Let the good times roll: Cael's spring and early summer adventures

Cael, being the lover of music that he is, would definitely enjoy a running theme song to his daily activities.  "Let the Good Times Roll" seems fitting based on the fun that Cael has had over the past few months (even though "We're Not Gonna Take It" might be a little more true to his 2 year old disposition at times).

He got to ride on Thomas the Train at the Grapevine Railroad and enjoyed sporting his first tattoo:

He had fun at birthday parties learning new skills (we're still working on that skee ball form) ...

... and making new friends.

Cael also got to attend his first "big" baseball game.  I need to qualify the type of baseball game because our guy was also quite a fan of the Rough Riders this past spring.  That team falls somewhere in the spectrum of minor league teams and Cael loved rooting for one of their star players ... Grayson!

Anyways, we headed out to Texas Stadium for a beautiful evening at the ballpark.  Cael really enjoyed the game ... there was a lot of dancing and clapping throughout the game.

He also enjoyed a variety of ballpark food ... no surprise that the whole hot dog disappeared!

But the highlight of the evening that he still talks about (in addition to his "game shirt" that he loves) was his introduction to fireworks that night.  We couldn't tell if he really enjoyed the fireworks display or if he was so out of it at 10:30pm that he just couldn't do anything else but sit and stare at them.  Either way he left that game loving fireworks.

As the weather finally started to warm up we got into the swim of things in the backyard.

We welcomed a sweet addition to our family on the first day of summer!  Cael was so excited to meet Grayson's baby brother, Devin Ryan.

The following week we met up with Zac's fraternity brother and his family at the Great Wolf Lodge for a night.  We used to love hanging out with Jonathan, Crystal and their sweet son Alex when we lived in Houston so we were thrilled that they had time to visit with us while they were in the DFW area.  They've added 2 more wonderful sons to their family and Cael had so much fun with his new friends.

I didn't know what we would encounter during the indoor waterpark experience but we all had an awesome time.  Cael LOVED the jet skis in the little kids' pool.

He spent hours splashing in all of the fountains around the pools.

The good times continued after the swimming was done.  He enjoyed story time with his new buddies (and was not scared of the giant, furry animals).

He had a blast in the arcade.

All of the excitement and the very late night resulted in some serious exhaustion for all of us (and Cael gladly took over Scrappy's role of trying to shove me off the bed at the hotel that night).

Not every weekend can include fun on the level of Great Wolf Lodge but we did have fun celebrating the 4th of July this past week.  I don't think there's a parade in the DFW area to match the parades I grew up enjoying in Mt. Propsect, IL but we did find one that was just perfect for Cael.

The fire engines  and ambulances were definitely the highlights for our little guy.

We also made it out to fireworks that evening and although Cael was glued to me at first, he eventually wanted to sit in his own chair and was totally into to the spectacular display.

It was a fun day and we enjoyed celebrating our nation's birthday with Cael.  We are blessed to have the freedoms that come with living in the U.S.A. and are thankful for those that have given the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of this amazing country.