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.

Like you don't...

...Put on your rubber boots with your t-shirt and underwear.

I don't want to slip climbing up the stool!

But, I think Mom wears them because she doesn't want to slip while cleaning.

Just kidding. That's ridiculous: Mom wears heels to clean!

Daddy Dearest

We had a lovely day with Dad for Dad's Day. All thanks to me.

Truly I am amazing.

Mom made banana bacon waffles, which were delicious. And we got to relax and enjoy the day.

It was a good precursor to Brian Day... Which involved a whole lot of cake. And a lot of chanting (for cake). And a lot of spelling of cake: C-A-K-E cake cake cake.
And the candles. Love me some candles.
What do you mean I'm not the one who's supposed to be blowing them out? Nonsense. They're a fire hazard, you know.
And we sang the birthday song approximately 27 times.

Incidentally, I did get some good practice eating cake at my friend Ella's bday earlier in the month. She had a Nemo cake and a bouncy house -- at this awesome place called the Monkey Room. We hadn't been there in almost a year, and I have spent 3 weeks telling Mom how fun it was. (Mom is starting to suspect she and Dad may have to step up the Marcus Day festivities a notch...)

Nemo cake's unfortunate brown reefs on the side tasted good.
Their appearance was a little disconcerting, though...

normal sized bite

flip-top-head sized bite

Mom and I made Dad some very nice cards for Dad's birthday. Mine had, you guessed it, cake that popped out when opened. And a little ditty in honor of Dad:

At last it’s here

You’ve made it a whole extra year

To 35

You’re still alive

(And kicking)

Amazing, in my opinion

But I am Mom’s minion

On Brian Day

I We want to say

We love you

For all you are and all you do

In 365 days

Things change in so many ways:

  A little taller

    Maybe not

  A little wiser

    Possibly

  A little greyer

    Definitely

You’re the best dad

At least, that I’ve ever had

Mom’s favorite spouse

(Don’t snoop under the house)

You make us smile

So we’ll keep you awhile

Let’s get our kicks

Only until you’re 36

Just kidding

You’ll always be mine*

Even when you’re 99

Happy birthday

We love you

* We mean “our’s”

GOOOOAAAALLLL!

SoccerTots started in March, and my first season wrapped up a couple weeks ago. It was a ton of fun and Coach Kenny should probably be sainted or knighted or lobotomized. We had a lot of fun but there was a strong semblance to cat herding at times. There were also a few meltdowns from my soccer buddies -- everyone has a bad day... It was infinitely entertaining to both us and and our moms (or dad): High knees means goose stepping, right? Jump means gallop? ... And a little frustrating at times: Rue the day I ever met that red balloon; and "stuff in my shoe!" 

Toe touching is much easier when you bend your knees. 

Most of us know our colors...

Balance

Footwork

Agility.
Or perfecting the flop.
I'll never tell.

Speed

Trophy!

Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I really missed it during the off week. Thankfully the summer session started last week, and I'm playing on Wednesday and Saturdays now! All the more opportunity for  Mom or Dad to yell GOOOAAAAALLLLL.