Where There's a Ball, There's a Boy

My Grammy used to say this all the time, I think to instill in us a fear when driving to watch for little boys that were about to dart into the street chasing after their ball. I think she should have added "and he'll probably be stealing that ball from a poor, unsuspecting little girl, who is the rightful owner of that ball and she was playing with it first anyway." But I guess that's kind of a mouthful.

We went to visit Jenni and her family before they moved to Michigan and Parker and Scarlett did pretty well together, although Parker hasn't quite mastered the concept of sharing. Scarlett has two enormous balls (or "bubbles") that Parker couldn't get enough of. I'm afraid the following sequence is an accurate depiction of their playing "together" with the balls.

Scarlett finds the ball:

Scarlett retrieves the ball:

Parker sees Scarlett having a good time and makes a show of playing "with" her:

Parker makes off with the ball:

And leaves Scarlett in his dust!

Payback!

We tried to get them to kiss and make up, but I think Jenni and I are closer to kissing each other than they were.

We're so glad we got to visit. We love you guys!

Griffith Park

We've been on a non-stop vacation since graduation and I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I'll start with the day after graduation.

Sam, Heather and James spent the afternoon with us at Griffith Park where we went to the observatory and rode the train. It was so fun to see them and catch up.

Beach Day

My day started with the first dental cleaning I've had in over FIVE years! Yikes! Paul brought his instruments home after graduation and we turned our apartment into a dental office, only without that bright light that shines in your eyes (great for me, not great for the person who's doing the work) and no spit sucker (sad because that's the best part!).

The day just kept getting better- we went to the beach and rode our bikes about seven miles and then played in the sand. Parker spent most of the time on our new, awesome beach chairs. (Thanks Sam and Heather!!!)


Then later in the evening I took Parker for a picnic at the park around the corner from us. I guess we're spending as much time outdoors as we can to make up for the 20+ hours of being in a car we subjected Parker to this weekend. (More exciting details to follow.)

Parasailing

For my last bday, my dad gave me tickets to go parasailing. We waited for the weather to warm up and then hit the skies. The view from so high is amazing; we saw clown fish swimming through a bed of kelp and could see Malibu off in the distance. I expected it to be so noisy that Paul and I would have to shout at each other to talk, or just not speak at all, but it was actually very quiet and peaceful.

Dr. Paul Fjeldsted

Four years later and he did it! Paul graduated and is now a REAL dentist. We were spoiled with lots of family and friends coming to support Paul on his special day.



My favorite picture of the day:
The rowdy bunch:

Paul and some of his classmates:


Paul and Aaron (aka Parker's best friend):

Paul's friend Nathan FJELDSTED Christensen. (Paul and Nate took the DAT prep course together and later I was Nate's TA. About half way through the semester Nate figured out my last name and told me that Fjeldsted is his middle name. He had to show me his driver's license before I'd believe him. Turns out Nate and Paul have the same great-great-great-grandfather.) We have loved hanging out with the Christensens these last four years!

We ended our celebration right where it began four years ago after Paul's white coat ceremony- at the Chart House in Malibu. YUM!
CONGRATULATIONS, DOCTOR!

Award Ceremony and Banquet

The night before graduation, Paul and I, along with his parents, went to the USC Dental School Award Ceremony and Banquet where Paul received an award for "the senior dental student who has demonstrated exceptional ability in the area of Endodontics."

The event was held in a hotel downtown and the architecture and decor was absolutely stunning!

Way to go Paul! You're so smart!

(an aside: I feel like I'm a pretty decent speller, but could not figure out why "banquet" was repeatedly marked as being spelled incorrectly. Then I remembered this little problem I have: for some reason, I think words such as cabinet, magnet, banquet, etc. all have an "n" in them- cabinent, magnent, banquent. How did this happen? Paul thinks it's hilarious, since I'm constantly correcting his spelling. I don't find it humorous. I find that I have been done a great disservice by my second grade teacher. Hmmph.)

Walkie Talkie

Not only is Parker a great walker now, but he also dominates at this ball game he invented. He wins every time.