The Boy is One!

Yesterday was the first birthday for Adam Michael. One year old already… and the time flies by. Today he took four steps before falling, so it won’t be long before he’s running right after Paul and walking on my head to wake me up in the morning... like Paul. But here are a few pictures of his day, which went as you’d expect a first birthday would go: too many presents that he’ll never remember, and too much cake for the rest of us. Seriously though, thank you to everybody for the presents, the love, and for just thinking of this little boy on his first big B-Day!

Yeah, balloons!! Wait, aren't these things extremely dangerous for children under a certain age? Uh, forget you saw this picture...

Would you like some cake, sir? Well yes, don't mind if I do. Will there be any ice cream? Only if you're mother hasn't eaten it all by now. Alright then, no ice cream.

What? Isn't it normal to smear cake all over the floor when you eat it? It's performance art...

Birthday time means... TOYS!! AAAAAHHHH!!! Toys, toys, TOYS!!

YES!! Thank you! Thank you! You truly are the best fans in the world! I'm so glad you enjoyed the cake eating! Come back next year, please!

Gotta love a good birthday! Let's do this again next year! Oh wait, we have to do this again in like two months...

The Cherries are blooming...

With this mess in Washington concerning the budget, a possible shutdown, and left vs. right-side politics, the boys thought they ought to go down to Capitol Hill and set things straight. So that’s just what they did. Ok, maybe not, but they did go down on a sunny day to enjoy the cherry blossoms… kind of. Around the capitol it was nice, warm, and plenty of parking. Around the tidal basin where most of the trees are, it was another story. But we did get to see a little bit of it, sitting in the row of cars trying to get through the winding mess of tight roads that is the National Mall. But hey, now we say we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Kind of.

Yep, those are the blossoms. They're pretty much just flowers on a tree. Who would have known?

Adam didn't care either way, he was just happy to see the sun after the long cold winter.

We tried to get Paul to have a good time, but he was too stressed out over where we could possibly find room to make another $38 billion in cuts and still afford to buy him something from the Target toy aisle. Thankfully, they figured it all out Friday night, and all is now right in his world.

Back Home for a moment...

So we went home to Montana last month. It was the first time I’d been back in over a year, and the first time my whole family was together at home in almost five years. It was a house full of people, a lot of noise, and a week that disappeared all too fast… as vacations normally do. But it was great to be home, and great for everyone to be together, since it’s something that doesn’t happen all that often unfortunately. A lot of photos were taken, but most of the people in them already have those pictures, but here are just a few from the family reunion:

Everybody look at the camera! Not always an easy thing to do...

A few more people in the photo compared to the last time we were all home together.

And I had to include this photo as proof that Hobbits do exist outside of fantasy books.

As I said, it went by too fast, but hopefully it won't be as long until the next time we all get to spend some time together.