More Outings

Blogger really ticks me off sometimes. After trying repeatedly for two days to upload these pictures, it still wasn't working. Then finally it let me if I tried one at a time. How aggravating! That takes forever. I guess it's worth it if it works, though. Anyway, here's the one I mentioned yesterday of Patrick's fun in bed:
Yesterday afternoon Matt and I suddenly decided we had a craving for one of our favorite restaurants, which is of course located all the way across town in our old 'hood. It was a regular during the time when Patrick was in the hospital because of its proximity to the hospital. That means we picked up and drove an hour at a moment's notice just to get dinner. While we were over there, though, we thought it would be best to take advantage of some of the other benefits of being there, like the nice parks and friends. We went to Cathy's first. Matt had never seen her new apartment or cat, so it was fun showing them off. Patrick had lots of fun playing with the cat again too. He definitely remembered her, and I think she remembered him too. Patrick played with the cat collar again and bammed it like he did last time. This time, though, it was clear he was playing with the cat, not the collar. He would dangle it in front of her face to entice her to play with it and then squeal if she did a neat acrobatic flip to bat at it. Again, she was incredibly gentle with him too. I think I got more scratches through my jeans than he got, even with all that exposed skin and paws batting near it. Patrick is such an animal lover, and I love to watch him around animals.
We went to my favorite park in town next. It has some neat walking trails, and a short boardwalk that ends in several overlooks over the bayou. I've always loved that area. It's lost some of its charm, though. Now the overlooks are overgrown with trees, and you can barely see the water from two of them. They are covered in graffiti, and are most certainly places for teenagers to hang out, especially in couples. There were references in the graffiti to certain things that had happened there that made me anxious to leave and want to clean off my shoes as soon as I had, too. Then as we were walking back toward the car, we realized that there were more than birds in the trees. If we looked up at the right time, we could see monster spider webs with the biggest spiders I've ever seen waiting on them. They may have been far over our heads, but I don't like being that close to a spider at all, especially when it's as big as my hand. We rushed back to the car then, trying not to look up as we walked. I'd rather not know if a humongous spider is about to drop on my head. Of course, that didn't work so well. I can specifically remember about six spiders I saw anyway. I'm still cringing thinking about it now.

I guess the only good part about the spiders is that they kept the area from being nearly as buggy as I expected it to be. In a wooded area by a bayou, with several standing puddles around, I fully anticipated leaving as one big mosquito bite. So far, I've only found two small ones on my arm, and none on Patrick, thank goodness.

I wish I'd gotten pictures of the trip to the park, but naturally after making a point to remember to bring it, I forgot. Maybe next time!
Patrick was exhausted by the time we'd finished dinner after the park trip, and he slept most of the way home. He was all too happy for us to put him in bed. I thought I'd feel the same way since it's been a long time since I've had that much fresh air and exercise, but I ended up reading until almost three this morning. Hey, it's Labor Day--I can sleep all day if I want, right? I can just hope Patrick is planning on doing the same!

Check out the belly on this kid! This is one of his biggest onesies, and I think it's about to be retired too. I suppose I'd better get working on washing his 6-9 month wardrobe today. He's growing faster than I can keep up right now. This is definitely a growth spurt.