With that being said, let's go back to the beginning of April. Once April came, Spring was starting to finally overtake Winter and we started going outside again. One of the first things that Jodie wanted to do was make s'mores for family night. So, Chad and I showed Joseph how to start a fire.
Joseph had a lot of fun and really enjoyed roasting marshmallows. It was a great family night treat.
Joseph has really mastered vacuuming and wants to do it all day long. If you let him, he will go to the laundry room and move the laundry basket and trash bin to get the vacuum out. He will then plug it in, turn it on, and start vacuuming. To be honest, he even does a pretty decent job at cleaning too.
Also, one day when Jodie put Joseph down for a nap, Joseph had different plans. He was just playing in his crib and decided to try and take his shirt off. He didn't make it all the way and this is how Jodie found him when she got him from his "nap."
One of Joseph's favorite new games for April was throwing balls down the stairs. We've tried really hard to prevent Joseph from learning about this, but a ball accidentally went over the gate while we were playing. Joseph cracked up and ran to his room and ended up throwing every ball we have over the gate and down the stairs.
One of the things that made April a little hectic was that I was invited to participate in a healthcare case competition at Johns Hopkins University. Even though our team didn't place (the top 3 schools were George Washington, Harvard, and Ohio State), we had a great time in Baltimore and learned a lot.
In preparation for our drive to Dallas, we decided to turn around Joseph's car seat so that he could face forward. He absolutely love it. The first few days, he just kept saying "wow" over and over. Now having made that drive, there's no way that Joseph (or us, for that matter) would have made it otherwise.
Another big thing that we did in April was pack up everything we were going to take with us for the summer. It's rather difficult deciding what you need versus what you can fit in the car. Joseph definitely weighed in on some of the things he wanted us to bring too.
In order to break up the first leg of our trip, we decided to stop in Las Vegas and let Joseph hang out with his cousin Bowen. It was really fun seeing them interact with each other- especially when Joseph tried to give Bowen a hug.
Shaun and Kirsten took us to one of the parks in Vegas to help Joseph burn off some energy before making the rest of the trip to Phoenix. It was a super cool park. However, Joseph was primarily interested in the pigeons.
For some of you, this should come as no surprise to you. One of Joseph's favorite things to do at the zoo is chase around the pigeons.
So, while Joseph was running after the birds, Shaun and Bowen took to the slides.
Eventually, we got both of the boys to the splash pad.
It was Joseph's first time and he wasn't sure about what to do, so Bowen took charge.
Bowen immediately went for the water.
And had no fear.
Joseph gradually built up his courage to join Bowen.
And ventured further out into the water.
They had a lot of fun together.
You could tell that Bowen was a pro and knew how much fun it could be on hot days.
Both of them ended up getting soaked and had a great time with one another.
We continued our water adventures once we got to Phoenix. Yes, Joseph would grab the step stool and set it in front of the fish tank for a better view.
We also put Joseph in swim lessons while we were in Phoenix. He did really well and made some great progress, but broke down crying as soon as he recognized we were getting close. Throughout the entire lesson, he would constantly say "all pao" (all done in Hawaiian) while signing that he was done. However, despite all that, Joseph insisted on dressing up one day- we're definitely very proud of our little fish.
However, the best part of the swim lessons is it knocked him out afterwards. The first day, we made a quick stop off at Target afterwards and Joseph crashed while sitting in the cart. Here's a picture of him when we put him down after we got home.
While in Phoenix, Joseph also tried to help grandma and grandpa out in the backyard.
Joseph really enjoyed helping grandma "water the plants." Needless to say, Grandma had to re-water them afterwards.
He also had fun going jeepin' with uncle Jason.
Later, we found auntie Sari's skateboard- it was pretty cool to sit on.
We decided to get a treat and buy some doughnuts one day- Joseph is a big fan.
We got to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some yummy food. Joseph had his own special dish.
One of Joseph's favorite activities was playing the piano. After playing for a few seconds, he would throw his hands out, say "ta-da", and then clap for himself.
We decided to take a quick drive down memory lane and spend an afternoon in Tucson. We got to have a fun lunch with uncle John at el Saguarito (one of our favorite Mexican restaurants). Then we went up to Oro Valley and went to one of our favorite parks.
After burning off some energy, we met up with Shev and got some of our favorite frozen yogurt, Blue Banana. Being almost a year older, Joseph really enjoyed his treat.
Also during our visit to Phoenix, Joseph got to hang out with his other cousins. One of the funniest things was James getting super excited that he was almost as tall as Jodie- he was very proud of that accomplishment.
We also got to go to auntie Emily's graduation
Congratulations, Emily! We're very excited and happy for you.
Over the past few weeks, Joseph has really been getting into the movie cars- we'll watch it at least once a day. One night, Joseph decided to customize our pajamas with some Cars stickers. It turned out pretty good.
We also got the treat of being able to watch cars on grandma and grandpa's new tv. Joseph was in heaven.
Later, we found a pretty sweet car at the mall. We spent a little while crusin' around.
Until we noticed there was a train too. It was really hard to decide which one to drive and Joseph jumped back and forth a few times.
Another fun treat for Joseph was to see a real-life version of Ms. Sally. Several times each day, Joseph would walk out into the garage saying "car." It was a very special treat to take a "test-drive"too.
Another really fun treat was going out on the lake in grandpa's boat. We got to feed some ducks, see a wild burro, and even drive the boat.
