"Vacation"

A friend of Chris' told him when Eli was born that once you have kids there is no longer any such thing as 'vacation'. He's right in a sense, we often end up more tired at the end of any extended non-work time than when we started. But, I think in another way, he's quite wrong. Sure, we didn't have a relaxing 3-day weekend, but I think we did have a great one (if you are careful to mentally edit out the time-outs, cry-fests, and stubborn-kid moments).

One of the things we love about where we live is its relatively close proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway also goes through the county where we grew up and was a favorite haunt of ours during our high school days. We hadn't been out there in a long time, but we ventured forth on Saturday and had a great trip.

Eli loved the historic agricultural exhibits at Mabry Mill and we found an excellent place to picnic at Rocky Knob, where a huge field and big rocks kept an active 2.5-year old nice and busy. The big shade tree kept Ezra and I equally happy.

Here's our ode to one of the most photographed places in America.

Eli couldn't believe it that this wagon wouldn't have been pulled by a tractor!

Happy Baby

Ezra is such a happy baby. He laughs, smiles, and gurgles and coos at us in "conversation."

We're pretty happy these days too, because he is sleeping through the night pretty regularly.

Busy Days

The sun is out, I'm feeling better, Chris has been off all week...it truly is good times.

Eli is talking our ears off these days and is beginning to master sentences. He's also really funny right now with lots of Eli-isms. We ask him if he'd like something (even something good, like candy) and he replies "aww-right" in his best "if you say-so" voice. He also regularly tells us "I love it" about things like "choc-it" and tractors. He's beginning to sing songs like "Tinkle-tinkle, 'ittle 'tar..." and count to ten "1, 2, 7, 10".

Eli is doing increasingly well with Ezra now that the baby is becoming more interactive. He'd would love for Ezra to play with him and regularly tries to hold Ezra's hand. For his part, Ezra is really interested in Eli and watches what he's doing a lot and we think that he's beginning to turn towards Eli's voice as well.

Helping Daddy is still on top of Eli's list of fun things and washing the car was a huge hit. Somehow Chris was the only one of the four of us who didn't end up with wet clothes (even Ezra had wet socks).

Eli is child after my own heart - he loves a good picnic!
This morning we went to a "Wheels and Wagons" event which involved a wagon parade and exhibits of dump trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, a bus, a snow plow, the street cleaner, and every other kind of work vehicle you can think of, and best of all - a front end loader and backhoe. I'm pretty sure that this was the most fun Eli had had since the pumpkin patch last fall!


It's nap time - thank goodness!

The Dynamic Duo

Chris and Eli have a lot of fun together. They excel at pulling all our tools out of the garage, making a mess, getting wet and dirty, and generally having a blast.
Eli thinks there ain't nobody like Daddy. I agree entirely, of course, but sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think of our yard and porch, which look like Sanford & Son meets Toys-r-Us.

And, yes, Eli did pedal up the sidewalk pulling the bike trailer behind him. Who knew tricycle hitches were functional?

Two Months!

Ezra is two months old today. His doctor's appointment yesterday confirmed that he is doing really well and busting the growth charts just like his brother before him. Ezra is 12 lbs and 12 oz and 25 1/4 inches.
Eli took this photo with just me helping steady the camera, he was so proud - Ezra was pretty much bored by the proceedings.