Choo Choo! Archer turns Two Two!

Well Wednesday is the day...Archer turns two. Two, as in "The Terrible Twos". Aaahhh! But I'm optimistic and am hoping for more of a terrific two stage. We shall see how it plays out. We celebrated his birthday this weekend with a train party (or "choo choo" party as Archer calls it.) Choo choos are the in thing in this house for sure so nothing else would work for this birthday boy.

We invited a handful of friends to join us at Balboa Park in San Diego. We played on the playground, ate train-shaped sandwiches, and even rode the Miniature Railroad. Aunt Jill and Uncle Matt joined us, along with the Mitzner family, the Washington family, and the Wackerman family. It was a fun group! The kids all got engineer's hats and train whistles, which I'm pretty sure their parents all planned to "lose" between the park and home.

It was all great but the train was definitely the highlight. Archer cried and cried when our ride was over; he wanted "more choo choo". It's tough to be (almost) two. Below he's checking out his birthday brownies, complete with a miniature train, which quickly became the "it" toy.

He didn't like it when we sang Happy Birthday to him. He cried and said "all done, all done!" hahaha! I guess he doesn't like to be the center of attention.

Below are a few more shots from our day. It was so much fun; the only thing that could have made it better was if Dad was home to party with us! I can't believe Archer's already two. It's been quite a couple of years. Here's hoping he goes easy on me for the next two (or more!)

Firecrackers

The boys and I had a good, if low key, 4th of July in Coronado. I had grand plans for a day full of activities but the weather was a bit dreary and naps ran long so we only got a little celebrating in. But that's okay by me! I'm less tired today because of it. The highlight was the Coronado 4th of July parade, which runs all the way down Orange Ave, the main drag in Coronado. Aunt Jill and Uncle Matt joined us, which was nice. The parade is a big deal in Coronado; this is a patriotic town! Jill and I actually got up before 5am to go stake out a spot on the parade route. Good thing we did or we never would have seen a thing, although some bold people felt that they could encroach on our spot once the parade started. Grrr! The parade was good but long! We actually cut out early but still got to see lots of military displays, firetrucks and police cars, and the highlight of the parade for Will...the San Diego Star Wars Society. It was pretty cool to see Will's face light up when the Storm Troopers came by. Nothing quite says "Independence Day" like Star Wars. :)

We didn't make it to see the fireworks last night. 9pm is a little late for these monkeys...and it's not like they'd sleep in the next day to make up for it! But I could see the fireworks over Glorietta Bay from our balcony so it wasn't a total loss. We were definitely missing Dad all day yesterdays; holidays and birthdays are the worst during deployments (Keith will miss all of our bdays this summer too...boo!) But we managed to make the most of it! We've got a big celebration coming up this weekend too. We'll be celebrating Archer's birthday with a train party. Check back for pics from his Choo Choo, I'm Two Two Birthday!