Neko is ONE!

Our little boy is not a baby anymore. Neko's first birthday was great. We had a party in our backyard with all of the friends that were in town. I remember being slightly worried about him being born so close to the 4th of July. Kids with summer birthdays don't get to celebrate at school, and the Fourth is a popular time for people to travel. So he'll always have to compete with that. Sigh. We decided to have his party the weekend after his birthday, which also happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary. I completely forgot it was our anniversary the day of the party because I was so distracted by getting everything ready.

It was twice as hard to prepare to entertain here with Neko running around. Putting up streamers and balloons was difficult. I got a little frustrated and started feeling sorry for myself that we have no family nearby to help out and to come to birthday parties. Fortunately, we have some very good friends around us that love Neko, but it's just not the same as doting grandparents, aunts and uncles.

With the exception of Cora (Dan's daughter) and Evie (Joe and Kathryn's daughter), all of our friends who came had boys. There were lots of little boys running all around. I got bubbles, balls, and sidewalk chalk. We had sandwich-making stuff, beer, and grapefruit mimosas. We did cake, which seemed to completely confuse and startle Neko. He was surprisingly shy when everyone sang to him.

Here are Cora and Neko. They've seen quite a lot of each other this summer.

Jones (Melisa's son).

Marcel (Bess and Jared's son).

This is Christina (my friend from work) with her son, Cameron, who goes to daycare with Neko. In this respect, he's Neko's first real friend. It's fun to watch them interact.

Marissa holding Soren (Marco's son).

Marco, Jared holding Sebastian (their new baby), Eric (Emag), Dan, Cora, and Aaron (of course). I didn't get photos of everyone. Sorry, I'm a jerk.
When almost everyone had left, Aaron brought a few people inside to show them the new house, and Annabelle ate the remainder of both cakes. Of course.
Later on, Aaron was too tired to cook, so we took Neko out for Mexican food. It turned out to be our anniversary dinner. All in all, it was a really good day. I love my little family so much. I couldn't have asked for a better husband or son. We have loved watching Neko grow up this year. He's the best little guy-- so adventurous, curious, silly, and affectionate. He makes us so happy.

Neko decided to eat food directly off of his plate (no hands) at the restaurant, which made us both laugh.

We went to California, and it was grand

We went to California this summer so that Neko could finally meet his aunts, uncles, and cousins. The trip was amazing. I wish we could go back right now.

It's hard having my siblings and their families spread out all over the country. It makes seeing everyone on a regular basis extremely difficult, so when we found out that Scott and Irena had plans to be in California, we jumped at the opportunity to make the trip. We figured we could kill two birds with one stone (what a horrible metaphor) and meet two cousins at once. And we are so glad we did! Our only regret is not having stayed longer.

Because it was Neko's first time on a plane and first time sleeping somewhere other than our own home, we were a little nervous about how he'd do. We were pleasantly surprised at how smoothly things went. He actually slept quite well in my mom's dark, cool office. So well, in fact, that we immediately bought three dark grey blankets from Ikea to put over the windows in our room when we got back because he started sleeping in later in California. Sure enough, he's been putting in an extra hour or two in the mornings ever since (after he wakes initially at 5AM to eat). We've all been a lot happier about that.

So anyway, California was great. It was so fun to watch the cousins play with each other. I'm afraid Neko is a bit of a toy and food thief (he means no harm, really, he doesn't), but aside from that, they seemed to get along well.

Tripp had a lot of cool toys to play with. Neko just kind of pretended they were his...

We took the kids to the beach. It was so fun. Why can't I do this every day? Seriously, the beach is my happy place. It's so amazingly relaxing. Aside from the family thing, it's my only other dislike about living in Colorado versus California.

Neko loved standing on the surf board. At home, he can't get enough of balancing on a skateboard deck. He loves doing anything physically challenging, which really kind of stresses me out.

Liz fed him some Acai bowl. Actually, he probably just grabbed some. But she kindly obliged.

Neko was fascinated by Buddy and the screen door and the fact that Buddy was in the backyard. 

Mom cooked dinner for everyone on Father's Day. I am sad. I realized I got no pictures of my mom. Not one! I think I was so focused on the kids. 

Side note: It's funny. Neko definitely has my eyes, but I've wondered about his eyebrow. After seeing Tripp, I realized that Tripp has little baby-Hendricks eyebrows for sure.

Oliver and his beloved Lucy.

Irena always has good earrings. And dresses.

And finally, I got a tattoo while we were there (photo of shop below). I have to thank Tim for his patience, for his artistic excellence, and for his willingness to take time out of his busy schedule for me and for Aaron. Especially for me because I was a pain.

So yeah. California was awesome. It's a really quick and easy flight for us. I can't wait to do it again. And fortunately the Dubravacs will be here in August on their way home from a family reunion, which works out perfectly since they didn't make it to California. Neko needs to meet his last set of cousins. And Max! Birthday post to come.