Play Time

Last weekend John and I took a little road trip to Phoenix to visit the Lee Family. I like to say that it only takes 6 hours to get there but when you leave after work on a Friday that 6 can creep closer to 8. Needless to say 8 hours in the car after a long day of work makes a 1 AM arrival a little tense but John and I both arrived and no one was left at a gas station. We were straight to sleep after our arrival and I knew that Sat. and Sun. would be very busy. Luckily it wasn’t as hot in Phoenix at night as it was when we were there in May so I didn’t wonder around wanting to kill myself all night from the heat. I was so excited to see Braxton and Bralon that I woke up at 6:30 on Sat., if you are good at math you will know that this means I did not get a lot of sleep. Braxton was watching cartoons when I came in the living room and surprisingly he didn’t run from me or play hard to get. He actually seemed to know me and appreciate the company. Kristy had to go to a work conference all day Sat. and Brian had to run to work for a couple of hours so I was left in charge. John chose to sleep a little later than me but after an hour of entertaining both kids on my own we decided to wake up Uncle John. 45 minutes later he arrived to help.
Braxton taught me a lot of things while I was at his house. How to assist him when going to the bathroom, how to turn on the lights in his room, how to play with various toys, and several other interesting imaginary things. When you are alone with a 3 year old and their parents aren’t around you should probably question their authority a little more but I just followed instructions. I managed to keep him in his clothes for a couple hours that morning but then gave up. Pants are optional to a 3 year-old. He had one accident while we were there, luckily it was in the garage. I handled the situation calmly by just putting on new underwear and that was it. You might ask “shouldn’t you wash him off” “shouldn’t you put new pants on” and the answer is no, you don’t do anything that will make the child scream because you want to be the fun Aunt.
Brian came back around lunch time so John and I slipped out during nap time to go get lunch at Chompie’s. John had seen their food challenge on the food network and needed to check this place out in person. He realized the challenge, only completed by 1 person, wasn’t going to happen but we still managed to eat a ton of food and then get dessert from their bakery. I was ready to vomit by the end. Our dessert was a 7 layer slice of cake boxed on all sides by pieces of hard choc. I actually fell asleep on the car ride back to the house, it could have been the food or lack of sleep. When we arrived back at the house everyone was ready to play. I spent a lot of time in the play house which we pretended was a car. The hardest part was getting in and out of the little door to the house and it seemed every game involved needing to get in and out over and over again. Braxton is like a dog that never gets tired of you throwing the ball. You can do something once and then you will repeat that same game ten million times and he enjoys it just as much each time. Shooting John while he runs around the house to scare us just couldn’t be done enough times. He would also say funny things while were pretending to be in the car like “I’m a baby and I’m crying” you can tell he has been in the car with Bralon a lot lately. He would instruct me to give him a pretend pacifier so he would stop crying. He also doesn’t get tired of reading the same book several times in a row.
Kristy and Brian decided to go out that night since they had free babysitting and this meant I was in charge of bed time. Braxton and I made cookies before bed time and then I successfully got both kids to bed with no major issues. I don’t know what Kristy keeps complaining about, just kidding. John and I tried to watch a movie once the kids were asleep but about 10 min. in to it we were also asleep.
The next day Kristy had to work, needless to say we didn’t see much of Kristy during this visit. So basically Sunday was a repeat of the same fun and games from Sat. John and I enjoyed a nice brunch of steak and eggs prepared by Brian and then we hit the road around 12. It was a great weekend of seeing Braxton and Bralon. Braxton reacted great when opening birthday gifts. Even if he didn’t know what they were he would say wow and seem really happy so I liked that. He also love the bike helmet we got him and wanted to keep it on even when he wasn’t riding the bike. I loved seeing him ride his bike down the street with shoes, underwear, shirt, and helmet, never pants. I also love how you might be really tired of playing but then he looks at you and says “will you play with me” and you just can’t say no. Bralon was a happy baby and therefore didn’t create many entertaining stories. He did poop on my hand a little but I will forgive him for that.
Six hours in the car felt like forever again. I am glad we have some time to forget about how long the car ride is between now and Thanksgiving. We get in the car thinking we are going to have an exciting road trip but in the end we just end up sick of the car. The good thing about the car ride is I got to catch up on some reading. Audrey had given me a couple book that I never finished and so I got back in to those. One of the books is about marriage and offered some good advice, especially after you have been stuck in the car with your spouse for 6 hours.
Next Sunday is the big Marathon, say a prayer that I make it across the finish line. Then my college pals arrive in 1 weeks so this has been a very busy month. November will be a welcomed relaxing break.