3rd family day celebration

i'm embarrassed to say i have a "draft" blog post from MARCH sitting in my blog draft folder! my intentions were are there, but life got is busy! how does anyone keep up writing a blog?! i really need to find another way to keep family & friends abreast our life.

last month (thankfully it's only "last month"!), we celebrated tobe's 3rd family day. "family day" in our household, is the day we physically were united with each other, and allowed to live together as a family. it's the day we "+1" to our family count, even if the letter of the law begs to differ. it's most definitely celebration-worthy, and has and always will be, a very, very special day for us. it's my firm believe that children who enter a family via adoption have WAAAAAAY more celebrations than any biological child!@$%!

anyone who knows our little tobe, knows this kid is an ocean LOVER. he speaks of the monterey bay aquarium as his best friend, and tells his teacher that "we haven't been there in a LOOOOONG time". many a day, his imaginary destination is ... "the monterey bay aquarium" :)

while it would have been easy to return there as our celebration destination this year (we had celebrated our 1st family day there with him), we opted to take him fishing. he's wanted to do it for a while, so was over-the-top excited about it, especially the thought of "catching fish". we definitely needed to **guarantee** that fish were going to be caught that day!

fortunately for us, there are such places that exist; places that advertise "family fishing"! 3 minutes into our our little excursion, there was a bite! what excitement!

we decided to stop once 5 trout were caught. he marveled at how they were killed, gutted & cleaned, and couldn't stop talking about how he caught FIVE fishes that morning!

after our successful fishing adventure, we decided to go to a newly open exploration center. it boasted a sanctuary for "state-of-the art displays, research discoveries and interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to explore the sanctuary's remarkable marine environment", however its marketing was better than what they had to offer. it only reminded our ocean-lover of how he wanted to go to the monterey bay aquarium :)

with some quick thinking and extra ride tickets in the wallet, we decided to venture to the boardwalk. favorite ride? "star fish" :)

per his request, we ended our day by eating seafood. you can only imagine how excited he was to have this LIVE lobster presented to us for approval to cook and eat :)

on a more personal note ... when our worlds intersected 3 years ago, i had no idea how much i would learn from him. he has taught me how to truly marvel at life - sea life, insects, creation (i haven't quite gotten the appreciation for land animals yet :)). his curiousity has moved me to be curious about anatomy and astronomy, things i had ZERO interest in before, but now find fascinating. his gentle rebuke, "mommy, i forgot to remind you, "a gentle answer turns away wrath" (proverbs 15:1)", humbles me to seek forgiveness from him, though i am the "adult". his desire to make lil' A laugh, when he is groggy from waking from a nap, remind me that i too, should show compassion/sympathy/empathy towards other's situations, wanting to bring out the best in people. his simple lens of life (though admittedly is becoming way more complex), remind me that kids have it 'right', and adults have it 'wrong'.

thank you God for gifting tim & i with tobe's life. he could not be more perfect for our family!


more photos from our celebration weekend (back in aug):

2012-08 3rd Family Day Celebration