Simple Pleasures

If you were to ask Braxton what we did tonight you would probably hear something like this - not in any particular order though!

• I eat nuggets and fries


• I ride Train


• I see Buzz


• I see woody


• Bouncy Ball


• Dance


• I see bear


• Ice cream


• Go Jazz

My interpretation of those words is that we took Braxton to his first "bouncy ball" (basketball) Jazz game tonight! We parked behind the Conference Center so that we could ride trax one whole stop just to get Brax on the train! We mentioned riding the train on the way down there and he wouldn't give up on the idea! We ran over to the food court in Gateway and got some chicken nuggets and fries before the game. While we were at the game an advertisement for Disney on Ice - Toy Story came on a slide on the wall entertaining him for a little bit! During half time we got ice cream. He loved seeing the Jazz bear and dancers as well as dancing to the music that would play.

We weren't planning on making it through the whole game especially considering it started at 7:00pm (a half hour before his bed time). We got there right on time and heard the national anthem sung as well as the announcement of the starting line up. Braxton was really nervous when the house lights when off and it got really loud with crazy colored lights. Nate and I both tried to talk it up and get him excited and it slowly worked. With in a few minutes he actually let go of Nate's hands and started clapping and cheering. He sat through the whole first half without any problems (other than needing a stick of chapstick for entertainment!). During the second quarter he kept pointing to a little boy behind us who looked to be about 5 year old and saying "my friend, my friend"!

We got some ice cream during half time which also kept Brax busy. He also enjoyed being able to run around! We ended up leaving with about 5 minutes left in the game. It was about 9pm, Braxton was tired and restless and the Jazz had won the game.

Since we left the game a little early there wasn't a train waiting for us and instead we got to wait for the train! After waiting for a few minutes in the cold Nate decided to run ahead and get the car and meet Brax and I at the Courthouse stop (the last stop in the downtown free zone) that way he would have some extra time to get to the car and then to us and also so that Brax would be able to ride on the train for about 5 stops instead of just 1! There was a nice man who gave up his seat to Brax and I when he saw us and Brax LOVED it! It took him a stop or two to feel real comfortable but once he figured it out he was hooked! He loved looking out the window at everything passing by. When the train would stop he would stand up but the second it started moving again he would get scared and quickly sit back down!

As we got off the train to meet up with Nate Braxton said "bye train" and then talked about it as well as all the other fun things we did the whole way home. That is until he fell asleep about 10 minutes from home.

It brought so much happiness to my heart hearing him talk about all that we did and how much fun he had. He kept saying "I fun", "train fun" etc. A lot of what we did was so simple and some of it was things he just happened to see and yet it meant so much to him! It was fun that he enjoyed it so much and that he actually remembered and understood a lot of what was going on.

It turned out to be a very much needed, very enjoyable, family night!!