Long Beach, Sweet Long Beach

We went to Long Beach to see Erik last Thursday.  It was one of those rare occasions where everything seemed to go smoothly, and everyone had a great time!  What a wonderful blessing!  We picked Erik up at the dock, and Elliot loved seeing all the containers (freight cars to him), and some trains, along with cranes and giant ships.  He saw one big black train and said, "Hey, is that Diesel?  I think it is Deisel!", and got all happy about it.  That's a character from Thomas the Tank Engine for those of you who don't have toddler aged boys.  He said the cranes were "Cranky the Crane, and Rocky", also from Thomas.  We weren't able to see Erik's ship, but there was one pretty close, so it filled our purposes for showing him where dad worked.  He was of course overjoyed to see his dad, and it was wonderful to see the two of them having so much fun together.  We had a brilliant time at The Yard House for dinner.  Elliot was so good!  Then on Friday we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific, as you see below.  It's such a great place for little kids because they have lots of touch pools outside where you can pet bat rays, sting rays, and sharks!  Then they also have a Lorikeet aviary where you can purchase nectar, then bring it in with you, and the birds will eat it out of your hand, and maybe even come land on you.  Pretty neat.  Then we had to sadly walk Erik back to the dock.  Elliot was sad and annoyed that he had to go, but I think he understands now that it has to be done.  The last picture is Elliot running through the tunnel on the way back to the car.  We even got to have a nice little visit with Brooke, Darin, and Mikayla afterward, passing some time at their house while the rush hour traffic was going on.  We might make this a regular routine if Erik ends up staying with this, or a similar shipping route.  He is completely loving his job working as an electrician.  It's much more fun, challenging, and interesting to him.  Plus, he is working as his own boss in a sense.  Between ports, he just takes care of whatever he thinks needs to be done, and people call him if they need something fixed.  Sure beats 12 hour shifts in a 130 degree engine room!  Also, he gets a paid day off every four weeks!  Yay for him!  He has worked really hard to get there, and I am, as always, so proud of him and thankful for him.  :)

Ah, so good to see the father and son having fun together!

Thankfully, he's small enough that he could squeeze 

to the front without really being in anyone's way.  

The light was too bright for him, so he made little tunnels for his eyes.