First Field Trip

Chad's school had a walk for breast cancer awareness today.  I'm not really sure how we raised awareness, because we didn't collect donations or wear pink ribbons or even mention cancer, but it was still nice of the school to organize a little Saturday activity for the munchkins.
First we got some art time in while we waited for the other kids

Then we walked a mile down the ATT to the park.
Chad started off walking, and occasionally running, by himself.

But eventually we gave up and carried him.  Otherwise we would have never made it to the park in time.

At the park, Chad played with one of his classmates, and did some tandem sliding :)

Getting ready!

Wheeee!

And then we walked back to school (Chad walked about 20% of the way this time.  And then he snuggled into Andy's shoulder and sucked his tongue.  It's hard work playing!)
When we got back to the school, everyone got a popsicle!

This little field trip wore Chad out.  He had a peanut butter sandwich when we got home, and then slept for over two hours.
When he woke up, we had a very important purchase to take care of: this year's Halloween costume!

I'm only showing you the back for now.  You'll have to wait for Halloween to see the cuteness from the front.  Other contending costumes were a dog and a blue monster, but once I saw this one, I knew we had to have it.

A few weeks ago we had a BBQ with some friends, and Chad spent the evening running around the backyard with a 2.5 year old.  They took turns kicking the soccer ball, losing Nolan's Matchbox cars in the grass, and running full speed into the fence.  No noses were broken, no cars were permanently misplaced, and I liked Nolan's mom. I call that a win for a play date. 
Meanwhile, the males made this:

That would be a beer can stuffed into a chicken.

And the ladies drank these:

God Bless Pinterest

After that, Andy held down the fort for a week while I went to conference in Puerto Rico

The view from my balcony. 

Don't be jealous.  I spent every day from 8-6 learning about science, (mostly on an empty stomach because Puerto Ricans don't believe in serving food I like) and only had one free afternoon.  And on my one afternoon at the beach?  A large bird made himself at home on my umbrella, which made it difficult to concentrate on my girly fashion magazine.  

And the bird was hurt, so eventually animal control came to wrap him in a blanket and take him away. Kind of put a damper on my sunbathing.

From the many pictures Andy texted me that week, Chad did fine in my absence, although I'm told he walked through the house each time they came home asking, "Mommy? Mommy?"

I made up for leaving them by bringing home maracas for him.

Luckily, they had our ferocious guard cat to protect them and keep everyone on line.

Chad is very good at reprimanding Fenway when he climbs on furniture he doesn't belong on.  He'll use his most authoritative voice to say, "No, cat!  Down!  Down, cat!  Please?"

Such a cute little prepster!

Right now it's almost 9:00, and Chad is still playing with Scout and talking to himself in his crib.  We have some excitement planned for him for tomorrow, so he'd better get some rest!