And each day, I feel so so blessed to be his mommy.

So we went down to Long Beach today, intending to only pick up some ribbon for my sister-in-law’s wedding invitations that I’m designing. But as we were leaving town, we passed by the Aquarium of the Pacific and got all giddy and excited like a couple of eight-year-olds, so we decided a visit was in order.

Kai telling dad he’s waaaay too cool for pictures. Duh!

And lastly…

…a big thanks to Univision headquarters for so kindly letting us use their parking lot and not sicking the po-po on us. We pulled off the 405 (where traffic was slow enough for me to climb into the cramped backseat of our car) to park and clean up poor Dax’s baby vomit spewed all over himself and his carseat. It had literally taken us more than an hour to move a mere 10 miles from Long Beach towards home. You’d think it was the Southern California traffic slowing us down, but a feeding, a poopy, and a major vomiting were to blame. Throw in some screaming, seat-kicking, and raisin-throwing from our first-born and you have yourself an instant Kirk-party in a car. Who knew travel with two kids could be so much work? Who knew????!!

Exhausting as it was, we really did have an awesome, beautiful day. Kai especially had a blast, and it was so much fun seeing him in awe of all the fish and other creatures at the aquarium.

Did we mention that at the Long Beach Aquarium, you get to PET SHARKS WITH YOUR BARE HANDS? Not to mention the sea lions, otters, and seals. First, how about some jellyfish:

Their tentacles (which had to be about five feet long) were all tangled up with each other and other jellyfish’s. I guess nobody wanted the job of untangling that mess.

They had three giant pools about two feet deep, filled with sharks, sting rays, and the like. You could pet anything you wanted with your bare hands. Poor Kai couldn’t quite get his arm down far enough though:

I, on the other hand, was stoked to pet the hammerhead and other sharks:

Isn’t she a cool mama?

I couldn’t help but include this shot of Kai, because it so him. -Ryan

Kai has always been my baby. To Ryan and I, everything about him has been little–his little hands, little feet, little shoes, etc. But now that Dax is with us, I’m always exclaiming, “Dang, Kai! When did your feet get so big?!” Or thinking, “Wow, he’s a lot heavier than I remember,” as I lift him up. My baby is growing up, which is exciting and sad at the same time.

With this maturity comes more developmental milestones; better communication, basic reasoning, better sense of his place in the world. And I’m so happy to see that Kai knows he’s a big brother to Dax. So far, he has shown nothing but delight with his little brother, kissing him, hugging him, patting him on the back to help burp him, even sharing Joe’s Os cereal and Thomas Trains with the little guy. Even though Kai is a little rough and overzealous with the love, it is so awesome to see him interact with Dax.

Halloween 2008… so — hard to — pick — color! Scratch that – this will cover the whole fam!

- Ryan