First, the crush. James' second cousin Sophie (mom Karen is Brian's cousin) is THE prettiest, sweetest, most quiet girl we have ever known and she has been that way since birth. Now, 7 years old with two younger (and louder) brothers, she knows how to handle 2-year old James and his stalker-like nature. She was SO sweet with James all week - playing with him in the pool, sharing her toys, reading to him (!), and protecting him from her annoying (her words, not mine) brothers.
Looking at Aunt Katie's ocean animals:
James going in for the hug:
and then pretending like it never happened:
Now, allow me to set the scene: Sanibel is one big game-fest. Every night is a board game of some kind - usually involving charades or fast-paced drawing. The gaming goes well into the evening and we are not ever in bed before midnight. James, not quite of age for these festivities, still wakes up around 6:30am. So, we are tired.... EVERY morning. In addition, Brian, James and I are sleeping in the 2nd bedroom, Brian's parents in the first and Brian's sister Katie on the pullout couch in the living room. So, as we "wake" with James at 6:30, we are in an all-hands-on-deck mission to keep him quiet and entertained in our room until we can sneak out the front door in the pursuit of coffee and doughnuts. We are usually blurry-eyed and stumbling around in whatever we put on in the dark and James is in his pajamas.
One fine morning, we stopped in at the Island Bakery & Coffeehouse. The entire store is only 10' square and we walked in BEFORE 8am to the LOUDEST accordian I have ever heard. Seriously. White and gold sparkly and the hippest nicest woman belting out an accordian tune. Crazy. It turns out her name is Queenie (of course) and she makes the homemade (and delicious) ice cream they sell at the store. We shout out our coffee order to Queenie's brother (aka, the coffee guy) while James shouts "CAN I TOUCH IT?" over and over and over. Of course, Queenie lets him touch it and then she plays kiddie accordian songs (?) while we wait for coffee. James is mesmorized. He is dancing all over the store and grinning from ear to ear at Queenie.
Keep in mind, at this point, it is still not even 8:30am and while we are adding the necessary sweeteners to our coffee, the coffee guy hands James an ICE CREAM CONE full of Queenie's ice cream. Now James is beside himself with glee. I am sure he was thinking that this was the best morning of his life. But wait - the fun does not stop there.
The coffee guy says, "Queenie play that one again" and he puts a piece of tissue paper on the floor and then STANDS ON HIS HEAD. For an entire song. I cannot get my camera out fast enough while simultaneously thinking, are we even awake or is this some weird dream? James is laughing a funny laugh that we have not heard again nor do I think we ever will since we could not possibly duplicate this morning. Ever.
And here's a little ditty with some family history. Uncle Ernie (really Brian's cousin) has been trying to get kids to say "Was Uuuuuuup?" for about five years now. None of Karen's kids will do it. They obviously have a much keener sense of "being duped" than young James. He couldn't say it enough.
And that completes Sanibel Stories 2008.
3 comments:
And we thought we had fun on vacation. The accordion/ice cream at 8:30am/standing-on-his-head man wins, hands down ;)
Wow...I love the random ice cream and accordion excursion. Crazy!
Came across your blog through Rachel's...love it! So glad you were able to capture this moment, b/c honestly, how many people would have believed it? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around an accordian playing ice cream shop...while secretly the wheels are turning for a trip to Sannibel. :)
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