Cousin Rene's visit

Once again, we were all delighted when cousin Rene came to visit. Dr. Andy was of course thrilled that Rene wanted to do some chemistry experiments as soon as he arrived.

Once we started blowing things up, the safety goggles were a must. Green volcanoes for the win! Too bad we didn't get any pictures of those raging green lava flows. Rene also liked using baking soda and vinegar to blow up balloons. 

Science is awesome!

The next day, I enjoyed taking Rene and Riley to the Farmer's Market. Rene was ecstatic about getting his favorite vegetable: beets.

Our little neighborhood village was super crowded with hundreds of people streaming into the BART station for the annual San Francisco gay pride parade. In a shout-out to his LGBTQQ homies, Riley wore his rainbow legwarmers.

They were a hit. In fact, Riley got so many comments I thought I should explain to Rene. I told him that San Francisco was celebrating Pride which means that everyone has the right to be whoever they want to be and love who ever they want to love. He said, 'Like I love my mommy!" (What a sweetie pie!) I further explained that rainbows are the symbol of Pride. To which he said, "Rainbows equal love." Well, the next day he could not have been more thrilled when he opened his early birthday gifts and saw that he had received a rainbow striped shirt (total coincidence, btw). He exclaimed, "It's my loving shirt!" Awwwww! He's such a big-hearted boy, it's no surprise he was excited to have a shirt that means "love."

His "loving shirt" not withstanding, nothing beat his birthday treasure hunt. He followed clues all through the house until he uncovered a treasure map of the backyard. Once he found the box of ancient treasure pirates had left behind in our backyard, he examined the booty inside (mostly pennies, foreign coins and cheap "jewels"). 

  

 "I think this ring might be worth one me-e-e-e-elli-o-n dollars!"

As part of the birthday festivities, Rene and I made birthday hats for him and cousin Riley.

I really wanted to get a picture of the two of them in their hats together but Riley was, let's say, "less than cooperative." He's going through a bit of a slap-happy phase right now and, boy, does his cousin Rene make him happy! As a result, poor Rene gets swatted about every two seconds by his adoring pipsqueak of a cousin. Sweet Rene was such a good sport. After enduring several "love smacks" from the bambino, Rene agreed to hold Riley's hands down so they could take this picture.

We can't wait until your next visit, cousin Rene!