We're Back

It's a bit later, and we're a bit more tired than we'd hoped (Carter slept very little in transit today), but it's good to be home. Given the hour, I'm not going to try to post anything about our trip tonight. You'll have to wait until later in the week. If you need a sneak preview, check out Rachel's speedy posts about the trip!

Tahoe Bound

We are off to Lake Tahoe at the crack of dawn for a week of fun culminating in Stubbie and Shannon's wedding. We are very much looking forward to the week, but are dreading tomorrow's travel 12+ hours of travel with a very energetic toddler who recently discovered that it is fun to exercise his lungs by screaming for long stretches... We can't wait to be there!

We'll be disconnected from the interweb, so there won't be any new posts until next week. If you need to reach us, cell phone is the way. We'll post lots of pictures when we return. The trip should be good blogging fodder for at least a week.

Cat Fun

We visited Patrick and Kirstin's cute new apartment today. Carter mostly enjoyed playing with the kitties, and playing with the kitties toys!

Carter's Commercial

If Carter were to star in a commercial, it would probably be something like this...

Beach Party

This morning we got Carter all dressed up for the beach party at his school today. Doesn't he look cute? Too bad the party was yesterday...

Lessons Learned

Here's what we learned today:

1- Thomas does not like organ meat. Other meat, he likes, but organ meat... not so much. At least, not organ meat from a hen - even when it is cooked delicious, gourmet style. (However, Thomas did enjoy the other 10 dishes in our 9 course tasting menu. Yes, you did read that right. We had 11 dishes at our 9 course dinner this evening...)

2- Carter does like Backyardigans band aids. His babysitter brought some to him when she came over tonight, and he wouldn't let go of the box. (They were from his amazing babysitter, who remebered from her one prior visit that he enjoyed the Backyardigans.)

3- Carter is the best baby ever. His babysitter says so. And we agree.

SUCCESS!

After years of searching, the holy grail of cooking has been found in NYC..

That's right, in Park Slope even. It's a little beat up, and there were only 5 cans left, but we know where to get it. It is NOT with the other stewed tomatoes like one might expect, it's in the ethnic food aisle, just to keep you on your toes.

Many thanks to everyone who has supported our habit over the past several years by sending, bringing, toting, buying, and generally supplying our Rotel needs. It does not go unappreciated.

Now let the Fiesta begin!

One Hat - Two Years

What do you think... did it fit better last summer or this summer?

Toddler

Carter is really becoming a toddler these days. He has lots of new tricks. This video shows a couple...

Back to Books

I've finally found time to start reading real books again (I've put down the child-how-to books for now). I just finished Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude, recommended to me by our friend Mikael Wood. It's a coming of age story about a boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. I thought the writing was quite good; you really only have to read the first page or two to get a glimpse of how well written it is. The author was occasionally trying too hard to be profound, but most of his attempts were successful. Overall, I thought it was quite good, though I would have enjoyed it more if I had understood more of the numerous references to music of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Now I am reading Barbara Kingsolver's newest, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I'm a huge fan of her fiction (Poisonwood Bible, notwithstanding), so I thought I'd give her non-fiction a try. Plus, I heard a story on NPR about it that piqued my interest. The book is about the year her family spent trying to eat only foods that were grown locally. I am interested in the "local food movement" (it just makes sense to eat food that is grown near where you live, intstead of eating food that was hauled across the country in a truck), and the book is very informative (so far). I frequent the local farmer's market in Prospect Park weekly and have been trying to buy much of our food there, which means that we ate an awful lot of asparagus in April and May, and that now we are eating tons of zucchini, yellow squash, string beans and wax beans. And last week they had okra for the first time. Sounds delicious, right? Tomatoes should be right around the corner... In fact, after Carter's music class this morning, we're headed to the market!

Next up, I'll be re-reading Harry Potter 6 in preparation for the final installment. I made the mistake of thinking that I had book 6 all figured out from early on, and I refused to believe what was happening for a good 50% of the book. So I need to go back and re-read it!

Article

There was an interesting article about our neighborhood the NY Times last week. We do, in fact, frequent most of the places mentioned in the article, and I would agree with most of what the author says about the 'hood. However, while she praises the neighborhood's "Sesame Street" feel, it's always been a little more "Cosby" to me.

Kirstin's Shower

This past weekend, we had a bridal shower for Kirstin in our garden. Patrick was there at the beginning, but otherwise, Carter was the only boy allowed to attend. He seemed to enjoy himself!

(and - can you believe that man is my baby brother? and - doesn't Kirstin look hot?!)

 

 

 

 

Camera Shy?

I don't think so. He loves to pose for the camera!

 

 

 

 

Dunked

Carter was having fun playing with a pen this afternoon. One look away, and the pen was lost in my beer. I'm not sure who was more sad - Carter for having lost his pen, or me for having my beer tainted.

 

 

 

 

Pool Fun

It's been a while since we posted a video, so here's a little one of Carter playing in his pool today. It was a cool day, so we filled the pool with warm water and Carter climbed in with his clothes on!

Garden Growth

My parents are in town visiting this week. Per Carter and Donna's request, here's a picture of us in the blossoming garden!

Good Picture

Patrick and Kir took this one in Central Park a couple of weeks ago.

New Chairs!

Hey, look at me. I have some chairs that are just my size.

And they're red!


Maybe you'd like to come and sit beside me?

No?
Fine then. I'll use both chairs myself.

I've been practicing walking all day. My feet could use a break!

Big Boy: Forward Sitter

Carter has recently moved into a forward facing car seat. He seems to enjoy it, and we love that his car seat has wheels (thanks for the sit-n-stroll recommendation, Rob and Rachel!). The wheels on the car seat come in particularly handy when you just barely make it back in time to return your rental car, so you have to walk home from the garage with your baby, car seat and all your purchases!

Last weekend we took Carter (forward-facing) to Ikea. It was the first trip to Ikea for both Carter and me. He enjoyed the slide, the rocking reindeer and the kid sized furniture. But mostly, he liked the 50 cent hot dogs!