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Joshua & I went to the White House yesterday to watch President Bush’s all star tee-ball game on the south lawn. It was an invitation extended to military families that a friend of mine found out about. In addition to the players & their families, only 200 guests were invited so it was a pretty intimate event. My friend April & her son Jay joined us & we ran into Lindsay, another friend from the spouses club. Kenny Chesney sang the national anthem & ”Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (I didn’t recognize him without a hat). The little players were adorable—there were 51 little 5-7 year olds, one from each state & the district. Each of the 4 teams had a turn at bat & playing in the field, with no score kept. Joshua & Jay behaved very well & played nicely together most of the time (although it helped when we gave them plenty of snacks to keep quiet & still!). Since he doesn’t believe in being still, Josh ran around for much of the event to explore the grounds. I was afraid that the secret service was going to run after us when Joshua tried his hardest to get into the fountain—I managed to stop him in the nick of time but I’m afraid he damaged one of the surrounding plants when he climbed over it! Even though I disagree with his politics, it was neat to see the president & first lady in person. We didn’t brave the mad rush of people to get their photos or autographs after the game, but instead had cookies & drinks at a little reception. When they grow up, Joshua & Jay will even get to say that they had their diapers changed on the south lawn of the White House!
Our Independence Day didn’t quite go as planned. Poor Joshua developed the sniffles the night before & then woke up on the 4th with a cough. Not thinking much of it, we went out to eat breakfast to start the holiday off right. Joshua threw up right as I parked the car. Needing to get out & clean up anyhow & since he seemed to feel OK, we went in to eat. Josh seemed just fine until the afternoon when he developed a fever. I cancelled our BBQ plans & we put him down for a nap. After his nap, he was pretty lethargic (a mom’s description, not a medical description according to Erick) & his fever spiked even higher. We called the after hours peds number & were told to take him in to the ED right away. That was the start of our long evening at Walter Reed.
Erick got home a couple of weeks ago—yeah! We are glad to have him back so we’re a complete family again. Even though Erick’s still at work most of the time, we’ve managed to have some fun times when he’s able to break away. We’ve gone to the park to ride the train & carousel that Joshua loves, gone to a picnic & a BBQ, & even found a cool new park that’s just up the street from our house (I have no clue how I managed to not know about this before, but I plan to make up for it by walking to the park regularly when the weather’s good). Erick had a big first last weekend—he actually took Joshua somewhere all by himself!!! I worked on Saturday & Erick really needed to get something from the PX, so that meant he had to take Josh with him. He got a glimpse into how things are running around with a toddler, although I personally think he wimped out at the end because he decided not to go to the commissary (which is in the same building & we really needed to groceries!) & went directly home instead. But it’s a start, after nearly 23 months of having me always there to help out or take over as needed. Fortunately, Joshua behaved nicely, per Daddy’s report, so I am hoping that this will give Erick the confidence to go out with Joshua more often on his own. Wouldn’t that be nice? 
I swear, my son is the cutest thing ever. He’s discovered that it’s fun to pretend to be a teacher & read to his stuffed animals. Joshua will point to the pictures & hold up the book to make sure all the animals can see the books. For the “touch & learn” books (like Pat the Bunny, where you pet the fur on the animal, etc.), he will even take his stuffed animals’ hands so they can feel the textures on the pages. We have a little potty seat in our living room for the beginning stages of potty training & he’ll sit on it every now & then. When I tell him that Baby Bear needs to go potty, he’ll run & put him on the seat. Hopefully that’s a good sign that he’ll be ready for more potty training soon!
Joshua decided tonight that our couch was just a little too plain-looking. While I was cooking dinner, Josh was playing nicely & quietly (or so I thought). I went to get him when things were ready to eat, only to discover that he’d found a ball-point pen in the toy box & was coloring all over one of his books, the couch, & his (new) shirt. He was playing happily until I pried the pen from his hand, at which point the little guy threw a fit. He then refused to eat dinner—at least initially. Now he’s in bed & I’m online researching how to remove ink stains from fabric…
Other than tonight, things have been fairly normal since we’ve gotten back, with the exception of frequent power outages from the weather. Fortunately, they haven’t lasted longer than a few hours at a time but they’ve come at bad times (as if blackouts can really come at a good time). Last night, I’d just put dinner in the pre-heated oven when the electricity shut off. I hadn’t had time to fully restock the kitchen so all we had needed some sort of power to heat up, & Joshua started asking for food. After distracting Josh with a few puffs & raisins, the power eventually came back on & dinner plans proceeded as before. Even though we haven’t even been back in Maryland for a week, I’m already looking forward to leaving (sorry to those of you who live here & love it—I’m a wimp in regards to inclement weather). Less than a year until Erick graduates & we may get transferred elsewhere.
We went to the park down the street to meet friends for a playdate at the carousel. Joshua enjoyed riding a horse & zebra, however his little friend Will did not. Will hadn’t been on a carousel before & it seems he’s got awhile to get used to the idea of one. Later, the boys played on the crowded playground & managed not to get run over too many times by the big kids. Today, we went to another spouse’s house for a SSC event & Josh tried his best to destroy her house. He’s such a curious little boy—to a fault! The host didn’t mind his curiosity & said it was a good babyproofing lesson for her 4-month-old. Maybe I should rent him out…
Our last week in California was great, but I’m glad to be home. The day after our trip to Disneyland, we ended up going to the Wild Animal Park in the San Diego area with Erick’s uncle Bob. We didn’t make it all that far because Joshua wanted to mainly run around & play rather than explore the further away areas in the stroller. That was fine with us, though. We saw lots of birds & several apes. Joshua now knows how to make the “gorilla sound” by pounding on his chest, which is adorable to watch. After the zoo, we met up with Kerrie & Amy, a couple of my friends from UCSD, for dinner. Josh enjoyed playing with Amy’s kids & their toys (as a mom of 2, Amy is well-experienced with taking along lots of diversions with them to restaurants). Then we got together with my friends Kelly & Iris the next day & then Josh finally got to meet Jon, fondly nicknamed “the furry man.”
We’ve had a couple of pretty magical days in the last week. Pranav’s wedding was beautiful & the weather went from slightly sprinkling in the morning to hot & sunny by the afternoon—totally perfect for the outdoor receptions that overlooked the Pacific from a Malibu estate! It poured a lot the day & night before so we were worried that it wasn’t going to turn around, but it did just in time (Mother Nature redeemed herself!). Joshua stayed with Dad at Adam’s place for 13 1/2 hours—the longest we’ve been apart since he before he came home from the hospital (quite a momentous day for me). Dad survived with flying colors & said that Joshua was very well behaved. The ceremonies were very nice & I especially enjoyed watching the Hindu festivities involved with that ceremony. Unfortunately, I had to leave early because Malibu was quite a long drive from home & I needed to get back to my little guy before he went to bed. I’m not emotionally prepared to miss out on bedtime quite yet.
Mother Nature sure has a sense of humor. We’ve had all sorts of weather on this trip so far, from snow & hail in Oregon to flash floods in Hawaii, but the last week has sure been different. The warm weather that was predicted turned out to be super-hot weather. The highest temperature we noticed on our drive down was 108, with 90 being about the lowest (in the shade). Because it was so hot out, we didn’t make many stops like we’d planned, so we ended up getting to Adam’s in 2 rather than 3 days. We stopped in Rice Hill, Oregon for ice cream (a Royer tradition—there’s a small shack 100 miles south of Salem that sells cheap & huge ice cream cones that are super yummy, so we stop pretty much every time we’ve driven by). Then we went to Lithia Park in Ashland so Joshua could play at the park where I have fond memories playing. It was a shorter stop that I’d hoped because it was 96 degrees & we were wearing long pants & long-sleeved shirts. But Joshua still had fun running around & playing with all the sticks he could find. On the 2nd morning, we stopped in Stockton at a children’s museum where we met up with Judith, our good friend. Judith & I got to catch up while we watched Joshua play. It would’ve been fun for all of us if we couldn’t spent the whole day there, but we had to cut things short to continue on our drive south so that we could make it to Adam’s before it got too late. We made one more stop for gas & lunch at In & Out Burger (yum!), but otherwise just drove the whole rest of the way. We were welcomed to LA by the wonderful stop & go traffic on the 405 (Friday evening rush-hour traffic, no less!). But thankfully they keep expanding their carpool lane so it wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past. There was still some daylight left when we pulled up to Adam’s place so we got to visit for awhile before settling in for the night.
We’re off to the last destination of our long trip—Southern California! We had a nice visit in Oregon with my mom for a week & then with Erick’s family for a week. In Oregon, we visited with several of Mom’s friends so she could show off her grandson. We went to Enchanted Forest the other day to show Joshua the miniature theme park where I went growing up. Joshua got to go on his first roller coaster, Ice Mountain. It was a small version of Disneyland’s matterhorn ride. My friend Joy’s daughter Jaiven wanted to ride it but no one else wanted to, so I told her that Josh & I would go with her. Josh sat in my lap with Jaiven in front of us. After the first fast downhill & turns, Joshua ended up backward, hugging me. He enjoyed the rest of the ride once we were in each others’ arms. I guess we’ll wait awhile before going on any more roller coasters for awhile. We even got to meet Roger Tofte, the man who created Enchanted Forest years ago & still works there today (he even used to work for my dad a long time ago!). Later that week, we went to Portland to see my step-brother Rocky & his family. I hadn’t seen him in many years so it was nice to get to catch up finally. Rocky has a 7-year-old son, Cody, & a beautiful wife, Melissa. They recently bought a house & are renovating it themselves. Joshua had a blast playing with Cody & their chihuahua—so much fun that he would laugh until he cried, & then laugh again until he fell down from laughing so much. I swear, we’re really going to have to get him a pet one day.
We got back to my dad’s place this morning after a very long night. Our last weekend in Hawaii was great. The 3 of us drove to Ko Olina to swim at the beach. There are 4 man-made lagoons that make for nice calm water. Josh enjoyed playing around despite the occasional shiver from the somewhat chilly ocean. Then on Saturday, we went to Waikiki for breakfast at Duke’s & then one last trip to the beach. I decided to let the boys go swimming together for some father-son time. Of course, they had a fun time & completely forgot about the time—an hour later, they remembered I was sitting in the park all by myself & came to join me.
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