anniversary & party at the park

I can't believe it's September already! This summer has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Tim and I celebrated our wedding anniversary a couple of days back by having a family picnic dinner with Jonah at a park, then watching a unique fall phenomenon of hunderds of swifts swirling around in the sky and diving into an old elementary school chimney. I had heard about this happening at the same place every year, but never had gone to see it.

From what I hear, the number of swifts rises through mid-September until there are about ten thousand of them gathering together. It would be worth going back just for that.

Jonah enjoyed himself too, though not as much watching the birds as running around and watching kids about four years his senior sliding down a steep grassy hill on cardboard. There was even a girl soccer practice giong on nearby. So much to see!

A guy came up to film us for his documentary on the swifts. Jonah was so excited to see the giant camera that he shouted over us like a maniac. I doubt the filmmaker will be able to hear anything over him. The funniest was when Tim mentioned that we came to see the swifts for our anniversary. The guy asked how many years we have been married. Tim said three and after thinking about it a moment, in typical wife fashion, countered that it has been four years. It came off pretty funny.

On another note, yesterday we went to one of Jonah's friend's birthday parties at the park. The park had a toy jeep for kids to drive. Jonah was so obsessed with it, he drove it and crawled all over it for hours. Even in the middle of the night he rememberd it when he woke up and began to narrate a story about it in a super loud voice.

My two favorite moments at the park where the party took place were:

1. Jonah and the birthday boy singing ABCD together.

2. An incredibly overweight and expressionless pug dog with a studded leather punk leash in the playground toddler swing, pushed by his "mommy," its tongue sticking out slightly on one side (as if post-stroke).

3. Jonah standing next to a stranger, watching him take off his sandal to wipe bark dust off his foot, and proclaiming in a loud and declaratory voice: "Dirty foot." The man sure was embarassed. Kids say the darnest things.