Love

How neat would it be if these two got married one day?
Next week together they head off to the 3s class at Morningstar.

Beautiful CANDID shot taken by Juni's Mom at Grafton State Park-
So sweet that they hold hands without us having to prompt it for a photo!

Poor Andrew

Andrew was not at all thrilled when Juni dressed him up in a tutu. The things we do for love.

Mother and Son

Me and my little man.

Eitan

Andrew and one of his few boy buddies, 1.5 year old Eitan.

Love this Smile!

Andrew makes lots of really ridiculous smiles these days. Ones that are more scary than joyous - with clenched teeth, or open mouthed. Especially when its on command for a photo. This one is a genuine i'm-happy-to-be-alive kind of grin and I'm so glad to have gotten it on camera! The school 16 playground is one of his favorite places to be, we walk over there almost daily.

Monday, Monday

 Our Monday morning play grou, minus most of the moms.

Hana 1.5, Juni 3, Andrew 3.75, Sofia 2.5, Bella 1, Mason 4.25

          Raspberry picking with Sofia.

NYC Visit, Day 2

 A trip to NYC without visiting the Legostore? No way. Andrew was totally diggin it.

 And of course, the big piano at FAO Schwartz was a hit too.

But mainly kiddo and I just hung around with Dada, and enjoyed the big city.

Shawn and Andrew went home on Sunday, but I stayed through Wednesday to do some research. It was really sweet to return to the little guy who kept saying over and over again how much he missed me. Even now, days later, and out of nowhere, he tells me how glad he is I'm back. 3 days has been the longest we've been apart.

NYC Visit, Day 1

Andrew's face upon seeing a subway for the first time. I've never seen him speechless before.

 We took a walk on the High Line - an old abandoned elevated train line on the west side. You can see how they integrated the tracks with the plantings. Andrew, of course, fascinated that train tracks can be hiding in gardens.

We met friends at their fabulous apartment on the upper east side. This is the view from their rooftop terrace. Kiddo was amazed that the cars were so tiny from up there.

LOTS of walking. Andrew was pooped by the end of the day, and on Day 2 we opted to use the child-backpack to carry him around.

As I thought, he loved the city. He's still talking about it now, days after our trip. The trains were a highlight of course, but this is also the first time he saw skyscrapers, mass taxi honking, and people crowding the sidewalk. Day 2 pix to come....

Train Ride

So it's no secret that Andrew LOVES trains. You can only imagine how excited he was to ride a real one Saturday morning to NYC! It was so fun to be a part of his excitement. The rest of the trip was great too, more on that another time.

Skinny dipping

Andrew has already figured out how to make pool time alot more interesting....

Monday Playgroup

 Monday Playgroup - Andrew, Juni, Mason and Sofia

Something must have been funny.

With his "arms of power"

We always have fun on Monday mornings with these kids and their moms. Hoping to keep it going once preschool starts in the fall. Its really funny to hear the kids have little discussions between themselves, independent of us. They are remarkably polite to each other. This past Monday the kids spent most of their time searching out spider webs, Andrew's latest obsession.

Tea Party

Andrew and his friends enjoyed high tea, while their parents (wo)manned the multifamily tag sale on the porch. Kids had fun and mamas made some cash. Not a bad day!

Like father, like son

Silly boys.

Worms

Each morning we begin our day with a worm hunt. Andrew builds them a new habitat (his word!) and relocates them for our viewing pleasure.

Heat wave

Andrew and Juni beat the heat by playing in the tub.

Cousins

Andrew enjoyed spending the day with cousins Jojo and Perry.

Toddler feet

Swim Lessons

Photos read like a flip book!

Kiddo alternates between being ecstatic and terrified. 

Niagara Falls

             Check out that rainbow!

On our way home from Ohio we made a detour to the Falls. As Andrew would say, "Woah!" Thought for sure that the morning hike would wear him out and promote a car-nap. Nope. This kid has way too much energy.

Hand cranked Ice cream

Ever made hand cranked ice cream? It is so much physical labor that I bet you burn the calories before you even eat it. It is heavenly, puts all other brands to shame. Andrew helped a bit with the cranking and of course the eating.

Fisherman Andrew

Enjoying a morning on the lake 

with Pop Pop.

In Ohio

My first attempt at blogging from the iPhone- havent figured out how to rotate the pic. Am watching Andrew horse around with aunt Erin and Nana in the new pool. Beautiful weather and the farm is full of fresh fruits and veggies to enjoy.

 

Byebye Playschool

To make up for my lack of posting lately, I'll give you lots of pics from this past school year at Parents in Parternship Playschool, a  parent co-op that Andrew and I attended together for the past year or two. The school year just ended, and Andrew will be off to Morningstar Montessori in the fall which everyone is excited about. These are a few representative shots of the activities we enjoyed. We'll miss everyone!

State Park Sundays, Week 2

We've decided to make Sundays our State Park days. Today's visit was to Schodack Island State Park. Andrew's first geocaching trip! aka "going on a treasure hunt" :)

Fathers Day Hike

This summer we've instituted Sunday Hikes. Our first hike came on Fathers Day, to Thacher Park which loads of folks have recommended. It didn't disappoint - we walked under 2 different waterfalls, then up to the top to see where they start. We had a picnic snack, visited the science center and tired ourselves out in the process. Most importantly, Andrew LOVED it. He wanted to immediately do the hiking loop again (we talked him out of it.) A few days later I took him on a local nature walk with another mom and her 3 year old and we were climbing hills and crossing streams for an hour and a half! I swear that boy never tires. Anyhow I'm really happy to have found an alternate way to enjoy being outside that doesn't involve our backyard or playgrounds.

First Sketch

Andrew's first representational drawing.

Mad Scientist

We had a great time at the 5-week Wednesdays Parent and Me program hosted by the Childrens Museum of Science and Technology. Andrew was really into all the experiments. The one above illustrates how clouds (shaving cream) hold rain (blue dye) and eventually when saturated, the clouds release raindrops. Themes included weather, measuring, movement, animals. Highly recommended for budding scientists.

First Bowling Outing

 During the summers there's a national program called "Kids Bowl Free" so we took advantage this weekend and let Andrew give it a go. The lightest ball they had was a 7 lber and he did pretty well with it actually. But Dada needed to provide the driving force for the ball to actually move.

 He REALLY liked the shoes. Moreso than the bowling, I think.

Not too shabby, Andrew was actually in the lead over Dada for the first half of the game. No joke!