Good News Flash: It looks like Paul will get paid for the time that he was furloughed during the shut down. We’re not sure when he’ll get it, but at least we know it’s coming!
The weather the last week or so has been awesome. It’s been nice and cool (we even had to turn on the heater once or twice). Almost every time I step outside, I can’t help but think to myself, “It feels so GOOD out here!” We don’t get too many fall colors out here because most of the trees are live oaks (unlike other oak trees, live oaks keep their leaves all year round), but at least it’s cooler! The humidity doesn’t seem as bad when the temperature isn’t as high. We ended up going to Sea World twice this week. We went on Monday, since Paul had the day off (Columbus Day), and again on Saturday. It’s nice to be able to just go for a couple of hours to see our favorites (dolphins, sharks, aquarium fish, alligators, and penguins). Joseph doesn’t really care much for the shows. I think we’ve already decided that next year, instead of renewing our passes, we’re going to get zoo passes instead. The zoo is a bit farther away, but it has more of what Joseph likes (which is to look at animals, lol) and the passes are quite a bit cheaper.
Joseph-isms: climbing up into my lap, helping himself to a cracker out of the bowl I was holding and then saying, “thank you, Mommy!”, saying, “thank you, sir” to the man who served us when we were at a restaurant, and calling anything remotely related to Halloween “skoopy” (his version of “spooky”…don’t ask me why he reverses the /s/ and the /p/).
This week in pictures:
Paul reading to Joseph…sort of. It’s a recordable book that he originally got while he was in Afghanistan, but never had the chance to record it and send it home while he was overseas. He recently sat down and recorded himself reading it. It’s now Joseph’s favorite book. 🙂He kept touching Paul’s head, saying, “soft!”Riding on Daddy’s shoulders.I think he liked being so high up.Checking out the scenery at Sea World.Joseph followed me into the master bedroom (usually I keep the door closed because we haven’t “Joseph-proofed” it) and felt like he won the lottery when he saw my monkey slippers…and Paul’s watch.Joseph climbed into Paul’s lap and got really, really close to Paul’s face until Paul let him take a bite out of his apple.He still loves his puppy backpack/leashAnd he loves saying “Cheese” for me now. 🙂Sometimes he’s a little over-exuberant when he says it, though…Loves anything that is a hat…so he loved it when we pulled out the witch hat.Sitting on a hay bale at Sea World (they have it decorated for fall/Halloween), but wasn’t sure of the scratchy hay.Still not sure about the hay, even when sitting on Momma’s lap.Here’s a picture that Paul took of all the hawks that roost on a tower near our house. We thought the construction on the road near-by had scared them off since we hadn’t seen them since the spring, but now we’re thinking that they flew north for the warmer months and then have returned here for the cooler months.And here’s a picture Paul took of a lot of them flying. I lost track while trying to count them after I got past 12…Penguins!This alligator was just hanging out…and hanging out…Puffins. 🙂More penguinsAnother shot of the alligator.Joseph LOVES to watch the fish.He liked it when they would swim right past him.Waiting for fish to swim byHis favorite: the dolphins. He can splash his hands in the water and he loves getting to see the dolphins up close.We have to keep a pretty tight grip on him or else he would jump in for a swim…that kid has no fear, I tell ya’!
