Butterfly rescue

Mom found this monarch butterfly on our sidewalk today when she left for spinning at 5.30. She thought it had died and was sad because she really likes these guys. When she came home, though, he was moving around a little.

Fast forward a few hours later and we have ourselves a new butterfly pet. He might not make it that long since his wings are pretty beat up -- probably from the torrential rain this weekend, but at least he's got food and water. He seems to like the pomegranate nectar Mom made him and has tried to fly a little, though we keep telling him not to yet.

Sebastian

We took a little trip to Syracuse. Which got off to a rocky start after Mom and Dad's 4 AM wake up, but I tried to make the best of it and our loooong delay leaving New Orleans.
I made friends with this little boy named Sebastian and his green monkey. We had a blast and he showed me how his monkey can fly (though his mom put a stop to that once the trash can got involved)

Strangely enough, Sebastian and I both know a little girl named Maggie -- I spent every week for a year hanging out with her and her brother, Raffi; he goes to school with her. Small world here in New Orleans.

Hot Date

I had a hot date last night. With Miss Suzie. Miss Suzie is the Spanish teacher at school, and she got the honor of being the first non-Gramma person to do our nightime routine. Mom said something along the lines of, "The woman is a saint." She came over for dinner, then we played and watched some Curious George (her favorite); she gave me a bath and tucked me in. I think that technically she was babysitting me, but I don't know: There was sorbet involved... I was pretty excited about my date until I realized that Mom and Dad were also having a date -- and they were leaving! 
How dare they!
Good thing no one told me they were going to the aquarium for Scales and Ales -- I might have gotten pretty upset. Oh. Wait. I did get upset, even though I didn't know that aquarium part. They went to the aquarium? Without moi? Inconceivable.
Sadly, here's the proof. And I don't mean that Mom is a parrot head*.

Dad is wearing a lobster on his head. I think this is before they had drinks. Hmmm.

* I have suspected she had some bats in her proverbial belfry for a while. This explains everything.

Houston ROCKS!

You may have heard about this little Hurricane that we had down here. It was called Isaac. Well, we decided to get the heck out of Dodge and headed for the hills. Otherwise known as Houston. Fortunately, we had a place to stay -- Miky is Dad's cousin and Yossi is her husband -- and lots to do, with beautiful weather to boot.
While our house was getting ravaged by the storm -- love that storm damage and that named storm disclaimer in the homeowners insurance policy -- we were have an evacation. That's right, not an evacUation, but an evacation. Think of it as storm induced vacation.
Here's a few of the highlights:

Houston Children's Museum is AMAZING

More museum amazingness!

Kittens!!!

Yossi and BIG lunches

Seriously, he really likes lunch

And we talked about Adidas (that's: a-DI-das) a lot

GIANT gingerbread cookies from Miky! With sprinkles!

Special TV watching headphones -- so cool!

Swimming!

Every

Single

Day!

Seriously, it was a great trip and Miky and Yossi are amazing. Especially since our 2-3 day trip lasted a week. And we had our 2 cats, who enjoyed laying on the car. The Ferrari car. Ay dios mio! One of whom got his fat butt stuck in the storm drain before we left. I'm sure you can't imagine which one that might be...
Less great: Coming home to 3 more days of no electricity, spoiled food, allergies, cancelled school, and storm damage and debris.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Just call me Mr. I-don't-like-seaweed

We spent a blissful 10 days at the beach this summer, and Gramma and Grampa joined us for 5. Aside from that whole seaweed (and occasionally sand) thing, it was really fun. Best of all, it was mostly overcast, which was good for my whiteness (and probably good for Mom's brownness). I got to do lots of swimming and sand castle building and really expanded my eating repertoire. Grampa introduced me to burgers and mustard (and who knows what else when Mom and Dad weren't looking. Bwah ha ha. I'll never tell, Grampa!). And there was the ice cream. And donuts. And frozen fruit bars.
Can't wait to do it again next year!

Dad and Bill

Ice Cream: Yes, please

The highest peak in FL

I heart swimming with Gramma and Grampa!

Awesome playground. Less awesome: the rain clouds

Mom loves Walmart almost as much I do.

Getting our fitness on

The drown-Dad-game

Ring-around-the-rosie

Commandeering some other kids' boat. Gotta get one of these!

High 5: Pizza pizza!

More swimming!

DONUTS. Nuf said.

Here's all the rest:

So Happy Together...

You might think I mean Mom and Dad, since they just celebrated their big Oh-Five. Or is it One-Five? Well,   who's counting...
Or you might think I mean those dates I like to have to with Mama (or Mommy and Daddy). BTW, I told Mom that I'm going to marry her. She got all wistful about keeping me this age. Forever.
Silly woman, I got me some b-day presents to collect, so I best be aging in a hurry.

But, I'm not talking about either.

We ran into someone today. At the library.
You'll NEVER guess who.
Seriously. Dad couldn't even figure out after the following clues:
- He's short.
- He has big ears and a big nose.
- I know him really well.
- He's blue. (really Dad, that one should have given it away.)

Any idea?

CORDY!!!
I thought Mom was having a heart attack. She screamed (I believe: OhMahGodItsCORDYOhMahGodMarcusItsCORDY!!!), then she started flapping her arms like a chicken.
Maybe she was dancing? She does a mean chicken dance. I don't mean an ornery chicken -- just that she does the chicken dance very well.
Well, after she finished this bizarre new greeting ritual, she thrust Cordy towards me and wanted to know why I hadn't said hello yet.
Let me think, Mom. Possibly because there was no time to get a word in edge wise? And the shock. Lets face it, we hadn't seen each other in months. Cordy L'Orange (aka, the fraud) moved in. Mom told me maybe Cordy ran away. Or that I left him somewhere. Apparently, he got really into the computer or reading. We talked to the librarians just to make sure it was ok to bring him home.
Cordy and I picked up right where we left off -- shopping, reading, and eating lunch. Mom gave him a bath and Marcus sticker so we can ID him more easily.
Here he is meeting Cordy L'Orange -- they got along very well.

And here we all are hanging out.

Introducing...

Cordy l'Orange

Who is, or course, orange.
(ha ha)

He is an aardvark.
The cutest and most cuddly of all animals.

Cordy l'Orange is very helpful: He likes to close the front door and lock it, and help me take my shoes off, and put my bib on. And clearly, he likes to help build house with my blocks. We've been having a good time.
I have to say, when Mom first saw him and his 6 brothers and sisters in the basket, I thought maybe (a) there were some blue cordies hiding and (b) that he was named "50% off". I soon realized that there were no blue cordies, but that these guys did have a few similarities with [Blue] Cordy. I decided orange could work, so Orange Cordy (aka Cordy l'Orange) rode home with me.
And we lived happily ever after*.
The end.

*That is, unless I see a Willoughby or small corduroy elephant in person again.