Houston Visit

We went to visit our Houston family this past weekend. Joel had a great time at the splash pad at Niccole's apartment. He was so brave, too brave, running through the sprinklers and then straight into the kiddie pool.
Afterwards, we went to dinner with Thomas and Jessica and had a good time although it was usually at my expense. Benny and Thomas went to a Dynamo's game afterward so Joel and I went back to Niccole's to relax.
The next day we all met Grandma Doris for breakfast. It was so nice to see her, but it makes me sad. She's getting older and I wish Joel knew her better since she has always been such a huge part of my life. Then we finally said goodbye to Niccole and went to Rhea's daughter's 1st birthday party. It was great catching up with her- I can't believe we've been friends for 20 years! When did I get old enough to have a friend for that long? Sheesh. Rhea's kids are so cute and that little Stella is as sweet as can be. There were a lot of little kids there and Joel thought he owned the place. He wasn't being too shy and he was having fun pulling on the strings of the balloons hanging in the air.
Overall we had a great little mini-trip to Houston and Joel was great. He made it through both Saturday and Sunday without his usual nap and wasn't fussy at all. He slept for about an hour in the car each way, but otherwise he just enjoyed looking out the window or talking to himself :)
He has started to mimic when we say, "One, two, three!" The one is hard to make out, but the two is pretty clear, and the three is usually just a squeal. He has also started "dancing". This usually happens for a just a few seconds while a jingle for a commercial is on. He will either spin in two circles, or just kind of bend his legs and squat a few times. Then when he sees me watching him he will run over to me laughing. He's so funny.
We're thankful to have had such a nice weekend with our friends and family, and we need to get better about going to visit them!