Beach Bums

The absolute best thing about living in SoCal is the beach. That alone, (and of course, Disneyland and “winter”) make SoCal livable.

I miss having a beach only 4-5 miles from home.  45 miles just isn’t quite the same.

Even if we spend the whole time in the sand or chasing the birds, every moment is sweet, magical bliss with a magnificent soundtrack of waves and gulls and laughter.

We’ve had to resort to coordinating playgroups at the beach, which conveniently give us the opportunity to visit UCLA friends. This week, we were lucky enough to see Karyna and Macy Bouslog and the Hodges (not pictured). It’s always fun to see these two together, since they are only 6 days apart.

Though we will be leaving for our yearly UT/Cabin trip later today, so hopefully we’ll get to have some more beach time at Hebgen Lake after the BAR. Not sure if I can wait that long, but I guess I’ll have to try.

The Blues

 

The Blues

Silly Billyness: Animal Sounds

Periodically while getting dressed, Liam and I will review body parts. He knows all the ones you would expect: eyes, ears, hair, head, teeth, tongue, hand, belly, toes. But the newest one surprised me: Knee (or his word "nnni"). Threw me for a loop since it isn't one we hardly ever talk about---didn't expect that one for at least another 6 months or so.

He is learning to communicate a couple words per day it seems like and always surprises me by what he understands (like the sound a bunny makes "sniff, sniff, sniff" or a what a fan does "blow").  He’s constantly trying to say new words, though usually they come out pretty mumbled, “b-ba” for basketball, “appada” means applesauce, “huh-ma” for help me, and “mk” for milk. It’s a good thing I’m around him a lot---most people would have no idea what he’s saying.

His personality is so funny to watch---he is constantly pointing out animals, making animal sounds, reading animal books, and pretending to be one. It never fails to make me laugh. His current favorites are:

Monkey: “ooh, ooh, ooh”

Dog: “Ba(rk), Ba, Ba”

Cat: “mmmow (as is “ow”, that hurt)

Bunny: “sniffing sound”

Cow: “mmmm”

Every once and awhile we’ll get a whinny or cheep from him, too.

In honor of Cow Appreciation Day, we dressed up as his favorite bovines and went to Chic-Fil-A to celebrate with free meals. 

When I put on my headband and told him I was a cow, Liam barked, and then proceeded to make his bunny noise. I think my costume must not have been very good.

We were going to go with our friends Cammie and her son Logan, but we had already left the house when she called to tell me that Logan was ready for a nap.

The time and embarrassment of going by ourselves was totally worth it.  Not only for the food (we paid a total of 3.44 for a kids meal, adult meal, and two shakes for tonight’s dessert), but Liam loved everything about the place.

Seriously, this was Silly Billy’s dream.  He LOVED every bit of his nuggets and chocolate milk, got to play in the indoor playground, got attention from everyone (he was definitely the best-dressed and cutest calf there), but he also got to hang out with his old buddy, the Chic-Fil-A mascot.

Had I known this would have been so exciting for him, we wouldn’t have gone so close to naptime and tried to convince Steve to dress up with us (wouldn’t that be something?).

Moo.

Silly Billyness: “High Five”

Silly Billy is OBSESSED with dogs.  He sleeps with a little stuffed dog and dog blanket, carries around 2 stuffed Dalmatians all over the house, points out pictures of dogs, and barks whenever he hears or sees a dog.   William loves to show pictures of dogs (especially pictures of our dogs) to Kiki, and share his toy dogs with them. It’s really quite amusing and I love that he’s like me in that way (What I don’t like, however, is when he decides to share his food with the dogs by throwing it from his high chair).

Liam recently learned how to give “Hi Fa”s (his words, not mine), and when he saw me telling the dogs to give High Fives, couldn’t be left out. It’s often the first thing he does when he sees the dogs after he’s been sleeping or out of the house.

Enjoy the videos.

High Five

High Five, Nike