Spamalot

The Broadway musical, Spamalot is in town. It is based on Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. Duane and I have seen it before and loved it. My regular seats are on the first row of the first balcony. However, a gal in the neighborhood needed to trade days, so I traded tickets with her. Her seats are 4th row orchestra, center. Talk about WOW. We could see Sir Gallahad's spit when he sang! The cast really seemed to be enjoying themselves. One actor messed up a dance move and just walked off stage disgusted, and it was so funny that the Lady of the Lake started laughing. She had to stop singing to compose herself. She even got King Arthur laughing. Later, the Knights Who Say Nee gave the Hook 'Em Horns sign and sang The Eyes of Texas. But the best part was that King Arthur was played by Richard Chamberlain. I remember him as the hunky priest in The Thorn Birds, but my mom remembers him as Dr. Kildair. Anyway, I snuck a couple pictures for my mom (and to remember how amazing our seats were).

Richard Chamberlain - still hunky! (with audience member they pulled on stage)


The Knights Who Say Nee, also sing The Eyes of Texas

Uncle Craig's Birthday

Tomorrow (the 13th) is Uncle Craig's birthday. So, to help him celebrate the family all got together for dinner at Buca di Beppo. Dax helped pick out Uncle Craig's birthday card - it had Thomas the Train on it. We had a good time at dinner, especially when we brought out the cupcakes for dessert. Oh, and when Grandma made the sailor hats. The hats were very cool. Happy Birthday, Uncle Craig!

The Birthday Boy


Mmmm...cup-cakes...

Payton liked her cupcake, too


Thanks for the fun hats, Grandma!

Payton looked more "Dutch" than "sailor"

Uncle Travis, Dax and Payton

Tractor

This morning Dax ran to the front window and started yelling, "ta-to! ta-to!" I figured out he was saying "tractor" when I saw the huge bulldozer/backhoe in front of our house. It seems the city is installing a new lightpole around the corner. So, we packed up and went to watch the digging. Dax was fascinated! I don't know what it is about little boys and construction equipment, but it is magical. We sat on the neighbor's lawn and Dax barely moved for over 30 minutes.

Later, we had lunch with the ladies from the neighborhood. We sat at the "Captain's Table" at PF Changs. The table is in the kitchen so you can see everything that's going on. We thought Dax would like all the activity, but he wasn't really keen on all the noise. He did pretty well, though, especially considering it was past his naptime.

Dax LOVED the "tractor"


Dax's impersonation of a backhoe


At noisy restaurant

Another Great Weekend

Wow - we had a busy weekend. We started off with Duane's flag football game. It was very windy, but we enjoyed hanging out on the sidelines with Nichole and Baby Madison. Dax really likes them. As soon as he saw Nichole, he said "woof" (her last name is Wolf). And for Madison, he does the sign for "baby" and says "woof". He also really liked the Elmo on Madison's diaper.

That afternoon, we had a fun game of football in our front yard. That is, until Daddy kicked the ball and it got stuck about 20 feet up in the tree. Luckily, he was able to get it down and the game went on. We also enjoyed a family walk around the block.

Saturday night we went to the Central Market grocery store. They have a great cafe, a lovely shaded deck, and a huge playground. We met our friends, Jeff and Tracey, and their daughter, Avery, there. Dax LOVES Avery. The feeling seems to be mutual, because as soon as she saw me, Avery said, "where's Dax?" like, "my mom promised me that Dax would be here - you better produce him, lady." After a yummy dinner, there was actually a Zydeco band on the deck. They were a lot of fun and the dance floor was full (mostly kids, but some adults). Dax, however, wasn't dancing. (What? Is that MY child?) He actually just stood there and stared at the musicians. He thought they were so cool (God help us!). Avery tried her best to get Dax to dance, and she got a little out of him. I guess he'll figure out soon enough that girls dig it when you dance with them.

During church on Sunday we put Dax in the nursery. He wasn't too happy about us leaving him. He really worked that bottom lip and the alligator tears. But, apparently he settled down pretty quickly. Until, half-way thru mass we got a call from the nursery. Duane ran over and apparently a mom had come to pick up her kiddo early, which upset the boy that Dax was sitting with, which then GREATLY upset Dax. Dax was sobbing uncontrollably and heaving and sputtering. Poor thing. But, once Daddy was there, he started settling down and he was great by the time they came to sit in the church with me. He enjoyed watching communion, but during the quiet "reflection" time I guess he got bored, so he started reciting, "Momma, DaDa, DaDa, Momma..." quite loudly. Another trip out the back. At least the people in our section were smiling about it.

After church we had lunch at Grandma's with Uncle Travis, Aunt Hollie, and Payton. They're always fun. Later in the afternoon, Duane and I went to a parenting class at church, while Grandma watched Dax. I can tell this is going to be a good class - it's all about choosing the right words to help your kids to listen and to properly express themselves, without losing it yourself. Hopefully we'll get these techniques down now, before he gets super verbal.

We got to test some of our new-found skills at dinner tonight. Dax had a complete meltdown when we sat down to eat. We eventually figured out that he wanted to eat Daddy's taco and not the food on his plate (all the same things, btw). And, putting his food in a tortilla didn't cut it. But, as soon as I got a new tortilla, and made a fresh taco for him, he was fine. Whew. The only tears shed were his. Half success. I guess the Terrible Two's are starting.

with Mrs "Woof"


Dax liked the Elmo on Madison's diaper


Daddy trying to get the football out of the tree

Cool treasure from our walk

Listening to the band with Avery

Avery trying her hardest to get Dax to dance with her

Meals on Wheels, Part II and ChaCha

So, I took Dax on the Meals on Wheels route. I was worried that he'd lose interest, but boy was I wrong. He loved it! We gave him a meal to carry and he lugged it around until we got to the person's door. Then as soon as they opened the door, he walked right up to them and handed them the meal. He really enjoyed helping. And the people were all so sweet to him. They genuinely liked seeing a little one and they really lit up when they were talking with him. When we were done, Dax just kept saying "more? more?" So, it looks like we'll be making this a habit.

Dax also got to meet ChaCha, the macaw today. ChaCha lives a couple houses down from Grandma. Dax liked ChaCha's colors, but he kept his distance. It IS a pretty big bird when you're only 30-something inches tall. But, the rest of the afternoon, Dax would make the sign for bird and start his jibberish rambling and laughing, so I know he enjoyed meeting him.

Our eager helper


Ready to meet a new friend


The people enjoyed meeting Dax as much as he enjoyed meeting them


Checking out ChaCha

Dax's Manly Day

Dax had a "manly" day today. When Mommy took him in to the Apple store, he caught a glimpse of a giant flatscreen monitor on the other side of the store. He immediately dropped what he was carrying, said "Whoooaaa!" and was drawn to it like a moth to a flame (or a man to electronics).



When Daddy came home, he and Dax worked up a "manly" appetite for dinner by exercising. Amazingly, Dax actually did several real, honest-to-God, push-ups.

At bathtime, he again showed his "manly" tendencies. See video below. Let me just say that 1)Duane is very proud of me for posting this, and 2)this WILL be used against Dax in the future - probably to scare off potential girlfriends.

Ahh, the joy of boys. :)

Make sure you have the volume on.

Children's Time and Zilker Kite Festival

Today we went to church at Grandma's church. Dax thought it was fun to wave to Grandma while she was up front with the choir. Then, Grandma actually did the Children's Time part of the service. So, I took him up front for the bible story. At first he sat on my lap, but he noticed the other kids were sitting on the floor, so he scootched down on the floor, as well. Then he figured out, "hey, that's my Grandma telling the story. I want to sit closer to her." He moved up to the first step to get closer. He checked out the view, then decided he should move up to the top step and slide over a little closer. Then, "hey, why don't I help Grandma put that Jesus on the felt board?" "It would be easier if I just stood right in front of her and moved that other piece over to the side, too." Then, he sat as close as humanly possible to Grandma, and looked out over the other children with a look of, "my Grandma and I are so pleased you could join us." What a piece of work. :)

After church we met our friends, the Senns, at their house for brunch. They have two little girls, Tara and Lyla, who played so well with Dax that the grown-ups actually got to have a real conversation. After we ate, we walked over to Zilker Park for the Kite Festival. Last year, Dax slept thru the whole thing, but this year he really enjoyed it. He was fascinated by all the kites. Tara and Lyla tried to show him how to hold the kite string, but he didn't seem too interested in that part. He liked watching, and, of course, running around. We kept him up way past his nap time, thinking he would fall asleep in the stroller, and we could hang out some more. But, he hates to miss anything and, therefore, refused to go to sleep. He was so zoned-out by the end, but he never gave in (at least until the car ride home).

"Helping" Grandma with Children's Time

Learning how to hold a kite from Tara and Mrs Senn


Running with Lyla

Huggies for Joanne


He was fascinated by the kites

Especially the super giant ones


Too tired to even give a "high-5"