As you may or may not know, Ian is completely obsessed with the Toy Story characters. So we decided to throw Ian a "Buzz" party. Included in the Buzz Lightyear package that Allison ordered was a Buzz Pinata.
While everyone was eating, I hung up the pinata, which is Buzz Lightyear with his hands on his hips giving the funniest/creepiest ear-to-ear grin. Kinda like the big bowling pin at the kids fair, but since it was BUZZ, Ian looked beyond that.
I hung it in the garage since it was rainy and wet outside. After everyone ate, Allison wrangled up all the kids and brought them down to commence the Lightyear bashing. . Long story short, all the kids took turns whacking the hell out of the thing with no success. A few kids even slipped on the floor (because bubbles were spilt earlier which made part of the floor a little slick). After everyone had a turn or two, Allison called a ceasefire.
I didn't know this until this past winter, but these pre-made pinatas had an 'escape hatch', which is an alternative way of dumping the candy if you can't break it open. We never did pinatas as a kid, so this was news to me. Buzz's escape hatch happen to be on his, ahem, can.
Allison gleefully yanked those strings and Buzz's poopchute opened and out flowed all the goodness and joy of childhood. Some of the adults got a kick out of watching buzz dangle on the string and seeing tootsie rolls and such fall out of him. I didn't get a good picture of him shitting candy, but here is one of Ian taking a wack at him:
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As you may or may not know, we bought a pop-up camper last month. I've always loved camping and Allison, well, hasn't. I want to get the family into camping more so this was our compromise...we get to go camping and she gets a bed.
Well two weeks ago we got the opportunity to take the camper out for its inaugural trip. We meaning Ian and I. Allison had to go out of state for bridal shower (she's in the wedding) so she took Leah with her so Ian and I got a boys weekend to go on a brand new adventure.
Since I hadn't towed the camper since the day we brought it home, I made reservations for a "pull-though" campsite at a family campground not too far away. A pull-through site is exactly as it sounds, and it allows you to just, well, pull through and not worry about backing up and jockeying the camper into position. I chose to do that because I hadn't practiced backing up and parking, and didn't want to have to worry about it with just Ian and I.
Anyhoo, We left our house at 11am and arrived at Jellystone Park in Sturbridge, MA about 30min later. Once we got there, we saw that the pull through sites were pretty much just a grassy island right in front of the campground...there are dirt roads all around it and it's right next to the general store. Both the woman behind the desk and I agreed that a more secluded site would be better. I decided the hassle of having to back up was absolutely worth getting a safer, more relaxing site.
I'm proud to say that I actually did pretty well! I had to pull forward twice, once to start-over and once to straighten out. I also had to get out of the car to get another look at the site about halfway through the process, but other than that, I was all backed up and in position in about 5 minutes!
Of course Ian wanted to go exploring the minute we got there, but I wanted to get everything all set up as he was skipping his nap and I KNEW there would be no patience on his end (or mine!)later in the day. So I was able to get him to "help" me by dragging around the water container and hauling & stacking some Lynx levelers (plastic blocks used for leveling the camper). I never really got 'settled in', but rather just stored everything on one bunkend leaving the couch, dinette area and other bunkend available.
Once we were all settled in away we went! We went the playground for awhile, which was a whole 50' from our site. We also had the water-park about 50yds from where we were too. It wasn't much, just a big pool, jacuzzi, water slide and snack shop. But it was PLENTY enough for Ian to stay busy for a few hours. As long as he had his Nemo Fins (his floaties) he was good to go!
As I said, we were only a half hour away from home and it was thundering and raining there, but the sky was absolutely beautiful and clear by us. It was even HOT, maybe 85 degrees. Of course we had to take a break from the swimming to gobble up some ice cream. Ian couldn't wait to get back in the pool though!
I could tell that he was wearing down (he had no nap remember, and by this time it was probably 3:30), so we went back to the site, changed our clothes and went to go check out the rest of the campground. We saw a lake with a beach & another playground so we spent some time there and then we poked around the general store/game room/snack shack area. He met up with some new friends and they played and ran around for quite awhile.
I was getting hungry, so we went back and as I was preparing dinner, I let him watch a DVD to keep him stationary and in-sight/out of trouble. After dinner we went to the pavillion (next to the general store) to check out the band that was playing on the little stage there, as you know, Ian LOVES watching live music being played. They were a cheesy band, but perfect for the atmosphere.
Ian didn't eat much dinner, so he was saying that he was hungry. We walked down to the general store and since it was a 'special camping trip', I let him pick out what he wanted to eat. You ready for this? Potato Chips and Orange Juice. Let your taste buds contemplate that for a minute. Are you starting to get that juicy, salivating/tingling feeling in your mouth yet due to the completely unnatural and disgusting combination of those to things? BLECH! But he ate the bag and drank almost all of the juice. Hey man, whatever floats his boat!
After he had enough of the band (which was during setbreak), we went back to the campsite and finished the day and unwound with the rest of the DVD while I brewed a pot of coffee and read a magazine.
We all know that Ian is generally not a good sleeper. And we've only slept in the camper one night before this trip, so I was a bit concerned about how he would go to sleep, especially since I didn't want to lay down next to him. I tried explaining to him that i would be over at the table and even though he couldn't see me (I was going to shut the privacy curtains so the light wouldn't bother him), I would still be there.
Yeah, he couldn't care less. He just gave me a goodnight kiss, rolled over so his back was to me and was out in a record of about 4 seconds flat! So I just relaxed with a few cold ones enjoying the sounds & scenery.
We awoke around 6am to dead silence. It wasn't easy keeping Ian quiet, but I kept his chatting to a minimum by stuffing his face with some fresh berries, orange juice and a coloring book. I cooked a breakfast up for myself and while cleaning up I heard some thunder in the distance. We were going to stay the morning up until the 11am checkout time. But as we found out a few days before the trip is hella scared of thunder, so a packing up we did go!
He wanted to go play, but knew thunder was on the horizon so he was a little freaked out. So I put on another DVD to keep his mind preoccupied so I could pack up as quickly as possible The last thing I wanted to deal with was a freaked out toddler while I was packing up the camper.
So he watched his movie inside the camper until I was ready to take it down..I then plugged it into the socket on the outside and dragged the picnic table over next to it while I cranked it down.
When it was time to back my car up to the camper and hitch it back up, I let Ian sit in the passenger seat...a real treat for him! He loves playing in the car, but I downright detest it, so I never let him do it in my car. That way I was 100% sure where he was and didn't worry about running over him. He had a blast sitting in there with a "grown up's" seat belt!
I'm proud to say I completely packed up, broke camp, (including dumping our water from the sink) and was ready to pull away in about an hour and 15 minutes. Not too shabby for a first timer alone with a toddler!
And the icing on the cake was that JUST as we got onto the highway (about a 1/2 mile from the campground) it started to POUR!
The only downside is that since I was in a rush, I didn't get a chance to clean the dirt/mud/etc off the floor, but thats the way it goes.
But the bottom line is this: I had an absolute blast camping with Ian and can say that I am totally hooked on the pop-up! I just love all the amenities that it provides! I can't wait to go again with Allison and Leah so we can enjoy it as a family!
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