Excursions

This weekend we kept it light on planning because we knew Luke would be exhausted from the school week, a sleepover, and his soccer game, so we wanted to give him a chance to rest up. But Zach needs constant activity so that he is worn down enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour. So we split up: Dave with Zach and me with Luke.

Fortunately, Dave had the brilliant idea to take Zach down to see the Goodyear blimp at its landing spot. Unfortunately, the full experience of watching the blimp take off was so electrifying for Zach that he could not contain himself for the 24 hours following. He was too excited to take a nap yesterday, and I'm sad to say that he woke up at 1:30 am and was essentially awake for two more hours, not sad or sick, just wanting to talk more about the blimp. His little monologue went on and on about the blimp going up, and the pilot driving it, and the motor going 'brrrrm' and the blimp flying over the trees... and about how he and Daddy went to eat chicken and rice and mushrooms (they had Chinese food at Panda Express). Obviously it made a big impression. Oh, and I'll spare you the three-minute video of the blimp taking off that Dave and Zach have been watching ad nauseam.

Anyway, he's so excited about blimps these days that he keeps saying he wants to be a blimp for Halloween. (Next year?) He also told us the other day, "Christmas is coming... I want to be a blimp... for Halloween." He is king of the non-sequiturs if nothing else.

Brief aside: Dave and I are running out of ways to speak in code with each other, now that Luke essentially knows how to spell most words that refer to things he likes (c-a-n-d-y, etc.). So today we had talked about taking the boys to the pool at the gym, but when it was clear they were both too tired, Dave said to me, "So it looks like we should not plan a trip to the... natatorium."

Today I drove Luke 30 miles to Glendale, home of the nearest Lego store. When we finally got to the mall after driving for 45 minutes, he asked, "Do they still speak English here?"

I wanted to go to the Lego store because it's the best place to buy loose bricks for creative building. And to visit this store, you would never know that we were in a down economy. It was mobbed with kids, parents, grandparents, you name it, all in one long line to buy Legos.

Luke was so happy to be there that he was bouncing the whole way home. "You know mom, I think when I grow up I'm going to live with you."
"Well, what about if you get married and you want to have a house with your wife?"
"Well, I could move next door to you. Except - wait - Pat and Geraldine have their houses there. Maybe I could just build a new house in some extra space, like next to Geraldine's house."
"On the street?"
"Well, we could figure something out..."

That's my builder.