It started out like this......

After a few weeks of desperately trying to encourage Jace to get in the water, Mommy decided to leave well enough alone. If Jace was happy splashing from the side, never getting those trunks or cool swim diapers completely wet, so be it. So, on this beautiful Friday afternoon, Mommy left Jace in his regular clothes with the little pool (actually it's Ozzy's) empty and a sand bucket to play with. Wouldn't you know, it took about 5 seconds for Jace to want water in his pool. Done. About 5 seconds later came this:


You will probably notice there is very little water in the pool (we're talking like 1-2 inches tops) but lets allow Jace his moment of brave glory.

Ok, that wasn't so bad...how about this:



And this:



Can anyone say DAREDEVIL!



Oh yes, Jace went all the way! Shoes and Shirt came off next!



The culmination of Jace's swimming escapade was this:



A new 'do' Mommy refers to as the Kate Gosselin:

98 degrees

98 degrees. That's what the temperature read in Mommy's car on the way home from the pool yesterday!

What? Oh, you thought Mommy was going to do a clever post about the 90's boy band called 98 degrees?

Sorry. No such luck. But while we're on the subject, maybe a moment of silence for Nick and Jessica. Oh what the heck..how about one for Jon and Kate as well. Ok, now that Mommy has severely gotten off course (and revealed her horrible addiction to reality tv shows) lets get back to the topic at hand.

It was 98 degrees (according to Mommy's car) outside yesterday. WAY. TOO. HOT. What is a boy to do? Go swimming you may suggest. Good idea, Mommy would say.
The problem however, is really 3-fold. First, Jace does not, under any circumstances, take off his shoes. He has spent many a night wearing them to bed.
Second, Jace does not, under most circumstances, take off his shirt.
Third, Jace continues to be haunted by the 'turd incident' last fall. If you aren't sure what Mommy is referring to go here.
This traumatization (not sure if that's really a word but there are red squiggly lines underneath so Mommy is guessing not) caused by Mommy herself has reared it's ugly head again this summer at the pool. Jace is terrified of Mommy letting go of him in the water.
Ok, so you are beginning to get a picture in your head. A water park filled to the brim with brave teeny tiny babies and toddlers jumping and splashing in the water. To your left is the crazy 2 1/2 year-old who refuses to take off his shoes, shirt or get in the water. At least we know he will be served in most gas stations.
In the end, after much coaxing (2 days worth,) Jace will get in and sit with the water slightly covering his shoulders (but not too much!)on Mommy's lap. Baby steps.

In other baby step news....Jace has decided he has no need to go on the big boy potty because..and Mommy quotes, "I have a diaper on". Really, what is a Mommy to say to that?! It's all about the common sense.

Happy Daddy's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy, Grandpa F., Papa C., and Grandpa Steve...and to all the other Daddys out there! Jace is such a lucky dog to have so many great male role models in his life. Just today in fact, he grabbed Daddy's headphones, put them on his ears, and went for run around the house....just to be like Daddy. Mommy cannot argue with that....she would be just fine if Jace turned out exactly like his Daddy.









Oops, sorry about that last one Daddy. You didn't think Mommy could do an entire post that was nice and mushy did you?

Florida 2009

Jace had an awesome time on his first 'airplane vacation'! He was gone a little over a week as he had to drop Ozzy off to stay with Kona. Of course taking Ozzy to KC meant also having a little time with Tom and Erin (2 of his favorite people).



After a restful night with Tom and Erin it was off to the airport (Thanks Erin) to get on the plane.



And be silly with Mommy.



Jace did very well on the plane. His ears bothered him on the way up and down (both times he offered to go in the car or on a boat) but once he was up in the sky he was loving it.

High on Jace's list of things to do in Florida was 'play in the dirt'. He spent many hours sitting under an umbrella just digging in the sand. Actually getting in the water was a little scary but he did get his feet (and maybe half a torso) wet several times with much coaxing.



Of course all that digging takes a lot out of a man....and there's nothing like eating by the ocean!



Ummm, and eating some more!



Of course Mommy had to try her hand at snorkeling(and fail miserably if you really wanted to know).



In the end, the beach was a favorite activity...especially walking on the boardwalk scoping out the chicks!



Another favorite of Jace's was the boat ride he took around the inter coastal waters and out to the ocean.





Jace was not limited to sand and surf on his vacation however. He also visited the Palm Beach Zoo..



..where apparently he knew more than this 5 or 6 year old kid he is telling the ways of the world to.



Jace also went to the Lion Country Safari which was super sweet! He was able to drive through the park first and see some awesome animals (like these rhinos) up close.



After the drive-through portion, there was even a petting zoo!



Jace even made time for some shopping...which you will notice he thoroughly enjoyed.



If you know Jace's Mommy, then you know lots of good eats were involved in this trip. One of Jace's favorites was the Rainforest Cafe....when the monkeys weren't yelling and pounding their fists.



One of the best parts of Jace's trip was getting to spend time with Aunt Denise and Uncle Chuck.





Of course who wouldn't love an Uncle who let you paint the walls?



And that's it folks.....you have now viewed about 1/12234234th of the pictures taken by Mommy's camera happy self!

Simply a Preview

Jace has only been back from vacation for a few hours yet Mommy is so dedicated she figured she had better get a preview of pictures up! Here is a small sampling of Jace's Florida getaway. More to come....after Mommy gets some shut eye!

Wish you were here!

Mommy decided to schedule this beautiful picture to be posted for all you loyal readers still checking out Jace's blog even as he basks in the sand and surf. Yep, even though Mommy is technically writing this before she has even left home, she is pretty sure this is the view she, Daddy, and Jace are seeing right now. Oh yes, wish you were here!

Farvel, Adios, Ciao, Auf Widersehen, Goodbye!

This is it dear readers! Tomorrow Jace will be headed to his beach vacation:



Via his first airplane ride:



Of course Mommy does not want to leave any unfinished business so please allow her to share some recent pictures, including Jace's weekend visit with the Aunt formerly known as Rita. (In case anyone is wondering, she is now RIta..with a long I.) Apparently Jace's inconsistent pattern of turning the long E sound into a long I persists (and continues to throw curveballs at Mommy's Speech Pathologist attempts at interpreting these errors).

Jace, of course, scored plenty of new loot with Rita in town. He is modeling a few in this picture...although the expression seems to say, 'MommI, RIta is CrAzY'!



ElmoPalooza!



Yummy, Corn on the Cob!



Has anyone ever heard the country song that says, "Daddy, I've been watching you"???
Guess that tune rings true in Jace's house as well....

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Mommy so did NOT get lost on her trail run this week. Of course she would never try and squeeze a 3 mile run in over her lunch hour (or two). Mommy is very responsible and would never get so turned around that she would run by the same window 5 times (and see the same people). She is so responsible in fact that her inconspicuous run on the trails would never turn into 5-6 miles on the highway for all of the free world to see!

And since we all know that Daddy NEVER does anything silly, it's a good thing he did not get preoccupied by Mommy, Jace, and his friend Nate after a run last week. He wasn't so oblivious to anything that he drove to work the next day and back and to get Jace's haircut before being stopped by a state trooper. And since Daddy is full of common sense he didn't have the state trooper hand him his Ipod off the back bumper of his car! Nope, Daddy didn't forget he put it there after his run and drive around for nearly 2 days!!

You found a WHAT?!

Friday was Jace's last day of daycare for the year. It was a bittersweet time because although Jace and Mommy are thrilled to have time for some R and R, they will both miss his school so much! He has had the best time this year and has learned so, so, much. Mommy was unaware that kids in the toddler room could learn the days of the week! Anyway, Mommy and Jace wanted to do something special for his friends. When Mommy first asked Jace what he would like to take for them on Friday....he said 'Shoes'. At first thought, this seems silly. After more contemplation however, Mommy realized that this was actually very generous because:

1)Mommy did not specify that she was thinking more along the lines of taking food.
2)One of Jace's absolute favorite things in the world is shoes (the apple doesn't fall far) so offering them to his friends was actually a wonderful gesture.
3)Jace has enough shoes to clothe not only the toddler room but probably the entire center.

Anyway, Mommy was able to divert Jace's attention and suggested cookies or cupcakes. Jace decided he wanted to take an Elmo cake. So, Thursday night, Mommy and Jace made this wonderful creation. (Sidenote: Mommy drooled all day thinking of the leftovers. When Jace arrived home that night he had....an empty pan! The horror!)





Friday morning Jace was off to spend his last day with his friends and Mommy went to finish up a smidge of paperwork.



Ok, the smidge of paperwork ended up taking Mommy an extremely small amount of time. She couldn't pick Jace up early however because she had a 3:30 appointment to get blonde and beautiful. Soooo, she spent the day doing totally fun, relaxing things. Ok, so 3:30 comes and Mommy is sitting in her chair in the midst of getting pampered. She is honestly thinking about how great life it and how good she has it. She is going over how great her job is and how perfect it is to have this stress-free summer....When ALL OF A SUDDEN, the hairdresser says, 'Oh my, a gray hair!'. Mommy was flabbergasted. What, How, WHY?!! The lady goes on and on about how it is much to early to have gray and how Mommy's job must be so stressful!!
Nix everything Mommy was just thinking!!