We had a pretty down-to-earth week, just plugging away at every-day life. To make today (Veterans’ Day) special, we decided to have an all-fun day. First we went to Bass Pro Shops. Paul needed some more ammunition, so Joseph and I went along so that he could see all the “stuffed” (taxidermy) animals, the big fish, and (as a surprise, since we didn’t know) apparently the Christmas decorations (they always decorate the entire store).
After that, we had plans to go to Sea World, but we found out that they were closed (the Sea World here is only open on weekends during the fall/winter/early spring…late spring and summer are when they’re open all the time, but they are usually open on holidays, so we were a bit surprised that they weren’t open today), so we decided at the last moment to drive out to the zoo. I’m glad we did, because they were letting military people in for $5/ea. today (and Joseph is still free since he’s not 3 yet), so it only cost us $10 (parking is free). Joseph had so much fun! He loves looking at all the different animals. We grabbed a quick bite to eat on the way home for Joseph’s nap time.
After Joseph’s nap, we decided to head out for dinner. There are several restaurants that offer free entrees to veterans on Veterans’ Day, so we decided to go to Chili’s. After dinner, we headed over to La Cantera (an outdoor mall) because we found out that Build a Bear was also doing a special military discount. I’ve been considering getting Joseph a bear for a while, but they tend to be a little on the expensive side, so we decided to wait until Joseph was old enough to appreciate the whole process…and I’m glad we waited, because he had quite a bit of fun tonight. We picked the bear for him (he loved watching them put the stuffing in it), but then he helped put the heart in it (the process of warming it up, giving it a heartbeat, the whole 9 yards), and gave it a “bath” (at their bathing station). We didn’t pick any clothes for it, since he seemed to like the bear just like it was. Because of that, the bear was actually on the less expensive side. He and the bear were inseparable from that point on (I had to sneak a couple of his other stuffed animals out of his crib so that there would be room for the bear).
Cute stories from the week:
1) Paul has an app on his phone that makes it so that he can say, “Okay, Google” and it will open up a search window. After that happens, you can say something and it will search for it. Or, if there is music playing, it can identify the song. Joseph thinks this is super cool. Every once in a while, I would see him holding his play phone up and say, “Okay, Google”…except it came out more like, “Okay, Goigle”. 🙂
2) Joseph has been singing a lot more this week. I catch him singing his ABCs (he misses a few here and there, but it’s still awesome, I think) and different church songs. Yesterday, Paul and I were talking while on the way home from church and there was a lull in the conversation. During that lull, we could hear Joseph singing along to “We’ll Bring the World His Truth”, which was playing in the CD player. Even though I couldn’t understand all his words, I could still feel the Spirit very strongly.
3) Joseph was playing with his toy knight and then started singing the song “I Feel Better” from a show he likes called Doc McStuffins (a show about a little girl who can bring toys to life and then if they get hurt she fixes them. After they get fixed, they always sing that song). At first I was confused, but then I remembered that a few days earlier, the episode had been one where a toy knight had been hurt. Joseph put that together with his toy knight. He amazes me more and more each day.
4) I have yet to step on Legos, since we don’t have any…but the other day Joseph had (unbeknownst to me) spread out his little green army men. Yikes! I almost felt like he sabotaged me! 😉
This week in pictures: a bit of an overload since there are zoo pictures in here. 🙂
