When we were getting close to Baton Rouge, I told Nicholas to help me look for the Mississippi River Bridge. I love to see the bridge far off in the distance because it means that we are almost home. Nicholas had fun trying to spot it and he thought it was really cool to go over the giant bridge while looking at all of the big boats down below.
We stopped to see Granddad Owen at his office. There are always neat things to look at there. Granddad showed Nicholas a model of a knee and explained how the knee works. Nicholas was fascinated.
Nicholas also had to play with the skull and the broom, both of which he seemed to recall playing with last year when we were there.
Nicholas also noticed a statue that Dad has had for a long time. I recall playing with it when I was little. It is a statue representing Justice with a sword and balanced scales. Unfortunately she used to have two scales but now only has one - I probably lost one along with way (sorry, Dad). It was really neat watching Nicholas take such interest in this statue that I had once enjoyed so much.
While in town, we always stay at Stuart's parents' house. We are so grateful that they always put up with us and they never kick us out - even though I'm sure they thought we would never leave this time. We just love being in Baton Rouge where both of our families are. Even Nicholas loves to be there and I'm sure he feels surrounded by love from all of his grandparents, uncles, aunt, and cousins!
One morning, Grandmother Chance asked Nicholas if he wanted some milk. He said, “No, not yet” and he continued to play. Then she asked if he wanted some hot chocolate. He said, "Yes, but I’ll have it after I have my milk.”
At home, Nicholas loves to sleep while surrounded by his stuffed animal friends. For our trip to Baton Rouge, we told him that he could only bring two small friends with him. He chose Mr. Cat and Capaccio. Grandmother Chance asked Nicholas how he came up with the name Capaccio? Nicholas replied, "With my brain!"
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Stuart and I wanted to take Nicholas to see the LSU Mascot, Mike the Tiger. He has gotten a larger and much nicer enclosure since we had last visited him. Granddad Owen came along with us. It is always nice to see Mike but he was a little sleepy when we visited him so it was less eventful than we had hoped.
Nicholas actually had more fun playing with the bronze statue of Mike in front of the cage. He stuck his finger in the tiger's mouth, climbed on his tail, and rode on his back.
Afterwards, Nicholas wanted to walk up the ramps at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. He didn't care that there wasn't much to see at the top of the ramp. The fun was all in getting there.
Next, we went over to the old LSU Indian Mounds. These mounds were built about 5000 years ago. They are part of the oldest earthen-mound complex in North America and they are on the National Register of Historic Places. I just thought it was neat to watch Nicholas and Granddad Owen run up and down the mounds as I can so fondly recall Dad taking my little brother and me to the mounds to play. It's so touching to watch Nicholas having fun at LSU, our old stompin' grounds.
The four of us then ventured over to the levee to show Nicholas the Mississippi River. It was fun to watch the boats passing by. We saw the replica of Columbus' Nina but we did not go aboard.
Instead we spent much of the afternoon exploring the U.S.S. Kidd which is permanently docked in Baton Rouge.
The self-guided tour was great. Nicholas loved finding the numbered arrows which told us which way to go next.
We all had fun playing with the big guns, exploring the depths of the ship, and seeing the cramped quarters where the soldiers ate, worked, and slept.
Nicholas even got to pretend that he was piloting the massive ship.
Christmas Eve
Monday, December 24 2007
On Christmas Eve, Stuart was putting together a Playmobil castle in the dining room. He had the doors to the room closed. Stuart told Nicholas that he would come out shortly but until then Nicholas wasn't allowed to go in the dining room. This was driving Nicholas crazy. The doors to the dining room are bi-fold doors with slats and Nicholas kept trying to catch a glimpse at what Stuart was up to. When Nicholas' cousin, Jessica, came over, Nicholas grabbed her by the arm and took her over to the dining room door. He told Jessica, “Daddy said that I can’t go in there but you still can!” I can't believe our innocent little three year old is bright enough to send his cousin in to do a little recon work on the Christmas gift situation!
We heard some fireworks outside so we went out to watch.
Once the fireworks were over I brought out some Snap Pops (is that what we called them?). The children threw them on the ground and they made a loud popping sound. It took them a few tries to get the hang of it but once they got it they had a blast with them.
We have a tradition in our home of building a gingerbread house at Christmas. We usually build it several days before Christmas but since we were traveling to Baton Rouge so early, we decided to bring it with us and share the fun. Nicholas and Jessica did most of the decorating. However, I must say that almost every picture I have of Nicholas shows him eating the candy decorations instead of putting them on the house! It still turned out to be quite a cute little house in spite of the missing adornments.
For the finale of our Christmas Eve fun, Grandfather Chance attempted to read the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible. What a sweet idea. Stuart even had the video camera set up to capture this touching scene. At first, all went well with the grandchildren quietly sitting at his feet with sweet reverence.
But not long into the story, the three year old attention span was lost and a little acting up went from bad to worse. Grandfather did his best to keep his composure and continue to read the story with the importance it deserved. But I'm sure you can imagine how distracting it was for him.
At one point, Grandfather paused in the story just long enough to take a breath and Nicholas popped up and with all seriousness said, "Are you finished yet?"
We all burst into laughter and even Grandfather laughed a little. Then he answered, "Yes, I think I'm done!" and gave up on the story. Maybe next year we can pick up where we left off and actually make it to the end.
Christmas Day
December 25, 2007
Nicholas had a lot of fun opening presents. Grandmama Owen had even let him open some presents early! Among the piles of wrapping paper and ribbons, we did not get pictures of Nicholas opening all of his presents but here's a glimpse at the fun he had.
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Uncle Steve Owen and Jennifer wanted to spend some time with Nicholas so we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I personally think Uncle Steve just wanted an excuse to play at Chuck E. Cheese but there's nothing wrong with that :)
Nicholas loves playing video games even this Star Wars game. He looks like he's really intently playing it, doesn't he? But he's not. I never even put money in it. See how cheaply you can entertain kids!
He did get to actually play it as well as many of the other games. Uncle Steve, who is just a big kid at heart, even played some with him.
Jennifer is really cool too and she's great with Nicholas. She pretended that Nicholas had hit her with his big monster truck. Nicholas thought that was hilarious!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
We spent some time today visiting with Uncle Steve Owen at his work. How cool is it to have an uncle that runs a Rainbow Play System store?! Nicholas loves to go play on the equipment and Uncle Steve does too! It's cute watching them play together. I think Nicholas enjoyed the big trampoline the most.
Friday, December 28, 2007
We were sad to learn that Grandmother Chance's sister died in her sleep last night. We tried explaining to Nicholas what had happened and that we wouldn't be able to see Aunt Marinee again. Nicholas said, "But we will see her in Heaven." Stuart agreed but said that we wouldn't be able to talk with her until then. Nicholas said, "But we can pray to her." What sweet thoughts from the little guy.
Stuart took Nicholas to see Grandfather Chance at work. He is the manager of Ambrosia Bakery so they got a fun tour of the back of the bakery. There are opportunities to learn where ever you go!
Nicholas enjoyed watching all of the cakes being iced.
Grandfather even showed him how the cake batter is mixed in giant mixers and then transferred into big hoppers that squirt out just the right amount of batter into each cake pan.
Of course, Nicholas also loved the chocolate chip cookie that Grandfather gave him!
Grandmother Chance bought marshmallow guns for everyone and there were marshmallow battles in the house today. The guns are really cool and they shoot miniature marshmallows so no one gets hurt and nothing gets knocked over and broken. The down side is that afterwards there were sticky miniature marshmallows all over the kitchen, the carpet, and outside. But it was worth it for all the fun everyone had!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Grandmother Chance is an engineer for the phone company. Her job entails planning out where phone lines will go. She spent some time with Nicholas today explaining her job and the tools she uses. Nicholas loved this measuring tool and of course the cool vest and hat he got to wear!
Next Grandmother showed him how she measures the height of existing telephone poles. This rod can extend 30 feet high. We determined that the telephone lines on this pole were placed at about 17 feet, 2 inches high.
Grandmother also showed us some tests that she does on existing poles to ensure that they are still in good condition. She used a tool to dig around the pole to test for the strength of the wood. This wood was a little soft which shows signs of the wood decomposing. She also uses a mallet to hit on the pole to listen for solidity. If there is a hollow sound then there could be termite damage inside the pole. Nicholas determined that this pole sounded good.
As Nicholas was going to his bed tonight to wait for Grandmother Chance to read him a bedtime story, he ran past a table and bumped his head into the corner of it. He ran to me crying and I held him to try to calm him down. When I pulled away from him to take a look at his head, I saw that blood had run all down the side of his face and all over me. What a scary sight! We cleaned him up and the wound didn't look nearly as bad as it had first appeared. However, it was a little deep and we couldn't get it to stop bleeding so we took him to an urgent care clinic to see if he needed stiches. Granddad Owen met us over there. Nicholas' eyes lit up when he saw Granddad in the parking lot! The first doctor that looked him over said that he needed at least one stitch but after waiting a while longer and cleaning the wound some more, another doctor said that he would be ok without stitches. We brought Nicholas back to the Chances and dressed his wound. He was doing just fine and even made a silly face for the camera.
And he still got his bedtime story from Grandmother!
We left Baton Rouge early the next morning for the long drive back home. As always, I got a little teary-eyed as we drove away but we hope to be back again soon.
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