Jake had such a good time at this place. Trains trains everywhere make for a completely happy little bear. These people really get into this stuff.

Over the Christmas Holiday

A special note: since we bought a new computer I have had problems uploading pictures and video. So, I tried for like an hour to put some video up but wouldn't you know I sucked up most of the battery just on that and its on power saver. So I hope that pictures are enough for now.


Tara and Kristi gave Jake this Mickey Mouse fishing game for Christmas. Now he says "Mommy, want to play fishing with me?" He loves it but doesn't quite play by the rules. Everyone else catches the fish and he takes them for his own pile. I'm not sure if everyone knows this but Tara has taken an incredible interest in photography and took this picture of Kristi and Jake. Too bad we're not good enough to get a precious one of her with Jake.
So we started the tradition of making a gingerbread house for the holidays every year. Even Tara said "how did it turn out so well," when she found out that Mike and Jake made it. Me, I did the prep and clean up. Jake tried to eat some of the candies and actually did; not caring that they were hard as rocks.

He loves to play in the yard. Often, he will walk over to the hose and start playing and pretending. Then he says "I want to get wet mommy, I want to get wet." I usually wait for Mike to get home because it often becomes a big job. Also, there's no one he would rather play with than daddy. There are lots of videos of the same play day but, hey, that's what I have.

At 'Funtastic Playland'

I discovered another indoor playground for Jake.

The Petting Zoo

The last time dad and Kathie came for a visit they wanted to go to the San Antonio Zoo. At the time it was too cold. So months go by and Jake becomes more interested in more things. I decide to take a trial test to the zoo before they come back for their next visit. Well Jake had a blast. He loved the hippopotamuses and the monkeys. The butterfly garden too. I think he truly enjoyed everything. They have a petting zoo for kids but it only has the goats you see in the pictures. He was apprehensive at first until mommy started petting the animals. Then he became very interested in the tails and the little holes underneath. He would tickle the tails just to see them wiggle and then giggle himself.

Monkey Joe's

Now I've been taking Jake to these inflatable places for a couple of months now trying to scope out the best ones. Turns out I have to go to Georgia for the cleanest and best one yet. They even have a rest area for the parent with recliners, a giant flat screen and ports for your laptop. Needless to say the kids, all of them, had a blast and fell asleep on the way back to Blairsville.
Madison and Jake were having a wrestling match with a helpless giraffe. Then Jake proceeded to drink all of one of the other kids drinks. If you look at the video you can get a sense of the size of these slides compared to the kids.

Vacation to Georgia

Mike took these pictures of Jake and the tractor. Said "his eyes got so big when he saw that thing and he did not want to get off of it." Anything that has a steering wheel he wants to drive. He loved to walk around and look at all the different country stuff. On the way there however all he wanted was out of his car seat. He slept maybe two hours the whole way there and keep in mind we drive overnight. That was not a fun part of the vacation. But then again the driving never is.

These other pictures are from the Cabbage Patch Hospital. He kept going back to the miniature town set up with a train, a lake and a waterfall. After that he kept going back to the school lunchroom. He kept trying to eat the fake pizza from one of the Cabbage Patch kids trays. Turns out he was starving since he hadn't had much for breakfast. Anyway, the trip was fun for him and not for me. Luckily we went to lunch after this.