These are but a few of the characters Sam has grown to talk about pretty much incessantly since I bought and began to play the very addictive (and very kid friendly) Viva Pinata game for the Xbox 360, recipient of a ‘great’ 8.3 rating from Gamespot.com. I read a piece in Parents Magazine praising the games “”excellent production values, universal human values, appeal to children, and age appropriateness.” Well, I don’t know about all that, but it’s innocent, colorful, and has appealing gameplay for yours truly and entertains the heck out of Sammy. And it has it’s own TV show. Anyway, Sam sits beside me with a controller (sans batteries) and ‘plays’ along with Dad. If you have kiddies in the house, I highly recommend this one.
So we’ve been keeping this somewhat quiet, but we’ve passed a major milestone and are ready to let everyone know. I am so happy to announce that little Trotz #2 is expected to arrive this October (31st, to be exact), and both mom and baby-to-be are doing very well as we finish up our 18th week. Amy has been a bit sicker than the first time out, but it’s certainly helped to know more-or-less what we were expecting. We’ve had several advanced ultrasound sessions and this baby is MUCH more active than Sam was – flipping around, moving arms and legs, etc. Sam has decided that he’s having a sister – but for now, we are declining to find out that tidbit of info in advance. We’ll see if we hold off or not. Look for more updates here as we progress.
After a long day at Zoo Atlanta (it was a free Turner weekend), we all ended up on the couch reading our books. Amy took note of how sweet it was that we were all reading together – a perfect rainy Saturday afternoon activity. I was reading the umpteenth John Sanford novel, Amy was reading some trashy Oprah novel (While I was Gone by Sue Miller), and Sam was reading his favorite of late – his Sesame Street Dictionary. I promise – this picture is unstaged, other than my having to run and setup the camera on self-timer.
Before we headed back home to Atlanta today, we took some time to visit my father’s grave in Bonaventure Cemetery near Savannah’s Wilmington River. It’s often difficult to do, but I nevertheless find it reassuring to be close to Dad’s final resting place. It is so peaceful, and his namesake grandson likes making this trip as well.
It being Memorial Day as well, the flags were in full swing across the cemetery. Sam admires a flag in a plot near Dad’s:
In the images below, flags fly in the Veterans of World Wars section:
