This Mom's the Bomb

Mom really racked up the points today. You wanna see airplanes? You got it, little man. Not only did we go to the Moffett Field Historical Society's Museum, we got lost and drove almost all the way around Moffett. This meant we saw a big (like 1/10?) replica of the space shuttle and a ton of army vehicles. And then he saw me brave the gates and ask for directions from one of the guards ("Hi Guy!" got a big smile from that very nice dude). So we wandered through the airfield until we found the museum, which was open for another whopping 1/2 hour, which is ok when you're 2 and not really clear on this whole "no touching!" thing. The train display was open, but not at all well-guarded from toddlers, which is why Mom then had to negotiate for the freedom of an engine that happened to be hiding behind a curtain. And then we learned a magical thing... a group of bombers was touring the country, and they were landing right outside the museum, in about another 20 minutes. So we managed to catch that too.

"Mommy open gate!"

We also managed to get a sneak preview with a handful of other plane fans before the exhibit gets started this weekend. So cool!

This guy was flying over Moffett and hit the airbrakes right above us before he landed. Such a cool noise! I told Austin he was saying "hi" and Austin replied, "Hi Airtane."

We walked around the planes and looked at things for about a half hour. Austin nearly climbed up in the  B-17, but it was a little dark and intimidating. All the old men (unsurprisingly, almost the whole crowd was over 70 besides the 3 of us) were very impressed by the attempt.

I can't take as many photos of our adventures as I used to, but sometimes a nice person helps us out! Here we are, Mommy, Austin and Sophie, who mercifully went to sleep once I wrapped that shirt around her to keep the wind out. Moffett's pretty chilly!

The Bunny Cometh

Or I guess I should say "the Bunny cameth," since Easter was two days ago. At any rate, it was great and I've got an egg salad sandwich to prove it!

These eggs are done with ziplock bags and a dye added with a dropper, no dipping. They also dry superfast, which is why Mom got this particular kit, thinking it would be perfect for a two year old. But Austin only wanted to watch Daddy and Mommy dye eggs under his direction. And then lick the dye off.

This was our Easter basket this year! We got jelly beans, a chocolate bunny, M&Ms, magnetic letters, a glitter globe with a truck full of carrots, and that tall tube thing is a kaleidoscope. The winner? That smiling carrot that launches a spinning disk in the air, of course. Sophie got a beautiful book, with an illustration of the Easter Bunny's chariot, which is evidently drawn by a team of chickens. I'll try to add the Easter Morning movie later on.

Here we are posing for a picture with our snazzy Easter clothes.

It is very hard to pose Sophie for pictures. She can't quite sit up yet, but she's not as boneless and tractable as a newborn either. So I tried to put her on the couch so I could get a shot of the two of them. Austin briefly looked away from the iPad.

While Sophie slowly wilts.

Fortunately, lots of people like to pose for pictures with Sophie.

And they like to set up Easter egg hunts for the boy too, who just happens to be a master egg finder.

And they're even nice enough to help us take some family photos.

Which came out pretty great, even though I forgot to put Sophie's ears back on. So here they are again...

Tiger Tiger

Sophie was born in January and in February, we received this enormous tiger for her. It stayed in her room about two days, aaaaaaaand then it was stolen. By Austin:

Maybe "stolen" isn't really fair. We made the mistake of putting it in his room the first night as he went to sleep in his fire truck bed. Then it went to Sophie's room. Two days later, after I put him down for his nap, I heard a ruckus that I studiously ignored, only to find the above scene later when I went to check on him. He had apparently hauled that tiger, which is about as large as he is, off her dresser, out of her room and down the hall to his room. And who can blame him, really?

Now, when we had originally received the beast, I was tasked with photographing Sophie with it, so her great great aunt could have some documentation of her enjoying her gift. And I really meant to do it earlier, but at least I did it before she entered her teens...

 Which is a good thing, because if she was a teenager, these would get Mom arrested. But please don't judge, she doesn't fit in anything that coordinates well with those stripes yet. And we needed some pictures with her beautiful eyes open.

 Not to be outdone, Austin needed to get in on the tiger action too.

Happy Woo Woo

That is what Austin says for "Happy Birthday." We love you, Great Grandmother! Thought you might like these pictures of Sophie...

The New Girl

Is much cuter than Zoey Deschanel. Just stating the facts. I got evidence too:

Word of the Month

Austin's vocabulary has really taken off since November, so I wanted to start a new series to (hopefully) get me posting more regularly. Unsurprisingly, he loves cars, trains and trucks (or, as he would say, "kas, geens and cucks"), so a lot of our words come out of that. The word for February is... "tunnel". There are apparently tunnels everywhere... on the train tracks, under blankets, under Mom... We have little tunnels for Thomas and Lightning McQueen and big tunnels for Austin...

Lovingly handcrafted by Mom and detailed by our resident artist...

New Developments

Sorry Austin fans, I know it's been a long time! I can't promise that I'll be posting very often in the next few weeks but I'll try to share as many photos and stories as I can, starting with the biggest piece of news... I'm not naming any names, but someone's a big brother! Little sister Sophie was born on January 14.

She came home with Mom 5 days later.

So far, she seems to be pretty popular. Welcome home, little sister.