Parks, Planes and Playing with Ryan (Part 2)

Thursday was a day of driving, but Friday was a day of playing. I cannot tell you how good it felt to be out of the car for a day, stretching our legs, breathing fresh air, not having to turn around in my seat to get the toy that fell on the floor. And then be admonished for taking my seat belt off to get the toy. "Mommy, you have your seat belt off. We wear our seat belts to keep safe Mommy. Daddy tell Mommy to put her seat belt on!"

Friday we had a lovely casual breakfast and then headed to the base to see where Vince works. I must say, it was really incredible to at long last be able to visualize what Vince has been talking about all this time. We saw some F-16 planes, which were cool beyond belief. They are huge, and they were RIGHT THERE in front of us. Nobody else was quite as fascinated with these planes as I was. Not even the little boys. Milo was acting as if he sees F-16 planes every day of his life and Finn, don't get me started, he yawned and then fell asleep. Who are these children? Who raises them?

You might be wondering where are the pictures of these amazing planes. I wish I had some, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos. Even if we had been, well, I forgot to bring our camera with us. I get a check minus in the Mom department for that day because that meant that we had no pictures of the rest of the outing as well. Which is such a shame, because the base has an amazing park, where we stopped to let the boys play. They were running everywhere, screaming, shrieking, climbing, crawling, chasing each other. Ryan kept taking Milo's hand to show him something new. It was enough to melt my heart seeing my little boy having so much fun. I long for the day that Finn will be able to join in the chase as well.

Ryan is Lynnette's nephew and is Milo's age. From the moment we started planning this trip, it was all Milo could talk about, seeing dinosaurs and playing with Ryan and his toys. The boys have met prior to this, but as so often is the case with little ones, memory is a problem in the long term. As they have gotten older, the memories are sticking with Milo. Ryan was out with Lynnette and her sister Claudette in April. Actually they were all here the weekend I went into labor with Finn. While I was "resting" Milo got to spend some time lounging by the pool, eating snacks and socializing with them. So when we told him we are going to visit Uncle Vince and Aunt Lynnette and would get to see Ryan, Milo knew exactly what that would entail; fun fun fun.

After the park, we returned to the house for a nap and then Ryan came over later in the afternoon. The boys spent the time playing games including the most enthralling game of chase each other round and round in circles throughout the living room and kitchen. Periodically one of them would stop, turn around and scream "Rarrrrr!" Then they would both scream and start running again. I tried and tried to get a picture of this, but they are just way to quick for me.

A rare quiet moment of the boys playing

Claudette was kind enough to watch the boys that night. Yes she voluntarily offered to watch ALL 3 of them... at the same time... together! What can I say? The woman is amazing. Vince and Lynnette took us out for a very lovely dinner, where I was gleeful to note that there was not one single item on the menu that resembled pizza or macaroni and cheese and no crayons were offered to us during our meal. How novel! How charming! I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I had nobody to admonish to keep their bottom in the seat and I didn't have to wipe up any spit up. And nobody, not one person at our table asked me to cut up their food for them. It has been a long time since that has happened.

It was a fantastic evening out with some of my most favorite people. We returned home to my other favorite people to find them tucked into their beds and sound asleep. Claudette, miracle worker that she is actually got Finn to sleep for 9 hours straight! Can you imagine? I should have relished this and gotten some serious consecutive hours of sleep. But I still got up frequently to do something I hadn't done since he was first born, I checked to make sure he was breathing. Which of course he was. I just kept thinking, oh my gosh, I cannot believe he is still sleeping! I wanted to package up Claudette and bring her home with me.