The gift... that keeps on giving!: The remains of July...

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The remains of July...

Kieran has spent the last few days of July nude from the waist down (unless we leave the house;) playing indoors mostly because of this terrible heat! Lots of running around, tormenting the dogs, pushing trains, smooshing play-dough and generally being wild! We managed to get one last "vacation" in before August rolls around... against Rick's better judgment we went to Onondaga State Park to enjoy a little of the out of doors and sleep in a cabin- whoo-hoo!
On our way to the resort we stopped at the Onondaga cave and nature center- got a little of the great outdoors but still stayed cool ;) The cave tour was over an hour long with lots of hiking on slippery paths deep within the earth while stopping every now and again to listen to the guide. Kieran did okay but didn't have much patience for the tour guide's information so that was a bit embarrassing- lots of yelling "GO!" and animals sounds "RIB-BIT!!", but he got better the further we went. The cave was pretty cool (literally and figuratively) and I think despite some of the fussing, Kieran liked it too- he asked to go back today ;)
After the cave we checked into our little cabin which Kieran loved! He ran around from room to room (there were two including a bathroom ;) "cleaning" and checking out his new digs. He was really excited about the the bunk beds and jumped around there for a while too. After we settled in and played as long as we could stand at the park's playground, we headed into "town" for dinner. Onondaga is located in Leasberg, MO a tiny little town with one very greasy, very smoky local diner. The good thing was that the clientele was just as loud and obnoxious as Kieran- so we fit in fine ;) Mommy enjoyed a beer and daddy and Kieran split a couple cokes- BIG mistake! Even though we cut Kieran's pop with water, he still had waaaay too much sugar and caffeine and we paid for it at bedtime! We all liked our greasy pub food fine- Kieran packed away most of a huge burger and some mac n' cheese before we finally started back to the cabin.
We all showered (smelled like an ash-tray after dinner!) and settled in for a little Finding Nemo (we brought the lap top). Eventually we decided it was time for Kieran to head off to dream land- it was nearly nine by then. So I went outside while Rick tried to get the little one down- no luck. I tried my hand for a while but it was clear he was wound for sound- bouncing around, giggling and getting out of bed! We tried to watch a little more TV but he couldn't even be still for that! Eventually we went with the tried and true... "cry-it-out-good-cop-bad-cop" Rick holds him down so he can't run around and then Kieran cries and eventually, when mom can't take it any more I soothe him until he passes out from exhaustion ;) It works but it isn't pretty. Needless to say, Kieran was up LATE last night- past 10:30 for sure! He did however, sleep in a little till after 8 this morning.
After we cleaned up and ate a little we packed the car and headed down to the river- the main attraction for the park. We decided against a float this year and opted instead to hang out on the gravel bars and play in the water. Kieran liked the rocks a lot and warmed up to the water- we played there for nearly two hours before Kieran had had enough- unfortunately we didn't bring the camera down to the water so we missed out on those photo ops. After we showered and cleaned up we headed back home. We stopped in Cuba for some lunch at Pizza Hut and then were on the road again. We made it back home by 2 and as always it's good to be in our own house.
Kieran did great with his potty training and even managed to "hold it" a couple of times- like when we were stuck in the cave tour without a potty or on the road- he has turned in to such a big boy!