decoration day

Dennis spent last night at Grandma's and GrandBob's house while Mommy and Daddy went to upgrade our cell phones and then go see a movie. We hear he was well behaved, thank goodness, but didn't want to go to bed, much like things have been going at home. We woke up in the wee hours of the morning yesterday to find his head on David's belly and his feet propped up on mine. He got put in his own bed.

Today we went to Decoration, a sort of family reunion for David's family where they gather at the community cemetery and put flowers on the graves. This year the weather was cool and nice, and Dennis made friends with one of David's cousin's children, Ben. Ben is considerably older than Dennis (a teenager) but Dennis wanted so much to "go make friends with those boys" and eventually overcame his shyness enough to introduce himself and grab hold of Ben's hand to steer him in the desired direction. Dennis and Ben played a game of tag that lasted a nice LONG time (we thanked Ben profusely). Dennis met lots of family members and helped put flowers out, and he was fairly well behaved for the majority of our time there. When we got in the car to head home, I asked him what did he think (meaning, of course, about Decoration), and he said "I think...I hope I get a new fire truck for Christmas". I'm glad he told me what was on his mind!

Oh joy of joys, I got an iPhone yesterday! David had planned to buy me jewelry on the cruise (I love that man), but we didn't find any aquamarines anywhere. I told him I'd rather have an iPhone, knowing they were expensive but having wanted one for two years. When I called to get an actual price and check the availability of a refurbished one, I couldn't believe they were LESS THAN $100 BRAND NEW (because the newest one is due out later this month) ! Oh, I love the thing and I haven't even owned it 24 hours! My iPod had begun to act up a little (it's three years old) when I was using it to track my walks, and I wonder how much longer it would have lasted through the heavy use it was getting. Now I have the iPhone that acts as iPod, cell phone, and mini-computer. The best thing so far? The free apps I downloaded for kids to play--we got through a fractious car ride by letting Dennis watch an episode of Sesame Street and play Topple (like kid Tetris, but the blocks make faces and slide in the direction you tilt the phone), Memory Match, and Balloonimals (his favorite--a game where he blows near the speaker and a balloon appears on the screen and inflates, then he shakes the ipod until a balloon animal is created, then touches the animal to make it do a trick, then taps the screen until it overinflates and pops and a new balloon appears to do the whole process again with a different animal). I can foresee easier shopping trips and waits at doctor's offices, especially once I download the books that he can read on the thing. Oh, we still love ACTUAL books, but this way I can take tons of them with me and he gets the novelty of being able to play with Mommy's iPhone. Sometimes technology just ROCKS.