Catching up

Sorry for the long post of lots of photos. For my roommates who check my blog, these are mostly for them! I've been meaning to post these from our trip up north to CT back in April. These are from our visit to my roommate of 4 years and her family. We had a great time and Caed and H got along relatively well as toddlers can. Caed did get sick while we were there and so that put him out of sorts, but we had PERFECT weather and perfect company. We miss them. It's really funny because when I put lotion on Caed when he's on his changing table, he tells me the lotion bottle is "baby" H's! (they are only 5 months apart). But he definitely remembers parts of our trip and that to me is so cool!

We visited this little petting farm around the corner from them, and Caed loved the peacock. He actually was a little scared of the tractor that we got to see working.

We got to test our newish stroller with the extra seat. So much fun, and neither kid minded being in the back!

Too Heavy

Today Caed told me I was "too heavy to pick up". That's a confidence booster for this weight gaining momma. It made me chuckle.

We were gone in NY last week, and I didn't realize that I was actually gone as long as I was, until Monday came and I still wasn't heading home quite yet. Caed and I travelled alone for one of my oldest friend's baby shower. We had a great time and I was so happy to introduce Caed to some of my dearest friends for the first time.

I'll be back with more soon. This weekend should afford me some catching up! Although I think we're taking Caed camping for this first time this weekend (bye bye backpacking tent for two, hello huge family tent!!)

Mother's Day

Caed took me to one of my favorite restaurants for Mother's Day, Bistrot du Coin. It's a french restaurant that is really similar in ambiance to the restaurants we went to while in France 3 years ago. Auntie April came with us and we were there two hours and Caed did so great (minus a potty accident- thanks AJ!). No fussing and stayed in his chair the whole time until dessert time. It was a great time! I got duck, Jon got mussels, April got Hangar steak and Caed ate Haricot Verts and Mashed Potatoes. A pot of Beaujolais wine and a wonderful time!

Playin' in the rain!

We went to Arlington with one of our good friends from the Mom's group for my dad's birthday. The kids were too cute at the fountain, and I love the second picture with Caed's foot in the air while kissing. Too much. These kids are growing up so quickly. I know that parents always say it, but it's incredibly true.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today was my dad's birthday and I took Caed to Arlington Cemetery to put some flowers down at his "spot". (my family calls it his mailbox, but I call it 'pop-pop's spot' with Caed) Our good friends came along too, which was so nice. And Caed loved having A there. We braved the on and off again rain, and the kids loved watching the fountain.

Happy Birthday daddy!

A photo of Caed in his rain jacket when we were leaving:

Zoo

This past weekend Caed came down with a virus called Hand Foot Mouth Disease. It's highly contagious so we were quarantined until today. I decided last minute to head over to the zoo. It's 15 minutes in good conditions to drive there and I figured I could find a spot to park before 10am no problem. I wasn't bringing the stroller and just packed up some quick food to eat. I ended up have his push trike in the back of the car which I forgot about, so I decided to use that. It actually went really well to use it! We had a good time and a lot of the animals were out today. It was the first time I've seen the cheetah awake, and he was actually alert and looking to hunt a bird or something- It was fun. The biggest part of our visit were the elephants. I always feel so sorry for them in their cramped space (and even smaller right now due to construction of a larger area for them in the future). But we'd never be able to see an elephant in real life if it were not for the zoo. Two elephants were out in the yard, and one was inside getting scrubbed down. It was a lot of fun for Caed. We stayed only and hour and a half, but living so close affords me a trip like that, and I need to be mindful of that.



I still have pictures to post from CT, but I wanted to post these today for my mom.





At the entrance, sorry he's in the shadow, but I couldn't adjust my settings quick enough for another photo..






At the Panda exhibit, we actually got to see one, it was in the distance, but you could see it's whole body because of how it was laying, and even Caed could tell what it was.

The two elephants in the yard. At first Caed was actually nervous, but then he didn't want to leave...

The hippo:

The sloth bears are actually highlighted at the entrance, but we didn't see any until a little before we left we happened to be eating near the space and got to see one (albeit not a great view). They are actually one of my favorite animals at this zoo. They are so funny looking!

Milford, CT

On Tuesday we finally made it to Grandma and Aunt Betsy's house. This is Jon's grandmother and Aunt. We went during Aunt Betsy's Spring Break (she's an ESL teacher) and we had great weather and a great time. I even got to go for a bike ride with Aunt Betsy while Caed napped and Grandma kept her ear out for him. That was a lot of fun for me since I don't get to bike ride too often. I had Dunkin Donuts coffee more then once (New England is the place to get it!) and we visited lots of animals too. It was so much fun for us! An additinal fun thing is that Aunt Betsy is a vegetarian so we got really great meals while we were with them too!



Aunt Betsy volunteer's at this local farm and we got to visit that too. It was really cool because we could roam where we wanted, and watch whatever animals we wanted to, too.


Caed loved playing with Grandma's cane:



Being silly with some dress up safety goggles from Heather's kids:

Aunt Betsy getting ready to make us breakfast. Apparently she wasn't prepared for the picture taking to begin!:

Her cat, who's name is escaping me, but was such a mush!:

Grandma in the morning too!:

Grandma let Caed play with this musical clown, and he loved it:

Aunt Betsy and Caed walking between the greenhouses:

The rooster's were out and making a racket!:

I know it looks like Aunt Betsy's forcing his face, but he wouldn't look at me, and wanted to keep looking at the donkey!:

Look at the beautiful colored eggs! They are for eating! I was amazed at the beautiful colors and patterns they came in:

Catching up

Finally catching up with photos from my trip up north to CT. These first few photos are from my stop at Heather's house in PA. We got to go to one of Chantz's baseball practices, and Caed loved it...running around with the older kids, it was a lot of fun. Caed loves his cousins incredibly.

busy busy

It's been a busy week trying to catch up on all that we had waiting for us, and the nice weather is keeping me from my computer too, which is in our basement. I want to be outside- and I love how tired Caed gets before nap time and bedtime with being in the fresh air. I have done some work in our yard- trying to make some decisions about changing around our backyard and trying to get motivated to start our veggie garden in the front of our house. (more sun)

We have a couple of things going on this weekend, including out first 'destination' birthday party. Yup, one of our neighbors invited us to their daughters 1st birthday party at Gymboree! :) I've never been to a party at one, and i've been to many a child's birthday parties with the family I nannied for. I told my older (wiser) sister that I was looking forward to checking it out, and she told me it wouldn't be what I think. We'll see!

I'll be back soon with pictures too from our visits last week.

home

we're home after a week of travelling. It was lots of fun and really good to be back on our turf. the end of the trip was a little rough with caed being extra clingy and a slight fever. But he's happy today and loving all his toys again!

I'll have lots to post later, after I take care of the things on my list today.