Men at work

We were so disappointed when we heard our Thursday play date with Jack had to be cancelled due to his fever, especially since we were just about ready to pack up and head over to his place. We changed gears quickly and headed out anyway, making a split-second decision that it was finally time to take that field trip to the National Building Museum that I've been meaning to do for months. We took the train downtown and had a blast!


There's a huge room for toddlers called the Building Zone, filled with trucks, blocks, and tons of other construction related gear - essentially a giant play room tailor made to suit Joseph's interests!





He had a ball building as well as destroying, and he made friends so easily with all the other tots. My only mistake was taking him into the gift shop, because he wanted to take every truck and car home with him. He just loved riding the Metro there and back!


I decided to take him out to lunch for a special treat, then a quick run by the park before nap. Afterwards we went to "open gym" time, where we always have fun with Miss Robin and her twin girls, Julia and Sarah (who are waiting in the background wondering why their mom is playing with Joseph). It's generally our standing date on Thursday afternoons, and then we get to see them again at our regular class on Sunday mornings.


We sure missed Jack and Aunt Missy, but at least I was able to fill the day with nonstop fun for Joe Joe. This is the kind of "work" I truly love!

Whimsy

Even though today was a dreary, wet day, we managed to find ways to make it fanciful and fun. Joseph has been obsessed with some hand-me-down rain boots that he's never actually worn outside. He points at the closet and says "boots" until you let him put them on, and sometimes he's been known to run around with nothing on but them and a diaper. We put them to proper use today with some good old fashioned puddle jumping. I had to roll his pants way up so he could still see them.


Then we headed off for the perfect rainy day activity, story time at the public library. The librarian was amazingly good at keeping Joe Joe's attention. Maybe it was because the books were all about bugs today. I think we'll have to do this again!



Lastly, we had a special delivery to make. Even though it's only May, Jack's birthday extravaganza has got me thinking about Joseph's birthday cake already! My newest baking book that I've been scouring for ideas is "The Whimsical Bakehouse," and a very deserving person was on the receiving end of a chocolate butter cake with cookies-n-cream filling and vanilla buttercream.



Thank you Aimee, for being who you are and doing what you do. We'll miss you dearly, but wish you all the best the world has to offer! xoxo

A Memorable Day

We had a lovely Memorial Day today, spent together as a family, enjoying our city. We headed downtown to show Joseph the Museum of Natural History. (We also spent last evening together as a family, doing Joseph's least favorite thing: shopping. But he does love his new Crocs, and gets very upset when we take them off him.)


He really wasn't into stopping and posing for pictures at the museum. He just wanted to move! The only thing that held his attention very long was the fish tank in the newly renovated "Oceans" exhibit, and every once in a while he would stop and push a button on a display 100 times before seeing what else was interesting.




One thing Joseph did not like at all was the Live Butterfly Pavilion. You walk through this glassed-in pathway with hundreds of butterflies all over the place. He generally loves bugs, guess this was just a little too much of a good thing.



Then we went out for lunch, and headed home for nap time. What a fun weekend overall! Here's a great photo Missy sent of Joe at Jack's birthday party on Saturday.

Jack turns 2!

Happy birthday to our bestest buddy!! Jack had a ton of friends over today for a backyard bash and barbeque feast to celebrate turning two.



Aunt Missy knows how to entertain! There were a ton of different activities to keep the kids busy, and the food was delicious and plentiful. Every kid got their own sand pail with their name painted on it. And since the weather decided to cooperate with the game plan, the party couldn't have been more perfect!



Who needs a spoon when you can just use the candle to shovel in the icing?



After a solid nap, we headed out to the park. Joseph hugged his new personalized bucket the whole way there, and made a bee-line for the sandbox and dug right in.


While dinner was cooking, Joseph helped Papa water the plants. Not sure if this was the best idea.


Watch out or you'll be soaked!

This old man....

After writing the date a thousand times at work today I finally realized that today is the 20th anniversary of my college graduation. Yes folks, Boston College, class of 1989. Here's my senior year picture:


Remember, it was still the 80's, and big hair was not unusual. Plus I grew up in New Jersey. I had let my roommate pierce my ear freshman year.

And here I am on graduation day. You can't see the details, but I'm wearing plaid pants and Converse high-tops, and there's a cigarette in my hand. Classy! My oh my, times have changed!

Cool Rider

More scenes from Gymboree. I have to give these people some credit - they get very creative with the 4 pieces of equipment they have.





Did Felix's mom call our son fat? Even after Joseph was so sweet and helped pull Felix around when it was his turn.

Me and B

Today Brent and I celebrate 13 years together! Before there was Mr. JT, we sure did a lot of stuff as a couple, especially traveling.

Here we are in Italy by the Ponte Vecchio::


Mexico City:


Yosemite:


And here we are on Halloween 3 years ago (one of the favorite costumes I've ever made!):


As far as I can tell, this is the last known picture in existence of us together without a baby, which was taken in Harper's Ferry the month before JT was born.


Happy Anniversary, honey!!

Park Patrol

As the weather has improved here and we're spending more time outside, I've realized that we couldn't really do much last summer since Joseph didn't walk until he was about 15 months old. That would mean strolling him all the way to the park to do nothing but push him in a swing, which is pretty boring, or put him down on the ground and have him drag himself through the mulch and dirt within 2 seconds, which is pretty nasty. So now we're making up for lost time, hitting every park we can find!

You already saw our post on Clemyjontri, which we're sure to visit again. We heard of one on Macomb through a friend at Gymboree, and checked it out yesterday. Very nice, especially because it was shady. But no matter where we go, Joseph's favorite attraction is indeed the mulch that I was avoiding last year. He just loves to pick up fistfuls and pour it into piles.



Today we drove out to Adventure Playland to meet a friend - not close by any means, about 45 minutes away in Germantown - but well worth the time and gas. This play was also huge, with a castle and boat and equipment we've never seen before.


Naturally, drawn to the truck. Gee, whatever theme will we use for his birthday party this year?


The main attraction was actually Bailey's dad. Joseph was instantly drawn to him, and was always holding his hand or asking to be picked up by him.



We spent a little more time there after Bailey had to leave, since there was so much more to see. Just like at the other parks, he runs around like a maniac!


One of Joseph's favorites was the dragon. He got to feed him his lunch, which was.....
mulch, of course.


Where to next?!

What's in a name?

I took Joseph to a park today named "Clemyjontri," and even Shakespeare would be scratching his head trying to figure that one out. Turns out it comes from some (tragic) combination of parts of the names of all 4 kids of the main donor to the park. Whatev.... But everything else about this place was amazing!


It is H-U-G-E, and "all access," which means that every single area and structure can be played on by kids with any disabilty. Joseph never stopped moving for 2 hours! He's the one in the center of the 2nd picture with the red shirt.



Spent a lot of time in the transportation zone - trucks, buses, planes, trains, and even a helicopter to climb on.


Very cool swings. Not sure if I strapped him in the right way, but he didn't seem to mind.



My 2 favorite pics from the day. Amazingly he was so distracted by the park that he didn't realize there was a hat on his head!