Bloody Mess

Zachary is now officially a little boy. He's no longer a baby. He's no longer cautious and careful, he's now a wild monkey climbing on everything - just looking for another reason to bleed. So last night we had Stef and D-Day over for dinner. While the adults were all enjoying the last of the wine, my little darling was jumping on and off the chair in the den. Of course, you all can guess by now that he fell. So I went to my screaming child to comfort him, holding him close to me. A few seconds later I look down and there is blood all over my shirt! I know better than to freak out, and I figured out quickly where the blood was coming from - but it was a brand new shirt!!! Why does this kid always bleed right after I've been shopping??? So anyway, poor little Z had his first bloody nose. He's okay now, but it was a little traumatic (for both of us).

A side note: during my Cabaret hiatus we had to put my aging cat down. The day after we had the carpets cleaned (my poor kitty had lost his ability to make it to the litter box). Zachary was running from the still wet rug onto the tile and slipped - chipping his front tooth. That is a sound that will haunt me for the rest of my life! The impact was sickening and his poor little tooth remains were on the floor. Fortunately it didn't make it to the pulp of the tooth, so no intervening dentistry was necessary. I just wanted another example to support my theory on my sweet baby turning into a wild monkey. Good thing he's still so adorable!

Prior to the bloody nose, we went to the seafood festival with Kurt and Denise. Zachary loves the big slide!

He took turns going dow with everyone, then the brothers and Denise/Z had a race . . .

Uncle Kurt won, but it's unclear whether he had an unfair advantage. He is a scientist, you know.

After all that sliding Zachary went fishing.

His efforts yielded him stuffed red dog. Oh, and it cost us $5. But he had fun, and that's all that's really important!!

Our growing-shorter-by-the-minute trip got postponed another day. The wind and weather have been strange, and the Gulf is a wrath of wind and waves at the moment. Therefore we have decided (okay, I suggested, but Ryan decided) that we'll leave Tuesday for Port St. Joe. We'll stay there one night, then on to Appalachicola for Wednesday and Thursday nights, then Friday and Saturday in Carabelle. The boys will take Southern Cross south on Sunday (there's a cold front coming, which means good North winds) and should make St. Pete by midday Monday. Of course all that is still subject to change!

Denise is heading to London tomorrow for a meeting (it's tough to be the jet-set top-of-her-field geologist) then on to Aberdeen to work for a couple of weeks. I originally thought Aberdeen was in Texas and couldn't figure out why she made such a big deal out of going to Texas, she used to live there for heaven's sake. Then I learned that it's actually in Scotland. Geography was never my strong point! I did help outfit her for the big dinner after her big presentation, complete with walking lessons. Being from Alabama occasionally has it's benefits - we Southern Belles know how to walk, when it counts. Also, rarely a little girl grows up in the South without being some sort of beauty queen. It's not that hard, there are thousands of beauty pageants. It's a numbers game, with enough persistence any girl can win. Ack, I must stop this train wreck of a stroll down memory lane. It's time to go to bed!