Shane's World: Water, water, water!

I am starting to feel like all Shane does is go in the water. He really loves it so I am happy to oblige, but I am tired of blogging about the water and I think I am going to invest in more than 2 swim suits for next year. I am sick of the two adorable suits that he has. Anyway, let me begin with what else but a trip to Splash Station Water Park in Joliet. My friend Cathy and her son Alex raved about it and Shane and I were able to get in after 3 for $6.50. That actually made it cheaper than a visit to the Plainfield park district pool which charges $4.00 for everyone including Shane & does not open until 1. At Splash Station, Shane is free until he is 3, so we headed out there on Wednesday afternoon. The park is great. For Shane, they had a huge zero depth pool, a sand play area, and a lazy river that I can float with him in. They also have HUGE water slides and play areas for older kids. Cathy and Alex were there so Shane was able to hang out with Alex. I do not have many pictures, because Shane was trying to put his head under water constantly so watching him was a full time job. Cathy took one of Shane and I in the sand area where Shane refused to play. He does not like sand. Who knew? He just hung out in my lap while Alex played.

Alex, on the other hand, has little interest in the water and we coaxed him in. While Cathy helped Alex adjust, Shane tried to throw his whole body in the water like some of the bigger kids he observed - NOT COOL, SHANE! When we were getting ready to go, Cathy kept a watch on the boys and I took a few quick pictures.

On Thursday we headed over to John and Geri's for swimming and so I could finally get Joey his graduation present. The plan was a little swimming, some dinner, and a ride out to watch Liam play T-Ball. We had a great time and Shane played in the water with all of his cousins.

I love this picture of Joey and Jack - how handsome!

The boys created a baseball game and Liam played the outfield!

After some pizza we headed to Liam's T-Ball game and it was so much fun! Everyone gets a hit, no one is tagged out, and the game ends in a tie! This was the last game of the season, so everyone got a home run in the last inning - too funny! Liam, who is a baseball expert thanks to his uncles, kept trying to tag out the runners - it was hysterical!!!! Here are some pictures of Liam in play - he is number 9!

Shane watched his cousin play and ran around a bit - he was so tired from the day of swimming that he was ready for bed halfway through the big game! Once Aunt Geri started to chase him, he cheered up fast!

On Saturday we took pictures with our parents. It was VERY Stressful! For Mother's day we gave each grandparent a chance to come and take pictures with Shane. His mood for all of the pictures was less than ideal, but we did eventually get them! I will post some in my next blog entry. After 2 hours at the Walmart picture studio, we grabbed some lunch with my parents (Dan's parents headed to a graduation party) and got Shane home for a much needed nap. I woke him from his nap at 5:15 PM so we could head out to Plainfield's Summerfest. Shane had so much fun at the spring fest that we could not wait to get him there again. Plus, the fest gives me a non-water event to write about! The evening started a bit rocky when Shane would not eat any dinner. He had a good lunch so I decided to let my desire for a healthy or even somewhat healthy meal go. I bought him a chocolate chip cookie and his mood changed tremendously. Then Dan bought a Hawaiian shaved ice and Shane got very happy - he loves the stuff! He managed to get a lot of it on his white shirt, but his shift in mood made that worthwhile! We checked out the rides and were disappointed that they did not have any that Shane could ride alone and only the carousel that we could ride together. They did have the same inflatables as last time and it was amazing to see how much more Shane could do since the spring. In the spring he crawled in there but did not have the balance skills to walk. This time, he was all over the place! He had so much fun that Dan had to keep buying more tickets so he could go again & again & again! Check out the pictures and video!

The carousel ride was somewhat less successful. Shane was not thrilled with sitting on the big horse, but did better when the ride actually started. It may have been a combination of it being 8 PM (an hour past his bedtime), being tired from the bouncy (when we finally got him out he was very sweaty), and just general toddler fussiness. Here are some pictures anyway. Can you tell how hard I am trying to get him to have fun?