Sunday, May 30 - We headed out to Simi Valley for the Cajun-Creole festival. Thanks to free tickets from David's boss, we thought it would be a fun day of something different. They had bounce houses for the kids (Joel was in heaven! He was very brave and climbed up some tall ladders so he could go down the slides with the big kids. One was a maze and we couldn't even see him through most of it. But he was a trooper and came down the slide just like the other kids.)
Joel at the top of a slide
There was a craft area for the kids to make masks and necklaces and there were two stages of live music (Cajun and Blues) so the boys had fun dancing to that. The food was good (David had Famous Dave's ribs and I had Shrimp on the Bar-b...not exactly cajun food) but after feeding all of us, it got a little pricey. They also had cars on display and Joel loved "driving" us around in them.
Sporting their Mardi Gras beads from the car dealer
Poor Silas was so hot (well, so were the rest of us!) in the black stroller. As we were leaving, he started telling David, "Hot, Hot!" It was nice time though and a nice break away from the norm. Then we drove up to the Reagan Presidential library and looked out over the valley. We didn't actually go in the library but the view was incredible. It felt like you could see Nevada. We decided to head to the beach to cool down a bit and drove to Malibu. The beach looked packed so the boys just played for a little while in the Malibu town center playground. I realized that I don't own enough white in my wardrobe to be a permanent resident of Malibu but we had a good time. Silas loved chasing the "tweet tweets" aka...birds. We drove home through Topanga Canyon and hit major traffic from the Topanga Country Fair. The boys were exhausted when we finally got home!
Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day) - After a long day on Sunday, we were happy to join the Wrights, Retts, Kibbes, and 1 Novak for a Memorial Day cook-out. (We missed you Katie & Eli!) We had a great time of fellowship with our friends and are so thankful to have such a great support group. After naps, Kim pulled out Z's new pool and the kids played in the water.
Deep conversations with J & Z
It took a little convincing to get Silas in, but once he was in, he was all in! He splashed and played and loves the water!
Pure bliss!
We drove down to Manhattan beach to let Joel ride his bike by the ocean and for a nice evening walk. Joel is such a great bike rider these days. He loves to race you and is getting so good at watching out for cars and people. Silas trailed along in the wagon and then walked the rest of the way. He loved pointing out the dogs (by yelling "Dog!" each time he saw one) and the ocean (by yelling "Wa-Wa" every time there was a break in the fence and we could see the sea.)
*Side Note: Silas has two volumes...loud, for when he's just talking to you and painfully loud, for when he's a) upset, b) wants your attention or c) is excited about something. We got lots of
smiles from all of the other pedestrians.
Tuesday, June 1 - We were honored to watch baby Evie W on her mom's first day back to work. She was so sweet and the boys just think she's the best thing ever.
Silas and E
The dote on her constantly and want to be right next to her. (see above!) I love that they love her so much. She was great and Becca even got to come home early to see her. After David got home from work, we took the boys up to the Rose Bowl to play soccer and run. On the way over, Joel told me to wanted me to "Geawr him." After asking for clarification several times, he finally said, "I want Momma to say 'Go, Goel, Go!" So sweet! David and Joel played soccer for a bit while Silas and I went for a run. About half way around, David and Joel showed up so he could "run" with me. He rode for a little bit and then ran the last quarter mile or so. It would warm my heart if he loves to run when he gets older!
Wednesday, June 2 - Evie stayed with us again and boy was she a sleepyhead. The boys had fun with her and Silas got to make an airport run with David to drop off Joey at LAX. David said that Silas alerted him to every plane that he saw. Remember the two volumes? Yeah....It was a pretty typical day otherwise. The boys and I ran to Target and Trader Joe's after their naps. Joel and I have worked out a pretty good system...if he'll behave nicely at Target riding in the cart, he can walk when we get to TJ's instead of riding in the cart or stroller. I was so proud of him. He stayed with me and walked just like a big boy. I think I only had to put back 2 or 3 items that he added to the cart on his own. I can't believe how grown-up he is!
Thursday, June 3 - Happy Birthday, Kim! My dear friend, Kim, celebrated her 27th birthday today so I just wanted to let all of cyber-space know. :) The boys and I went for a walk around the Rose Bowl with my friend, Kara, and her son, Levi. The boys were troopers and found all the squirrels, watched for dogs and ate their snacks while Kara and I chatted.
We made it all the way around!
After that we headed out to look for some summer hats for the boys. No luck! Thursday night was the first game of the NBA finals so the Wrights and Kibbes came over to watch and eat pizza. We will definitely miss the Kibbes when they leave for Chicago in a few weeks.
Friday, June 4 - We started out the morning building pillow mountains with Kim, Meme (Chris' mom) and Zoe. Soon the pillows moved to the floor and they played in the "jungle" and the "ocean". What fun, creative memories for all of them. Silas wants to do whatever the big kids are doing, which is so fun to watch. The boys and I headed out to find their hats. Success! Why did I not go to The Children's Place first? They always deliver! Now we'll see if I can get the boys to keep them on! ha! Joel really wanted to ride his bike at the park so we loaded it up and headed over there. Megan, Owen and Elias were there playing so we joined them. It took the boys awhile to get going. It was h-o-t! Joel and Owen finally ran around a bit and burned off some energy. Friday night was a monumental occasion....David played bass in the Lounge at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip. Kim stayed with the boys and Andrew, Chris, David and I headed down for a night on the town.
Look at that handsome fella!
The Key Club
David played with one of our friends, Dave Cho as part of a concert requi
red for his coursework at UCLA. It was so cool! When we got there, we had an hour or so before they played so we stayed upstairs and watched some crazy girl sing. Her band was really good but her drama on stage was over.the.top. We laughed really hard, especially when she bumped into the microphone. Then we headed down so the Dave Cho Trio could get ready to perform. The genre of the music called "Immigrant Pop" and it was really cool. I wasn't sure what to expect but I really liked it. David sounded great on bass and looked pretty snazzy in his new hat. I liked seeing him playing bass again. I miss that for him and hope he'll get back in to it soon.
Waiting to play...
I am so proud of him!
The Crew
After the show, we headed over to the original Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. It was after midnight at this point but that didn't stop us from ordering large quantities of food. Their
onion rings are amazing and they have true cherry cokes. Super good a
nd I haven't stayed out that late in a really long time. It was a great night out for us all!
Bob's Big Boy
Saturday, June 5 - The day started with Joel and I making banana blueberry muffins and setting off the smoke alarm. I can say in complete honesty it was not my fault but I don't think the rest of the house cared at 7:45 on a Saturday morning. 2 things about this.... 1. Our smoke alarms are super sensitive. 2. There was residual oil from the previous nights dinner (that also set the alarms off). So, when I preheated the oven, the smoke started back up and the beeping followed. Have I mentioned that the beeping scares Joel more than anything else that he's encountered in his short life? He threw his hands over his ears and was crying uncontrollably in a matter of seconds. We opened windows and doors and finally got it to stop. I knocked on Becca's door and she graciously let us bake our muffins over there. Whew! Crisis mostly averted. I still have no clue if the muffins were good since I don't eat banana anything. David said they were heavy on the banana but the boys ate them!
Yummy!
So good!
Joel and I also got hair cuts. He did such a great job. We had to wait a while and he "read magazines" with me quietly. He watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while I got my haircut and then told me to go sit in the waiting room while he got his haircut. Mr. Independent! He was mostly still while Jackie cut his hair and was so proud when she was done. I don't have any pictures yet. I'm sure you'll see his new do in some of the pics next week. He looks very grown-up. Since his haircut, I've had 3 people ask if he was 4 or 5? Yikes! While we were getting our haircuts, Silas and David played in the pool in our yard. Once again...our little waterbug! Saturday night David and I were invited to a dinner party for our friend Ethan's 30th birthday. We had a great night of food and fellowship. I haven't laughed so hard in I don't know how long and we met a fellow Texan who shares David's affection for What-a-burger and sliced dill pickles. A big thanks to the Wrights and Retts for getting the boys showered and in bed. (Although, it sounds like it was easy enough that maybe we should let you put the boys to bed every night!)
