Jack can Crawl

Here it is, just before his 6 month birthday Jack has pulled it off. He can now pull himself across the floor in a combat crawl. This video is pretty bad quality, but we were excited to get it on here. We will keep trying to capture a better video in the next few days.

Bronx Zoo, Part Two

Yesterday we packed up the boys and took them down to New York again to see the Bronx Zoo. It was a fun day.

The zoo has been around for more than a century, this is one of the original zoo building that used to house the lions.

We posed in front of the Buffalo when we first got there hoping we could get a smile from the boys before they were too worn out. No luck.

After that we stopped off to see the lions before heading to the Monorail ride. You can see the lions off of Everett's left shoulder. There are still 3 and the cub is getting quite a bit bigger than the last time we were there.

Once we got on the monorail we decided to take another family picture just like the last time we were at the zoo. It is funny to hold this one up to the last one and see the difference in Jack's growth. When I get some time I will edit this page and put the older picture up as well.

...and here is a picture from the last trip we took:

We were able to catch quite a few of the animals being fed, including the giraffes.

Our favorite exhibit was the gorillas where a small one decided to pound on the glass at me.

The Eagle

After we left the zoo and I took us on an unplanned car tour of the Bronx we ended at Arthur Ave, the Italian section of the borough. There we picked up 2 gallons of Olive Oil, had a great meal, and Everett met some NYC Fire Fighters.

I'm calling it, Jack can sit up!!

Is it sad that I am sooo excited that Jack is sitting up?!! He does the tripod move where he holds himself up by leaning on his belly and arms. When he wants to go somewhere, he just throws his head in the direction of his interest and he is off. Isn't he cute?!

Everett and the ABCs

We just took this video the other night. In it Everett is very excitedly singing his ABCs, he just doesn't know when to stop.

Everett Encounters a Bee

But first...a few shots of the boys together. Everett refers to Jack as "My Jack" or "My bruder." The other day when we were leaving the room he said to me "Take my bruder" so that I would pick Jack up and bring him with us.

Here they are: Everett is 2 yrs, 5 mo and Jack is 5 months.

And then there was the bee incident...Everett loves bees, chases them around, points them out, but he didn't see this one coming. While climbing down the steps he must have put his hand on one and it got him right on the index finger of his right hand. It immediately began to swell up and then half his hand looked like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man's hand. Here are a few pictures.

He took it like a champ though. He cried out a little and then saw something shiny and it was all over. I think I was the one who carried on, you would have thought I was stung.

Bits and pieces of life

Jack is 5 MONTHS OLD!

Still adorable. Guess that wears off around 2....kidding Ev. You are still cute too.To celebrate, Jack asked us to taste of bit of food and we obliged. Here he is taking his first bites of rice cereal. As you can see, he isn't too sure of it.


And he can hold his own bottle. His first tooth just arrived too (bottom left center), so it looks like Jack is almost ready to join the fam at the dinner table.

We also celebrated his almost half a year mark by visiting the Heyman girls in Newport. It was great to go back to the place where we started our adult lives and where the boys were "just a glimmer in our eyes". Not too much has changed, but it was really weird trying to find parks and such for kids. Somehow, even after living there, we had no idea what to do with kids. Apparently they aren't allowed in bars...what!?

Here are Lindsey and Everett on 2nd beach.

'
Everett making the moves on Lindsey.

And despite the beautiful day, there was a half moon on the horizon all afternoon. Weird...

We ate some dinner in an old firehouse and then hit Breton state park, the last bit of land at the end of Newport Harbor (where mommy used to stare when she was leaving port - beautiful). Ev and Lindsey rolled down the hill and watched the kites.

And some more moves from Everett the stud. Apparently he didn't hear the "play" in "playdate" and took Lindsey to watch the sunset hand in hand. awwwwww

Ally-gater turns one!

We visited the Heymans in Jersey for Ally' first birthday party. Here she is in all her glory. Adorable, no!Her awesome cake made by mommy.Jack hamming it up with the older ladies. (on a side note, Jack now loves to stand up and gets pretty mad when you don't help him to do it)After that we decided to play a rousing game of toss the little people. Not sure who had more fun, the adults or kids...Everett

Jonathan

Lindsey. It was hardest to catch her on film because her bathing suit made her superfast!

They all had a great time as did we and we wrapped it up just before the sky opened up. Thank you Heymans for having us down for the party. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY!!

Blueberry picking and Canoe trips

The fam took a ride to a local orchard and picked some blueberries. I think Everett ate as many bluberries as he picked...anyway the trip was well worth it because Daddy made dark chocolate covered blueberries with the extras. YUM!! Jack was especially good at picking because he has developed excellent grasping skills. I can't tell you how many things he has pulled off the table.





A few days later we decided to take the boys on a canoe trip down the river to a private beach only reachable by small boat. We loaded the canoe on top of the car and took it to Gillette's castle to launch it. Under the shadow of the castle we began "our" row downstream. I say "our row" because as you can see in the following picture Amy and the boys sat nicely under a shade umbrella until we got there.



Mommy actually had to hold Jack and couldn't row because he hates his life jacket. You can see how happy he was when we finally got there and he could take it off.

Then he fell asleep in the shade on the beach, not a bad life.

Here is Daddy and Everett swimming off the beach.

Apparently someone had been there before because they put up a nice rope swing for us to try. The water was warm enough even Mommy couldn't resist the swing.

...and Daddy didn't break it as he thought he might.

After swimming we had our picnic lunch and then Mommy and Everett built a sand castle.

All in all it must have been a good day because Jack passed out on the canoe ride home and Everett almost fell asleep standing up in the bow. He finally sat down and passed out where he sat.

Annapolis, here we come...almost there...we can see the exit

So the day after Lake Compounce, we went down to Annapolis to visit Clint's parents for their 30th anniversay! It was a surprise visit for Clint's mom and didn't go quite as planned. We made it within sight of the exit and broke down and got to stand on the side of the highway for a while. Everett loved it becuase he got to see all the big trucks up close and personal. And ... ta-da...we got to sit in a police car while we waited for a ride. We sat in the front and Mamma had a really hard time not stealing the car and pulling people over. I mean, come on, he left the keys in the ignition and the lights ON! Anway, it was a fun visit.

So hot...Poli just had to take a break from walking and recline.

And Lucky Everett got to drive the firetruck! Two days, two rescue vehicles. All a two year old could ever ask for.

Jack wondering what is going on.

On Monday, we went to Baltimore's inner harbor. There we walked around a little and went to the aquarium. Here is Everett with Grandma and Grandpa Miller and Aunt Danielle at the dolphin show.

A little closer look at the Dolphins.


The Millers at the Baltimore Aquarium.

Thank you to Grammy and Papa Miller for letting us bring our havoc down for the weekend.