Marbles

Today Jodie, Jamie, Kristiina, Heather and I all took the kids to Marbles, the children’s museum in downtown Raleigh. I had never been there before so I didn’t know what to expect. I have to say, for five bucks, there was a ton to do! Plus, the kids loved it and were so tired they took fabulous naps afterwards.

There was a whole gated section that was geared towards their age group and younger. It had all different kinds of stations like a boat were you could go catch and release fishing; a grocery store; a UPS store; a fire truck with uniforms and a house that was on fire; an ambulance with uniforms and a light/siren; a garden and farmhouse…plus so much more!

Brayden’s favorite part of this section was the train table…of course! There was a whole mural on the wall with a big train and he couldn’t stop smiling and saying “choo-choo!” So cute!

Next up was the water station. What kid doesn’t love the water table? They even had tiny aprons for them to wear so we didn’t have to worry about them getting soaked. Even though Bobby thought it was hilarious to spray Easton in the face with the hose. She didn’t even flinch!

After the water table we headed to the enormous indoor Pirate Ship. The kids climbed all over it and were able to dress up, walk the plank, steer the ship and swab the deck. There was also a sand pit outside, but the weather was too warm to let them get there little hands in it.

Next we headed up stairs to the older section, but there were still tons for them to do. There were life sized Legos and a race car building station that had Brayden totally amazed. I built him a car and we raced over and over again.

After a couple hours of fun, we loaded them up with snacks and headed home.

- Sue -
* Brady and Brayden playing chess. They are SO good! HA!
* Anything he can drive makes him happy
* Brayden was in HEAVEN at this train table area!

* Easton and Brayden playing garden and grocery
* Brayden and Brady driving the boat...they were so serious.
* Water table fun!
* "Yo Ho Ho!"
* Having a great time!

* Giant Lego time
* The cars were so exciting to him. It was one "wow" after another.

Once we were home and he had taken his nap he was ready for some more “choo-choo” fun! This boy played with his trains for over and hour that afternoon!!!!

Little Gym

Since Brayden was 3 months old he has been going to the Little Gym. As you can probably guess he LOVES it! Thanks to Nana and Papa Dunbar he has been able to keep going and has had the opportunity to run, jump and tumble every Tuesday morning.

This semester is going to be ending in a couple of weeks and they will have the “Graduation” ceremony where all the little ones receive their medals. It is SO cute I can hardly stand it. They have them stand up on a podium to receive their medals and they always look so proud. This will be his second medal and Brett and I are very proud! HA!

We are taking a break for the summer since we will be traveling so much and then we plan on starting up again for the fall semester.

At today’s class I finally took the camera to get some pictures of him in action. I have to apologize for how bad these pictures are, but the dang kid wouldn’t hold still! So they are blurry, but you can see how much fun he has and all the activities we do there.

Enjoy!

- Sue -

* The blurry hands mean he was REALLY having a good time, plus he was growling!


P.S. Doesn't he look so much older in the first picture?!?

Memorial Day Weekend

Off to Ann Arbor, MI for Memorial Day weekend!

It was such a treat for the whole Dunbar clan to be together in one room again. The last time that had happened it was 3 years ago our wedding. Now, three years later we are in different cities and there are two new additions! It was such a great time!

Brayden and Ben seemed to get along right from the get-go. Brayden just stared at him (those who know Brayden know what I am talking about…the Brayden stare!) and flowed him around. Brayden would try to copy everything Ben was doing.

Ben is much more energetic than Brayden so he kept Brayden pretty busy. They played with all the toys that my mom had set up for them. When I say all the toys, I mean all the toys in the whole world! He downstairs was turned into this awesome playroom with every kind of toy you can imagine! The kids were in heaven and we were worried they wouldn’t want to go outside and play at all! It was so fun and they had such a great time taking all the toys in and out of the closet.

Besides playing with all the toys, they jumped on the beds together and had a dace party together after their bath! They were so cute and we didn’t have any fighting. I think this is a great eye into the future and I hope they will remain close over their lifetime!

Other than watching the kids play, we did what you usually don on vacations, relax and eat and drink way too much! We toured Ann Arbor and went to all the local hot spots. Other than that it was just lying around the house and watching the little boys play.

I was sad to leave and glad that I had a chance to be with my whole family again. Brayden and I have plans to go back to MI in a couple of weeks and we also have plans to spend the fourth of July up in Washington D.C. with my sister and her family! It is SO great having everyone within reach for once!

Hope your holiday weekend was as great as ours!

- Sue -

* Brayden and Ben meeting for the first time!

* Getting to know each other
* Taking a nature walk with Mommy and Daddy

* Bath time for the kiddos!
* Brunch at Zingerman's

* I have never seen him eat so much in my life!
* Taking a break at the lake
* Playing at the playground by the lake
* Helping Nana with dinner
* They got along so well!

P.S. When I said I have never seen him eat so much in my whole life I really meant it. Here is what he ate at brunch:
2 eggs scrambled
3 pieces of toast with butter and jam (adult pieces)
1/2 a doughnut
1 1/2 buttermilk biscuits with syrup and butter
and

8 ounces of milk

I KNOW!

Jumping Beans

Today Jodie, Kristiina and I took the kids to Jumping Beans at the Factory in Wake Forest.

Jumping Beans is a place that has inflatable bounce houses that the kids can go crazy in. This was my idea, even though I know how much Brayden fears these bounce houses! I figure I would just keep exposing him to uncomfortable situations every now and then to show him that he doesn’t have to be afraid.

WELL…let’s just say Brayden won’t be going near any bounce house for a while!

Kristiina and I scare the #@*! out of him and I don’t blame him for not wanting to go back. (Not on purpose of course!)

We arrive bright and early and the kids are ready and eager to play. All of us go in to bounce along with them. I am holding Brayden and showing him that it is fun and not scary. Well, he totally liked it and was crawling off on his own. I was so excited that he was having fun! He tried to climb up the slide part going the wrong way so Kristiina and I went to help him and Bobby up to the top…well it was all down hill from there!

The stupid ladder to the slide was so steep and slippery with our socks on that we had to practically throw the kids up there. Kristiina went first and I chucked her Bobby. I then picked up Brayden and started to pass him to her but I slipped and fell of the ladder, leaving Brayden dangling by his arm. There was no way they could get hurt and it wasn’t even that high, but it was sure scary for him. Kristiina and I are in tears from laughter. She has Bobby by the leg and Brayden by the arm and I am trying to get up but the bounce house was too damn bouncy!

Long story short, I told her to drop Brayden and he was so scared that we had to spend the rest of the time out side of the bounce house. Poor thing. He would shake even if we went near the entrance. I have for sure scared him for life this time!

- Sue -

* Brayden playing in the car while we wait to get in

* He was so happy before the "incident"!

* Snack time! Bouncy makes them hungry!
* This face sums up the whole day
* Calling Daddy for help!
* He played with the furniture while everyone else bounced
* Didn't even make it out of the parking lot before he passed out! Being scared is exhausting!

Brayden's First Hair Cut

Yes, I caved and decided to get Brayden’s haircut today. (Insert big sigh here!)

Brett returned from his business trip today and we decided to go and it get it cut together. He has been bugging me to get it trimmed, as have all my friends here! I never wanted to until today at Little Gym his hair was all messy and I caught a glimpse of him and he look like a crazy person! So…I caved and went.

Well, as you can see by the pictures, one word can sum up his first haircut experience…TRAUMATIC. Big surprise, Brayden freaked out about getting his haircut.

I went to a place called Snip-It’s in Raleigh that a couple of friends have taken their kids to for their first cuts. They all raved about how distracted they were by the place and how smooth it went. I thought for sure he would not notice once we gave him the lollipop all the other kiddos got.

NO.

We walked in and he thought it was cool, but once we went to put him in the chair he flipped out. Those of you who know Brayden, this is no surprise, but for some reason I thought it would have gone better. Especially if there was candy involved. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with the lollipop, the chair, or the lady cutting his hair. He kept shaking his head “no” whenever we asked him to do something and it was “ah doh, ah doh” the whole time. (Brayden for all done.)

It was pretty bad, but she was able to trim the back and the side of his hair. Afterwards he was fine, but Brett and I thought he looked weird and wished we hadn’t gone through with it. Looks like he won’t be getting a haircut again for while!

He was all smiles when we went out to dinner at the fancy…Red Robin. He loved the person dressed up as Red Robin and was going crazy over the burgers and balloons! Not a bad end to a traumatic experience. I just hope we didn’t scar him for life!!!

- Sue -

* Clinging to Brett's leg as we try to get him in the chair
* His hair before the haircut
* The poor girl was going as fast as she could
* This sad little face sums up the whole experience! Such big tears!!
* Nothing like meeting Red Robin to cheer you up!

Mall Trip

I love that the simplest things can be so amazing to Brayden.

I had no plans today and needed to think of something to get us out of the house for a couple of hours. So when I get desperate I head to the mall.

We do 3 things when we go to the mall to kill time. 1 – hit up the Thomas the Train table at Barnes and Noble; 2 – run around in the open spaces inside the mall; and 3 – watch the water feature outside the food court. Thrilling as it sounds, it is pretty fun to watch him.

The weather was nice today so I let him out of his stroller to run through the water feature. He LOVED it! He couldn’t figure out when it would pop up next and was so amazed when it disappeared. The cutest was when he sat down and just watched it for a while. Every now and then all you heard was, “WOW!” in his little Brayden voice.

- Sue -