Shane, Carrie, and I took the day to ride the metro into DC.
Shane loves trains. Nana and Pop have taken him on the metro multiple times, but Carrie and I had not. We wanted to see the wild excitement in his eyes. Shane is very expressive. He sang the whole walk/run up to the station!
We picked an auspicious day to ride. It was the Silver Line's inaugural run.
Shane could not contain himself.
He was all over the train.
Anything we encountered in DC was bonus as far as he was concerned.
Carrie and I had other plans.
The end goal of the trip was to visit Megan, Billy, and Baby B and not overstay our welcome. Newborns are a system shock! We decided to explore the mall and hit up a few museums before the crowds formed.
It was a beautiful day to be outside.
Shane showed no interest in the monuments. He wanted planets.
Ironically, there were planets on the walk to the museum. There were stations for a scale model of the solar system.
Oh, and Shane loves waterfalls, too.
That meant we had to stop when he saw a fountain. Shane really likes what he likes. He's a passionate little bugger.
Which is why we took him to the Air and Space Museum!
It's one of Carrie and my all time favorites, too.
Shane's astronomic knowledge amazes me. It frustrates me, too. Whenever he says he forgets how to pull up his pants I can't help but think "This kid can name how many moons in the solar system?" Ha, I love him. I've never tried to teach him anything about the planets, either. His knowledge probably rivals my own.
The planet exhibit did not have any planet toys, though. Shane fond that appalling. He was like a dog with a bone. He would not let it go. He asked for planet toys non-stop. Even if there were planet toys in the gift shop, I wasn't about to pay for them when a planet mobile cost $120.
Carrie and I tried to pull him into other exhibits.
We were far more interested than Shane was.
We tried the exhibits about the moon landings next.
Shane had a lot of fun playing, but his interest level was "planets or bust." We were able to spend a little time in the moon exhibit and then looking at a model of the first dog to reach Antarctica before lunch.
Behind the museum was food truck central. Years ago, I would never have gone near them. Carrie and I went through a Food Network phase a couple of years ago, and I was open to the idea this time.
The food was priced closer to restaurant levels than what you would expect from off the back of a truck, but my burrito was good quality for the price. DC is expensive.
Shane ate from our reservoir as we walked and waited in line. He enjoyed feeding the birds.
He also enjoyed the chase after he lured the birds closer.
From there, we were a metro ride and over a half a mile walk to visit Megan, Big B, and Little b. Shane was pretty tired at this point. He kept asking me to pick him up. It was like hugging a squirming 35 lbs dumbbell that hugged back.
We were thrilled to reach our final destination.
Megan and Billy rented a nice row-house in an upscale DC neighborhood. They looked the most relaxed I've seen any new parent look within a week of delivery!
I mean, look at Megan!
She was all smiles and her usual self as far as I could tell. Kathleen was famous for jumping through a car window while pregnant. I guess Megan will be famous in the family for how quickly she recovered compared to how long she was in labor.
Or I could be clueless. Megan may laugh as she reads this while Bill pours a cup and chooses wine over whine.
It was great to see and hang out for a little bit. Billy showed us a puzzle box, I blurted out a Game of Thrones spoiler from the first book not realizing Billy was only on season 1, and Shane explored everywhere.
And Little b snoozed through most of our visit. Megan and Billy looked like they had everything under control and they were even getting some sleep! Perhaps someone read their baby books and thought ahead? Either that or their naturals. Time will tell.
It will be neat seeing who Little b will become. Cole and Shane are very different, but get along well. How will b fit in? Exciting times in the clan!
Shane was spent when we left. When Shane won't run, you know he's tired. When Shane won't walk...he wanted to be carried the whole way. My left knee and right foot felt it the day after.
It was a great way to spend a vacation day. I really wanted to do something family related and plain different from what the normal routine was.
Especially because I wasn't at work.
School was hectic in my absence. There were five people out and the principal ended up helping work the lift and change diapers for a couple of my students!
PS - please forgive any typos or wandering thought. I typed this late and I'll try to proofread it later....which probably means a never.
It rained off and on the whole way to the beach. We saw a car that had run off a rural road and lots and lots of puddles.
Shane loves puddles.
Shane got his shoe wet shortly after we left the house on a walk.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Shane loved my idea of puddle hunting. Ironic, because he had screamed and cried when I dragged him out the front door.
I rated Awesome Dad until Shane screamed and cried when I made him go back home for dinner.
We quickly found a trail to walk along the golf course.
And puddles. Lots of puddles.
We were able to rehydrate with clean, non-puddle water (always a plus).
And there were wide open fields to run through. I'll say this about golf courses: well-maintained. I wasn't worried about ticks or chiggers. I could see all around Shane, so I didn't have to have him tethered to my side. I can still outrun him.
The bunnies could outrun Shane, too.
We saw a ton of rabbits. Shane wanted to chase them all.
Mommy wasn't mad at us when we returned. I think we were both smiling to wide to kill! Ha!
Shane got a short bath made shorter from his joy at pulling up the plug.
I bet the whirlpools would have blown his mind if he'd ever let it fill. Patience is a virtue in short supply at three!
If you're going on a trip, you may as well have some fun getting there. Carrie and I like to look out the windows, but Shane's picky.
So we stopped at a Chic-Fil-A in Maryland for breakfast.
We spent almost an hour there before braving the bay bridge.
If you've never seen the bay bridge, it's huge. Pictures don't really do it justice.
If you're scared of bridges, it's 4 miles long and can sometimes have slow traffic leaving you parked over the water.
I think it's cool.
I thought Shane would go bonkers, but he didn't. In retrospect, he probably couldn't see well enough from his car seat to realize how high up we were.
He was far more impressed with the mannequins.
After we cleared the bridge, we drove until we hit some retail stores for another pit stop. Shane tried to shake every mannequin hand he found. I think he viewed them as life-sized Legos. He wanted to spin and turn their arms every which way.
Carrie split off to shop while Shane and I roamed and rolled.
Translation: if I tried to pick the direction to roam Shane rolled on the floor.
He hid, too, but that was my idea. He decided it was cool enough to follow.
PS - Chick Fil A had a food trailer.
If I had not had it for breakfast, I could of had fried chicken for lunch.
But that's okay. We had more distance to cover and Carrie found a Wawa in Delaware.
We hit two of my favorite fast/convenient food bad habits back-to-back. I was fat and happy.
The rain and constant traffic took more of a toll on Carrie. We found an ice-cream shop next the rental agency.
I asked Carrie if Jack and Jill compared to Turkey Hill and got a laugh. Shane thanked us whenever we "cleaned the drips" of his cone. He wasn't the least bit suspicious (the fool!).
The drive took us over 6 hours with pit stops included. We had to detour out of the way when there was a big sign saying "Accident: both lanes blocked" on the artery in. We left at 9 AM and arrived at the rental agency at 3:30 PM or so. Matt and Renee arrived at the rental at about 5 PM. They'd left at 11:45 AM.
We had planned on staying through the weekend, but we drove back very late Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Anxiety levels rose throughout the day and failed to de-escalate. At the end, I felt moved to return home. Shane snoozed while I drove and Carrie played navigator.
Throughout it all, my goal was to show the love described in Corinthians and Galatians. Those were the latest books assigned in the summer Word Up challenge.
Things have gone very well since (minus a 911 call!). Carrie, Shane, and I spent Monday visiting Megan, Billy, and their baby boy! We figured since the one trip didn't work out, we'd still visit family in another.
Somehow, that stinker pulled out the epipen, opened the case, removed the safety, and the jabbed the needle into his knee. He cried out. "Daddy, it poked me!"
I looked at him, but didn't see anything from my angle. I moved over and saw the epipen. The safety cap was still in Shane's hand.
I yelled for Carrie to call 911 and Shane started coughing.
This is what happened next.
Shane was fine. That became clear fairly quickly. He coughed and wretched as his system reacted to the epinephrine. Hallelujah he didn't get a full adult dose.You have to hold down the epipen into a muscle while the medicine is injected. Shane poked his knee. The pain didn't prompt him to hold on to it for long. He normalized within a minute or two.
However, it's standard procedure to call emergency services whenever an epipen is used. It's a better safe than sorry situation.
Of course, Shane loved it.
"I want to show Daniel my new bandaids!" Shane said.
Well, he got to.
Daniel and his parents walked by and we went out to say "hi." We hung out and talked for the next hour. Good neighbors are a blessing!
Hurt yourself and then there's a show is not the lesson I want Shane to learn. I thanked God he was fine.
It doesn't take more than a moment for things to go wrong, and no parent can watch their child every moment of the day. For me, the irony is I've been trying to give Shane more and more space. He's become so much more capable and I'm trying to let some of the baby/toddler paranoia fade. I used to watch him in the bathroom to make sure he wouldn't drown (or drink the toilet water.....which was much more likely).
At the end of it, I asked Shane what he learned. With some coaching, we established it was not a good idea to play with medicine.
Lots going on, but ambulances get bumpbed to the top of the blog queue. Shane has no fear, so I doubt this is the last time we'll see an ambulance in his lifetime!
Wednesday, Shane and I went out to visit my friend from work, Matt, and his daughters, Sophia and Gabriella.
We all went swimming and then Matt cooked pizza at his place. Good times!
Three things:
1. I'm going to miss working with Matt. I'll have to work to stay in touch.
2. Shane is incredibly social. He cried when the girls left with their mom to see a movie.
3. Shane is funny. He has a mental block on Gabriella's name. We'll see if he remembers "Gabby" next time!
Shane's far more connected these days than when he was younger. I know I'm biased, but it's cute to see how he interacts and other kids around interact with him.
Carrie said she had a surprise for me when I got home from work on Monday.
Before:
After:
I was very surprised. Our lawnmower broke on Sunday, so I thought Carrie meant she found something on Craigslist .
The neighbors contracted some tree work and Carrie seized the opportunity. She walked over to haggle. The final price for the tree removal and grinding it into mulch was $400.
I didn't know how to react at first. I planned to get my dad and brothers to help me chop up the tree as a summer project (and save the cash). Carrie wasn't comfortable with that and collected quotes.
Suddenly, money was spent, but a lot of work was gone, too. The large pile of mulch helped mollify me. It would've cost over $100 around here to buy that much and have it delivered. Carrie's surprise was a good deal.
And Shane loved it.
He was "glued to the window."
Not only did he get to watch the tree cutter men, he got to play with pine sap (bleh) and help Daddy shovel mulch (yay!).
To my surprise, he was actually helpful.
He enjoyed contributing. Shane must have inherited the love of yard work from Grandma. It skipped a generation!
We spent an hour hard at work. Shane was all smiles. He chatted the whole time about how big each scoop he made was. He gave himself three congratulations for each swing of the shovel!
Time to start reclaiming the backyard from the weeds.
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