Seek The Substantial

I think Fitsum officially understands Halloween.  I remember last year and he didn’t have a clue what was going on.  He had on a costume, last year it was Elmo, and he walked up to people’s doors and we went back and did it again.  It is amazing how much he’s learned in a year and how I didn’t have a clue what he thought about us or anything we do.

So this year he was Max, from the book, Where the Wild Things Are.  These are just a couple of photos, but he was incredibly cute.

Then we went to the zoo and that was also pretty awesome.  Last year we went to the Dallas Zoo in January and he didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.  We always thought that he was disinterested in things, but that’s not true at all.  There was just this barrier as to who we were, how we were communicating and trying to figure out what we thought.  We could have been better parents.

Because I am crazy, we got to the zoo as soon as it opened, I think at 9:00 am.  We were worried because Fitsum woke up at 4:30 that morning and we weren’t sure if he was going to make it through the day.  We should never doubt Fitsum’s ability to make it.

He wanted to ride in the stroller. This never happens, so we took advantage of that.

This was merely a second that he wanted to be on the elephants. He had no interest in being on these bronzed animals for very long as you can tell he’s contemplating how he’s going to get down.

Elephants!

Giraffes!

Cheetahs!

Gorillas!

Rhinoceros!

And even though it has been two weeks, he can’t stop talking about how he got to ride the cheetah on the carousel. Fitsum misses the zoo.

Sweet Sweet went to quilt camp this weekend, which meant that Fitsum and I got to hang out all weekend. On Friday night we ate at my parents.

Then on Saturday morning we took the recycling and we went to the park.

Then we came home, had a frozen pizza and hung out in the backyard.

It is Fits and I hanging out at home today and we like BBQ sauce.

I cannot tell you how lucky we were and I cannot tell you how much fun we had. There was a tropical storm that could have headed towards Gulf Shores or it could have headed to Florida, but thankfully, we were spared a ton of rain. There was some wind, but the rain traveled to the East and Gulf Shores was a bit windy, but it was good.

We arrived on Sunday and we were set to leave on Friday. Sunday was windy and cloudy and the waves were high. The flags outside of our condo were both red, which is not good. Thankfully, things improved:

Our condo was nice. Small, a one bedroom two bathroom apartment and we were 12 floors up. It was big enough for us as a family and there was a kitchen were we could make lunch and breakfast.

Fitsum was not afraid.

Fitsum had these sunglasses for all of 10 minutes.

Sweet Sweet got Fitsum this floating device, which was funny. I also infuriated my wife by wearing this shirt to protect me from getting sunburned. As I told her, I don’t care about being tan at this point in my life.

Here is Sweet Sweet and Fitsum and my wife looks beautiful.

And Fitsum very much enjoyed playing in the sand

By the end of the trip, the water was clear and beautiful. There was the beach, and then about 20 feet from the beach, there was a sandbar where you could stand ankle-deep in water and so the beach and the sandbar created a nice three foot pool where Fitsum could float and play and we didn’t have to worry ourselves to death thinking something awful was going to happen.

This was the scene from the end of the trip.

We couldn’t have had a better time. I got to eat a ton of seafood. Sweet Sweet got to go to the beach. Fitsum got to build sandcastles. Win. Win. Win.

I am constantly amazed about how little I write here and it’s becoming depressing. Previously, it was because I didn’t have enough time and that’s still the case to some extent. The other reason is that I just find other things to do. But it’s seems disingenuous to not keep this up because this is supposed to be me tracking our journey with Fitsum. And as I type this, Fitsum comes into the room saying, “Hi, Daddy. Hi, Daddy. Hi, Daddy. Hi, Daddy.”

So this is our first family vacation. My wife planned the entire trip and so she gets all of the credit. The first leg of our trip was a drive to New Orleans, where my wife had never been before. She thought it would be fun, and it was. We stayed in a really terrific hotel downtown that was within walking distance to Canal Street and we had a good time.

Fitsum and I at the Mississippi River:

Sweet Sweet and Fitsum in Jackson Square:

Taking a ride on a horse-drawn carriage:

The funny thing about this experience is that we sat up front, and Fitsum is going through this phase where if someone is yelling, he’ll yell back. The drive was having to speak up so that everyone could hear him, so Fits just yelled jibberish the entire ride. Awesome.

We also had a really nice dinner at a brewery. I had my very first soft shell crab and it was great. We were a tad bit desperate because Fitsum was getting a bit cranky. Nevertheless, we had a really good time.

Next stop is Gulf Shores and that’s were we pick up next.

This was your Memorial Day.

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Good times.

I can’t imagine that Fits doesn’t already know this, but he is an incredibly tough sob of a gun. A veritable handful. You are tough. You gave a one track mind and you are the most rewarding kid that I can imagine.

This was taken at Greg and Courtney’s house and the vehicle is Morgan’s.

Took a walk.

And now it is snack time. Starting to get this down.

He put in the hat all by himself.