Terrible Threes?

First, I'd like to start by saying Happy Halloween! I figure that since there is an inevitable Halloween post coming after tonight, that I should probably get caught up on Myles's birthday post. 

Myles turned three ten days ago. And it got me thinking about things. I remember when Kaden was about one and half and I said, "If it's terrible twos, and ones are this bad, then I will never survive!" But I survived. And then Kaden turned three. No one ever tells you that threes are the worst of all. They are ever growing in their level of independence and not so much in their ability desire to listen. I mean. It's like I have teenagers already. And I'm so not ready for teenagers. I hear that it'll be here before I know it. Anyways. Back to threes, and back to Myles. Kaden is leaving the three zone just as Myles is entering into it. Lord help us all. 

For what seems like months now, Myles has been talking about pirates. He wants a pirate cake and a pirate party and to be a pirate captain for Halloween. I pursed Pinterest for ideas for a pirate party and told Brian that we had to have a plank. It was going to be simple, a board on cinder blocks that the kids could walk on. I was talking about it at work and my boss said, "A plank from where? You're not going to have a pirate ship? What kind of pirate party doesn't have a pirate ship?"

I decided I couldn't be the lame mom without the pirate ship for my kid's party, so I made one. Now keep in mind that I am so not a crafty person. This took a lot of hard work.

And. Was pretty sweet once put together (if I do say so myself). Complete with a shark infested ocean.

Myles's party also had:

 Pirate treasure.

 Pirate booty.

Pirate cake.

And a pirate dog. 

Myles refused to wear an eye patch. He also refused a picture with me. Lucky for me, Kaden played along. 

Our first activity was a scavenger hunt. All the clues were written in pirate.

 The big kids read the clues. Myles didn't want to share. Darn threes.

 The last clue was a map to find the buried treasure.

Which they found. And ate.

Next was cake. He loved his cake:)

Then. We made Will walk the plank. Because he was wearing a Husker shirt. 

I'm pretty sure the sharks ate him. Along with that other pirate. Who belonged to that hat. 

The girls and Kaden all went. Myles refused. Again. It's his party and he'll do what he wants. 

Even though the threes got the best of him at moments, Myles loved his party. He even walked the plank the next morning. And. He wants me to hang his ship up in his room. Which I will. Just as soon as I finish procrastinating it.

Myles is still talking about his pirate party. He is very excited to show of his costume tonight. As. Buzz Lightyear. 

The Vacation Post Part 3: Hiking and Trains

And.... We made it! Vacation- The Final Installment. Feels pretty good to be here. Except now I find myself thinking, "Wait. I had a vacation?" One thing that was on our must-do list was hiking. The boys enjoyed our little hikes around Omaha and now it was time to shown them what Arizona hikes were all about. 

The fun thing about this hike is, this was the first hike we ever took Kaden on. As a baby. In that carrier. Wearing that hat. How nostalgic is that?

Up we went. Kaden stayed with Papa most of the time.

Myles with Mom and Dad. He wanted to be carried. We made him tough it out. 

All the way to the top(sorta)! Thumbs up for the top! They're into thumbs up. Can you tell? This was all before we turned the corner....

The second portion was a bit harder. But they are boys. And these rocks had nothing to 'em. 

And they made it! Again! To the real top this time! They were pretty proud of themselves. As they should have been. Because. They did good.

Soon we turned around and went down.

And. Found a cactus. The boys were mesmerized. We told them not to touch it, that it would give them owies.

Kaden does what he wants. He's not afraid of some cactus. He did get the saddest look on his face, "That cactus hurt me!"

Almost back to the car. He's pretty much super dad.

Later that day, we met my friend Lauren and her two kids at the choo-choo park. We can't ever go to Phoenix without visiting the chop-choo park. It's the boys' favorite thing ever.

This trip, they made some new friends.

Of course we rode the train. A bunch.

There was also some playground playing. Myles was catching Papa Mike.

I use the term "playing" loosely. 

Myles and Finley watched and waved to the kids on the Merry-go-round.

But then, Finley got bored. And wandered off.

To smell the flowers.

Goodbye was a disaster as none of the kids (except Finley) had napped. It's hard saying bye to good friends. Old and new.

But. We'll be back. We always find a way. So. This isn't goodbye. It's just. Until next time.

The Vacation Post Part 2: All Things Water!

One of the best parts of visiting Phoenix is the swimming (apart from seeing family and friends of course). It doesn't matter that it is October. Because, it's still over 100 degrees out. 

And even if the water is chilly, it couldn't keep those boy away. The first thing they wanted to do was get in the pool.

And, who am I to say no?

We swam first thing in the morning on day one. Well, they swam. I watched.

And. First thing in the morning the day Uncle Winston arrived. Uncle Winston doesn't even make them put on suits. He's so cool. They were just going out with Hazel for a minute, and this is what happened. So I took off their jammies and figured, when in Rome...

There was also evening swimming.

Again, they swam. As I watched. It was perfect.

Most of our swimming was impromptu, and fully clothed.

Apparently, Aaron didn't see the sign that he was in the splash zone.

Apart from swimming at my parent's, Brian's parents stayed in a super nice Scottsdale hotel. 

You can tell it's nice by the amount of saguaros and palm trees out front.

We took full advantage of that pool as well.

The kiddie area was a big sandy beach that was perfect for the independent non-swimmers.

The guys (big and little) had a great time playing ball and splashing about. Kylie and I had an equally great time soaking up some sun and letting boys be boys.

There were water toys.

And Myles of course found the shovel. "Just don't break it okay Daddy?" (There was an accident once involving Myles's shovel, he'll be happy to tell you all about it.)

Trying to get Uncle Winston

I got in for a moment. Or two. 

We had so much fun we decided to come back for round two. 

Um. A girl could get used to this. 

It was so beachy and perfect.

There were alligators

And jumping.

Lots of jumping.

See that other kid. That poor kid. The first day we were there, the boys were having a great time, as I mentioned. They were being kids, not too crazy, but having fun. Well, they were too rough for this boy. He had to go play somewhere else. So. Then. The second trip, as Kaden and Myles were jumping, this boy got upset that they were splashing him. I told my boys to stop. Which they did. After one more turn. I just felt bad for this poor boy, and I know his dad went back to the room and said, "That family with all those boys was at the pool again causing all sorts of ruckuses." We're doomed. To be that family. At least we have fun. And I would like to say to the other family, "Sorry if we ruined your trip. We didn't mean it!"

We tried to switch to a calmer activity. Floating. My boys aren't very good at floating. Or at calmer activities.