Here are some photos from the excursion with Trey pretending to be a Ninja Turtle. And as you can see, Trey hung the moon.

The original clip of him brushing his teeth was found in this video from September 2009.

Here’s a photo of Trey at their Christmas Eve candlelight service on December 24, 2012.

The gist of the story was inspired by O.Henry’s fantastic short story “The Gift of the Magi.” However, our spin on it kept the situational irony and dropped the sad twist.

And here’s the 2011 one:

And here’s the 2010 one:

And here’s the 2009 one:

And the 2008 one…

On our vacation last month we surprised Trey with a visit to Legoland Florida on Thanksgiving Day. We had a coupon that would get Trey free with the purchase of an adult ticket and we figured the holiday would be less crowded. Not only was the park not very busy, but we had the good fortune of being given another free adult pass by a stranger. So all in all, we paid about $100 for parking and the three of us to enjoy the park.

I’ve got a zillion photos of the park itself but I figured I’d focus on ones of us enjoying the park. We hit all the big rollercoasters and most of the smaller rides and activity centers. Trey’s favorite was the laser tag style game/ride in the “Kingdoms” part of the park. It was very similar to the one found at the Legoland Discovery Center in Atlanta.

Our favorite section of the park was Miniland – specifically the Star Wars Miniland. You can see my many photos of Star Wars Miniland on Flickr.

When you hear the term “fort” you picture much grander things than what Matanzas has to offer. The place is really just a small 50×50 foot coquina outpost with two 30×10 foot rooms (baracks and office). The fort’s five canons were only ever fired once (at the British before the fort was even completed) and it was used for almost 80 more years without seeing any more action. Almost a century later the federal government began restoring the fort.

Today you can watch a short documentary at the visitor center and peruse its tiny (I mean TINY) gift shop as you wait for the NPS ferry to cross the inter-coastal waters to the island where the fort stands.

Trey enjoyed the boat ride and after a short talk by the ranger at the fort we got to explore and climb to the roof of the tower. Heidi was given the honor of taking down the flag (a 1740s era Spanish Empire Cross of Burgundy flag) since we were the last tour of the day.

We spent four days on the island and were unfortunately hit by a stomach bug that knock us out for about two of those days. We still managed to get some time in on the beach. Being winter, we avoided swimming and spent most of our beach time building sand castles and playing games. Trey became quite infatuated with racing Heidi across the sand.

He wrote this in the 50 year old box:

“Mi as a palesman”
“Hay”
“Did you git the robr?”
“Yes, I did git the robrs but I … [???]“

In the end he settled on Luke Skywalker which was great because it was an outfit we could put together ourselves. We spent a total of $5 at Goodwill to get the lightsaber, the shirt, and the belt. Heidi did a little sewing magic on the shirt, I lent him ace bandages from my knee surgery, and tada! A young Jedi is born!

Here is my booth followed by some snapshots of the fair.

Trey and I swung by during its grand opening to try it out. We’ve got to say – we liked it better than La’ Berry! It probably doesn’t hurt that they feature a Nutella flavor!

The last photo is of me on my first day of school in 1986. I was living in Bouaké, Ivory Coast and headed off to first grade at ICA.

My parents and my brother Philip came into town for the weekend and got to spend some quality time with Trey. I was still hobbling around on crutches but Heidi was able to run the show.

We went with a Star Wars theme since that is what Trey has been really into lately. That night he got to watch Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time and it really made the day special.

Trey flew up to Virginia on his own again and he loved every second of it. He’s quite an independent little boy so he likes the privilege of flying on his own.

Next week he turns six and starts first grade so there are some big changes coming soon!

Trey had done pretty well the week before as I hobbled around on my new pair of crutches so we thought he deserved a special treat. We drove up to Atlanta and let him spend a whopping six hours running around the joint.

The highlight of the venue is the “4D” theater that rotates through three different films every 15 minutes. We watched all three and saw Trey’s favorite “Spell Breaker” two and a half times (1/2 due to a glitch in the projectors causing them to restart it).

Trey also attended a “Master Builder” workshop in which he got to build a space pod and then do a “show and tell” with the other kids. He really enjoyed doing that and got so excited showing off his creation that he smashed the teacher in the face. Thankfully, the guy laughed it off.

As for my impressions of the place, it’s a great spot for spending a long afternoon. The tickets are a bit pricey so next time only one of us will go with him. Plus, being so far away (87 miles each way), it isn’t something we’ll be doing often. We’ll probably plan our next visit around a time when we are up in Atlanta for something else.

So… Trey is in charge for a while. At least until these first few days of pain and agony are over.

Seeing as how this summer has been blazing hot, it was perfect that Cherokee County had just opened a “splash pad” in the a nearby town of Waleska. We took the boys up there to play for a couple hours  and cool off.

Trey was (of course) fascinated with the one fountain that had an engineering component to it. Rotate the pole with three buckets and align them under the water streams to cause them to flip and dump a couple gallons of water on you (or some other unsuspecting person nearby).

On the last night the kids had a musical program they put on for the parents. Trey hadn’t participate in the afternoon music camps but his age group was still allowed to join them on stage for the last few songs. Trey didn’t sing much – he just stands up there and grins.

Every swim lessons ends with a chance to jump of the diving board (sometimes twice!). It is definitely the highlight of the day for most of the kids (and the most dreaded part for others).

Trey isn’t much for making crafts & activities but one thing he does love to do is catch frogs and lizards. One of the volunteers at camp shared these photos with me of him and a lizard he caught and named “Fred.”

Next week is our church’s VBS and he can’t wait to go!

This time we explored a bit more and ended up completely crossing the river and then walking back along top of the dam. Trey thought it was cool that we let him swim some on the other side of the dam.

So here’s my unused mug shot below. I’ll let you decide which one is better.

While I’m on the topic, here are a couple things to know about getting/renewing a minor’s (under 16) a passport.

• Until they are 16, it expires every 5 years
• You can’t mail in the application/renewal. You have to go to a designated post office or court house with a passport office.
• Both parents have to be present with photo IDs (that was a pain for us with Heidi’s schedule and their odd hours)
• You have to show the kid’s original Social Security card and Birth Certificate (certified copy)
• They take the birth certificate and mail it off with the application (another pain since I was headed to register him for school next and needed it for that)
• You can save $15 and take your own photo (and make it a good one!). Just follow these guidelines for composition and printing.

His preschool 5K class had a program for all the parents on the second to last day of school. They showed a slideshow with photos of all the kids and then they did a short musical about camping. Trey was very excited about a couple of the songs (in particular one about disgusting camp food). For most of the program he sang directly to me and Heidi and didn’t even look at the teacher conducting. Another funny thing he would do is not sing the main lyrics but instead sing the backup vocals on the CD that accompanied them.

My parents were in Tennessee for the week and made the trip down with Philip for the day to attend the graduation ceremony. Trey was excited to get to build Legos with this grandaddy and we ended the day with a delicious meal at Pho Saigon, Macon’s best ethnic restaurant.

We’d been hiking in the mountains and on this day it there was a steady drizzle so it was perfect to go indoors. Having rented our great cabin from CabinsUSA, we got a “welcome packet” that had a great coupon to save us several bucks off the Wonderworks price of admission.

Trey was running non-stop from one activity station to the next. Some of our favorites were the Ropes Challenge Course and the Bubble Room. We also played laser tag, but as expected, the time allotted wasn’t enough. I also think Trey was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t actually “see” lasers shooting from the guns like they do in cartoons.

Next time we’re in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg on a rainy day, I’m definitely heading back to Wonderworks with Trey!

Our little boy enjoyed talking to the airmen and exploring the various planes. Then we settled into a spot to hear the roar of the Blue Angels and see them fly in their incredibly tight formations.

Before leaving we went into one of the large hangers to cool off. We perused the various booths there and Trey did some pull ups to earn a dog tag from the Go Army folks. Then we stood in the hot sun amidst and very unruly mob of sweating guests waiting for the bus to shuttle us back to where we had parked our car. It was nice to get back in our vehicle, crank up the A/C, and enjoy the chilled drinks we had waiting for us there.

Occasionally I’ll find odd little videos like this on my phone. I have no idea what the context is. He filmed this at the Museum of Arts & Science while I was hanging photographs for an art exhibit.

It’s like the setup to a murder in a Blair Witch style horror film.

This month they returned and despite the blazing sun and an unusually warm weather, the kids had a great time. The first half of the trip was spent on getting a tour of the ranch and stopping at various “stations” for little educational talks. The kids learned about planting seeds, the ecological value of worms, how to milk a cow, and various animals tracks & scat. Of course, the scat was a HUGE hit with all the 5-year-olds.

After lunch it was playtime and the kids rolled in a “corn house” (like a ball pit but full of corn kernels), bounced on a massive pillow sort of trampoline, and explored “tiny town.” At the end of the day I joined the kids on the bouncing pillow and got a serious workout (as well as giant blisters on my feet).

Here are the kids in the “corn pit”:

Here is Trey and one of his best friends swimming in the corn:

I haven’t seen Trey have so much fun in a long, long time. Wow. In fact, afterwards he spent the rest of the afternoon making his own clues to put in eggs so that we could go on hunts of our own.

Nice work, Heidi!

Here is our 2012 Easter Sunday photo. Heidi is wearing my late grandmother’s hat. Trey was wearing my old cowboy boots and had my dad wore as a kid. I’m wearing my dad’s beard from the 80s.

Trey invited his good friend Suri and her sister to the event. They had a great time too. I was proud of Trey when he won the raffle and got a VeggieTales DVD. He already had the movies on it so he gave it to Suri.

Here are some of my latest Instagram photos of Trey running around being awesome.

Check out my latest Instagram images…

This past week I was perusing the Toys listings and saw “Aquaraiders $75″ listed. Just that day, Trey had mentioned to me that there was another Lego underwater series (the current one is “Atlantis”) that was called Aqua Raiders. I checked the ad out and thought they were selling one set for that price. Then I realized they were selling the entire collection for that price! Too good to be true, right?

Nope, I called the number and it was a nice lady whose college-aged son was getting rid of his old toys. He had the entire collection in near mint condition and only wanted $75! Trey and I jumped in the car and went and got it right away. I looked online and the rare collection goes for almost $800! Holy moly! JACKPOT!

Trey has had a blast on his spring break working on assembling it all.

After about an hour of wandering around the park, we got back in the car and headed home so that Trey could see his mommy. He was dying to tell her all about the LEGOs he played with in Richmond.