Finding Nemo

This month we celebrated Mimi and Papa's July birthdays (pictures above) and we had a great weekend visiting with Jenny and Ryan who had not been in town since Easter. Julianne loves nothing more than having a house full of people and singing happy birthday. On Sunday we went to the Aquarium downtown and much to Julianne's disappoinment (more like devastation) they did not have a tank with Clownfish (i.e. Nemo) which we told her they would have. Her bottom lip went out and she was soooo disapointed and heartbroken. Andrew bought her a stuffed animal Nemo, but she was still not satisfied. It made me realize that we have to be careful what we "promise" her and what we tell her because she is taking everything we say literally and expects us to deliver. So, the other day we ventured down to the Houston Zoo and found Nemo. She was so happy and it made my heart smile.

4th of July

As promised, here are a few pics of Williamsburg from the 4th of July. Mom did not take as many as she usually does. Wooops. We enjoyed many trips to the pool, wonderful home cooked meals, lots of playtime outside in the rocks with Noelle, a vist with Henry and Ella, a 4th of July Carnvial with face painting and snowcones, and a parade in which Noelle and I were the stars as we rode in the red wagon with our red, white, and blue flags flying proudly. :-) Agree with Aunt Lisa on the word, "vacation." Mom and Dad feel that traveling with a toddler long distances gets easier and easier the older they get, but a true "vacation" is when Mom and Dad get to sleep in, lay by the pool, and go somewhere like "Cabo San Lucas." hahaha. However, we would not trade these visits or these toddler years for the world!

Ramblings

We had a great trip to The Burg for the 4th of July and Julianne traveled very well on the airplane. When we go to Williamsburg, Julianne calls it going to "Ginia" rather than Virginia. Now that I look at the word Ginia it looks sort of obscene. Not to go off on a tangent, but I want to have record of this...last night I got a bad gas pain and I yelled "Ouch" - Julianne asked me what was wrong and I said...for lack of a better explanation..."My hyney hurts, but I will be OK." She goes, "Oh honey, your Bagina?" I said, "No, my hyney" and she replied with "I don't have a Bagina. I have a BODY!" I realize this may not seem funny to anyone else and your own child is always the most amusing to you, BUT I laughed out loud - rather cackled out loud - for a good solid minute after she said that. It is in those times of laughter that I am reminded of why we adore being parents even after the temper tamptrams, diaper explosions, responding to constant requests for "more please," "BIG," (i.e. turn up the volume), "come here and sit down," "play with me," "watch with me," "sleep with me," "eat with me," and the latest...."WHY?" A recent conversation went something like this:

Julianne: Mom, I see a bird

Suzanne: OH! What color is it?

Julianne: Red

Suzanne: Oh, I like red

Julianne: Why?

Suzanne: Well, it is a pretty color

Julianne: No, why is it a bird?

Suzanne: Well, God made it a bird

Julianne: Why?

Suzanne: Well, He wanted that creature to be a bird

Julianne Why?

Suzanne: Well, He makes animals and insects and people

Julianne: Why?

I mean - how do I answer that?

One more funny thing that happened over the weekend was that Julianne asked Mimi for a popcicle and Mimi told her to go ask her mom. When Jules asked, "Why" my mom said, "because your mom is the boss." So, Julianne came running into the back room and said - "Mom, I am your boss....and then rambled something about a popcicle and ran off." When I went into the kitchen Mimi asked me, "Well, what did you decide?" The story came out that Julianne was supposed to ask me permission for a popcicle, but she had different plans in mind for the conversation. Either that or she got her pronouns confused.

If Jules is upset about something, she has started saying, "I am sad for ______." So if she misses me, she goes, "I am sad for my mom." She also used it for food and drink such as, "I am sad for my milk."

Ok, I will download pics from our trip and post more about it soon.