Oh TODD!

On our way home tonight Brighton came up with another funny phrase. Of course, he was copying mom saying something she shouldn't while driving....but that's another story. Anyway, we were waiting to turn in solon onto Hwy 1 (which is ALWAYS nuts at that time of day) and I had an opening and the person headed north wanted to turn. So I said "Oh GAWD!" and I hear this little voice fro the back seat "OH TODD!" I about peed my pants. We did that all the way home. I also called someone a moron and he perfectly copied that too. Guess mom better watch her mouth! Especially when driving!

Here are some pics of Brighton & Daddy being silly.

And some of Feebee's new hairdoo. Andrew hates her feet, but I know how much easier they are to clean when they're like this. Besides, I want a poodle so she's going to have to be my guinea pig!

Livestrong-Peppers-Bapes & Mamey

Got your attention? Well those are the topics of the blog today. Daddy went to the Livestrong (republican) Presidential Cancer Forum today and came back with two livestrong bracelets (which we are both wearing) and a bandana (which neither of us is wearing...) I'm surprised he didn't purchase a Livestrong Biking Shirt. But I digress. I'm waiting for him to dictate what happened there, but I can say that my favorite republican candidate, Mike Huckabee was there as well as Sam Brownbeck. The other three main republican candidates apparently didn't think it important enough to attend. Those would be Rudy Guliani, Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain. All three, by the way, have had cancer...tacky. Thankfully Andrew and I both like Mike Huckabee. So at least we don't have to argue over that. I would have liked to go to the Democratic forum, but I forgot about it until Andrew reminded me today...naturally!! I'll have to let him tell you about the forum though. But here are some photos.

Peppers: Brighton has been helping me harvest tomatoes an peppers. As you can see here, he is his daddy's son.

Bapes, the other green fruit. Yes, Brighton loves his bapes. That would be "grapes" in grown up speak. I just thought that was so darn cute. He says so many things very clearly but tonight on our ride home from preschool, while we were riding through the park he kept going on and on and on about something and I couldn't understand a word of it, but I have a feeling he was telling me about his day. It went something like this:

Mom: "Did you have fun at Ms. Mary's today? Did you play with Charlie?"
Bright: "IWAS SPPEst bisstt abbblittab IWAS...IWAS...IWAS...Paaaay cheeee. Mamey Peete I was..."
Mom: "Oh wow! You had a busy day!"
Bright: "IWAS PEETE, CODOR, ppp! I was Pete. Mamey. I Was"
Mom: "Are you excited to go to Ms. Mary's tomorrow?
Bright: "yes"
Mom Giggles
Bright: *while holding his $3.50 fruit smoothie* "I want mama's juice" (meaning my $3.50 frozen mocha)

Engaging.

We've heard a lot about Mamey lately. It's good that he loves his Aunt "Mamey" and his cousin "Pete." He just saw them a couple weeks ago when we had family photos, and he's going to see them again this weekend. We had to call "Mamey" tonight. All Brighton wanted was his Aunt Mamey.

Aunt Mamey if you're reading this, you should be proud :)

Blank Park Zoo

We picked Cerra up Friday night in Des Moines and came back yesterday, but made a few stops (not including the state fair though! We didn't have our mullets on). We went to Blank Park Zoo in West Des Moines. I was SO IMPRESSED with this zoo and the condition of their animals! I know this is probably totally taboo to say, but I liked it better than San Diego! Sure, there weren't as many animals, and yes, it wasn't in the middle of a fabulous park like Balboa park, and don't get me wrong, I know how much San Diego does for animals who are endangered and threatened and for philanthropy. BUT. Iowa's little gem in our capital is a fabulous place to spend the day or 1/2 of a day.


Here's what impressed me so:

1. The zoo is very interactive. You walk through a gated area that has peacocks and emus and wallabies running around. At first I thought of this as a safety issue, but the animals really kept to themselves and patrons respected the animals and stayed on the path. Occasionally a peacock would stammer across the path but as I watched anxiously, I noticed that no one ran after it or tried to pet it or basically anything other than just witness it and hope that he would spread his tailfeathers.

2. The petting zoo part was VERY clean, the animals were clean and friendly, and gentle. Of course, there was miniature donkeys and a miniature horse and one donkey pony. There were goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, baby llamas, and they were all separated in their own areas (the goats, big llama, and chickens were together) and there were feeding stations and little holes where kids could stick their hand or cone or whatever in to feed them.

3. The water of all the animals that were inside or out was clean and clear. Animals that had a water habitat (like sea lions and penguins) had great habitats.

4. There is a pond that goes throughout the park. In the pond, towards the end of the kids area, there is a square dock, in the middle is a hole where you can feed ducks and koi. I have never in my life seen so many koi. They were literally jumping and crawling all over one another to get to the food. Now anyone who knows anything about koi knows that they DO become extremely friendly and the way to their hearts is most definitely through their stomachs. Judging by the size of these koi, I'm guessing that they were VERY well fed and definitely not starving. Anyway, it was very fun for Brighton and Cerra.

5. They offer a short but inexpensive train ride around part of the park (it's short and you don't see a whole lot other than trees and bushes...but Brighton HAD to ride the toot toot), a camel ride, and my favorite, Giraffe feeding. They also have a huge tent where they hold little classes and learning exhibits. This time it was "the scoop on poop."

I was just really impressed with this little gem in the middle of Iowa! If you are in Des Moines, this is one place you should not skip. And feed the Giraffe!!

Fun in the Morning...

Or something like that!

Brighton woke up this morning coughing and hacking and eventually throwing up. So I let him stay up and decided we'd have some creative play time with play dough. Poor kid not only has a tooth coming in but I'm sure he's got a cold on top of it. So his acid reflux (if that truly is what it is anyway) is really bad. He's thrown up about twice a day and usually it's just mucus. I'm hoping we can make it to Des Moines without an incident...but I'll be sitting in the back with a barf bag just incase.

Not much

Dad's been pestering me about posting a new blog. OK, I admit, I haven't blogged about some of the most important and exciting events in our lives for quite some time. Such as, Brighton is speaking in toddler sentences, and we're going to a little place called Hawaii for vacation in a few weeks and oh let's see I started an online business. Oh yeah, and Brighton started preschool. You know, just the little things. So....I guess I'll start with Brighton speaking in toddler sentences:

Brighton's vocabulary all of a sudden has exploded. He's using two and three word sentences - correctly. He's started asking for things and when you confirm to him what you think he said, he says "Yeees" or "No." Then there's the typical, "I want it..." and "No mama." And the new "I did it! I did it!" We also watch the movie Cars every single day. Every...Single...Day...I think he's grown two inches since we took him to the doctor last. He has become obsessed with "berries" which is perfectly fine with us. Mostly blueberries and raspberries, which technically he's not supposed to have too many of because of his acid reflux - which just as as side note, has improved since we stopped using flouride toothpaste. His favorite new numbers are 1 & 2. One two, two one. I could spend the whole blog telling you all the fun things he's saying but that would be terribly boring.

Preschool: Brighton started preschool...today! Yes, he's a little young, but the "teacher" is a friend of mine and she is fantastic. I've been trying to get him into her group for a while now, but where she used to work, Lil Rustlers, was so darn expensive and I couldn't do part time, so it never worked out. But she finally went out on her own and now we're set! He had a blast today. Miss Mary has centers that they're required to try that include a math center, language, science, art, dramatic play, etc. He gets a report card at the end of the day telling me how many times his diaper was changed, when he napped, when and what he ate, the story they read, what he did in each center and more. He really really enjoyed it. And I was glad knowing that when I left him, he was happy and was going to have a great day. That, to a mom, is priceless.

This weekend we're on our way to Des Moines to pick up our Niece, Cerra for family photos on Sunday. She lives in Council Bluffs, so we're meeting her mom half way. That's OK because we're going down on Friday and staying the night then going to Blank Park Zoo and/or the mall on Saturday before we drive home. The last time Brighton was at a zoo, it was in San Diego, and he slept the entire time. Hopefully he'll have more fun with his big cousin with him.

HAWAII HERE WE COME! We're going there for my birthday. ok, not really. We're going there ON my birthday but for Andrew's college roommate's wedding. I might have preferred to go to Japan, but I probably would have been more intimidated. But we might as well be going to a whole new continent!! It's a 9 hour flight from Texas! YIKES! We'll be flying for a while and I'm not too keen on that, so I'll be drinking heavily.

My online business is selling gourd piggy banks. It's called simplysilly. The website is www.simplysilly.etsy.com. Stop by and see us!

Well, that is all that's going on in our lives for now. Brighton "wants toon on" so I'd better oblige. It's a sure sign that he's getting tired. Yep, "night night" he said. So...night night.

Brighton's First Movie Ratatoulle

Since Brighton and I haven't really spent much quality time together lately, I decided that while Dad is out working, Brighton and I would spend some time together this week. Yesterday we had a play date with Ava and Andrea. It was just what the doctor ordered. The minute Brighton got home from gramma's he was whiney, grumpy, clingy. I know he was tired, but wouldn't go to bed (naturally). So finally I decided (after calling my poor godmother and making her listen to my emotional vomit and Brighton's wailing in the background) to go to the mall to let him run off some steam. I called Andrea to just put it out there that we were going there, and so she and Ava decided to meet us. Ava was just what Brighton needed. He found his voice somewhat yesterday too. He would let out this constrained, smiling, yell and then look at me and giggle.

Today we decided that we'd go see Ratatoulle. It would be Brighton's first movie in a theatre. I wasn't sure how he'd react, so I bought my tickets for the "rush hour" movie ($4.25) on fandango.com and off we went! We ended up going to the new Galaxy 16 theatre, which is pretty nifty. Call me crazy, but I am not sure how I feel about it exactly. It felt like we were walking into a whole new dimention! I have never experienced a movie theatre quite like it. With a menu. Like a real menu. Not great food, granted. And it's still expensive as all get out, but still. It felt weird carrying a chicken wrap and fries into the theatre with me. I guess I didn't need to stuff my bag full. Oh well.

Brighton did FABULOUS! I was so afraid that he would be freaking out because it was too loud or it was too dark but he didn't. He did say "I'm done" a couple of times. But I just told him that the movie wasn't over yet. If he was really really done we could go. He said "No" so I said "OK." He stayed through the whole movie and even some of the credits (to which he started to dance to the music :) I'm glad I turned around to get his "toot toot" blanket and his bear. He cuddled up to them the whole time. We had a great day today. I hope tomorrow is just as good or better!!