Yay!! Summer is Here!

We are SO excited that summer is here. Festivals, fairs, outdoor concerts, here we come!



On Friday of Memorial weekend, we attended our first outdoor concert of the season with our friends. We ate hot dogs and BBQ on our picnic blanket and danced to live music. The weather was pretty much as close to perfect as it gets, and Elliott was living it up.

Elliott rocks out, while that older kid with his hands in his pockets looks on enviously. He wishes he was that cool. :)

Elliott dances with his best bud, Travis (green hat). Elliott idolizes Travis; he follows Travis around, saying "Tra-Bis," and Travis is wonderful with him.

Handsome.

This would be a picture of Elliott dancing the Cha Cha Slide.

"Everybody clap your hands..."

Tidbit

Looking at one of Elliott's picture books before his nap, I point out a picture of one of those old, rotary phones.

I ask, "Elliott, what's that?" as I point to the phone. He repeats the question to me. I say, "It's a phone." A brief look of disbelief crosses his face. And then he says, "Camera?"

"No, no. Its not a camera. It's a phone," I reply. He repeats, "Camera," slightly more adamently. That's when I realize, he doesn't think this phone is a camera. He thinks all phones HAVE cameras.

Welcome, Mommy, to the IPhone generation.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, we went to the aquarium at the beach. Elliott was a little cranky at first (he's in this obsessive, button-pushing phase and is not happy when we make him stop pushing a button, even if it is just to move on to the next button), but once we got outside and could run around a bit, he was much happier. As we passed people on the path, Elliott would walk up to them and say "Hello!" He's such a social kid!

Didn't your Momma ever tell you it's never too early to learn about sediment?? (Meerkat was able to accompany us to the aquarium. Mr. Frog had to stay in the car for his own protection.)

Elliott was relatively unimpressed by the scuba diver in the aquarium. Maybe this would be more entertaining if he ran back and forth in meerkat fashion?

Elliott thought this giant nest was pretty cool. "Nest! Eggs! Hatch!"

Elliott sitting on the egg to help it hatch. It is an awkward, uncomfortable job, but somebody's got to do it.

Hmmm, this seemed like more fun in the last picture. Why isn't this egg hatching yet?

Best Buds and Sunny Days

Elliott and his best bud, Hayden, loved playing in the water together. Here are some great shots of the two of them spraying each other and being sprayed!

Unfortunately, Hayden's family had to move last week, so Elliott is a little lost without his best friend. Elliott sets out a car for Hayden when he plays cars, and asks for Hayden when we go to the playground. But we got to hang out lots before they left, so he has some great memories to last him until we can take our own Great Big Adventure to visit them!

Tidbit

On our way out to get some lunch today, I turn onto the road leading to our favorite local BBQ place (as in mine and Bret's) and Elliott yells, "Wait!" from the back seat of the car. I ask him, "What's wrong?" and in his little toddler lisp, Elliott says, "Chick-Fil-A!," pointing in the other direction.

That's right. I TURNED AROUND and took my son and husband to Chick-Fil-A for lunch because it was the first time Elliott has requested any restaurant, much less so adamantly. You can go ahead and call me "SUCKER."

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day friends! As you know, I don't get political or opinionated in my blog. It is a blog dedicated to my beautiful son and how I enjoy every minute of his wide-eyed exploration of our world. However, I'm going to break the rule today and get a little didactic, because I can't think of any issue any more relevant to Elliott. Take care of our planet, because I want Elliott to be able to enjoy it for all his days too. I don't want Elliott to have to tell his kids about how the Earth used to have ice at the poles or for him to have to colonize Mars. Here's five excellent reasons to save the planet:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Do you want to tell that face that you didn't do your part?

Some things we do in hopes of a more sustainable future: recycle everything we can from bottles to junk mail to scraps of paper, grow our own vegetables in our garden, compost our food scraps (and fertilize our garden with it!), use reusable bags, use grey water (from our baby pool) to water our flowers, turn off and unplug when not in use, set a thermostat a litle warmer in the summer and a little colder in the winter, shop at the local farmer's market, Bret carpools to work... we believe we can make a difference. Will you help?

Eggstravagant Eggstravaganza - Warning: Puns galore!

Well, you can never accuse us of only celebrating halfway. For Easter, we really outdid ourselves. Last year, Elliott did not eat candy yet, so he received some crayons and a couple of eggs with Sesame Street toys. Oh, how much changes in a year! Elliott first received an Easter basket from Nana loaded with goodies (Thank you, Nana!), but the Easter Bunny apparently didn't get the memo.

Here's Elliott on Easter morning, with his stash from the Easter Bunny! He had eggs filled with chocolate eggs and Hot Wheels Cars. And a bunny hand puppet!

Elliott's obvious eggcitement over being allowed candy in the morning....

"I do it! I do it!" Still working on it...

Still working... Stupid wrapper getting in the way. "Mommy. Help."

Thought bubble: "What!?! A whole bunny made of chocolate, just for me? Eggcellent!"

And what would Easter be without jelly beans?? Elliott enjoyed his "gourmet" Jelly Beans, with the eggception of toasted marshmellow and buttered popcorn. As Elliott says, "No like it."

And, of course, we dyed Easter eggs! In a moment of genius, Mommy decided to bring Elliott's table outside and we dyed the eggs in the yard. (Not pictured: Elliott's little buddy, Hayden, who helped us dye eggs. Elliott is a very careful egg dyer, while Hayden is more the "stick your whole hand in" kind of guy.) By the end, Elliott had dyed all of his eggs a brilliant shade of purple, but his hand were miraculously clean.

And of course, there is the Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by Hayden!

Elliott's stash.

More egg hunting.

Elliott finds an egg! How eggstraordinary!

Elliott couldn't wait to find out what was inside the eggs - stickers and fruit snacks!

And our Easter picture. Doesn't get better than that! A great day, but by the end we were egghausted. (Hey, I warned you!)