Visiting our cousins in Maryland - and GG too!

Mama drove with Zachary and Zoe down to Maryland during the February break - they get an entire week off! The kids were SUPER DUPER stars on the ride, Mama was so pleased. Grandma Gaile was already in Maryland so when we arrived it was great to be with Joshua, Ethan, Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Brian and GG too! On our first full day we had formal pictures taken -- it went pretty well, and there was actually one of all four kids together and several other individual shots we like, and of course a cute pic of Zachary and Zoe holding hands. On the second day since there was still alot of snow around we were looking for some indoor activities and we decided to bake cookies - with m&m's in them. What fun. Here are some pictures of baking and eating those yummy cookies. They were especially yummy dipped in milk.
Of course Aunt Rebecca had a bakers hat, that both Zachary and Zoe wore while mixing. Also note the aprons they wore.

Joshy loved eating the cookies the best. He also loved eating the m&m's during the mixing. After we made the cookies, the kids also helped Mama and Aunt Rebecca make homemade pizza. That was a delicious dinner treat for everyone, even Uncle Brian who came home later hungry enjoyed eating the pizza.

How about Ethan, could he be any cuter! He is such a sweet easy baby, and Zoe especially enjoyed loving him up. She likes to call him Eeffey guy ... but don't worry she does know his real name. It is great seeing Ethan in the exersaucer that now all four kids have enjoyed. Thanks to Mama's labmates who bought it for her when Zachary was born.

Zachary has really shown tremendous development during this kindergarten year. His reading has continued to expand, and it looks as though he might be a bit of a book worm. While we were in Maryland, I (Mama) took both kids to a book store to pick out some new books for our ride back to Connecticut. Zachary found a Henry and Mudge (an early reader series he loves) and plopped down in the bookstore and began reading. He found a certain section of one of the stories that caused him to laugh out loud - so loud in fact that I had to remind him to keep it down. We of course bought this book, and again later he was chuckling as he read the story - something about Mudge (the dog) and an old shoe in the trash. Aunt Rebecca had another Henry and Mudge book which she gave Zachary and when he read that in the car, he found another part that made him crack up, giving GG and me a big smile. I am so pleased that now he is comprehending his reading and getting joy out of what he reads so I had to share this picture of him and his new books just after he had been giggling about the contents. We hope he always finds pleasure in reading.

Fun around the house

Zachary posing with his doggie pals, Tugs and his two little puppy friends. If we ever really get an actual dog, he will be treated well and have lots of dog friends to keep him company. Zachary still has that great smile, that we love to catch!

Zoe was getting ready for our trip to Maryland and tried on the car head phones for the built in dvd. Although both kids willingly tried on the headphones and said they would be glad to wear them, we never ended up using them. Don't worry though, we did use the dvd player, a lot!

Look at our sexy lady, OY we are in big trouble with her!

Here are the kids posing during the alphabet train jumping game. In case you are confused, see the video at the end of this post as Zachary tries to explain this game to Daddy and they play.

She does dishes - we are so thrilled, but alas we expect by the teenage years the love of this chore will disappear.


Zoe seems to enjoy washing dishes ... which is great, just as soon as she learns how to really scrub them well but for now she does some chores and we enjoy watching her!


Another video - this is a long one (over 2 minutes) of a game that Zachary has made up using our letter books, and a chair cushion. He even got Daddy to play, but we bet you can guess who wins? Please note Zoe running in and out of view, she doesn't follow the rules of the game and isn't fully dressed either. We haven't played this game again yet, but you never know.

Mama's trip to Ireland

Mama went to Dublin, Ireland to visit her friends Jen, Alvar and Aurora (aka Aunt Jen, Uncle Alvar and Rory). The trip was supposed to be a reunion of Cat, Jen and Mama (pals from Grad School at Yale) but Cat couldn't travel due to illness and she was greatly missed. Here are some pictures from the visit.

Upon arriving in Dublin, after some snack and rest we took the tram into downtown to see the Book of Kells. This book is an illuminated manuscript containing the four gospels of the new testament. The art work was amazing to see upclose and in books so old. The books are housed at Trinity College which has a very old book collection which we walked through but could not photograph. Here is Jen and Aurora posing near some of the art work blow ups from the books.


I posed with Aurora on the campus of Trinity College near this funky sculpture. As you can see we are dressed for winter. It was pretty cold in Dublin, but more damp then I am used to in New England.

The view of Newgrange from a distance ...

Here we are outside of Newgrange burial passage at Brú na Bóinne. It is one of the most famous Irish prehistoric sites and quite interesting place to visit. In this last picture if you look carefully you can see two smaller burial mounds in the distance, and also me sporting my new hat I bought in Dublin.

The entrance stone to Newgrange, with these swirls carved into it. The meaning of these symbols is not known but they are seen all over these prehistoric sites in Ireland.

Of course I drank guiness - and it was better in Ireland. Thanks Jen and Alvar for a great day of sightseeing and then we had a lovely dinner out in Dublin. We got all gussied up and Rory stayed home with a babysitter. It was a great day.


Jen surprised me before I left with a trip to the spa at the Ritz Carlton outside of Dublin, near the Wicklow mountains. The view was stupendous and so was the massage. We had a nice time together before I had to return to the states to see my guys, who by the way were super stars for daddy!