One weekend recap comin’ atcha.  I’ll warn you though, it was both fun and very well-documented.  Prepare your data plans…

So Saturday started with a nutritious breakfast of Cheerios, fresh strawberries and apple juice.

Spoons are for suckers.

Poor girl.  She inherited her father’s half-moon squint when smiling.

Well, for one of us anyway.  I had a couple cups of coffee and some leftover Russo’s pizza.  (Paleo-what?)

After breakfast, Daphne needed to get dressed for the aforementioned birthday party taking place that afternoon.  Fortunately we already had just the dress…

I believe this one was a gift from Grandma’s trip to Teddy Bearskins?

Also perfect for toddler jogging.

It’s quite the innocent look, which works well in case you’re planning on thieving someone’s phone.

Busted?  Okay, let’s go take a nap.

I heard that the party went very well, despite some inclement weather, and apparently they had some seriously adorable unicorn decorations.

Later that night, after Daphne went to bed, Jen and I watched the first two episodes of “Black Mirror” on Netflix.  It was interesting and thought-provoking and a helluva lot heavier than I expected for some random decompression on a Saturday night.  We will probably watch a few more though, if only because we’re smack dab in the middle of the TV doldrums.  (No Game of Thrones, no Walking Dead, Westworld and American Gods aren’t out yet…  Sigh.)

Anyway, on to BumbleDay!

First, there was the requisite lounging around in bed and watching Little Baby Bum.

She looks like a tiny hipster college student…

Then we both got dressed and headed out for another of dad’s Bumbleventures.

Wait.  Bumble-what?

First, a decent meal was an absolute imperative.  And because it had been WAY too long since I’d had brunch somewhere, we drove to The Heights, my old neighborhood, and went to Down House.

And you call me a hipster, Dad?

We skipped the 20-minute wait and instead nabbed a seat at the bar where I had a cup of coffee while Daphne sipped some freshly squeezed orange juice.  Then our plate of perfectly scrambled eggs, ultra-spicy home fries, and maple bacon arrived.  All of which were phenomenal.  And, at the recommendation of the young lady seated next to us, we also ordered what turned out to be one of the best biscuits I’ve ever had in my life.

All this and the bartender was kind and super accommodating about me sitting there with Daphne on my lap.

So yeah.  If you find yourself in that neighborhood and need a decent meal you should definitely go check out Down House.

After brunch, we headed over to my old church, St. Andrew’s.

Where Daphne saw stained glass for the very first time.

Those don’t require captions…  It was kind of a beautiful moment.  I’m really glad I thought to take a picture.

After this we walked (in the blazing Houston heat), back over to 19th St. where we wandered into The Big Blue Whale toy store.

Which was a fantastic shop, packed to the gills lungs with all sorts of random fun stuff.  We very nearly left with a copy of Neil Gaiman’s “Dangerous Alphabet” book, but at the last minute I decided that she wasn’t quite ready for that one yet…

Maybe another year or so before I start purposely terrifying her.

So instead we picked up a couple of Sandra Boynton’s bath books, which seemed much more age-appropriate, and this cute little bugger right here:

That is Beatrice.

And you should’ve seen the grin on Daphne’s face when we passed by her.  Thus, she had to come home with us.  Which turned out to be a very wise choice…

Beatrice also makes a comfy TV backrest.

Anyway, the whole trip reminded me of how much I really do miss living down there.  I mean, our current house is huge and lovely and has more room than we could possibly need.  Unfortunately, it also happens to be located in the godforsaken suburbs.  I assumed that I’d eventually get used to living out there, and the sterile conformity would stop getting to me.

5 years in and I still hate it.
Bah!
But that’s a whole different post.

Anyway, it was an awesome weekend all the way around.  Which does wonders for your outlook toward the world on a Monday.

Talk to you tomorrow,

j.s.