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!

The newest cutest picture ...

How cute is this ... not much more to say!

Mama celebrates her birthday - SO FUN!

Mama turned 36 on January 11 - and she partied a bunch. On the night of her birthday she went out with friends Adam and Mona and had so much fun. Got a candle in dessert and even made a birthday wish ...



Before going out we celebrated Mama's birthday as a family. Daddy had made mini cheesecakes to eat and the kids gave Mama signed and handmade cards. The kids also helped open presents and they enjoyed that.



During the day, Mama's lab had cake for her. On Saturday night her friends in New Haven went out with her to celebrate. There were 9 ladies total at Claire's and everyone enjoyed something yummy and the good company. There were 2 beautiful gifts too, how thoughtful!



Thanks for so many great celebrations and presents and cake! It was another GREAT birthday!

Our vacation in Florida

The Greatest Show on Earth
On Christmas day, GG and Zadie took us to see the circus. Zachary had seen the circus once before but this was Zoe's first time. The show was lots of fun, we did a little explaining when they did magic, especially when they attempted to saw a woman in half. The kids loved the acrobats and thought the magic was cool. Mama loved the elephants, GG loved the acrobats, and Zadie loved the Lions. It was great to see the kids enjoy the show.





Lion Country Safari
Since the weather was cold GG and Mama took the kids to Lion Country Safari. First we drove through the safari, and saw so many amazing animals. We saw lions, llamas, ostriches, elephants, zebras, rhinoseruses, giraffes and more. In fact one of the rhinos stopped DIRECTLY in front of our car and we had to wait a while before it moved so we could move. Then we went to the park where we rode the merry go round (see below) went on a pontoon boat and a paddle boat, ate our lunch, walked through some animals exhibits, a maze, petting zoo and also mined for gemstones (see below). Before we left GG bought the kids ice cream as the sun was finally out and we felt warmer. It was lots of fun and a great way to spend the day.





Swimming

So despite the cold weather (for Florida) we managed to get to the pool and practice our swimming. Zachary went under lots and practiced his kicks and floating he was a bit of a daredevil going all the way to 5 feet. Both kids did a lot of jumping in and Zoe even jumped on her own, she is ready for swimming lessons which start this week!


New Years Eve Party
Celebrating at our family New Years Eve party - the kids were so excited! They had sparkling grape juice and fancy (plastic) wine glasses to drink out of (thanks to GG and Zadie's neighbors). The kids ate some treats, in fact Zachary requested ice cream since we were having a party. In the picture below it seems that they aren't smiling because they are actually saying, "Happy New Year!"


Mama and Daddy enjoyed some champagne later on and toasted in GG and Zadie's crystal, fancy fancy!


Baking with GG
Zachary and Zoe helped GG bake - first she put a special mini apron on Zoe, and then they chose what they were going to bake (see picture of Zoe holding cookie mix) and then they agreed to rice krispie treats - who doesn't like those. Both kids helped stir, taste and most of all EAT!



Zoe (wearing GG's sunglasses) looking very cute on the tennis court on a windy day before we left. The weather wasn't great during our visit, a lot of cold days and wind but it still beat the bitter cold of New England!


Zachary learns to ride a big kid bike
Zachary learned to ride the new bike that GG and Zadie bought him. It took some time to get used to peddling, and it turns out that he is tall enough for an even bigger bike, but by the end of our vacation he was riding very well, and quickly as you see by the bottom of the following pictures. We aren't sure what to do back in New Haven since we live on such a huge hill, we will have to scope at places to ride.


This was the first day ... he kept practicing and hopefully this spring we can find a flat space to ride and a new bike too.


Look at him go!