravo, an Italian restaurant. Cannon ended up leaving his car and train there, but we were able to get them the next day.

We stayed at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, a.k.a. senior community. I noticed that there was an unusually high number of old people in our hotel, even for being in Fort Lauderdale. It turns out that Ryan picked the hotel where Florida's largest bridge tournament was to be held. Oh my!


The view from our hotel. Too bad we didn't get to enjoy the pool, but it sure looked nice!

So Ryan woke up at about 1am vomiting. He only did it twice and was able to go back to bed. Well, Cannon woke up at 5am vomiting too! Only he vomited probably a dozen times in three hours. It was all over both beds and the floor, both trash cans, three sets of pajamas, and his blue blanket. I called his pediatrician's office and they wanted him to be seen. Since we weren't home, our only option was to take him to the ER. Luckily, Chris Evert Children's Hospital was literally only four minutes from our hotel. Ryan dropped us off on his way to work. I felt bad that he had to work because he still didn't feel well and he was exhausted. We were in and out of the hospital in a few hours. They gave him Zofran, some popsicles and gatorade and said it was probably a stomach virus or food poisoning if he had diarrhea.


Chris Evert Children's Hospital



We went back to the hotel ready to take a nap and I was so upset when we came to our unmade hotel room. We had told the front desk our situation and wanted new bedding (we literally only had mattresses). I had to call the front desk twice and wait for over an hour! I was so mad! We finally got to take a nap around 1pm.

Cannon was starting to feel a lot better by then (except for the diarrhea that started) and playing. We went for a walk and did our throw-up laundry while Ryan was taking a cat nap around 4:30. When we were finished we decided to go get dinner. As we were driving Cannon threw up all over himself, his car seat, and the back seat. So we turned around and went back to the hotel. It was such a horrible mess that I had to clean up!

We made it through the night without any problems, so I decided to take Cannon to the beach Friday morning. We really needed to get out! It was a nice day at the beach and the water temperature was perfect! Cannon loved getting in the water with me. Then we spent some relaxing time on our beach towels. We were there for a couple hours (maybe a little less) and Cannon was wanting to go home. We had taken the shuttle van from our hotel and it wasn't scheduled to come back around again for another 45 minutes so we decided to play on the playground for a bit. Ryan ended up finishing his work early so he said he would pick us up. It was almost good timing. Some big rain clouds came in and Cannon and I found ourselves camped under the playscape until Ryan could get there to rescue us! It was fun at first, but the rain was coming down so hard that there were no more dry spots left. We were cold and soaked when Ryan got to us!


Fort Lauderdale Beach




He stayed like this for about 20 minutes.



We went to lunch at Panera and Cannon fell asleep on the bench. I could tell that he still wasn't feeling his best. We hung out at the hotel for a while and then went to the Galleria. We walked around and ended up eating dinner at Sbarro, which was an eat in Sbarro.

Saturday morning we checked out and headed home. We got to drive through the Everglades. I saw two alligators, but Ryan saw a black panther! I was so jealous! He always sees the best animals. Cannon slept for a couple hours and was quiet the rest of the trip (it was almost a five hour drive). It felt good to be home and to see Blue again.


On our way home we stopped at the building site for the new Fort Lauderdale Temple!

So then Cannon woke up at 3:30 this morning because he had vomited. He threw up again at 4 and then 4:30. And he was still having diarrhea. He ended up sleeping in our bed the rest of the night. Ryan had to go to church to teach his lesson. I called Cannon's pediatrician and they said to take him to the ER again since the only thing they could do was give him more Zofran, but she was suspicious that more was going on. So we headed to the ER again. Cannon felt proud to know the routine: get on scale, blood pressure, temperature. He requested to watch Cars when we were in our room. The doctor said he was dehydrated and needed an IV. He didn't think it was intussusception again, but wanted to rule it out. So he had another ultrasound and some blood tests, but everything came out normal. Cannon had a hard time with the IV this time. They got it in quick, but it bothered him more. He was tired and hungry too and had a major tantrum. He really wanted to eat pancakes because that's what he ate the last time. He felt better once they let him have some gatorade and graham crackers. So we were there for about five hours or so. Since it was so close to his birthday they let him take home a toy, a Toy Story 3 garbage truck with Woody and an alien. He was so excited!


He was not a happy guy today.


But he was sure happy to go home with these new toys!

After we got home I made pancakes. He only ate a few bites, but he was satisfied. It's good to be home, again! Here's to a healthy and slow week for us!

Count Your Many Blessings

Now that I've had time to process everything, I have noticed how much of a hand that Heavenly Father has in everything we do. It is also interesting to me the unique things that we learn through our trials.

It was really a blessing that Ryan was home when it all happened, for a few reasons really. I would have hated to have to go through this alone without his help and support. I am also thankful that I am married to a man that is worthy to hold the priesthood and was able to give Cannon a priesthood blessing. When Cannon woke up again at 1am, Ryan got up with him. I heard them in the hall and I knew it wasn't just a typical tummy ache. Over and over in my mind the Spirit kept telling me to ask Ryan to give him a blessing, so I did. I felt a lot of peace during the blessing and I knew Cannon would be okay.

Right after Ryan finished giving him his blessing, Cannon began to vomit and scream with pain. Then we both knew that we had to take him to the hospital. Again, the Spirit told me to take him to the children's hospital even though there were several other hospitals closer to us. I later learned (from Cannon's pediatrician follow-up this morning) that several hospitals around here don't even take children or that they are ill-prepared for treating children.

Cannon had thrown up on his beloved blanket (a major source of comfort), so we brought my blanket for him instead. At the hospital he ended up getting vomit on my blanket too, so he was left without a blanket. In the Easter basket they gave him was a cute homemade blanket and a soft bunny rabbit. Cannon was thrilled to have a new blanket and stuffed animal (he LOVES to cuddle soft stuffed animals, just like hid daddy). Whoever made that basket has no idea how grateful I am for their service. Those two things alone made him feel comfortable and happy.

I learned a lot about myself and about Ryan and our unique roles. From my experience working at a children's hospital, I was used to seeing IV's and pumps and all kinds of medical things coming out of kids. I just never knew if I would be able to handle something like that with my own kid. It turns out that I can! I realized that that is a strength I have. I was able to stay calm and focused to support Cannon through everything. After we left him with the surgeon and other medical staff, I went into the bathroom and cried. And then I was okay again. My entire focus was on Cannon and I was grateful to be able to have that strength.

Now Ryan, on the other hand, turned out to be more tender-hearted. It really hurt him to see Cannon in so much pain and he had an extremely hard time watching Cannon get his IV. It really had a great effect on him. After I sent Ryan home to go to sleep, he stayed up to wash our special blankies. And when he picked us up from the hospital, they were waiting in the car for us. Cannon was delighted to see his blanket! I love that Ryan is sensitive like that. He is patient and caring. I sometimes give Ryan a hard time for not thinking of others or being forgetful about things important to me, but I take it all back. He definitely deserves more credit than I give him sometimes.

We are blessed that everything happened so quickly. Getting to the hospital, no wait time, getting the ultrasound and x-rays. We got to the hospital at 2am and he had his procedure at 4am. Two hours to me is pretty quick for intake, tests, diagnosis, and treatment, especially considering that the on-call surgeon lives an hour away and we had to wait for him to get there! If it's not treated right away it can become more serious where the tissue in the intestine actually dies from lack of blood. Obviously that would require surgery to fix it. The pediatrician we saw today said that sometimes intussusception isn't caught right away. Sometimes the intestine gets itself unstuck, but then can go in and out again. She said he had a classic textbook case.

I know that this trial wasn't huge, especially compared to bigger things that other families have to endure. But it got me to ponder things. I know that everything happens for a reason, the good and the bad. I don't know all of the reasons that Cannon had to have this kind of medical problem, but some of the reasons were mentioned during Cannon's blessing. Although the blessing answered some of my questions, it was meant for Cannon. I know that he understood the blessing and that it was from his Heavenly Father. I know that the Holy Ghost provided comfort to Cannon and all of us. Lots of people have commented to me about how hard and scary this must have been for me, but it wasn't. I felt peace the whole time, because I knew Cannon would be okay. That never left me. I really never worried about him physically, I was more worried that he would be upset when we had to leave him (which he wasn't).

Today Cannon and I read a book by Mr. Rogers called Going to the Hospital. We compared the details of the book with his experience at the hospital. He told me about the IV in his hand, but that it didn't work in the other hand. He was so matter-of-fact about everything, which is great! I love that Cannon and I can talk about things together. I realized that we don't even have any play doctor stuff in his toy collection, so I ordered him some things from Amazon today so he will have the chance to play through some of his experience.

So we're good! We are back to our normal selves and we are excited to have our mini family vacation on Wednesday!

Our Easter, Not What We Expected!

So here's the short story:

We spent Easter at the children's hospital with Cannon because he had intussusception.

Here's the long story:

A few days ago Cannon started complaining about his tummy hurting. I figured it was gas or something. Last night (Saturday night) Ryan put him to bed and he woke up crying with a stomachache at 10pm. Ryan got him some water and rubbed his belly and he went back to sleep. Then he woke up at 1am, but was in a lot of pain. It would come and go and he was on the floor crying and scrunched up. At that point I didn't think it was anything too serious and I had Ryan give him a blessing. Immediately after the blessing, he started to vomit and scream with pain. Then we knew it was serious. I felt around his belly and didn't think it was an appendicitis.

We went to All Children's Hospital which is about 30 minutes from our house. Cannon had pain attacks about every five minutes and after each one he would vomit. Luckily the hospital was super slow that night and he was taken straight back. They immediately ordered an ultrasound and an x-ray, all of which happened in a relatively short amount of time.

After all that was finished they took us back to our room to start an IV on him. That was probably the worst part for Cannon. The nurse couldn't get it in the first hand, so she had to try it in the other. I was able to semi cradle him and hold his head close to me for the entire time. I think that helped him.

After the IV was in, the doctor already had a diagnosis of intussusception. The way they explained it to me was that his intestine "telescoped" or collapsed into itself which cut off the blood supply to that area and caused an obstruction (which gave him the stomach pains). It is a pretty serious diagnosis, but luckily it is easily fixed. The specialist that can do the procedure to fix this lives about an hour away, so we had to wait for him.

In order to get the intestine back to normal they had to puff air in the intestine (an air enema). We couldn't stay with Cannon during this procedure, but it was only 15 minutes long. He had bonded with two nurses (they had brought him toys) and they stayed with him. They said he did really well and was more concerned about getting back to watching Toy Story. After they wheeled him back I could tell that he felt relief.

I sent Ryan home to sleep since he was supposed to leave for a work trip this evening and he had to drive for five hours. They moved us to another unit and had a "bed" set up for me. We finally were able to go to sleep around 6am this morning (Sunday). Cannon only slept for a couple of hours, but I could tell that he was already feeling much better. They had given him Zofran for his vomiting, so they started him on clear liquids before he could eat anything. Once the doctor gave the approval for food we ordered our breakfast. Cannon was thrilled to have pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. He ate everything!

For the next several hours we watched movies and walked around. I asked to take him to the playroom, but they wouldn't let us leave our unit. I had brought a couple of trains for him and they gave him some toys he could take home. Since it was Easter, all the patients got Easter baskets! They were so nice! Cannon got a bucket (which he used as a hat), a blue bunny (he carried it around the whole time), a book, a Little People car with a guy, and a homemade blanket with frogs (really cute!). I couldn't believe how nice it was!

I was bummed that I didn't get to take him to the playroom since that used to be my thing. But he had some good play in our room and in an empty waiting room in our unit. I was worried about him being a little traumatized by everything (which is one reason why I wanted him to have some good time in the playroom), but his resiliency amazed me! He loved our nurses and really felt special that he got to watch so much TV (he only watches TV once or twice a week at home).

Originally we were supposed to stay at the hospital one more night and leave Monday morning. They said they like to observe the kids for 24 hours to make sure the intestine doesn't collapse again. But the doctor we had only made us stay until 4:00 this afternoon. He said Cannon would rest better being at home, but we are to take him immediately back to the ER with any stomach pains or vomiting. We were sure glad to get home!

Cannon is feeling so much better! I am happy that everything worked out in a timely matter and that Cannon issues were able to be resolved quickly and with minimal invasion. I felt like we had a great medical team and received quality care. Ryan is driving to Ft. Lauderdale right now. I wish he didn't have to leave, but Cannon and I have train tickets to meet him on Wednesday.


He loved his new "helmet!"


Here is with all his new stuff. This was close before we left so he was feeling back to his normal self.


He was so wiped out and fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Mini Golf, the Park, and Easter Eggs

Cannon and I had a pretty chill week at home. Ryan had Friday off and suddenly the weekend became busy! Ryan took Cannon to the beach on Friday so I could do some cleaning and run errands. It was so nice!

When they got home we decided to grab some dinner at our favorite pizza place, Monty's. Afterwards we went and played miniature golf at this place near our house. I had a coupon for buy one get one free admission and Cannon was free. We always see this place and have been meaning to go there ever since we moved here. We weren't sure how Cannon would do. I guess I expected him to just run from hole to hole, since that is his usual style. But he actually really enjoyed it! Ryan tried to show him how to hold a golf club, but he was very angry about that! So we just let him hit the ball how he wanted. Lots of the holes have tunnels for the balls, which made it really fun for him. We had a great time and Cannon didn't want to leave. In typical Florida fashion, they have baby alligators near the entrance. On our way out we stopped to watch them eat. Cannon liked that part too.





This morning we went with some friends to an Easter egg hunt. The cool thing about this was that they dropped eggs from a helicopter! Cannon started to laugh each time the pilot threw them out. Then after he was finished, all the kids ran out to find their eggs. Cannon took his time (typical Cannon) so he just got a few eggs. Once he noticed that there was candy in them he just wanted to open them and eat the candy. In addition to the hunt, they had hot dogs and juice for everyone. It was fun!






And they're off!


Inside this gold egg was a $1 bill! Not all the eggs had candy. Another one of his eggs had a little dinosaur.

After that we swung home to grab Blue and then headed to Largo Central Park for Paw Fest. At this dog event, vendors set up tents with samples of food, raffles, and a chance to see their products. The best part was to walk around and see all the different kind of dogs. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, they had the train going too. Rachel and I took the kids on the train while Ryan watched all our stuff and ate a snow cone. After the train ride Cannon wanted to play on the playground. He played for awhile and then we went home. Well, we actually stopped for frosties on the way home.




We saw this cute little dog wearing a vest, hat, and sunglasses! The owner said she likes to wear them.





Once we got home I got the eggs boiled and ready to be decorated. We just went the simple route and did solid colors. I wasn't sure if Cannon would be into it, but he was. Next year I'll have to buy more eggs!






Here are our eggs. Three of them didn't make it though.

Open Gym

There is a gymnastics place (La Fleurs) close by and every Wednesday from 11-12, they have open gym for the kids and they get to play on all the equipment. We took Cannon once before during their Friday night open gym and he loved it! I took him back today since it's only $5. There is an instructor there to help spot the kids and such, but for the most part they get to do whatever they want.


They have three trampolines, which is what Cannon usually wants to do.


He also loves jumping in the foam pit.


These are great for practicing his tackling. He starts on the opposite side and runs as fast as he can!

Not pictured are the rings. I was surprised that he could hold on and swing. When you let go, you fall in a big foam pit. I had my camera ready to take a picture, but he let go before I took it.

We used to take Cannon to a bounce house place in Texas, but there aren't any close to us here. I think I like this place better anyway. It's less expensive, quieter, and there's more of a variety.

Our Orlando Adventures

My friend Rachel and I decided that we wanted to take the kids to Disney. So last Monday we packed up three kids and all of our stuff and headed to Epcot. We left bright and early and got there around 10. The kids actually did pretty well in the car and Rachel and I got to have some quality conversation. It made the drive go by fast.

This was my first time at Epcot and I thought it was great! The thing that I was most surprised about was how many characters we saw! We saw way more characters at Epcot than at Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom. That made me happy because seeing the characters is really important to Cannon.

There weren't very many rides, but we did go on a few. Some of the rides scared Cannon a little, like the vikings ride. The trolls scared him. And the shark scared him on the Finding Nemo ride (he still talks about that shark!).

At some point both the boys fell asleep, but Savannah never took a nap! That left us free to explore the countries. At one point I lost my watch. A total bummer for me! We tried to find it with no luck.

By about 5:00 the kids were spent so we headed to our hotel. Ryan let us use some of his hotel points so we could get a free hotel. It was actually a lot nicer than I expected and the kids had so much fun! I think they like the hotel better than Epcot! After we unpacked I got us some Chick-fil-a, but the kids were having so much fun in the hotel that they hardly ate anything.

The next morning we ate our continental breakfast. I was impressed with the selection, but my favorite was the make-your-own waffles! We all ate a good breakfast and then went for a run. Then we showered, packed up, and headed for the Orlando Science Center.

Rachel has a membership to the children's museum here, but this pass also got us all in for free at the science center! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say how impressed I was! There were four floors of activities and any age kid (toddler to teenager) would have fun! We didn't get to do everything and I wish we could go back. We ended up spending the whole day there, which we weren't intending to do. But we were having so much fun!


We had to use Ryan's car since it was the only one that could fit all three car seats. Plus we were able to fit both my stroller and the double stroller in the trunk!






I know, we're dorks!


Daisy


Stitch


Chip and Dale


Mater


Lightning


Woody and Buzz


We finally got to see Mickey Mouse!


Pooh Bear


Cannon could have watched this train for hours! Seriously! He really wanted to climb over the fence and play in the village.


Donald Duck


They had so much fun in the hotel! The jumped on the bed, played in the curtains, hid in the closet, and played under the table.




The science museum was so so so awesome!! It had everything Cannon is into...


tunnels to crawl through...


tunnels to run through...


and a huge toy train! Unfortunately, we didn't see this room until closer to the end of our visit. So he only got to play in here for an hour.


This train quickly became his train and he was in charge! He kept saying, "All aboard!" And he made up some game. Any kid that got on the train was subject to Cannon. He was moderately polite with the younger toddlers, but he was so bossy with the older kids!

The ride home was great since the kids slept almost all the way. I was definitely tired when I got home, but it was worth it!