I flew to Colorado this weekend for a couple of different purposes:
1. Celebrate Mom's 68th birthday, which was on August 8.
2. Tell Mom about my surgery.
3. Attend Sawyer's 4th birthday party.
4. Cuddle Walker, who at 5-months old is already tipping the scale at 20 lbs.
5. Host another "Super Sawyer Surprise Day!"
Now that all have been achieved, I can sit back and say it was a fun weekend!
I arrived on Thursday and spent the night at Allen's house, where at 6:30 am I had a grinning 4-year-old at my bedroom door who was ready to play superheroes! The little stink is just sooo cute! And I think he finally likes his Aunt Wacky, even though all morning he called me Aunt Susie! Of course, what I think he really likes about me is that I own an iPad that I let him use. It's an electronic form of nirvana for him!
For our latest Super Sawyer Surprise Day, I took him to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where there was an exhibit about a real pirate ship that sank off the coast of Cape Cod 300 years ago. When we walked to the museum, he saw the banner for the pirate exhibit and commented on it. I told him that was his surprise, to which he replied that he didn't want to go and that he already knew everything he needed to know about pirates. Okey-dokey! After reading him a description of the exhibit, including a reference to real pirate treasure, he was in.
Our first stop, however, was the Gates Planetarium, where we saw a Sesame Street movie about stars and the moon. He was really into it, and he surprised me with his knowledge about the solar system. When Big Bird and Elmo would ask questions, he would blurt out the answers. Pretty cute! We learned all about the Big Dipper, the North Star and the moon. It was $10 well-spent!
We finally made our way into the pirate exhibit, where I had the choice experience of explaining the use of shackles, neck collars and branding irons. The pirate ship began as a slave ship, so there were several installations about slavery and the work the slaves did on the ship. It was a little tricky explaining all of this in a way that was appropriate for a four-year old, but I think I got through it just fine. Of course, when we rounded one corner of the exhibit and saw a pile of bloody rags at the feet of a life-size ship surgeon, who was amputating a sailor's leg, it caused a little consternation. Again, a breezy explanation and a quick hustle over to the innocuous gold coins!
I had a great time walking Sawyer through the exhibit and watching him take it all in. He's such a confident and inquisitive boy - there were several docents throughout the exhibit, who were there to explain how the ship worked, the roll of the sailors and the equipment they used. If something struck Sawyer, he'd wait for their attention and then ask the docents questions without any shyness. He noticed things on the exhibits that I hadn't and would ask questions about what certain things were used for and why. Pretty good for a four-year old!
I tried to keep my wallet in my purse, but who can resist this face?
He searched through the gift shop and picked a $3 foam sword. I decided he was worth it!
After the exhibit, he announced that he wanted a cheeseburger for lunch, so off we went to Larkburger in the DTC. As we waited for our lunch to arrive, I made the mistake of asking him a question while he played with the iPad. I was given a "No questions. I'm concentrating" response. Seriously. That's what he said.
If I had been in parent-mode, I probably wouldn't have accepted that response, but I was in "I'm a giddy Auntie, who loves spending the day with you" mode so I let the crack pass with a smile on my face!
After lunch, we headed over to Cherry Creek Mall so we could see the movie, Smurfs. However, on the way through the mall to the theater, he spotted a huge indoor playground and made the decision that he'd rather play than see a movie. We went down to the play area, where he ran around and laughed for an hour with about 75 other young children. The best part of the hour for me was watching as Sawyer interacted with other children. He spent the first 10-15 minutes exploring the play area on his own, but then he spotted three older children, who were probably 8-9 years old. He immediately began following them as they ran from one side of the play area to another and as they climbed various bridges, slides, and statues. I could see the older boys occassionally look at Sawyer and wonder why he was following them, but they were good natured about it and let him do his thing.
Then, two twin boys who were about 5 years old came on the scene and they were Sawyer's new target. He followed them up and down slides, across the play area and over all of the statues. It was only when they started beating up on each other a bit that Sawyer went his own way.
Finally, he found a three-year old, who was looking for a leader! As Sawyer played by himself and ran all over the play area, this little boy kept following Sawyer and mimicing everything Sawyer did. Bless Sawyer's heart, he kept looking back to make sure the little boy was hot on his heels. When the little boy lost sight of Sawyer, he'd position himself so the little boy could see him and then Sawyer would wave him over. Adorable!!
After an hour, Sawyer was pooped so we packed up our things and headed off to the car. On our way back to the car, as he was holding my hand, we had my favorite conversation of the day:
Me (excitedly): "Hey Sawyer, guess what?"
Sawyer: "What?"
Me: "I love you!"
Sawyer: "Great."
It was super heartwarming and made my soul sing, especially when the "Great" was accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders. Real charming after I spent $50 on him that day!
On Saturday, Mom and I headed back up to Broomfield, where we went to Sawyer's birthday pool party. We stayed in the background because we had a new treat to keep our eyes on:
The pictures of Walker aren't that great because we were in the shade all day, but how cute is little chunk? At four months old, he's enormous!
I did manage to get a little pool time with Sawyer. He did really well this year with his little life preserver on.
He was swimming between Allen and I without any problem and he was jumping off the side of the pool without any fear.
A fun birthday for a little boy.
We were supposed to leave yesterday morning and check into our house yesterday afternoon. By now, I should be knee deep in relaxation, cookie dough and sunscreen. Instead, I'm sitting on my couch with my friends as we make feeble efforts to get our vacation started, albeit in DC. It ain't working!! 
