Papa's Birthday 02.16.11

Dear Elijah,

Yesterday was Papa's birthday.  You and I had so much fun singing "Happy Birthday" on his voicemail at work to surprise him.   Nonna picked you up early and we went grocery shopping to get him a birthday cake, candles, and ice cream.

Here are a few pictures of Papa's special birthday:

Elijah helped Nonna pick out this beautiful cake ...

We chose one that had chocolate cake, chocolate filling, and 

sprinkled with coconut and almonds. 

You were such a good helper in putting all the candles on 

the cake in a special order so they looked nice.  You are also very careful not to 

touch once Nonna lit them so you didn't get burned.  

This is Papa surprised when he saw the beautiful cake we got him...

Papa made a wishand blew out all his candles.   He thought we had used

some trick candles since he didn't get them all out in one breath.

That's ok, we know he is getting older... ha ha ha :-) 

Afterwards, Nonna served us a BIG piece of cake with 

Cookie Dough Icecream.   Both Papa and you were very Happy. 

One more thing... We also gave him a gift certificate to "Best Buy"

 so he could buy a couple of music CDs that he loves.  

Little Drummer Boy

Dear Elijah,
You were such a good boy getting dressed for school today that we had extra time to spare before we left.   You asked if you could play Papa John's drums, and I let you.   You had such a good time being "Little Drummer Boy".   Here are a few pictures I snapped of you this morning....

Hiking @ Corrigan Park !

Dear Elijah, 

On Valentine's Day we went for a hike @ Corrigan Park.   You had so much fun running around acting like a little boy.  

Here you are checking out a tree trunk... 

You and Papa were pretending like you were swimming  while we were walking... 

You were also wearing your "Little Ranger" Backpack...

It was a beautiful day and you loved all the trees... 

You were so funny when you grabbed onto Papa's legs ... 

Here you are inside a hollowed out tree... 

Relaxing ... 

Hiking under the bridge... 

Gathering rocks to throw... 

Papa was cracking up laughing as you used your bottom to 

schootch down the ravine... 

Next thing I noticed you decided to roll your way down... 

Then you had John join you... 

Here you are throwing rocks... 

Papa teaching you how to throw rocks... 

Resting for a bit... 

More hiking... 

All tired out ... Papa carries you ... 

A perfect ending to a perfect day ! 

Peacocks

Dear Elijah,

Yesterday, Papa took us for a drive to see Peacocks on a local Ranch.   They were all running around, crossing the street and having a good old time.

Here are the 3 Amigos ... 

Peacock Crossing ... 

Such beautiful birds...

Beautiful feathers...

The Guard-Dog on the Ranch ...

Guard-Dog watching over the Peacocks... 

A Day @ The Park

Dear Elijah,
Since Nonna and Papa were off today, we decided to head to the park to have a picnic and play a little.   Here are a few pictures I took of you today:

Valentine's Day lunch in the Park 

with Nonna and Papa 

You like to climb like a Monkey.   Here

You are climbing over a fence.   You climb good

but make Nonna very nervous... 

Papa has fun on the Teeter-Totter with you ... 

Papa made it so you jumped off your seat when you 

were in the air.  You loved it ! 

Papa puts you on the spinning toy... 

Then Papa jumps on and round and round you go... 

Once you got off you were so 

dizzy you couldn't stand up.  

You kept falling down and laughing...

You love slides... 

You noticed another park down the way 

that is for "big kids" so off you ran to 

check it out... 

Next to the "Big Kid" park they had a fountain with 

lots of ducks... 

You like this slide better since it is so much bigger... 

You are all boy... You like climbing the 

slide backwards even better... 

You are good at it too... You made it all the 

way back up to the top... 

Papa decides he is going to go down the slide

with you ... 

As you can tell by the huge smiles on your face, 

you really had a great time... 

Papa teaches you how to climb down a pole... 

And down you go ... 

A wonderful holiday and a wonderful 

day at the park... 

Given the Valentine's Day is for love and happiness, 

I couldn't help but post a picture of a beautiful old couple

who were enjoying this wonderful

 holiday in the park too.