Florida vacation

I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from our Florida vacation. We stayed with my grandma (known as "GG" to Simon) and my parents were there too! (Now known as "Gama" and "Bapa"). Here were some of our favorite photos. Simon absolutely loved the beach, and the pool too! We also got to see my Uncle Roger and Aunt Sandy for the first time in many years, and the guys (minus Simon) got to play golf. Troy and I also got a date night, which we spent at a restaurant right on the water. All in all, it was spectacular!

New words Simon learned on the trip were beach, pool (though what he says is "poo"), airplane ("eee-peen"), among others!

More fun in Illinois

This is my favorite video of Simon in a while. He was just loving being outside, loving the music, and loving the blueberries.

Pretty Woman from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Weekend in Illinois

We've had lots of recent travels and need some catch-up posts! The weekend before last, we went to Illinois and stayed with the Blockis. We had fantastic weather and got to spend a lot of time outside! He got to see a big tractor at their neighbors' house, and even got to sit on it! He was very excited, to say the least.

He had fun playing with Alli's new dress-up shoes. But he wasn't entirely sure they were his color.

He also loved the big slide in the Blockis' backyard:

Big slide from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

And he enjoyed just sitting out on the patio eating blueberries:

Lest any of our Boston friends look at that last photo, of Simon in his John Deere tractor shirt, and think that we're letting this now-Midwestern boy forget where he was born, we present the following as evidence that we're continuing to remind him of his Beantown roots.*

*No alcohol was consumed by anyone under the age of 21. Especially not by those under the age of 2.

Little LBT weekend

Last weekend, we had a fun get-together with Langdon and Eliza (of Baby Babbling, link on the right!) Langdon is my friend from the lab I worked in at MIT, where we worked on the "LBT" project (for Lanthanide Binding Tags). I'm sure it was Langdon who started calling the kids our "little LBTs".

Langdon and Eliza drove in from Madison to spend much of Saturday and part of Sunday with us. Eliza's mom Anna couldn't make it as she was all the way in Malawi visiting her sister, who is in the Peace Corps there.

We started Saturday at the Children's Museum, where Simon spent a lot of time at the train tables:


Both kids had fun coloring:

And it was nice enough out for a trip to the park!

At the playground from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

They goofed around in sunglasses inside - Eliza was happy to pose for a photo, but Simon was less willing. (This was the best photo of several attempts):


We also tried to get the kids to say the name of our research project. Eliza did quite well - Simon was more interested in raisins.

Little LBTs from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

We had a wonderful time, and can't wait to get together again when Anna can join us too!

We went to the Lake two weekends ago (when we got our camera back, remember?) Finally, here are some pictures and videos from that weekend.

We got there first, and so were tasked with warming the place up. That meant we had to stay in coats and hats inside for a while. But Simon knew right away where he wanted to be. (He also immediately associated the place with Grandpa & Grandma, as you'll hear. Bapa = grandpa):

Where the toys are... from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

He also spent time being silly as usual:


It was great to see his great-great-Aunt Eleanor!


And he's officially in love with his new raincoat and boots that Grandma and Aunt Biz picked up for him:


More silliness, though he tells you when he's "all done":

Silly Aunt Biz from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Ketchup

Simon, like his cousin Emily before him, loves ketchup. And uses just about anything as a vehicle for it! (Obviously his daddy likes ketchup a lot too.)

Ketchup from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Random photos

He loves trucks, toys and trouble, and bananas and Mommy's purse:


Simon built this entirely by himself:


Adding a few more to the tower:


Cool kid alert:

Children's Museum

A few weekends ago, we got ourselves memberships to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee. Simon had a blast and I think we'll really enjoy the membership there.

We didn't get many photos, but he loved the toddler area, particularly the big sand tray and this big slide (video taken on my phone!):

Sliding from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

He also loved this car: