Turning Two and the Preamble

Covey is prepped and properly dressed for take off! Months of rigorous training and hard work are about to pay off....

And blast off! Cadet Covey is airborne and orbiting the dining room. As soon as dad can't handle the dizziness any longer, he and his aircraft will dock at the rendezvous point in the living room.

At Grandpa Nelson's 60th birthday in Mantua. He doesn't look or act his age as far as we're concerned. Julia made this Mississippi mud cake that was delicious! The birthday boy was the only one licensed to handle an open flame, so yes, he lit his own candle.

Grandpa Nelson was nice enough to give Covey a ride on the table cart much to Covey's delight. However Grandpa needs to keep in mind that at 60 proper ergonomics are more important than ever. That form is all back and zero knees!

Grandma Lori surprised us one Saturday morning by declaring a Doughnut Day! She spent the morning visiting the grand kids across the Wasatch Front and buying their affections with showmanship and extravagant gifts of deliciousness.

What a great idea Grandma!!

Covey can't wait for the next Doughnut Day!


Texting Kayson that he's on his way over for his birthday playdate.

But first, a stop at the park. He loves those sunglasses. Don't know if he likes the optical protection or if he knows how stinking cool he looks.

The last Saturday in February provided us with our first Tubing Day of the season. A little PB&J and Doritos are the perfect fuel for hitting the slopes.

Too bad Covey hates Doritos.

One night Covey's friend Ben came over for a visit and he could hardly contain his excitement.

Another example of the "Cheese" smile.

Grandma Meldrum sent Covey a birthday card complete with something to feed the piggy bank. He doesn't really understand the concept of capitalism, but he sure gets a kick out of putting the money in the slot.

Cov is very much in an "inclusion" phase. If he enjoys an activity he's quick to grab the nearest person to join in on the fun. He'll come up and grab you by the hand and lead you over to where he's playing and if you don't have a free hand, he'll insist you make one available with "Hand!".

Julia is one of the best at making birthdays special. We stayed up late the night before and transformed the house into a balloon/streamer paradise. Covey was overcome with sheer giddiness when he saw it the next morning. He literally spun around in circles screaming and laughing until he couldn't stand anymore.

March 10th, 8:00 am, how does the birthday boy start his big day? Chocolate chip pancakes with the buds, that's how!

After his buddy breakfast we were off to Jungle Jim's in Midvale to give Covey his first taste of amusement park style fun. He was a little nervous at first but he eventually warmed up to the idea of independence. This is the jungle jeep safari, and as you can see it takes special skill cause you need to use two steering wheels.

You'll notice by looking at the kid in the lead jeep, he lacks the ability to use two steering wheels at one time, and he's about to drive over a cliff.

He loved this plane ride more than all the rest. Unfortunately he's at the age when "say cheese" translates to "make a dead eyed grrr face", 'cause this picture doesn't accurately show how much he loved this ride. We were so proud when he learned how to get the plane to move up and stay up in the air.

Ahhh, the bumper cars. This experiment didn't go so well. For some reason Covey decided to forgo the steering wheel and just put the pedal to the metal when the ride started. A short 30 seconds into the ride, and after a direct head-on collision with the sidewall, Covey left the bumper car area a bit dazed and confused.





Julia's sister Katie and her family came by in the evening to open presents and eat cake. Mitchell, Faye, and Stacey joined us by skype as you can see on the right side of the picture. It made the night special for Covey and we're glad they all could attend.

The haul. A few things of note here is the dog backpack that has a lease attached for us to keep Covey close when we're out and about. There are some big boy underwear there which mean fun times ahead for the Nelson family. If you look front and center you'll notice Godzilla is performing a lifesaving appendectomy on a stegosaurus. And lastly, as this is being typed, the little guy is sleeping in his other present not quite visible here: a big boy bed, with new sheets and a pillow case (sewn by Julia) and a new soft comforter. So far, so good. Update: he fell out of it 4 times last night. We had pillows on the floor so he wasn't hurt and was still mostly asleep when I put him back in. And he didn't get out of it when he woke up this morning. Phew! Naptime today may prove more complicated, though. We'll see!

Overall the day really couldn't have gone any better. We all had the time of our lives together, and it was nice doing a simple birthday with Covey. Seeing him smile so much today was priceless.