Excerpt from the Birthday Boy

Well, my friends, the BIG DAY has come and gone and I'm currently plowing straight into year number two at break neck speeds!  It worked out perfectly that we were flying to Colorado for my auntie's wedding and I could party with all kinds of family on my actual birthday!  I played in the sprinklers, inspected every shred of wrapping paper they gave me and smashed my cake to smithereens!  Mom was a little emotional about the whole ordeal, but she held it together pretty well.

The past few months have been very exciting!  I've mastered 'the crab walk' and although I haven't braved solo-walking yet, I'm working towards it!  What I like even better than walking is.. running!  And climbing (bar stools, dishwashers, the usual..)!  Mom says the apple didn't fall from the tree and looks at my Dad as though he's the one who passed on this monkey gene.  All I know is that there is an enormous amount of exploring to be done.  What an exciting world we live in!

A few of my most recent discoveries include.. motorcycles, cows, corn on the cob, wagon rides and 'surfing' on my birthday tube!  I've got eight teeth now and eat anything and EVERYTHING my Mom puts in front of me.  I especially love blueberries but for some reason I'm not allowed to eat an endless amount of them.  I know that dogs 'woof' and kitties 'meow' and I'm perfecting my lion/dinosaur 'roooaaarr'.  

Dad and Mom got to show me where they grew up and I met my other canine siblings.  I saw three of my grandparents, a whole heap of aunties, uncles and cousins and met six great-grandparents!  Talk about getting passed around and...ugh, KISSED on!  I tolerated it.  We drove all over the state of Colorado and I made new friends at every stop!  We ventured up Pikes Peak, all 14,115 feet of it!  I landed my first official ring-bearing job and flew on five different airplanes (that's an epic journey that my Mom will, no doubt, be elaborating on in her next post..)

I loved traveling!  I also love being home and I'm gearing up for another cake smashing with my Hawaiian 'ohana'!  What I've realized, though, is that parties can be all the time.  Wake up in the morning and the sun is shining; party time!  Being outside, rolling in the grass and drinking out of the hose; that's all party material, my friends!  Look around, be amazed, touch a caterpillar, laugh till your belly hurts!  Dance even though you look ridiculous (my Mom can show you how that's done), wear your spiffy shirt, or no shirt, because life is meant to be enjoyed.. right now!!  

John 10:10 (Jesus said) 'I have come that you may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY!' [Owen's emphasis added..]