Fourth Fun

Uncle Jimmy invited us to celebrate the fourth on his boat... which was docked in the Baltimore Inner Harbor this year.

Celebrating on a boat with an active 20 month old... a life jacket was a must. Grandma, Adam and I made an event out of picking one out at Target. We read through the tags, we compared pros and cons, we hemmed and hawed over the right one. We tried several on Chase... which if anyone out there has tried to convince a 20 month old to try clothes on... yeah, it ain't easy.

Finally we settled on this one. It was brightly colored... it was USCG rated... it was the perfect size... and best of all, Chase seemed very comfortable in it. He wore it all around the store.


Lovely isn't it? Hold onto that thought.

We make the drive in record time... we are actually a half hour early (before Uncle Jimmy planned on pulling off and taking us for a spin). We get Chase out of the car and start to unload the things to bring on the boat. Let's go ahead and put the vest on Chase so we don't have to do it when our hands are full.

Shuffle, search, move, shuffle... is the life vest on the backseat? Adam and I look at each other with disbelief. Our wonderful thought out life vest is sitting on our floor at home. 'No need to pack it in the bag, Chase will be wearing it' I said...

We cannot go on the boat without the vest... no way no how. We put Chase back in the car seat... much to his consternation... and head to the closest store... Walmart. On our way we call the MIL to let her know we will be a little late. She calls back minutes later.... Jimmy has a kids vest on the boat. We pull a u-turn and head back to the marina. Jimmy calls... 'yeah, no problem, bought it for a friends' kid... 50 - 90 lbs'. We pull another u-turn. Chase is not even 30 yet... if he hit the water in a vest too big, it would fly right off.

I am actually glad we have turned around so much at this point because it is IMPOSSIBLE to be mad anymore... the situation is so damn funny I can't help but laugh (and maybe swear a little).

We fly into Walmart... which why is that when you are in the biggest hurry, the slowest people are in front of you? Hello Murphy.

Quick glance in the pool sections reveals no life vests.... onto sporting goods.

Now, I must take the opportunity to tell you that I NEVER ask store workers where things are... especially at Walmart. I can almost bet that I know where everything in the store is better than the gum smacking person pretending to stock shelves.

I broke my rule and asked. She looked at me with a blank stare. 'you know, life vests for boating?'. 'kiddie pools' and a quick point to where we just came from. 'yeah, I didn't see any there, I just thought you might have them in sporting goods... (continued blank stare from said gum smacker)... yeah, never mind, I will look myself'.

Not one aisle over is there a plethora of life vests... all different sizes and styles. I throw a yell over to miss helpful 'they are right here'. I doubt she heard but I stand firm in my conviction that I know Walmart better than the employees.

We quickly shift through some life vests... try a couple on and settle on the one you will see in the absurd amount of pictures yet to come.

As we are leaving the store we realize Chase has already leaked through his diaper and onto his shorts... seriously laughing at this point.

After paying and changing we jump back in the car, fly (I am driving now ;~) over to the marina... hightail it to the dock and gladly jump on board to relax.


I can't even believe this is just a year. He looks just the same but completely different. (Nice life vest, right?)

Being back in Baltimore was pretty exciting for me. I kept pointing out my old memories... everywhere I turned there was something else to remember.

The best memory was this...

Just over 5 years ago Adam and I were married on the patch of grass on Pier 5 and celebrated our nuptials with a party at Pier 5 Hotel. It was a great day...


Just call him Captain Pacifier.


Epic Baltimore Baby.


We motored over to the Bay Cafe to have lunch... which I learned from my mom, if you don't have anything nice to say post it on your blog don't say anything at all. So armed with that advice, I will say this. We spent too much on crap food. If you are in town... save your money and go elsewhere. This concludes my public service announcement.

It was evident to Adam and I at lunch that Chase needed some sleep. He had napped for about 30 minutes on the way down but he was definitely getting crabby.

After some cuddling and convincing, this finally happened.

My beautiful little boy's eyelids finally got too heavy for him and he fell asleep on my chest... where he stayed for 45 minutes. That was actually way more than I thought he would get considering all the excitement of the day so I was pleased. It seemed like just enough to last him the rest of the night!

After his nap we basically ended up with a giant playpen for Chase... people were sitting at all the various points where Chase could potentially escape so he was forced to play on the aft of the boat.


Playing with his new Elmo ipod... and yes Chase says ipod... although it sounds more like 'ipahd'. This thing is awesome... you can click the wheel to scroll through songs or just hit shuffle to get a random selection. Chase would hold it and dance around on the deck.


Love these boys!


I made sure to have 'pwrt-sewels' for Chase as those have no become an obsession for him.

Since we still had 2.5 hours left before the fireworks, we decided to take Chase for a walk. Interesting idea since he hates to hold just one parents hand... he either wants both of our hands so he can then 1. drag his feet behind him or 2. pull his knees to his chest OR he wants neither of our hands so he can go tearing off in any direction he pleases.

So it's either hurt arm muscles for mom and dad or chase the toddler... fun.

We remedied the situation with this

It worked for a while.

Paula and Johnny got some glow sticks for Chase when they were out walking... which Chase thoroughly enjoyed when the sunset...

Just some streaks of fun!

We were all interested to see how Chase would react to the fireworks. He didn't seem to care last year but he is so much more aware now...

Interestingly enough, he didn't like the fireworks when we stepped off the boat. He would get a very scared look in his eyes and start pointing back at the boat saying 'boat, boat'. Once I took him back on... he calmed right down and stared wide eyed at the display. I think a combination of tiredness and awe made him speechless and motionless.


Once the disappointing fireworks were over, Chase was all cuddles. It was about 10 at this point and he was definitely tired.

Seriously, could not love them more.

We snuggled into our pj's (not before I was peed on... through the diaper... the kid drank gallons of water!), reclined our car seat, cuddled Elmo and made sure to have a pacifier or 2.

Chase fell asleep on the way home... slept for about 45 minutes... woke up when we got home. He let me change his diaper, we sang a few songs and then into bed he went. We didn't hear from him until 8:30 the next morning when we woke him up!

I was so proud of how he handled the day and the weird sleeping. He was really fantastic the whole day... even when he was crabby at lunch, he was still extremely manageable. Seriously so proud!

We woke him up this morning (as not to throw the rest of the day off) and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

Adam took this shot which I just think is hysterical...

I am Chase and I have come to destroy you...

Anyway, it was a great lazy day. We came home and took Riley for a walk and played with some toys. Chase took an over 3 hour nap... in which time daddy slept and I rested! After dinner Chase went right down for bed... I think he is still making up for yesterday!

Good good family times! I hope everyone had a great and relaxing fourth!