Mystery Guest

So, a week after their visit, I am just now getting a chance to post about our visitors. This is because that little boy wore me out! Finally. Finally...we had a visit from Dina and Kaleo. I'm gonna be honest: I never thought they'd actually make the trip. I had absolutely no faith that Dina would straighten out all the crumbled dollars in the bottom of her knapsack and buy a ticket. But...she fooled me and last Thursday she and Kaleo touched down in Charlotte. It was Kaleo's very first plane ride, for which he received the wings and a certificate...at no charge. (Shocking, since the airline industry charges you for breathing non-contaminated air these days. He got to sit in the cockpit and he received a complimentary pat-down from security.)

Their visit was so much fun -- we did everything in our power to wear them out: The park, mini-golf, bike riding, Discovery Place. But the little suckers had more energy that we imagined. Didn't help that Dina and I stayed up every night til 2:30 talking (or as Mark would say: "talking that yang.").

Kaleo is a dreamboat. The cutest thing you've ever seen with eyelashes, eyebrows and attitude for days. Wouldn't let me take his picture though -- he hates the paparazzi. So most of my shots look like this one.

He's 4 and his vocabulary is bigger than mine: "Ms. Heather this house is fantastic. Gorgeous!" Dina and I have been friends longer than we've been strangers and it was so wonderful to see her in action as a mother. I remember when she was just learning about child-rearing as a Child Development major at SU. Drove us nuts -- she would bend down to talk to you and use that sing-songy 'kindergarten teacher" voice ("Hi Heather and how was your day?") Just to get on her nerves I'd respond and say something like: "It was crap. I missed the bus, failed a test and slid down hill from the Hall of Languages to the Schine Center on a sheet of ice thicker than my head. How was yours? "

The beautiful thing is that all that training Dina gained has gone out the window with Kaleo (watching her negotiate to get him to bed hilarious. Takes about two hours, then she falls asleep.)

I did manage to get a few shots of the front of Kaleo's head. Here he is lifting an ATV at Discovery Place. And here's a shot of all the boys together.

You know how when you're younger you say to your best friend: "When we grow up, we're going to get married and our husbands are going to be best friends, and we'll live next door to each other, and our kids will be best friends..." (Well, you probably only said this if you're a girl.) Anyway, having Dina and Kaleo here was kinda like that...give or take few minor details.