Blowin' Bubbles and Broken Trees (week 226)

Summer officially arrived in Long Beach this weekend with clear skies, warm weather, and the kiddie pool in the backyard. With the 4th of July just a week away, we scrubbed down the grill, cleaned-up the garden, and started to get the camping gear pulled together in preparation for our annual trip to Summerdale. While Christmas is still the most exciting holiday of the year, there is not a lot that can compare with bright mornings, afternoon barbecues in the backyard and warm summer nights at the band concerts. It is even better when the Angels win their freeway series against the Dodgers.

This weekend, Christopher crossed a major milestone by learning to blow his own bubbles. Although he has been blowing bubbles with his runny nose for a long time, he is developing new and more sophisticated skills like bubble blowing at a very rapid pace these days. For two weeks now, he has made it through the night without a bottle...although he is still sleeping half the night in the kitchen. This week, he also began getting time outs for the first time for drawing on the wall, standing on the kitchen table, and throwing his food on the floor. For a big brother, this brings a ton of satisfaction because up and until now little brothers seem to get away with everything. Daddy says that he is ready to take short time outs when he does things that he knows he shouldn't. Twice on Sunday he found the garage door open and took-off down the street even though he looked at us and thought it through.

This Friday was also a big benchmark for my parents as they celebrated their 5th Wedding Anniversary. For a couple of years they have been talking about going to Italy for their 5 year but changed their minds and went to dinner on Pine Avenue instead. I am not sure why their plans changed but I think it probably had something to do with us and not wanting to be away too long. I know that they would miss us terribly.
Christopher is still sleeping in the kitchen.

We also had a tragedy this week as we lost a good friend--the old apricot tree in the backyard. Not only did our tree provide great shade for us, but also lots of entertainment. We threw a lot of balls in that tree over the years and enjoyed watching mommy fight with the birds that ate her precious harvest every year. The tree had a lot of termites in it and on Wednesday night they took one final bite that sent the tree over. It began cracking slowing and loudly, and finally the entire thing went over into the yard and away from the house. Fortunately, there was no damage and there were no children playing underneath the tree at the time it fell. On Thursday a bunch of men from Jimmie's came and took the tree away. Mommy was especially sad by the loss because she liked to look at the tree out the kitchen window.