It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Our trip to Kansas City was a great success. We had a some snafus along the way, like my better half forgetting her ID in the car, but her best half figuring that out before he left the car in the parking garage. Or maybe my better half forgetting her designer sunglasses on the plane and her dreamy husband haggling with security, the police and the Southwest personnel to track it down and let me retrieve them. Success! Disaster averted! Q, as usual was very good on his umpteenth trip. He will have qualified for a free ticket by the time the year is up. Fortunately we don't have to buy him a seat yet. He is still heading up to Minneapolis for the ladies trip in November and will also fly home for Christmas so he has another good 4 planes left to board. He is getting to that seat kicking, pulling the person's hair in front of us and taking the occasional swat at that just sticking out melon in front of us but other than that he's behaving quite well. Southwest is now flying direct from Tampa to Milwaukee and we realized this weekend that there is more leg room on their jets than traditional carriers because they do not have a first class section. They take that extra space and give each row another six inches or so of leg room. And they don't charge to check luggage! That's great for a growing Quinny. We are starting to fall for Southwest (ticker LUV and now I know why).

While in KC we threw a little impromptu birthday party for the Q-meister at the "Other Place" with mixed results (see photo). The place was infested with Iowa fans (in Kansas?) rooting their vastly overrated team on against a 4-4 Michigan State squad where they barely pulled out a win throwing a TD on the final play of the game. Clearly, national championship caliber. With all the excitement of Iowa going down early in their fieldgoalfest it was pretty loud and Q is one to want to run around these days so he was getting a little tuckered out. The important thing was that Iowa sneaked out a victory and Q got to spend some much needed time with family members he doesn't get to see too often. Everyone was very nice in showering him with clothes, a mini basketball and football (he can chuck it these days), some much needed toys and a book to help him learn his colors. We had a cake and he got a chance to make a wish and blow out his one candle. He'll get another shot at in a couple of weeks when the Sconny relatives fly into town and we will all meet up in South Florida.

Poppa Steve and Q's Nana were gracious enough to sacrifice putting off a long drive to babysit Quinny on Sunday afternoon while Carrie and I were fortunate enough to finagle some Chief's tickets from Amber and Corey, who hosted us for the weekend, early riser (read Q screaming at dawn) and all. It was a much needed 4 hour break for Carrie and I, this being only our third event Q-less. It, predictably, downpoured the entire second half but the fellas stuck it out moving from our seats in the 18th row all the way up to the fast clearing out first row. Not bad for an NFL game even though the Chiefs took a shellacking losing 37-7. Believe it or not ponchos were selling for a garage sale-esque $2. Andrew helped us out by playing hooky from his basketball event(s) so we really do understand the importance of family and how everyone takes one for the team sometimes. Brett and Audra were also able to attend and we even got to see cousin Jayne, but not her awesome man-cave. Just not enough time in the day... We wanted to thank everyone for their good cheer, sacrificing and incredible job of hosting from Amber and Corey who do know how to treat a guest. It was like staying at the Plaza Hotel.

I could go on and on but I know most of you should be working right now not reading about Q's travels. The picture was a classic. He had enough. He already opened up his gifts and had been sung to so all he needed to do was pose for some pictures and blow out the candle but he was D-O-N-E, done as the picture, ah shall we say screams? Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch

In the spirit of celebrating fall, our mutual favorite season, we took the Qster to the pumpkin patch in Hyde Park last weekend to introduce him to pumpkins, hay and scarecrows. Carrie and I have always had our little traditions for the holidays and each year we have carved pumpkins. A pumpkin is an expensive commodity in Florida with prices starting at $10 and going up to $25 for a normal size pumpkin. At this event those were the prices. They had plenty available. We skipped the buying part in hopes we can find a better deal closer to Halloween. They don't last long in the fall heat anyway so you can only get a few short days out of them after you carve them. We took some snap shots of Q in the pumpkins and on the hay bales they had set up. Once he got acquainted with the straw he thought it was pretty neat.

We are heading to Kansas City for some fun this weekend where he will truly get introduced to fall and get a chance to see all the leaves changing. With his impending birthday coming up we are going to get a chance to see Carrie's family because they have decided to make the drive and help us celebrate. Our friends and Carrie's cousin Amber and her BF, the Coredog were gracious enough to host us at their house. We are all going to attend the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday if the weather behaves. Carrie's parents will get a chance to spend some time with their favorite grandson while we attend the game. It will likely be too cold for him to root for the one win Chefs. Carrie and I are excited to spend some time with good friends and hang with some adults for a change of pace and it's great to be able to see so much of our family in one place without a holiday being involved.

I have put up a picture of Q wearing his Sunday best bathing in pumpkins and sunshine.

Garage Sale

Quinny is really into playing with toys at this stage and has a blast at day care. When we drop him off in the morning he'll hit the floor and just start grabbing the toys off the shelf and you guessed it - throws them on the floor. His teachers say he empties the whole place in minutes. This brought us to the realization we have no toys at home so we went out on a little adventure to Target with Q in tow to find him some toys. We had a great plan and then we were introduced to the price tags. Ridiculous! Toys are outrageously priced so we stayed in the store for a while "testing" different toys out to find out which ones he really likes but only bought him a token toy. We needed a back up plan. Where do you get toys if you don't have hand me downs because you are on child numero uno? Answer...Garage sale. It just happens that our neighboring subdivision, which is massive was having their annual garage sale on Saturday so we gathered up the troops (Lucky), strollered up and headed out for a little adventurous Saturday.

Carrie and I got some to go coffees and it was a surprisingly cool Saturday morning with temps in the low 60s making it an excellent fall day to be outside. The whole neighborhood was a buzz with kids, dogs, and people hawking their wares. First stop I bumped into a couple from Wisconsin selling a parrot head. Sorry, Q but the first buy is for me. I obviously need a parrothead for the next Buffett show. We then traversed through the streets for the next several hours finding everything from toys to some needed Christmas lights. In the end Quinny picked up some toys that he can now play with including some trucks, which he has taking a liking to and even makes the "vroom-vroom" sound as he's sliding it around the floor.

The Qster is so much fun to just watch as he's in his own little world playing around the house cruising all over the place at a lightning quick pace making noises and being his curious self. He'll peak under the couch and then run into the dining room table right over the dog, who doesn't flinch (best dog ever) and then stumble across a ball which he'll chuck across the room and get Lucky's attention and then those two will cruise up and down the floor chasing the same ball. It's pretty entertaining to just sit back and watch.

A couple of days ago he cruised into the bedroom and I went looking for him and found him in the bath tub! I have no idea how he got in there but he did and was very happy about being in there. The kid just loves the water. There was minimal residue from the last shower and he's in there splashing in it and proceeded to bust out his water toys and play in a nearly dry tub. Here is a pic I grabbed well he was in there. He's so much fun right now. Walking is not too far away...