Easter 2018

This year's Easter was a little different in a few ways.  It fell on General Conference Sunday, so we didn't have our usual church outing (and so The Wife couldn't figure out the right time to put together her Easter outfits, which it turns out didn't arrive in time anyway).

Easter morning was as exciting as could be expected.  It's amazing how much kids get such a thrill out of plastic eggs and candy, but I so love their enthusiasm for the magical and festive.

Everybunny is having a great morning.

We opted for a family brunch situation rather than the usual dinner, just for something different and since people might start having their own evening plans.  There were eggs to be hunted and so much delicious food.

When your sister is a pro photog you sometimes get the most lovely photos of your kids at special occasions!  See her work at Blue Hill Images.

In betweentimes we visited our new favorite tradition, this cool replica of the tomb, located right here in Alpine.

So nice, but I do mean to suggest to them to change up the music loop (that is, to include more than one song in said loop).

Then we invited Mom and Dad over and joined forces with Elise & Co. for their wonderful Mediterranean feast (it does make more sense as an Easter meal when you think about it), which we might have to make a tradition if the Rs are amenable!!!

8]

This was also the project of the weekend... Hurray, no more worrying about the giant gaps where the springs inevitably pop off every time I jumped on it.

The old ones looks so wilty compared, ha ha.

And that's all there was to it!  Julie made a marvelous angel food cake that was praised by all, the kids had a great time grounded in the purpose of the day, we caught some GC talks and discussed the news and overall enjoyed the spring weather (until it turned to winter again a few days later) (but now it's spring again so it's fine).

Surprise Arrival

Quick, before it's July!  ... Before it's July 4th?

SURPRISE!!!!!

M.D.G., 8 lb 2 oz, 20 in

We had a baby.  He is super cute and super sweet and was in a reeeeal hurry to get here (read all about the amazing delivery here -- spoiler alert: my wife is a champion).  We thought it would be fun to not say a thing about it on social media and then just have a big surprise announcement, and you know what?  It WAS fun.  Of course family knew and it became increasingly difficult to hide the impending events from some friends who we saw in person, but it was still preeeeetty satisfying to drop this post on the Insta:

>O<

So he came right on schedule and we were basically in and out of the hospital and back home with our other two hooligans who just love baby brother, especially Little Girl, who can't stop asking to hold him, though the holding never seems to last too long.  It's been interesting to see the difference in how the two of them have reacted, and I suppose it will continue to be just that.

For those who wonder, we had the perfect girl name picked out so of course when we knew who we were expecting we had to shift gears, and there's no real explanation to his name other than that we liked the sound of the first name and then in a random association game of things we love we thought of the second one and then they sounded so nice together and had such a solid meaning that we had to go with it, and it has matched him perfectly so far.  (Cryptic enough?)

Now and then we just say, "Um, we have three kids."

Highlights from his Day 1 photoshoot by Auntie.  She also made an awesome little video with some footage she took.

Striking a pose.

Such a wise little face, with a touch of sleepy.

We had Grandma visiting for a week or so after the birth day, which was lots of fun and so very helpful.  The day she left we looked at each other and the three kids around us and were suddenly like, oh...

But so far so good!  He had his two-week checkup today and he's gaining weight and is very tall and has nice coloring and is eating like a champ and sleeping in between and overall a good boy, for which we are very grateful and hope will continue.

The best kinds of Father's Day presents.  Our belated celebration was a home run by The Wife.

Already outgrowing his newborn clothes. *sigh*

And that's our (second) boy.  One more to carry on the name, and bring us so much joy along the way.

First official portrait.  That pointy li'l chin!

Add him to the roster.  This boy is loved.

Until next update.

Presenting The Poppy

Three weeks ago tomorrow, this happened:

A.C.G., 8 lbs. 1 oz., 20.5 in.

Poppy no more!  Our little girl arrived right on schedule, and as healthy as can be.  We're so grateful to have our little one here safe and sound and doing so well.

First portrait

*almost winks*

These three...

A few newborn photos my sister took on day 1

Everything went as well as we could have hoped (almost... epidural man...), and The Wife and The Girl are both doing really great.  You can read all about the birth story here.  (And we were excited to welcome a cousintwin on the exact same day in a neighboring state!)  She's sweet and snuggly and wWe really weren't expecting QUITE that head o' hair, but here's hoping it sticks around, ha ha

Heading home (and, with only three of us, an incomplete family photo!)

We're happy to be home (and watching plenty of Parks and Recreation) and big brother is adjusting to life with a little one just fine.  He's usually quite gentle with her, and even though he can sense something is different, and can be a little sensitive sometimes, he's quickly acclimatizing to our new family dynamic.

Adorable art by my sister to commemorate the occasion

We love our beautiful and bright-eyed and dark-haired little girl!  It's already hard to imagine our family without her.

Family of four

33 and Ten Months

A couple of weeks ago The Boy and I each reached a couple of milestones, so I thought I would just blog about them at once.

I turned 33!  My age is a palindrome for the first time in 11 years (can something be a palindrome when it's only two characters?...  Or when it's numbers, for that matter?  I'm going to say yes and yes).  First I was so excited that my dearest youngest sister and BFF and her two tots came to visit from back east, just in time for my birthday of all days!

Together again!  The older sister had by now found the toys in the kids' loft upstairs

BCFs.

Second, we thought it would be fun to throw a friend party this year (hopefully to make up for last year...), and it turned out so great!  My birthday was on Sunday, and there was a ward talent show on Saturday, so we had it a couple days prior to the actual day.  Julie made a fantastic Boston cream pie/cake (and yes, it was a total coincidence that this party fell on Pi Day), and a lot of fun friends and family came to share it with us.  We should have parties when Elise is in town more often!  HA.  Julie made the actual day very special, with surpreezes throughout the day.  I was glad to add Catching Fire to our DVD collection, and also Frozen a few days later.  I remember growing up that Disney movies often were released around my birthday, which was just the best thing ever.  I hadn't seen Frozen since we saw it in the theater (no, I didn't want to watch it online... the anticipation of the home video release was always one of the most exciting things about a Disney movie!), and we also a few days later saw the latest (brilliant) Muppet movie, which I call a continuation of the celebration.

It was delish, and not a single piece survived the night.

Penneh was really excited about the cake.

Later The Wife made one of her specialty gourmet Oreo cakes.  No one can make one like she can!

The next morning Mom and Elise joined us for a fun 5K in Vineyard, which we did last year, though this year's experience was quite different...  Not only was it a little more expensive and the course completely new, but we were all hampered by the FREEZING wind.  It basically was trying to knock us over the entire time.  Would it be too much to hope that the wind might at least SOMEtimes be pushing your back rather than against your front?  But it never really seemed to.  We all did all right (I came in at about 22:30, about a 7:04 mile, though it was a little more than a 5K at 3.18m... why is it so hard for races to be accurate distance?  Also, why is my racing pace so much faster than my daily run pace?  I mean, I can think of a few reasons, but still), especially when we realized that Julie and I hadn't run a 5K since last summer.  It was also exciting to have an opportunity to use my brand new LockLaces!  Never tying my shoelaces again?!?  YES PLEASE.  The Wife comes up with the cleverest ideas for presents.  Dad's recovering from a little injury, so he was good enough to watch the little ones, safe and warm in the car.  Then, of course, the next day we had a big family Sunday afternoon gathering with foods and treats and St. Patrick's Day/birthday fun for me and Penny and Jonny.

Note the flags and Penny's hair.  It was ever so windy.

Matching shirts from Mommy/Wife!

And then, just a few days later, The Boy reached the double digits!  (The Wife's update post coming soon.)  He's doing so great and growing so fast.  He's crawling and cruising all over the place, is a pro at going up and down the stairs, and is probably days away from walking (!!!).  We're working on clapping and waving (the first is coming along, and the second is taking a little longer, but coming too... we realized that since I work from home we hardly have any opportunities to wave bye-bye, so we're trying to remember to make a point of it whenever I go upstairs to work or whenever either of us goes anywhere for any significant amount of time).  He babbles and blows spit bubbles and sticks out his tongue and is starting to say sort of words, and he's very quiet and attentive and observant when we drive in the car.  He's much better around new people and places, though he definitely still loves to cling to his parents, especially his mommy.  He loves bananas, avocados and bread, and uses his four adorably spaced teeth (and counting) to great effect, though he's taken to grinding his little chompers, which makes a most alarming sound and which we try to prevent from happening.  He often spreads his arms high and wide as if he's just done the most amazing trick ever, and for the most part he's sleeping better than ever, which is a huge blessing that never goes unrealized or unappreciated by us.  Our place seems to be getting smaller and smaller as The Boy gets bigger and bigger, but we make it work all right.

Oh my adorable peeps.

We've been making our way through the Disney movies.  They don't usually hold Bobo's interest for very long.  But look!  They're making the same face and pose!  Lawlawlawl.

And here we see 1) his interest not being held for very long, 2) his love for the stairs around the corner, and 3) another pose similar to Bambi's!  Lawlawlawl again!

His hospital cap is definitely starting to reach its limit.

Oh, that face.  Also, note the most historically inaccurate Noah's ark toy ever.

It's blurry, but that's kind of what happens these days.  Also, note one of his favorite toys (you can play with it, but you can't eat it!).

He loves reading, which makes us ever so glad.  He really likes turning the pages and closing it at the end.

Just two more months until you reach a year, my son!  That is just crazy, but also awesome.  We can't wait to see what surprises this little man has in store for us.

Epic European Tour, Part VII: New York City Postlude

And then we were in New York City!  After such a long stretch of traveling, we were SO tired that it took everything in us to take the Subway into the city and lug our suitcases along the streets to the hotel that we had arranged for our one night stay.  Elise and Jeff were catching a late night/early morning bus back home, so they crashed on our hotel room floor for a few hours before it was time for them to creep out and catch their ride, the earlier to be home with their little one.  As for me and The Wife, we were so totally beat that we didn't hear a single peep while Elise and Jeff gathered their things and headed out.  And then it was morning!  And we were sorry to already have to leave our delightful hotel room, which was such an oasis in the middle of the city after so much time in an airplane and bus and train and etc. etc., but we were ready to see some sights and walk around for a while.

It came with robes.

Surpreeze!!!  Did I surpreeze you?

It had a bathroom!!!  Amazing, I know.

Some good old American TV.  (HGTV, of course!)

Chic decor.

Not much of a view, unless you want a taste of NY living, then it's a fantastic view.

This bed was such a delight to sleep in after so much intercontinental traveling.

Oh hallo, packing Wife.

We didn't want to leave!  So we didn't head out as early as we had originally planned.

:*

Goodbye, Chambers Hotel!  We'll probably visit you again someday!

So then by the time we were up and ready and packed and dropped off our bags at the front desk for holding and checked out, we had a precious eight hours or so to do everything in the city we wanted to/could.  Besides our quick time passing through on the way to JFK to catch our flight to Europe, The Wife had never been there, and it had been several years for me, so we grabbed our Subway/city map and bought our day passes and did some prioritizing and tried our best to hit all the spots we wanted to see, with some along the way, before we had to catch our evening bus back to Maryland.

My employer!  Does that mean I get to count this as a day of work?

CBS!  I wonder if there are any Survivors in there.

Time to have some breakfast from a real NY street vendor.

Radio City Music Hall!  Keane is coming soon!

Rockefeller Center!  There were ice skaters already, but it wasn't very crowded, which surprised me.

Some real NY pizza, right, Michael Scott?

SO cute.

The New York Public Library!  Shh.

Great jumping picture, Wife!

Me and a lion.

Wife had a slightly different approach.

And then, after seeing all those mini-stops along the way, we made it to the Empire State Building!

We went up to the observation deck!  It's such a great view.  Here we have the Statue of Liberty.

And the Flatiron Building.

And the Chrysler Building!

It's crazy that those buildings we can see the top of are also skyscrapers.

The Hudson (I think) River.

The Brooklyn (I think) Bridge.

The tippy-top!  It was great to take the time to go to the top of this since it's a good way to see so many sights at once.  We ended up walking the last eight or ten flights of stairs, which saved us a 45-minute wait in another line.  Right on.

Ummm, I think you're wearing that wrong, Wife.

A NY pretzel and Macy's!  The pretzel was pretty hard.

There it is!  Just peeking through.

La la la.

The Wife really likes those turtles, even if she's hesitant to give this rebooted version a try.

On our way to Times Square!  Check out the horrible knock-off walkaround characters.  Two Pusses in Boots?!?  How is that even possible?

So sad that we just missed the big HP exhibition!

The new Times Square Disney Store was a thing of wonder.  The escalator said it was taking us to a new and magical world of enchantment.  Wife looks enchanted all right!

Spider-Man is eating your head!!!

For Britney.

Anyone home?

Times Square!  We made it.

Alas, we just didn't have time to catch Newsies.

But we DID have time for a jumping Newsies photo shoot.

Remember what I said about missing the HP exhibition?  It will be right here very soon.

What a giant Bilbo poster!!!

Snip-snip, designers!

Sad again.  I considered toughing it out and seeing it the night before right when we came to town, but we were way too tired, and besides it was too late by the time we made it into the city.  It wasn't the original Jack anymore anyway.  Oh well.

And thus we have entered the under-construction Museum of Natural History.  The funny thing is this museum isn't nearly as fancy and elegant as that movie makes it look, but it still has some pretty cool things.

O.O

Some elephants!

That T-Rex!  I wonder if it will come to life at night.

A giant prehistoric tortoise!

A giant prehistoric equine-type creature!

Various representations of the Steg.

Wife doing her best Brachiosaurus impression.

Umm... what exactly are you planning on there, Mr. Lizardman?

GROSS.

DOUBLE GROSS!!!  (Remember this, Lacie and Leland?  VERY funny.)

Don't trust it.  The water was brown and icky.

A giant whale!

This whale wasn't quite as big, but the display was all dark and spoooky (the extra O was an accident, but I'll leave it in anyway).

This lil' sea lion was just peeking its head up to say hallo.

After a good while seeing pretty much all the museum, we grabbed some lunch and crossed Central Park.

Where's Waldo?  Central Park, evidently.

What up, Met?

Check out this Mucha!

A nice little statue garden.  We had to kind of scurry through the Met to keep our schedule.

 And that was about it!  I say that the Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, the Public Library, Bryant Park, the Empire State Building (et al.), Times Square (et al.), Parsons, the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art all in one day is pretty darn good.  We wanted to run a couple of blocks up just to at least SEE the Guggenheim, but we were pressed for time as it was.  So we hauled it back to the hotel, picked up our suitcases and hauled it to the Subway station to catch the train over to where our bus picked us up to take us back to DC.  I will say this about the Subway:  It's amazing that it can get you ALL the way across town in so relatively short an amount of time, but when you're waiting and counting the minutes and the seconds and the trains just keep not coming, it can be pretty stressful.  I just didn't know what we would do if we missed that bus, but when it came down to it, we were running those last couple of blocks, and we made it just in time (and I mean JUST in time...).  There were standby people foaming at the mouth for empty seats, and we were ever so so thankful that we made it with moments to spare, and heck, we were even able to sit one in front of the other (it's not side-by-side, but we were glad to be pretty close anyway).  Then when the bus stopped partway in MD and some people left, we were able to find two seats together, and even seats with a ledge we could put our feet up on.  We made it back to DC and were picked up by our travel buddies Elise and Jeff who drove us back to their place, where we were then met by Emily, our wonderful hostess of the week before, and it didn't take long to fall asleep.

The next morning we were up earlyish so we could have just a little time to spend with the triplets again, and finish packing up, and make our flight not at the last minute.  We were sad to leave our back east family, but were so glad that we were finally able to make it there to visit them one and all.  I can't believe how wonderful all four of those toddlers are.  Emily took a picture of me with them, but I don't have it.  If I can track it down, I'll post it later (eh, Emily?), I just really want to accomplish my goal of finishing these posts before Thanksgiving Day (and just barely!).  It didn't take long to get our landlegs back, and after another long plane ride and a couple of car rides home, we realized we had over the last two days on basically every form of transporation known to modern man, and therefore we were ever so glad to finally be back at our nice little place.

And that, my friends, brings me to a close of our Epic European Tour trip report.  It was amazing how it all came together, and even while we were there we sort of couldn't believe that it was happening after so many months of waiting.  My art historian wife and I were thrilled to see so much famous art and beautiful locations, and although there's never enough time to do everything on a trip like this, it was fantastic to get such a wonderful taste of so many different places and things.  One day we'll take those return trips to Italy and France and we'll look back on the memories we made in the fall of 2012 with great fondness.  I love having such a fun and pretty traveling companion.

Yay!

(Phew.)