Friends

Testing, testing 1 2 3! Blogger changed how everything works, so this is a trial run to see if I can figure it all out. Here are some friends who visited last month. We love having our friends (of all ages!) over to play.

Sweet Ben and Caroline came over for a playdate. They were so good!

Ben followed that car around the house for so long. He has a fabulous attention span when he comes across something that sparks his interest.

Ryan enjoyed the ride. He is usually doing all the work while William rides the airplane!

Ryan really took a shine to Ximena. They became fast friends.

William, on the other hand, couldn't keep his eyes off Monique!

That Monique is so funny with those sesame seeds for their Play-Doh hamburger.

Monique solidified their bond when she constructed a Play-Doh bowling alley.

I am so grateful that I now have an iPhone with a good camera. I take so many pictures with it when we are out and about because I always have it on me, unlike my wonderful (but big) Nikon. The iPhone allows me to capture so many moments with friends that I would not be able to photograph otherwise.

The nice (and not scorching hot) March weather meant we spent a ton of time at our neighborhood park. There was no way the kids would look at me with so many snacks to steal from Jackson.

Oh how I adore this picture! This was taken the same day as the picture above (at the same park). Mikey was coming home late, and the boys were cranky after naps. I decided to put them in the wagon and get out of the house for a bit. As we were walking around the neighborhood, we saw Stacey and her girls, who were flying solo for the night because Mike was out of town. They had just washed their car and then decided to take an impromptu bike ride to the mailbox, which turned into an impromptu trip for all of us to the park. What a treat for the kids and the moms!

This is where William pretends to watch (you guessed it) bowling at one of the other parks we like to visit.

These two make me happy. They are such good buddies.

Just watching the cars go by at Back Yard Grill.

Whew! So far so good. The picture uploading is easy, and I like that the picture and caption have a box around them to clarify what goes together. See, I need to quit fearing change. Now let's hope it publishes! Only one way to find out...

William's happy place

I can't remember if I have explained William's bowling obsession on here. But it's unreal. My big guy is positively enamored with bowling. He gets to watch a little TV with Mikey every weekend morning. He always chooses to watch professional bowling (which we have on our DVR). The other day, I told him he had a surprise - it was his Easter basket. He got a huge smile on his face and said, "New bowling???" As in, "Did you record a new tournament for me to watch?" I hated to disappoint him with a measly Easter basket!

Let's see if I can name all of the pro bowlers that William can identify by name and also other random info. We have: Osku Palerma (two hands on the first bowl, uses one hand if he doesn't get a strike), Pete Weber ("PDW"), Jason Belmonte ("Belmo" - bowls with two hands), Sean Rash, Tommy Jones, Brian Kretzer, Mika Koivuniemi, Ronnie Russell, Dom Barrett, Mike Fagan, Stuart Williams, Patrick Allen (people say "yeah hoss" for him), Norm Duke (people yell "Duuuuuuke" when he bowls). Yep, that is how I am filling up my brain with new info these days. Am I brushing up on the American Revolution? No way. Keeping my editing skills intact? Not so much.

He got a bowling set for his third birthday. I bought it for a couple of bucks at Goodwill, and that thing has gotten hours upon hours of use. It has led to about a thousand tantrums but many more smiles, high fives and jubilant yells.

As I'm sure you can guess by now, William's happy place is the bowling alley. We have only been there once since the obsession began, and that visit was last month. We bought an hour of bowling for one person and got Mikey some shoes. Mikey mostly helped William get the ball down the lane (verrrry slowly), and I mostly chased Ryan around and tried to keep him from slip-sliding all the way down the lane.


Such concentration


Just chillaxin' while big brother bowls. In truth, he sat here for .5 seconds, but what matters is that I caught the moment!


Where's the touch screen on this thing?

William has a great sense of a direction and a keen interest in street names. He could probably give better directions to our house than I could. He likes to ask if we are on 290. If I say yes, he asks if we are going to pass the bowling alley. It's a happy day when he gets to see his happy place.


William in action! I don't expect that he will be so in love with bowling forever, and I am glad to capture this unique time in his life. And if he does grow up to be a pro bowler, Mikey and I will be front and center as his biggest fans. Are there bowling scholarships??