May Travels

We went camping with my mom for Mother’s Day this year. Bradyn loves the outdoors rain or shine! It rained the first day we got there, but once it stopped we went around the campground and jumped in every single puddle we could find. He loved that! He kept running through them over and over again. He also liked throwing rocks in the water and watching them splash!

The highlight of this camping trip was how extatic Bradyn got over all of the boats at the marina! He saw one boat at the campground and got excited, so we thought we would take him to the marina to see LOTS of boats. Oh my!! I wish you could have see the excited look on his face when he initially saw them, then we got out and walked along the boardwalk and he kept saying, “Another one! Another one! Oooooooooh a BIG one! It’s MOOVING! I’m Excited!!” Tons of fun!

I also found myself at Huntington Beach, California for a week long work trip. It was an offsite Finance & Control meeting. It was a pretty good mix of business & pleasure. There were speakers, presentations, etc, but the evenings were filled with good food and free beer! We even had a little downtime to enjoy the beach and the pool. One of the days was a community service event day. There were about 300 of us that partnered up with an organization called KABOOM! and we spent 5 hours one day building an entire playground for an underpriviledged community center in California.. The space started out as a blank slate of dirt. By the end of the day we had transformed it into an amazing playspace complete with swings, slide, climbing wall, benches, shade shelter, and planted a vegetable garden for them as well. It was a very rewarding experience and it was nice to get to know some of our co-workers a little better that we used to just know over the phone.

Watch the playground transform here: PLAYGROUND

See more pictures here: PLAYGROUND PICS

Since I was already out in California and it just happened to be the week before Memorial Day, Chad and Bradyn met me out there and we took Bradyn to San Diego! We took Bradyn to the San Diego Zoo & to Sea World. Yeah Yeah, I know, the kid seems to be spoiled already… getting to go to San Diego for his second birthday. LOL Really though, it just worked out that way. Family vacation with one flight paid for by Nestle and it just happened to be over Bradyn’s birthday! Bradyn loved the zoo, but more so enjoyed Sea World. He had a blast watching the Shamu Show and watching the crowd get splashed! He even puts his hands in the air, makes a triangle with his fingers, and moves his arms up and down chanting “Shamu, Shamu, Shamu”. That’s what we were told to do to make Shamu splash!

Bradyn is 2!!

Can you believe it!? Bradyn is 2 now! Where has time gone? Seems like just yesterday he was our little tiny baby. Not so little anymore my friends. At his 2 year appt he was off the charts (still). He’s literally the size of a 3 year old. He measured 38 inches tall and weighed 34lbs. He’s talking up a storm now and is in the “kids say the darndest things” stage. It’s so fun to hear some of the things he comes up with. He likes to sing songs (especially ones from the movies, Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, or Charlie & the Chocolate Factory). His favorite right now is “Step In Time” from Mary Poppins, and apparently it is 8 ½ Step in Times from our house to Bradyn’s Daycare! LOL

We finally broke down and took Bradyn to get his first barbershop haircut. We took him to a kids place called Cookie Cutters where the kids can sit in a tractor, car, etc and watch a movie on their own little personal tv while they get their hair cut. After initially being indecisive as to whether he wanted to sit in the airplane, tractor, or pink car, he finally settled on the tractor.

Bradyn’s party this year was a “Things that Go” theme. He loves cars, trucks, busses, trains, and the bigger the better. He also has this infatuation with stop signs. We had a great party and celebrated with lots of friends and family.