I am 55-months old today
NB – Dad is two week behind in posting this.
Hello all!
I hope you are doing well. We are enjoying our summer down here in the great state of Texas! The last month has been jam packed with fun and adventures and we still have two months of summer left! Since I last chatted with you I really have been on the go!
First, we had a visit from my Great Uncle Chaz and Great Aunt Doll from Pittsburgh. They could not believe how much both Cara and I have grown since last year! While they were here we celebrated my cousins Abbie’s 8th birthday! (I am not sure how many months that is, but I think it is a lot!) I attended a week of “Space Camp” at a local preschool where my Aunt Beth did her internship last year. I really liked it and learned a lot. Mommy was quite impressed with the space suit I made and that I was able to tell her about “craters” on the moon. Yea School!
We took a trip south to Austin for my Dad’s election. He had to be in Austin for the Libertarian Party convention. Of course it was a great excuse to visit my Uncle Mike and Aunt Melinda! We met up with them to watch the World Cup – U.S. v. England match – what a good time. And that began my fascination with the World Cup and soccer. I have followed it very closely and have learned a lot about other countries. I have learned what a “draw” is and that “nil” means “0.” I thought Brazil’s flag looked a lot like Neptune (must be the carryover from Space Camp!). We also visited the Austin Children’s Museum.
Father’s Day was nice and relaxing. We got out the slip and slide, which Cara and I loved! Aunt Beth, Grandma and Grandpap came over later that evening and we had a nice big meal together to celebrate.
Mommy likes to take a practice vacation before our big vacation. Austin was our practice for our big trip out West. We headed to California for a week at the end of June. Daddy had work, so Mommy thought we should “tag-a-long.” There were so many fun and new things, it is hard to list them all. I do like my hotel rooms and we stayed at an Embassy Suites (ok by me, it is part of the Hilton family). We visited the Children’s Discovery Center in Santa Ana as well as Downtown Disney. We made it up to the Long Beach aquarium, which was really awesome. Also, while in the LA area we made it to an Angels game (where the All-Star game will be this year) and a Dodgers game. We then ventured a bit east to the town of Temecula where Mommy had friends. Also, her good friend 
Karen came down to see us and spend the weekend with us. From there, we drove to San Diego and stayed at the Hotel del Coronado. Staying at this hotel was one thing Mommy has always wanted to do. It sits right on the ocean and it was wonderful. The weather was a little cooler than we were used to, but we managed to stay warm! We also went to a Padres game while in San Diego – three MLB ballparks in five nights! WOW! Was that fun. I have visited 14 different ballparks over the years. I wonder where we will go next. We had a super nice visit from a friend of Mommy’s who she knew when she was in 8th grade who lives in San Diego now. The New San Diego Children’s Museum was terrific and probably one of the best children’s museums we have been to.
But, alas it was time to return home and get back into our “normal” routine … BUT, we had a parade float to plan! For my Daddy’s campaign, we had a float in Plano’s Independence Day parade! It was so much fun! We handed out campaign literature to people along the route and fun stuff to the kids. If you would like to learn more, visit www.electkless.com. Oh, Mommy dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, that was pretty fun too. I kept telling her I wanted to dress up as a hockey player, but she said I was getting my holidays mixed up!
We went to a Minor League baseball game for 4th of July night and watch fireworks. I don’t really like fireworks, but I did pretty well and wore earplugs and covered my eyes. I have been swimming a lot at Grandma’s house and Mommy took us to the splash park with our friends this last week. The weather has been really strange here. We have had more rain than we normally do, which has been nice because it kept it a little cooler. Unfortunately we lost a tree in our front yard in one of the storms and it was while we were away. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpap came over and cut it up and moved it for us. We also had to replace our downstairs AC and had an ant infestation – talk about a lot happening at once!
Grandma took me to see Toy Story 3 yesterday, I liked it. When I was going to bed last night I told Mommy that “Andy goes away to college in the movie.” Not sure, but I think that made Mommy a little sad to think about. Time sure does fly.
My sister Cara is doing well. She is 20-months old now and with my help was a good traveler! She liked to look out the window on the plane and enjoyed exploring the hotel rooms. She just rolls with it according to Mommy. She continues to talk and just this week has started saying her name! She said “grandma” over and over on Christmas Eve, but hasn’t said it since … until yesterday! What a big girl. She goes up and down the stairs alone and loves to sing along. Mommy takes her to Gymboree class every week where she has her own group of friends. Cara even got invited to someone’s house to swim! She does love the water. She sticks her legs straight out behind her like she is getting ready to swim off. Cara loves her books and stuffed animals. She can make all the animal sounds and likes playing with Legos almost as much as me!
As you can imagine there are a lot of pictures and memories from this last month. Here are the links so you can browse at your leisure.
http://picasaweb.google.com/christine.kless/CaliforniaTrip# - California trip
http://picasaweb.google.com/christine.kless/IndependenceDayParade?feat=email#5489779561658543922 – parade photos
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1449-Dallas-Libertarian-Examiner~y2010m7d8-Nobody-rained-on-LPs-Plano-parade - our float and parade participation covered in an online news source
Until next month,
Love, Sean