In-N-Out Burgers with Uncle Tone 08/11/11

On Thursday August 11^th, we met Tone at an In-N- Out Burger in Dallas. As luck would have it, Tone’s meetings stateside were in Grapevine, Texas only minutes away from where we had planned our vacation at Great Wolf Lodge. In-N-Out is a burger chain that is loved by all who go there. I believe it started in California and every city that gets one is lucky. They are always crowded but the take out lines are very efficient. Tony (husband) and I were not disappointed. The burgers tasted great and they were priced similarly to other fast food restaurants. Uncle Tone is a big fan of In-N-Out so it was exciting to experience it with him. He got some T-shirts and treated us to one to commemorate this event.

Lego Land (Last Day in Grapevine)

After our stay at Great Wolf Lodge we stayed in Grapevine one last night so that we could visit Lego Land on Sunday. Or as I call it “Wait in Line Land”. The boys had a good time, especially Matthew. All of the features seemed to be aimed right at his age group. There was an amusement park type ride, a mini Lego Land Dallas, 4D movies, and lots and lots of Legos to build things including a soap box derby car (Like 3X Soapbox Derby Campion Ronnie Beck—obscure Simpson’s Quote). All in all we enjoyed ourselves at Lego Land but it was nothing compared to the Waterpark. Matthew kept asking, “Are we going back to the Waterpark?”.

Varesic Family Vacation 2011 at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine Texas 08/10/11

On Wednesday August 10^th we took the boys on a 5 hour drive to Grapevine Texas to stay at the Indoor Waterpark Resort, Great Wolf Lodge. I discovered this place through advertisements on the Internet. Before booking our vacation I found out from friends on Facebook that it truly is a wonderful place for kids and families.

I am going to give the summary of our trip but do not be surprised if Detailed Daddy Tony gives more details in a later Blog.

We spent every day Wednesday-Saturday at the waterpark. There were so many great water features for 1 year olds and 3 (almost 4) year olds. The “baby pool” portion was huge and fun for Jacob and Matthew. There were several slides that Matthew could enjoy too. We spent on average 6 hours a day enjoying these features.

Jacob and Matthew loved to watch the 1000 gallon bucket drop water on patrons. Tony enjoyed going down slides right after Matthew allowing for Matthew to get splashed on the ground floor from Daddy’s big wave. The four of us spent time in the wave pool. Matthew enjoyed jumping the waves. Tony found it ironic that he liked this so much while 5 hours away when we could do this in Galveston (45 minutes away). The one frustrating aspect of the trip was that Tony and I did not get to go on some of the bigger “scary” slides as Matthew called them.

We ended each day exhausted but woke up ready to go the next morning. These photos demonstrate that.

On Wednesday night (our first night) we attended Storytime with Wiley the Wolf. There were animatronic forest creatures singing.






Jacob and I explored around the lodge while Matthew and Daddy spent extra time in the waterpark.


Matthew did a "Build a Wolf" Wiley and made a friend for Bongo.



A tired little piggy.

Mama Look!, Two Uncles! 08/07/11

On Sunday August 7^th we got a visit from Uncle Tone who is in the Navy stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Trinity and Aunt Vicky but Matthew and Jacob and their parents had a great time seeing Uncle Tone. Matthew remembered what I told him about Uncle Tone—that he flies airplanes. Matthew is intrigued by this. Now every time he sees an airplane, Matthew says, “Is that Uncle Tone in there?” We had the family over for a barbecue and Matthew was doing his “happy hop” and saying to me as he pointed to his Uncle Jude and Uncle Tone---Mama Look! Two Uncles!

Grandma watched Matthew while we prepared for our family BBQ. They played Angry Birds. Do I need to tell you that Matthew LOVED it?

Jacob was fed some hot dog by Unkie Jude. He didn't like the hotdog but he enjoyed his time with Unkie Jude.

We went to Johnson Space Center on Monday with both uncles:

Space Potty! (I think):

Matthew's first harnessed rock climb. Here he is ready to go.

He gave it a good try. He made it about as high as our outdoor playground rock climbing wall.

Bionic Baby #2—Jacob Gets Hearing Aids 8/5/11

On Friday August 5^th I took Jacob to Dr. Caroline Williams the Audiologist for Texas ENT to pick up Jacob’s Hearing Aids. We took Matthew along because he loves to visit Dr. Williams and Dr. Johnson (or Dr. Jonathon as Matthew says). Jacob has some hearing loss like his big brother but we caught it almost a year earlier than we did Matthew’s. We decided we need to get him hearing aids for this critical speech development period age 1- age 3. Jacob’s hearing aids fit fine but I can already tell that he is going to pull them out frequently until he gets used to them. Upon the time of this writing he has spent 3 weeks with the hearing aids and he has done pretty well with them. He pulls them out when he is fussy. I believe it is because he knows this will get my attention rather than that they bother him. I guess I will have to wait until he can speak before I can know this for sure.

Of course we always stop someplace fun after going to Texas ENT. This time it was Chick Fil A.

Jacob’s Signing Accident

In first week of August Jacob had a “signing accident”. He loves to watch Baby Signing Time as shown in the video of a previous blog. He loves it so much that he signs “baby” with so much vigor and enthusiasm that he bumped into the couch and fell to the floor. He started crying. Matthew saw what happened so now every time we put the Baby Signing Time DVD on Matthew says, “Don’t have another signing accident Jacob”. Already at age 3 Matthew is teasing his little brother.