Breakfast With The Elephants

I am a little behind on blog posts, so I am going to play catch up. A couple weekends ago we went to the zoo to have breakfast with the elephants. We signed up for this program because we thought it would be fun for Max.

We started with breakfast in a room where they included elephant themed activities. Max painted and learned how elephants drink water.

After an hour we moved to the elephants home where we heard about the elephants and then we got to venture into the elephant's home. We were able to take a handful of treats into the home and "hide" them for the elephant to go find them. After we were all out of the home we watched the elephant go find all the treats.

Following the elephant breakfast we ventured to see the snakes per Max's request. He also HAD to see the tiger, giraffes and get a bag of popcorn.

We ended the weekend with Max making ice cream in our ice cream machine that Andy found in the garage while we were emptying out boxes from our move. We built up a lot of excitement about making our own ice cream that Max wanted to do it all by himself.

Unfortunately we learned the ice cream machine was broken and didn't work very well anymore...therefore no ice cream. Andy didn't want to tell Max that we had no ice cream so during bath time he ran out and picked up ice cream. We did tell him the machine had broken, but not until after we had an alternative ice cream in the house. 

Birthday Party

Max attended his friend, Briggs's, birthday party this weekend. It was a Paw Patrol themed birthday and ever since he received the invite in the mail he was super excited to go. He even wanted to wear his Paw Patrol shirt with matching undies to the party. I tried to dress him up cute for the party, but he wasn't having it, he HAD to wear the Paw Patrol shirt since it's a Paw Patrol party.

Max was talking about this party for weeks and was beyond excited to go and see his friends, but once we arrived Max clung to Andy and I because he is so shy. He watched all the other kids play with each other and have fun, but he just wouldn't join in. He's just way too shy.

He ate his cupcake with us instead of the other kids.

He played by himself.

He watched all the other kids swing at the pinata, but would only do it if daddy would do it with him.

After all the pinata fun was over and done with, then Max wanted to swing the bat since nobody was there to watch him.

Finally towards the end of the party Max and Owen watched a little Paw Patrol on TV. This is about as much interaction as Max had with any of his friends.

What can I say, like father like son?

Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend was a little rough and didn't turn out as planned. Since I got sick in New Orleans it completely changed the whole weekend. I was supposed to have my spa day with my ladies like we do every year, but this year I had to cancel. I couldn't even get my butt out of bed on that Saturday until 3pm. I was miserable, but more importantly I was super bummed that I did not get my ladies spa day. I was also determined to get healthy for Mother's Day that following day. Unfortunately, I felt awful on Sunday too. I got out of bed because I had a super adorable toddler come running into the bedroom yelling "Happy Mother's Day" over and over again. I mean, how could that not get me out of bed?

Max did get me flowers.

And made me breakfast with daddy. He just loves to cook. We played puzzles after breakfast.

And did a lot of cuddling since I felt so bad all day long.

Andy made a fabulous meal and Max experienced his first corn on the cob since it's a favorite of mine.

Even though the weekend didn't turn out like planned I still had such a great Mother's Day. I mean, when you have such a cutie like Max who just wants you to have a Happy Mother's Day, it's impossible not to have a great day.

Playing Catch Up

I am a little behind on my blogging, so let's go back to the first week of May and play catch up. I was in New Orleans the first week of May for my annual accounting marketing conference. The first thing I learned is that standards change as you get older. I know that has nothing to do with accounting marketing, but it's still something I learned while there. When I first found out the conference was in New Orleans I was pretty excited. The last time I was there was when I was 21 years old...seems like yesterday. I had a blast! I loved the city and couldn't wait to go back. Well, it's 15 years later and I made it back to find out that my taste in activities have drastically changed. This city is dirty, smelly and overall not safe for a female. I was so grossed out by the smell that I started to question my 21 year old self. Did I really enjoy this back then? Was Bourbon Street much different back then? I started to think that maybe Katrina changed things or the city just completely stopped caring and started to accept it's dirty self at some point in the last 15 years. I did ask a friend of mine who was also at the conference, who is also a local. She said, nope, nothings changed. This is New Orleans...you have just gotten older. Really? When? That's when I really started to think about how I changed and partying in an old bar, in a dirty city, on a very dirty unsafe street is just not my thing anymore. I kind of sound like a snob, but dirty and smelly is just not fun to me.

While I was there I did miss Andy and Max a ton! Actually, a ton is an understatement. I didn't think Max would miss me that much because he is so into his daddy these days that he will tell me I can't bathe him or tuck him into bed because daddy has to do it. Ok, well, I headed off to New Orleans and Max could have 100% daddy time for 4 whole days. I was kidding myself, Max missed me a ton. So much that Ms. Marie asked me to send her a picture because Max was having a bummer of a day because he missed me so much.

We did FaceTime every night even though it was difficult with the time change and all my conference responsibilities, like heading out to Bourbon Street with a group of professional ladies as we all clutch our purses really tight and try not to pass out from the stench. Yup, that was fun!

Besides learning about accounting marketing and how my standards in life have dramatically progressed as I aged, I did have some fabulous food! The best thing I ever ate there was barbecue shrimp (aka barbecue soup as I liked to call it) at a restaurant called Mr. B's. The food was so amazing that it was almost a life changing event! It made up for the nasty city that I mentioned earlier.

I arrived back in Phoenix and brought a virus with me. It never fails that I get sick when I travel. It's awful to have such a week immune system like I have, but the best thing was to get home to see my family and crawl into bed to try and get healthy.

Weekend Update

Last weekend we had another good weekend in the books. We went to dinner, per Max's request. He's been so great out at restaurants lately.

We played super heroes where Max cleared the house of bad guys. I seriously have no idea where he came up with this game, but he had a blast. Him and I used pillows for our shield and Max wore his "super caper" to pounce on the bad guys. He was having so much fun that it was non stop giggles in our house.

The best part about the weekend was that we took Max to see his very first movie at the theatre. We went to see Zootopia and I think we were more excited to go than he was. We were just excited to see him at the theatre because he really had no idea what we were going to do. During the bathroom break  Max told me that we were at a "big movie." He calls our tv at home a movie, so he was shocked at the size of the big screen. He had a great time and was completely enthralled in the movie. We look forward to more movies with him.