Hiya, kiddo! Weather is always interesting in Ohio this time of year. A little taste of warmth had you hankering for your scooter again but Mother Nature decided to dump a bit more snow before releasing her icy grip for spring. Womp. Womp. Anyhoo, not one to be deterred, you donned your snow pants and winter coat, grabbed your scooter, and off we went on the trail! I love that we did that. Take that, Mother Nature!
And, yo ho ho! What time of year is it?! It's.....BiRtHdAy TiMe again!!! Numero 11...the big double ones...lucky eleven! I can't believe it. You are getting so big! In our usual birthday fashion, Daddy and I stayed up late and decorated the house for your birthday morning. One of my favorite traditions. And this year we made it a St. Patrick's Day theme to give you a hint about your birthday gift...a family trip to Chicago to sight-see, watch the dyeing green of the Chicago River, and their big parade! Yay...road trip!
Here are some of your decorations. So fun!
Happy birthday, kiddo!
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| Daddy and I love you more than you can imagine |
That night, we had dinner at Billy Lee's and then some birthday cake at home...yum!
A couple days after your birthday, I headed down to Hocking Hills for an afternoon of hiking with Audrey Ayi...my best friend since I was younger than you are now. You might be wondering why I am including this in your blog. Well...one of my wishes for you, call it a birthday wish if you like, is for you to find a friend (or friends) in your life that are as unconditionally loving, accepting, fun, kind, sensitive, sincere, and (maybe most importantly) that you can belly laugh with, as I have found in Audrey. It really only takes one of these kinds of friends to walk into your life and (hopefully) set up camp for years and years, weathering all of life's ups and downs, sharing the burden of your sorrows and celebrating your greatest joys, seeing and loving the real you (always), and (maybe most importantly) able to belly laugh right alongside you at the craziest of times (wait, did I mention that already? hmmm, must be a point to remember! *wink*) I'm so grateful to have Audrey in my life, and now yours, and I just hope you can find this genuinely supportive type of friend for yourself as well. You deserve all the best in your life, including the deepest of loving connections with others. That is my wish for you. Happy #11, Sweetie!
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| isn't Hocking Hills gorgeous? |
The hiking and walking didn't stop there...our trails back home are getting a little brighter lately too.
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| oh my gosh...is that sunshine?! |
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| look how excited Suzy was to not only see sunshine but to see her Lao Lao as well! |
And...of course that means we needed to get a shamrock shake to go with it!
We got into Chi-town super late that night, so we checked in to the hotel and hit the sack. But...the next day we headed out to the Bean! So trippy!
We also found the coolest design-your-own cupcake spot with swings at the counter and guess what the name is...Molly's Cupcakes! (spelled wrong, obviously *wink*, but we still thought it was cool!)
Then we tooled around Navy Pier and the neighboring park where we had a perfect vantage point of the city skyline and the lake. You also decided to get fancy with some trick photography. Cracked us up!
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| Daddy is my tiny leprechaun! |
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| our next album cover? |
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| racing Daddy |
The next morning we walked across the street from our hotel bright and early and watched them dyeing the river green for St. Patrick's Day. We stumbled upon (literally) the perfect viewing spot and it was so cool to watch!
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| the giant boat in the background held a band playing Irish music and from the back is where they sprayed all the green dye |
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| there it goes up river! |
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| such a pretty green |
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to fuel up with breakfast (where two different drummer and bagpipe bands came in to serenade everyone with Irish music. It was so LOUD!)...then off to the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was chaos and crowded...and a little unnerving when the parade was over and we tried (futilely, at times) to get back to the hotel through the jammed up, drunk and crazy throngs of people. After a little back-tracking, we finally made it out and at least now we can say we were there once! It was quite the adventure!
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| this is how happy we were to finally be unstuck from the crazy crowds of people |
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| back near the hotel and posing with the crazy green river |
Later that night at sunset, I convinced you and Daddy to walk down by the river with me to see the city one more time before heading home the next day. I'm so glad we did because just look at that gorgeous view! It was a good night.
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| one of my favorite pictures from our trip |
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| you took this picture of Daddy and me...posing us and everything, ha. |
Anyway, the next series of pictures I will just title..."the snuggle is real". Here, see for yourself.
Our pets sure do love to snuggle, don't they?
Your uncle Forge had his senior thesis exhibit at CCAD this month and I can't believe he is this close to graduating already. Amazing! He is such a talented artist and his exhibit was incredible. I'd try to explain it but I doubt I'd do it proper justice. I highly recommend you ask Forge about his work sometime. He's quite the interesting fellow. So proud of him!
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| about memory, neurons, synapses, and how it's all formed and interconnected |
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| the artist himself |
And...back to more winter. *sigh* I would normally be bummed about a surprise frost on my car...but not when I have awesome window scraping help like this! Thanks, M!
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| a trip to Target always devolves into something like this |
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| an example of how much personal space I typically have at home (and I wouldn't trade it for the world) |
Trip number two this month, as part of your spring break week, was to Niagara Falls, Canada. Our first family trip outside the country with our new passports. It was fun to experience that and the view of the falls from our hotel room was just perfect!
Lunch at the Skylon Tower in their world famous revolving dining room at 700+ feet over the falls. Very cool!
Silly touristy pictures they snagged us into buying after lunch.
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| and our own version of a silly touristy picture with our very own trick photographer - you! (that little yellow oval on the side of the tower was the elevator that took us up to the top) |
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| you and Daddy during our trip *under* the falls |
After the temple, we headed out to Niagara On The Lake for some window shopping, sight-seeing from a horse-drawn carriage and lunch in a local English pub.
Once back near the hotel, you and Daddy headed to a local arcade for some fun and I headed out to stroll around the falls again for some quiet, reflection time. It's my way of recharging. I dropped some stuff off at the hotel and spotted a beautiful rainbow over the falls from our room!
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| trying out the virtual reality game at the arcade |
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| bird soaring over the falls with a rainbow....so peaceful |
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| I just love this picture of a Buddhist monk taking a selfie with the rainbow over the falls while his other Buddhist monk friends/group look on and admire the roaring water |
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| dinner at a local restaurant and you are pooped! obviously |
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| after two trips out of town this month...this dog is not letting me out of her sight for a while |
And per usual...here are a couple Mali-isms from this month as I captured and shared them on my Facebook. You are just my favorite human. Ever.
Finally...I will leave you with this preview.
So, we are considering doing a little something...can you guess what it is?
More to come...
Love you, Mali Moo!
Mama
P.S.
Please look up the following 2 songs:
Have It All (Jason Mraz)
and
Life is Better With You (Michael Franti)
They are mine to you (and Daddy) right now.
xoxo
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