recent adventures

its been a really long time since my last post, so long in fact that i forgot my password to login. 


today while at the park with noah we went on a squirrel hunt, and if you've been to the park on 5th street, you know there is no lack in squirrels... friendly ones! hungry ones! so this one squirrel was eyeing noah, im guessing he could smell the pepperoni that he had rubbed in his hair earlier in the day. so as we walked, he followed and every once and a while he'd hide behind a tree, like we didnt see him following us. so noah stopped to check him out. then he started a little peek a boo game with noah. it was so cute! at least it was entertaining for me to watch... that and the mom and dad couple that both looked like dad's... and the mom that had a 9 month old and was already about 6 months pregnant again, give or take. 


this past weekend i went to ft myers for a little get away. we had a couple goals... 1. we wanted to find some gators while driving across alligator alley   2. we wanted to come back beautiful brown babies   3. we wanted to relax. we accomplished all but #1... thanks a lot florida everglades! how is that even possible?! its called alligator alley!! not a single one was spotted on the 70+ mile stretch, there or back. that didnt stop us from seeing wildlife though... 


one reasons i always chicken out in the water while at the beach is because im afraid of sharks, i realize that its highly unlikely that id ever get bitten, but what if they're attracted to lubriderm lotion or something, id be screwed! ya never know... but i was a trooper and went in, even though i couldnt see through the murky water, and low and behold i enjoyed myself. so while sitting on the beach, i was watching a man fishing by the edge of the sandbar. the very sand bar that i was sitting on not 10 mins before. 2 mins after casting out what does he reel in? an f'ing shark! thats right... everyone laughs at my fear, but they're out there!


on the drive home as a last attempt to see an alligator we stopped at every rest stop (which were really just places to park, there were no bathrooms, or snacks or anything). and even though we saw no gators the one stop had something even creepier... vultures. they were everywhere! just sitting there watching us. it was like a scene out of the birds, but instead of black crows they were massive vultures. 


we also saw a lot of old people on our trip... but they arent exactly wildlife. 


and that has been the latest happenings...  :)

i feel like i havent updated in forever. we had family here for the past 2 weeks, so i was a little lazy with the blogging. 


its was so nice to see grandma (gigi) and ryan. this visit was the first time that ryan and i went out partying together. quiet different than how our relationship was 3 years ago. lol. different, but good. he's a trip to go to the clubs with. and whats funnier yet is he does it completely sober! 


ryan got to spend some much needed bonding time with noah. it sometimes takes noah a little bit of time to warm up to people, but for some reason it was instant with ryan. within 10 mins of being home from the airport they were fishing together out back. i loved watching them together, and watching ryan show him how to cast it out into the water. i remember calling ryan the day i found out noah was a boy and talking to him about teaching him to fish someday. it was cute to see it happen. 

fishing buddies

mom is going to kill me for adding this to the blog, but its so cute i can't keep from telling people...

last night i went to a friends to watch a movie, so mom laid noah down for me. today when i talked to her about it she told me that noah woke her up and said "mimi, stop that noise." so then they laid back down and a little while later she was woken up again to noah saying "mimi, stop that noise." lol she was snoring. so when i asked him about it, i said "what noise was mimi making last night?" and he said it was a choo choo. LOL. o noah, you make me laugh!

reflections at the food court

today we decided to hit up the mall considering the crazy florida weather couldnt make up its mind. did it want to be rainy or did it want to be sunny? it didnt know. so off to the mall we went to find a few items gigi wanted. 

we stopped at the food court to have a little lunch, i got noah a little kids meal from panda express that consisted of a tiny portion of orange chicken and a tiny portion of lo mein noodles. once i sat noah down with gigi to eat i ran across to the other side of the court to order me something. as i waited for my food to be made i watched in amazement as noah sat across the table from gigi like such a little man. he was twirling his lo mein noodles onto his fork so daintily and with such focus. he carefully put each bite in his mouth not dropping a single noodle. he then chewed each bite with his mouth closed and watched as people walked around the court. what a beautiful little creature!

it made me think about the day he'll be sitting at school with his other classmates and i wont be there to help him and baby him. of course, when we send them to school, we dont get to see those things. it made me a little sad but at the same time proud. sad because with every passing day he needs me less and less, and is quickly evolving from a sweet baby boy to an independent little person. it made me proud because he has come so far, and he is confident and smart enough to be independent. 

the mystery that is the swap shop

im laying in bed tonight, unable to sleep, my mind skimming through completely random thoughts. one of which being my last post. so i figure, while im up, lets type it out... what exactly is the lure of the swap shop?!

first, what about it makes it world famous? is it world famous for being dirty? or maybe world famous for having a bunch of crap? possibly world famous for abusing their circus animals? world famous for being able to buy a gloriously bedazzled neon triple xl t-shirt? im not sure, maybe for all the above.

granted, its probably been a good 15 years since ive been there, but if memory serves me correct, it was hot, the floor was always wet, and there was clutter for as far as the eye could see. and as far as i can tell from driving by, it has now split over into the drive-in section, and parking has now been expanded to the other side of the road. it looks as if people go to yard sales, swindle your $3 dollar glass bowl down to 10 cents (the haitians are particularly good at this) and then go sell it for the $3 you were originally asking for. are people so obsessed with bargains that they subject themselves to such ickiness?

its a mystery that may never be solved.

goodnight, hopefully.

how observant!

today while driving in the car i was explaining the surroundings like i usually do to noah. this particular time we were passing the "world famous" swap shop. im not sure what exactly makes it "world famous", do people in france and germany think of the swap shop as the next best thing to disney? but thats a completely different post. we'll get into that some other time. 

so as i was explaining the swap shop he seemed to think it looked a lot like mater's junkyard. mater is a character from the disney movie Cars. and all i could think was "yes, yes it does!" what a smart boy!

good finds all around

today was a busy little day. we woke up early to make our second trip in 3 days to ikea to get noah a new rug for his room. i had originally bought him a light blue rug from target which looked kinda blah at the store, but figured it was probably just the florescent lighting. after all,  everything looks a little blah under florescent lights, even people! anyways, it wasnt the lighting, it turned out it was just a hideous rug... so it had to go back. while we were at ikea a couple days ago getting the bad ass toy bin that the future martha stewart then put together using only a tiny alan wrench, i noticed a pretty nice shag (but not 1970's shag) rug. it was navy and would go perfect with noah's red and navy room! so we got that to replace the gross light blue rug. it kinda looks like a decorator from pottery barn came to decorate ;)


then a few hours later we went to pick up grandma (gigi) from the airport. noah was super excited to go to the airport to get her, but was a little disappointed when he found out that he wasnt allowed past security. after kisses, gigi surprised noah with an ohio state basketball that was just his size. he loves things that are just his size. mimi then mentioned how she wanted to get him his own basketball net. o how we forget he is listening to every word we say... 


so after the airport we had to make a quick stop at toys r us. he then proceeded to play basketball for the next 4 hours. literally from the time we got home from the airport (3:00) until it was bath time (7:00) breaking only for dinner. he played on the front porch, in the kitchen, in the entry way, and on the back porch. he couldnt get enough. i must say, i was very impressed by his dedication. i thought for sure it would have been like every other new toy, it would be the best thing since sliced bread for about 10 mins and then it would lose its flare pretty quick. not this thought, he was a basketball playing fool!


it was a good day. good find at ikea. good find at the airport. good find at toys r us.

family time is nearly here!!

so for the past 2 weeks or so we have been doing some minor renovations to the house. it first started with the intention to only paint the upstairs hall. but then after that, the stairway was looking a little blah. so the stairway was next on the list. that got a little dangerous, as you saw in my previous entry. then we took it on downstairs to the main wall. and then we figured, if we've done this much, we might as well keep truck'n. so we did the entire living room and entry way. once we got started it was refreshing to have a fresh coat of paint throughout the house. you wouldnt think it would make that much of a difference, but it really did. 

the walls looked so nice that i then got the urge to de-clutter noah's play area. it had become a mat littered with all different types of baskets and bins none of which matched. so i found a cute bin-shelf-thingy from ikea. i knew i would have to put it together, because thats the whole ikea deal, and i really dont mind assembling things, i actually kinda like it. i get proud of myself when i do a good job! i must say, the end result came out pretty damn good. sometimes i think HGTV might want to give me my own show.  

just call me martha stewart

we didnt mean for all these changes to take place before grandma and ryan came into town, but now that everything is nice and fresh it will be nice to have company over. not that it wouldnt have been nice before, but you know what i mean. its been 6 months since ive seen grandma and ryan, im super excited!! i cant even remember the last time ryan was home, i think its been over a year... we'll see if he likes how his room has been converted into noah's room  :/  but im hoping he doesnt mind TOO much. can't wait to see them!!