Another Year Older

Josh's birthday was yesterday. Since he had to work all day, we just had a low key celebration at home in the evening. He asked for homemade pizza and blackberry cobbler, so that's what he got. Eli and I actually surprised him on his gift this year. That's a first! Josh loves spoiling surprises. He usually guesses and takes all the fun out of it, but not this year.

We also celebrated with him on Saturday morning by going to the downtown Aquarium. It was Shark Weekend, and we thought Eli would enjoy it. We're not really sure what was so "shark weekend" about it (we went once before Eli was born, and it seemed to be the same), but it was still fun. Eli really enjoyed the train and the sharks, but we discovered he's more like his mommy than his daddy when it comes to heights. I went on the Ferris Wheel for Josh's sake, but it's not really my thing (though I did surprisingly well on it this time). We thought Eli would enjoy it, but apparently, it's not really his thing either. He kept saying, "done, done," and he looked like he was going to throw up. Josh keeps saying he's going to raise his kids to do the adventurous things with him since I don't like to do them, but maybe they'll end up being more like me. Poor Josh! ;-) Happy Birthday anyway. We love you!

"The Boy"

I've been amused recently by the way Eli refers to himself. He calls himself "the boy". I don't know if children his age say their own names or not, but he seems to struggle just a bit. Maybe we gave him a name that is too hard to put together and pronounce. I'm not sure because he says other people's names just fine. When he does say his name, he basically leaves off the first part and calls himself "I". More frequently, however, he says things like, "no touch the boy" (don't touch me); "No kiss the boy" (don't kiss me); "The boy sleep" (I'm going to sleep); "Mommy the boy dress" (Mommy, get me dressed). When I ask, "who is the boy?" he points to himself and says "I". Funny! Oh, how I love "the boy"!

Messy Boy! Does anyone else's child look like this after eating spaghetti? As you can tell, I strip him so that I don't have to deal with the laundry mess.


Biker Boy! He barely uses his own, but he sure does love his daddy's bike!

Break in the Weather and Routine

Lately we've had really rainy weather (the pouring down in buckets kind), so we've been cooped up inside. Fortunately, we did see a break in the rain over the 4th of July weekend, and since Josh had a couple of days off, we decided to spend it outdoors.

We always enjoy going blueberry picking when we visit Josh's family in Washington. Unfortunately, because of Josh's schedule and increased airline prices, we won't get that opportunity this year. Therefore, we found a place where we could pick blueberries a little closer to home. The place we went was about an hour north of Houston, and we were not disappointed. They had tons of yummy blueberries, and I'm pretty sure Eli put more in his mouth than in the bucket. We had a good time, and we finished just as it started pouring. We were drenched by the time we got back to the car, but we picked over six pounds of blueberries. The fresh picked blueberries are always so much better than the store bought ones. We've had plenty to eat over the past few days. Of course, we also froze some and gave others away.

We also drove down to Surfside and Lake Jackson. Surfside is on the beach, and Eli loves dirt and sand. He's also growing more and more fond of water. He didn't like swimming so much last year, but this year he occasionally asks to go to the big water (aka swimming pool). I was stupid and realized just as we were almost there that I had forgotten my swim suit, so Eli went swimming with his daddy. He loved it! He started coming down with a cold that day, so he looks a little tuckered out, but he had a good time.

In Lake Jackson, which is just 5 miles from Surfside Beach, we went to the Sea Center. It's an aquarium and fish hatchery, and we knew Eli would love the fish. He enjoys watching the movie Finding Nemo, so when we saw a blue tang fish and two clownfish in the same tank, he excitedly referred to them as Dory, Daddy, and Nemo.

It was nice to spend some time with Josh and spend it outdoors, especially since it's raining heavily again.