A day at the beach

We were in Southern California this last weekend for a funeral.  It was a beautiful service for my cousin Austin, who was killed in a van accident while on a study abroad in New Zealand.  However, going to a funeral for a 21 year old young man who had everything going for him is not something I want to be part of very many times in my life. 

On our way out of town, we stopped at the beach.  Since we visited Santa Cruz back in January, Mitchell often talks about going to the ocean.  Almost every day when Todd comes home and asks Mitchell what he did that day, Mitchell almost always says, "did you [he means 'I'] go to the ocean?" And whenever I ask him if he had any dreams the night before, he usually replies, "did you dream about the ocean?" So obviously we couldn't be on a beach-front community without going to the ocean.

Mitch went crazy running in and out of the waves.  He loved it, and it's so rewarding to see him have such fun! The weather was so nice in SoCal, it made me almost want to live there.  I mean, how could you ever be bored? You always have the ocean as an option. Hmmm....we'll see. I'm not too crazy about California, but I don't know.  SoCal cast a spell on me.

Big smile on his face!

Mitch wasn't scared at all being buried in the sand.  He was pretty cold, so the sand felt good!

Mitch's first picture that turned out!

1000 Days of Mitchell

As of Mother's Day 2012, Mitchell has been alive for 1000 days! The day before, in celebration of Mitchell and Todd finishing up his PhD classes (as in, he never has to take a class again! he can focus 100% on his research!) we took a trip to Gilroy Gardens. The park itself is alot of fun, especially for younger kids.  However, Mitch is new to the wonderful world of "waiting in line."  Poor buddy had a hard time.  It didn't help that we forgot the stroller. Fail.
However, we got season passes and hopefully he can grow a little more patient as we make more trips to the "fun place" (as Mitch calls it). Although his version of patience is counting to 20...he literally counts to 20 when I tell him to be patient, and fully expects a reward once the seconds are up. We're working on that too. 
In his own words, his favorite rides were "the goldfish ride" and the "horse ride" and the "strawberry ride."