Early Christmas

This photo? A gift from me to you.

Take it all in. The hair, the posing, the bedazzlement.

This is my friend Marci and I, circa 1988.

And this is Marci and I circa 2009.

Thanks to Facebook, Marci and I have reconnected and she and her family came for a visit just before Thanksgiving. Where DOES the time go?

Monkeys At The Zoo

We've been to the zoo about a gazillion times since we moved here. Molly used to sleep through the trip. Then she grew a little and would keep her eyes open, but stayed in the stroller. Now, not only is she out of the stroller, but she is trying to actually GET INTO the exhibits. I had to use all my strength to pry her off this fence. She really loves the animals.

There were some doctoral students from George Washington University at the Orangutan exhibit. This guy started his lecture and James ASKED to sit down and listen. We thought he'd last about 3 minutes, but he lasted the entire time. I think that might have been because he was the guinea pig for all the demonstrations.

Here he is learning how to open a box in the same way that the orangutans were taught.

And this is three card monty, monkey style. It was "find the piece of candy."

College is going to be so disappointing when every lecture dos NOT end in eight pieces of candy.

Of course, when offered the opportunity to test his brain, we accept! James' "scientific" responses have been entered into yet another study.

Then, continuing with the monkey theme..... a quick walk over to the gorillas. This baby gorilla was born about two weeks before Molly.

Us: Ooooh! James! Look! Can you see the baby gorilla?

James: Yeah. Looks like Molly.

Nice.

15 PAIRS!

Concert is December 17... stay tuned for photos of the elf shenanigans.

Molly 10 Months!

She can eat an entire cheeseburger in one sitting.

Grandpa Gary

aaaack! I am so behind! I am actually taking a break from making 15 elf hats and 15 pairs of elf shoes for James' class to FINALLY update this blog. Seriously. 15 PAIRS. I had to look at a calendar just to see when my dad came for visit... eek! NOVEMBER! I am THAT behind.

Before my dad came, he sent this great tool belt/tools/goggles/suspenders kit. James loves it. He wears the safety goggles all the time which is, if you've ever met James, ironic. Here he is wearing the whole get up.

Little does he know, that when he's at school..... it's somebody else's favorite tool belt too.

We had a great time with my dad. He and James watched some football...

... and Molly just ADORED him. She spent a lot of time squeezing his nose.

My dad got the same treatment all of our guests get, "put on your jacket and get in the car." We hit the Air & Space Museum, the Museum of American History and we got to do something that I have wanted to do for over a year - go to the top of the Washington Monument! It could not have been a more perfect day to take in the amazing DC views.

View of the White House.....

A stop at the Hirshorn Museum Sculpture Gallery.

James tries to make sense of this one....

Since we had my dad to handle Molly, we took James ice skating for the first time.

Laugh, if you will, at the amount of padding and protective wear, but trust me - we know this kid and he needed it.

Of course, his favorite part was really the zamboni.

Thanks for the great visit dad!

BOSTON!

Growing up in Arizona, I spent a LOT of time with my cousins in the northern part of the state - Fred, Ken (whom you've seen here) and Dani. We used to travel the three hours to Flagstaff so my mom could french braid Dani's hair so she could compete in karate contests and flatten boys twice her age and twice her size - true story.

So, life goes on, they moved to Wisconsin, Dani played ice hockey at Princeton, she married a great guy (Jason) and moved to Boston. We both had kids around the same time and flash forward to now - we are FINALLY seeing each other after too many years!

Here's Dani... all grown up. No french braids.

But before I go on and on about what a fun trip we had, please allow me to GUSH about JetBlue Airlines. LOVE them! No charge for bags! No charge for gate checking a stroller AND a car seat! There were empty seats on the plane and they let me take Molly's car seat on, strap her in and enjoy an hour of quiet for NO CHARGE! PLUS, every seat has extra legroom and a video monitor in each seat back with over 50 channels of real time TV. Oh, AND an extensive snack and beverage list for - yes, you guessed it - NO CHARGE! Our round trip tix to Boston? 100 bucks. You should go to their website now because if JetBlue flies to your town, you can bet you'll be seeing us soon.

See? Here I am on the plane with earphones in, a baby I don't have to hold, and so much legroom I don't know what to do with myself.

Dani has two kids - Peter (4 1/2) and Calvin (14 mo). James & Peter became FAST friends. I don't think we were there for an hour when James laid his head on Peter's shoulder and said, "Peter, I love you." Peter confirmed that, although James was coming on a little strong, he too loved James and the two were inseparable from that moment on.

They did a lot of this:

and not so much of this:

There's a famous book, Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Here are the bronze ducks from that book in the Public Garden.

Little Calvin

I don't know why James thinks that tipping musicians is a speed sport, but he drops that money in like he's being chased.

We went to a Kids Science Museum, aka THE BEST PLACE EVER to James because it had an entire room of drums.

Note:

Peter - NOT a fan.

Molly had a fun trip too. She sat in a lot of leaves...

and on bronze frogs...

and on daddy's shoulders....

There was a "baby" section of the kids museum for her to crawl around in, play with stuff, use her brain. She loved it.

Yes, she is standing by herself here.

(Yes, we know life is over as we know it.)

While at the museum, we were asked if James might like to participate in a study on "ownership" for kids age 3-5. Not ones to shy away from experimenting with James' brain, we said yes. He did a great job - he sat still and answered all the questions. He also offered several alternative scenarios instead of answering the questions directly, causing the interviewer to have to get a pen and paper.

Jason's mom babysat (all FOUR KIDS!) on our last night so we could go out to dinner and actually hold a conversation.

Here's James making a spider web out of tape right before we left.... you know, to make it easy on her.