Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, I know St. Patrick's Day was last Thursday but we did not get a chance to celebrate until Sunday. We headed over to Tutu and Sir's house for an Irish dinner!

It was POURING rain on Sunday but that did not stop us. I was all ready for the wetness and insisted on putting on my slicker and frog boots for the car ride. Of course I fell asleep. Man, I can sleep through anything!

Tutu is the Irish one in our family. Her Mommy was a full-blooded Irish lady so that makes me about 1/8 Irish. Hey, any little bit counts! Here we are in our St. Patrick's Day shirts. Mine says "Mr. Lucky." I sure am lucky to have an Irish Tutu, that's for sure!
Aunt Marisa, Uncle Mike and Cousin Ella joined us for the festivities. Ella has grown so much since we last saw her and is talking up a storm! We played and played together and "attempted" to share all the toys.

And here I am waiting with Mommy, Daddy and Tutu to eat our dinner. Tutu made us corned beef and cabbage, of course, with homemade Irish soda bread, green jello mold and even a key lime pie for dessert. Almost everything was green!

After dinner, Sir gave Ella and I rides around the living room. Yee-haw!

What an awesome St. Patrick's Day! Thanks, Tutu and Sir, for having us! Erin go Bragh! (that's how you pronounce your allegiance to Ireland...you learn something new every day!)

Happy Birthday, Maggie and Gregory!

On Saturday morning, Mommy, Daddy and I went to celebrate Maggie and Gregory's third birthday. They are my favorite buddies from preschool and it was my first school party (somehow we managed to miss a few others this past year when on vacation or out of town). In fact, if you asked me who my best friend is, I would say "Maggie." And both Gregory and Maggie greet me with a big hug every morning when I arrive at school. So seriously, how could I miss their party?
Thankfully, the weather was a bit chilly but dry so we started out playing at the park. Daddy gave me a ride on the zip line, my favorite playground pastime.

Then he gave Gregory a ride, too. At one point, Mommy had a line going as she lifted kiddo after kiddo up for a ride. So silly!

Mommy tried several times to get a good photo of all of us kids playing together but we all moved too fast for her. You gotta be super fast to catch us three-year-olds!

Here's Gregory and my other friend, Alyssa. We're all in Miss Carrie's class together. I have no idea what Gregory is pointing at. Maybe he saw Elmo or Thomas or something?

After the park, we moved to Maggie and Gregory's house for lunch and bounce house fun! I was in heaven! That's Maggie behind me. We bounced for an hour straight, I bet!

Before we knew it, it was time for cake! Hurray, my favorite part of the party!

Here are the twins with their cakes. Maggie's had princesses on hers and Gregory's had Thomas on his. So cool!

Here's Gregory with his cake and Thomas cake topper. I think he was more interested in playing than eating. His Mommy told my Mommy that he had snuck up on the counter and stole Thomas off the cake that morning. He really likes Thomas, people!

I think Maggie liked the frosting the best. She is all princess!

I attacked my piece and ate every bite. Yum!

Alyssa was a wild woman and picked up her piece and took big bites with her hands. Awesome!

Soon it was time for the fun to end and for me to go home and take a nap. Bye, Maggie and Gregory, and thanks for inviting me to your party. Happy birthday! (P.S. Thanks, Anna and Jeffrey for having us, too!)

A Visit with Pop-Pop's Big Fish

So in case you didn't know, the International Fish and Game Association declared this week that Pop-Pop's 405.2 pound yellowfin tuna did indeed break the world record for the biggest fish of its kind ever caught with bait and tackle. I mean did you have any doubts? Not me. The announcement came at the perfect time since it was the week of the Fred Hall Fishing and Game Show in Long Beach. And it was the debut of "Bob," the model of the big fish. Here's a close-up of Bob. Wow, right? Wait until you see a photo of his whole body.
Mommy was not able to make it to the show on Thursday afternoon for the official press conference but she decided to post a few photos that Mimi took. Here's one of Great-Grammy taking a look at the fish with Vagabond Captain Mike Lackey. I think she is stunned.
And here's Pop-Pop getting his official certificate from the association guy. Cool!
And here are Captain Mike and Pop-Pop with their certificates. They were so proud!
And here's a photo of the group. Aunt Jenn came down for the big event, too! So when we arrived on Saturday afternoon, we could not believe what we saw. Bob is so gorgeous and he has center stage at the official Vagabond booth. That's Captain Mike's fishing outfit.

Here I am with my Pop-Pop taking in all that is Bob. Wow!

The booth also had this neat poster of Pop-Pop and his fish...

And this sign describing the catch.

Because I'm a little guy and Pop-Pop's grandson, we snuck behind the barrier and took a close-up photo. Gotta love it!

Then Mimi arrived. I was quite in awe of Bob.

Our friends, Dele and Terry, came to see Bob, too. Here they are with Pop-Pop taking it all in.

And here's a photo of all of us in front of Bob. Just think, this thing will soon be hanging in Mimi and Pop-Pop's house for me to see anytime I want forever and ever. Mommy has already agreed to take Bob and all his press and awards when Mimi and Pop-Pop pass on. Pop-Pop says "it's in the will." Oh, boy!

OK, enough of Bob. Let's go see the rest of the show!

As Pop-Pop explained, there was "a lovefest" for him and Bob all over the show. Here's one poster we happened upon.

I even got a few trinkets to take home with me. I got a sticker and rubber ducky from a scuba outfit.

And I even got to see a fish. OK, so this one was dead and not as big as Bob but it sure was neat.

And we even did some shopping. Mimi got this hook charm from Pop-Pop's cousin, Michael, so she added a tuna charm to go with it. So now she can show off the fact that she is the wife of the best angler in the world. Pretty neat!

So then it was time for Pop-Pop and Captain Mike to give a seminar. This poster was hanging near the stage. More love for Pop-Pop and the Vagabond crew!

Pop-Pop and Captain Mike talked all about catching the world record fish and how to catch a big fish on your own. People should dream big, right?

It wasn't the most stimulating discussion for a three-year-old like me so good thing I had my magnets with me.

Here's our group watching the show.

Here's Captain Mike telling the story of the famous trip to Baja. It was neat to hear it from him first hand.

Here I am using my water drawing toy. Good thing I packed some distractions, huh?

After the seminar, I had to go give Pop-Pop a big hug. Here he is answering some more questions from a spectator.

Here's one last picture of the group before we left for the night. Pop-Pop's former co-worker, Gloria, and her husband, Ed, came down for the show, too. Gloria is actually a member of a ladies angler club. Neat!

So there you have it. Pop-Pop is definitely a rock star, Bob is really awesome, and we loved being a part of it. What an awesome afternoon! Can't wait to see Bob hanging in his place of glory in Pop-Pop and Mimi's house. He's going to be a part of our family forever!

Potty Talk with Noah

Mommy and I had the following conversation on the way home from preschool the other night...

Mommy: So, Noah, don't you want to ditch those Pull-Ups and wear big boy underwear?

Noah: No.

Mommy: But, Noah, going pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty is the best!

Noah: Ummm...no.

Mommy: But, Noah, everyone wears big boy underwear. Cousin Jack, Sohum, Daddy, Maggie. OK, so Maggie is a girl and wears big girl underwear. The point is they ALL wear underwear and they ALL go pee-pee in the potty. Don't you want to do that, too?

Noah: Old MacDonald had a farm...(clearly, I was trying to change the subject)

Mommy: Noah Hugh, are you listening to Mommy?

Noah: (Crickets...)

Mommy: Noah, you're not a baby anymore. You're a big boy, right?

Noah: Yes, Mommy, I AM a big boy. I not a baby.

Mommy: OK, so big boys go pee-pee in the potty. They wear big boy underwear.

Noah: (More crickets...)

Mommy: You want to be a big boy and wear underwear, right?

Noah: Nope, I'm going to be a baby.

Mommy: Noah, seriously, underwear are so cool...

Noah: No, no, no, Mommy. I no want to talk about it.

Mommy: Argh!

Noah: Argh!

So that went well. Moving right along...

So last night, since we had all had quite a week and it was only Wednesday, we decided to go for ice cream after dinner. Our friend, Terry, gave us a gift certificate to Cold Stone for Christmas and last night seemed like as good a time as any to use it for a treat. I ordered vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries. It was delicious! Thanks, Terry!
But, like always, I had to suffer through eating my favorite dessert. A boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do.
Daddy had to suffer through his ice cream eating, too. Boy, are we silly or what?

It was a particularly clear and starry night so before we went in the house for the night, Daddy decided to try out his star app. You hold it up to different parts of the sky and it highlights the constellations. I don't know what they are but it sure was neat.

I like the moon the best. During the winter, when it was dark when Mommy picked me up from preschool, we would pause and take a moment to locate the moon and talk about it's shape. It became part of our routine. Look, Daddy, it's a crescent. Cool!

OK, so maybe I was not down with all the potty talk this week but I am down with my family. I learned that ice cream fixes most problems and a big hug from your Daddy can help you forget about the pitfalls of being three.

We're going to go visit Pop-Pop's big fish at the fish show on Saturday. I can't wait! Stay tuned...