Alex ROCKS!!!!

Alex is mad about rocks. He has a large box of them in his wardrobe, which he had retrieved from all over the neighborhood.
The sight of Alex's rock collection provokes recollections of a Lucille Ball movie, which sees a newly-wed Lucy and Ricky on an absolutely riotous and disaster stricken caravanning honeymoon, across the USA. In the movie, Lucy takes a rock from each resting stop, as a souvenir of their journey. By the end of their honeymoon the couple are looking at divorce, and the caravan, overloaded with rocks, or should I say boulders, nearly tips this couple over the edge, literally. Too funny!
Well I really don't mind Alex having a rock collection; my brother had a rock collection as a boy, and I had a seashell collection, still do.... somewhere. The problem with Alex's rock collection was well....all the rocks were the same - road base gravel, and he had filled a whole wooden box with them.
He would get them out and look at them often, and ask me which of the similar looking blue chunks "was my favourite"? Well.....errrr...."that's a hard one, mate", was my tactful reply. I did try suggesting (gently of course), that it wasn't the greatest collection of rocks. Sure they were different sizes and shapes, but they were all essentially the same. Alex couldn't see my point, or rather, I couldn't see his. God, what a big meanie I am!!!
Yesterday we went on a walk around the block with the dogs. Alex usually rides his bike, but mid-way, got off his bike to collect rocks - more boring blue road base. Noooooooo! (sob).
The only way I could avoid more road base in the house was to suggest we make a trip to the beach. We did, and with container in hand, we gathered rocks of all different shapes and sizes. Alex colected purple ones, green ones, orange and black; spotted, striped and oddly patterned. Alex was so over-joyed with his new treasure that he allowed the road base to be let loose beside the road where it belonged, without so much as a prayer and excitedly thrust the glistening prizes into Ashley's face moments after he had returned home from work.
This morning he got out all his rocks and named them. Alex's favourtie is a small bright red rock called "volcano". My favourite is the purple one with white speckles. We named it "the milkyway".