Is Papa awake?

Tobes and I have been having a great time. The disregard for sleep continues with Mom and I sitting up and talking from 1am yesterday. Last night was almost normal aside from the 4am wake up call. Surprisingly not dead on my feet though.

Toby and I went out to the mall yesterday. We popped in to see Jon whose office is there. He's the graphic designer for NBC. Tobes was very shy until the receptionist offered him a lollipop. He loosened up after that.

We hit the bookstore, Old Navy and Penney's and had Arby's for lunch. It's been years since I went to Arby's but now that I've rediscovered it I have a feeling it will be a focus of the trip.

What I really need to do is buy a new camera. Every time I come over I think about trying to capture some of the images for friends in England. Things like the handpainted sign for Bucksnort's Taxidermy and the buildings along the old mainstreet in Silsbee, long dirt roads winding under a canopy of trees, redbirds in the yard, the single longhorn I always see grazing next a tin shack down the road from Mom and Dad, old clapboard houses with the porches tilting at jaunty angles. Things that you don't see in England.

I'm also missing stuff already like Tobes in a baseball cap riding on the tractor with Dad yesterday. Amazing how quickly he can go from a little English boy to a tiny Texan. He's already talking with a drawl about fire ants and crawfish as if he knows all about them. He and Dad have been going on nature walks around their land. I've watched them from the house as they pointed at things and squatted down to get a closer look when something was particularly interesting. They planted a couple of pear trees in the back field yesterday and Toby was absolutely beaming when they came in. So proud of himself. He's having a wonderful time. The first thing he says in the morning is 'Is Papa awake?'