Building on the irony of finding out I’d been accepted into the Air Force the same week we found out about Joaquin, my last night in California before leaving for COT just happened to be Susan’s birthday. We of course had known about this for weeks, but it was still a tough day all around. I tried my best to not be preoccupied with getting everything in order for my departure, but the reality of my leaving hung over everything like a fog.
Nevertheless, we soldiered on. (Pun intended!) After waking up hungry, we raced to our favorite weekend breakfast-burrito spot, Lucky Boy, to get some breakfast. Some of you have experienced Lucky Boy with us before. For those of you who haven’t, your life is incomplete. The ingredients are nothing novel, but the proportions are perfect and the portions are HUGE. It’s two fistfuls of bacon, eggs, hash browns and cheesy goodness. Below is a picture. When Joaquin was a newborn, we took his photo next to one of these bad boys and I think it was bigger than him. If I find that photo, I’ll post that one too so that you can see I’m not exaggerating.
 |
| Mmmm . . . so good! |
After breakfast I ran Susan over to a massage appointment (which she desperately needed), and Joaquin and I had some man-time at home. We spent an hour or so talking football challenging each other to feats of strength and eating contests. (In other words, we watched a Winnie-the-Pooh video he’s already seen ten times and then played the time-honored game of how many toys can Joaquin scatter around the house?)
Joaquin went down for a nap after Susan’s massage so we had a chance to talk about what we wanted to do to celebrate her birthday. We had discussed going to Disneyland or the Huntington, but the weather was gloomy and so, it seemed, were we. We just didn’t feel braving the traffic and crowds. So we decided to do a little after-Christmas-sale shopping at the Americana in Glendale. Susan found a cool military-style diaper bag and little black dress and I found a grey hoodie I’ve been searching for. And Joaquin, well he found his new favorite thing: the water show. When he heard the music and saw the water shooting in the air, he ran out of the store we were in and started freaking out like Pooh himself was doing backstrokes in the fountain outside. It was pretty hilarious.
We then decided to cook dinner rather than go out, so it was off to our favorite grocery-store-slash-hangout, Whole Foods. We bought some filets, tuna, brussels sprouts and wine—and three different kinds of ice cream for dessert. (Including, of course, Susan’s favorite: cappuccino ice cream from McConnell’s.) Dinner was great, and even though Susan had a hard time getting into a celebratory mood, we had a fun night. Joaquin, bless his heart, was just as happy and funny as ever. His new thing is clinking his sippy cup to our glasses when we toast (and sometimes toasting his mama's head, as shown below). And we cracked up when, like a true dessert fiend, he opted for picking up the whole bowl and trying to slide everything into his mouth at once. He is, after all, 50% Klein.
With that, it was off to bed. I’ve got an early wake-up call for a flight to Alabama tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment