Florida Vacation Part II: Playground

We had lots of fun this year at the community playground. We took the car a few times but also biked a couple times too, with the boys on the back of the adult bikes. They can do almost everything by themselves, which was a huge improvement from last year when they needed lots of help with getting up on things.

Beckett really wanted to push Theo. Theo did not want Beckett to push him.

One afternoon we went we had the whole playground to ourselves. Maybe because there was a tornado warning? Either way we enjoyed there being no other kids around.

A new era here, with the boys eating at a table next to the dining room table now. Tuesday when we went down to the basement to bring up some toys (and bring others down there, to rotate), they chose to bring up their table and chairs. They put it in the dining room and when I said it was time for lunch, they sat there! Time to put away the highchairs (except for special baby guests)!

Thursday morning the FedEx man brought a Melissa and Doug play-dough accessories set. Both boys enjoyed it but Theo went back to it a couple more times today, asking for it back to play with. I think they both liked being able to organize and sort the different accessories and put them back in the proper place in the set.

Florida Vacation Part 1: Pre Florida

We were supposed to get on a plane Tuesday, March 11 to go to Florida. We did in fact get on a plane at the Syracuse airport but were almost immediately told to get off the plane because it was broken. Much crying ensued from two boys who had been promised lollipops on the airplane. We hung out in the airport for a few hours until it was clear that plane was not leaving and neither were we. Here are some pictures of us in the Syracuse airport playing on the very real cockpit simulator (worth a trip just for that! Sara and Preston?).

We then drove to the Rochester airport where Delta put us up in a hotel. We went to sleep at about 9:30 and were awakened approximately every hour by Theo wanting to know where we were, or just crying unconsolably for minutes on end. Then we got up at 4:30 to get to the Rochester airport. Next to our gate was an awesome soft foam playground for toddlers! How lucky are we?

We barely made it out of Rochester before most of the flights were canceled. And we flew to Detroit, where the eye of the blizzard was just arriving! Good news: we got to watch lots of snow plows and other snow-moving machines work on the runways! Even better news: we got to LEAVE and go to Florida!

Fun for All

On Saturday, Grandpa Greg & Grandma Kathy accompanied us to a bounce house to watch the boys burn off some energy.  As you can see in the video, the boys weren't the only ones having fun.

Cabin fever

Cold zoo trip

Tuesday afternoon we headed to the zoo for a quick circuit before it closed. It's the best time to go because they feed the animals at the end of the day, and there's almost no one else there. We had some intense interactions with wolves, snow leopards and tigers. It appeared they had not seen many other people that day, and were hungry before mealtime, so it looked like they wanted to eat us!

The boys started out walking but I brought the ergos anyway. Theo only made it inside the building before he wanted to ride on my back. Beckett made it up the hill to the snow leopards and then decided to hitch a ride.

A couple of weekends ago we spent an evening enjoying a delicious dinner with Joanne and Alex. Joanne was Bryn's mentor at the Cornell Law School Legal Aid Clinic and Alex was her guidance counselor in high school. They are big-time baby lovers and obviously the feeling is mutual.