Circus and Dragons

Last Friday was another day off for Chris so we decided to go to the circus! We went last year and took Braydon to his first circus. He loved it, so when he saw commercials for it this year he begged to go again. This year the theme was Dragons!! It ended up costing $100 for three tickets which not even our baseball game cost that much! But in the end was worth it because he had a blast and our seats where awesome.

When we got there Braydon didn't want to go down on the floor because of the clowns. He finally got over his fear but by then the circus was getting ready to start. The ring master had a midget as a side kick and Braydon kept calling him a little boy! The stuff that boy says just makes me laugh!

The show kept his attention until they started having the acrobats come out. That seemed to bore him and he started to get antsy. The things he probably liked best where the clowns, the elephants, the motorcycles, the dragon, and the fact that he got cotton candy AND popcorn! Guess we will have to look at making this a yearly event. Next year the show is about construction!

Nationals Ball Game

Growing up in Chicago I have been to my share of Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox games. I am a die hard Cubs fan and love them even if they have a losing record. Not until last year had I ever been to another ball park outside of Chicago. Last year we went to a Baltimore Orioles game. This year we are going to the Cubs vs. Washington Nationals game, but that isn't until May. When Chris decided to take the day off of work on Thursday we looked and found awesome tickets to see the Nationals play the White Sox. It was a night game so we decided to make an afternoon out of it.

We headed down on the train and then had a late lunch/early dinner at Gordon Biersch. After lunch we went to the ball park when the gates opened, 2 1/2 hours before game time. The park is only 5 years old and is beautiful. They have a play area for kids to play on and you couldn't get Braydon off of it.

After awhile we dragged him away so that we could get to our seats. Our seats were awesome!!! We sat between first base and right field.

Braydon begged for a foam finger and I think it may have been the best $10 I ever spent! He is still playing with it. Every time he put it on he said "Go Nuts" instead of "Go Nats". Now he is finally saying it right.

When you ask Braydon who his favorite player is, he'll tell you Drew Harper. Well that person doesn't exist! He means Bryce Harper, and actually that is my favorite. Ian Desmond is his favorite because he has a mustache!

We decided to leave in the 7th inning because they were winning and we wanted to beat the rush at the train station. Well I didn't think we had that many people waiting for the train but Chris was miserable about the "crowd". Maybe for the next game we will drive since there are places to park down there.

Cherry Blossoms

 The Cherry Blossom Festival is a really big deal in Washington, D.C. Last year we had just moved to the area and were busy getting settled in our house. So this year I really wanted to go. Sunday the weather report said it would be in the 70's so I figured what a better day to go. We went with some of our friends and took the train in. The place was packed! We walked around for several hours and Braydon was such a trouper, he never complained.

The blossoms and the monument

Sitting by the reflecting pool

Never ask for him to say "cheese" this is what you get

Monsters!

Why are children afraid of monsters? Braydon has a nightly routine of things he has to do before he will attempt to go to sleep. Each night we read a book and then the checklist comes out. This checklist is something that I created because he kept repeating the same things over and over. I figured it would go quicker if we had a list so he didn't forget, sadly it didn't solve the being quicker issue. The checklist is two pages that I laminated and then we use a dry erase marker and check each one off.

Last night after our checklist was complete. Daddy decided to tell Braydon to say "don't let the monsters get me" and pointed to behind his headboard. This prompted Braydon to freak out that there were monsters behind his bed and his pillow pet was a monster. I had to change out his pillow and tell him there weren't any monsters. Hopefully tonight goes smoother and Daddy doesn't mention the monsters!!

My boy may be a genius!

Okay well maybe not, but he sure thinks he is! I don't know of many 3.5 year olds that can read a book, but Braydon has one series of books down. The Bizzy Bear series is quite quick and provides pull outs for the children to interact with. We have read these books to him and I think he now has them memorized. Now he insists that he read the books to us, and he does. Or at least he just repeats what he has heard. Either way I'm saying my boy is a genius and going to keep buying him books!