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Monday, February 22, 2010

Riverbanks

We have wanted to take Owen to the zoo for a long time. The weather finally cooperated so we headed up to Columbia yesterday. On the way, he must have asked us 100 times to see the animals. We kept explaining it would take a little while to get there. I also used this opportunity to break out my zoom lens. And no surprise, it worked great.

I don't think I need to identify these animals for you.





Our previous experience with a carousel was not good. This time I tried to get him onto a giraffe or elephant, but no luck. We settled for the peacock.

He was very excited to ride the train. It just went in a small circle a few times, but by the second loop he was ready to get down. He kept saying the ride was "bumpy".


Owen was actually interested in feeding this goat....notice the slobber from his hand to the goat's tongue. Yuck!

You were supposed to be able to feed the giraffe too, but we didn't see any food. He also came really close to us.One of the last animals we saw were the elephants. Here we are on top of a baby one. It's amazing what you'll do for a photo op.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

It actually snowed! (part II)

This was our house first thing this morning...

And this was our view down the street...

I don't think Owen knew what to do with all this white stuff. He certainly has never seen snow...except in books or on t.v.

It didn't take him long to catch on...


We started making lots of snow balls...



And then we made a "frosty"...making a snowman is harder than it looks.


Mr. Potato Head let us borrow some spare parts. I couldn't find a nose, so we had to improvise with a Hershey's kiss.

Then I convinced my parents to come over. They didn't have power for almost 12 hours. We luckily never lost power.

We attempted to have Owen make a snow angel. He was not into that. Maybe next time. Hopefully we'll have this much snow again before he's an adult.

It actually snowed! (part I)

It started around 5:45 last night. We were eating dinner and Milo had just come from outside. I noticed some flakes on his back and ran out there to see. Once we were finished eating, we walked outside for a few minutes and let Owen check the mail. He doesn't usually like the rain or any water on his face. I guess the fact that we kept telling him it was snow helped. We figured there was much more to come, so we saved most of our playtime for today.

Part II coming soon...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Weekly Update (2/3/10)

Since I am posting so infrequently these days, I am considering just labeling the title of each post with the date. And this post will be all over the place, so hold on.

1. We are paci free! I hesitated to post about it earlier b/c I didn't want to jinx anything. It has been over a week since we broke Owen so I know we are in the clear. He still asks about them occasionally, but doesn't put up a fuss when we tell him they are gone. He says "all gone" and goes on his way. It was rather easy and just sort of happened. As we read, it's actually scarier to think about taking them away than the actual process.
2. We are not free of ear infections. Owen finished his antibiotic last Friday, and we were back at the doctor on Monday. Owen really likes Dr. Pittard and even asked him to "check other ear" when he couldn't get a good look at the left one. He is now on another antibiotic, so we'll see if this one works. This is #4 since November. If it does not work, there are two more and then a referral to an ENT.

3. The bleepin' heat pump. We have had trouble with this thing since we bought the house 4 years ago. We have a home warranty which basically carries over from the previous owner(s). Each year the fee goes up, but we are done with that. I will not go into the details but we've had such trouble getting our assigned contractor to finish the job. Brig and I have gone round and round with the warranty company and Prestige Heating and Air. For you locals, do not deal with these people. They have lied to us over and over again. The worst customer service I've ever experienced. And it wouldn't be so bad if it was just us, but we have a nearly two-year-old. I had to close the vents on his end of the house and keep his door closed to maintain a decent temp in his room. Hopefully the part will be replaced today.

4. Sleepover. Due to the heat problems, and the fact that it was 22 degrees on Saturday night, Owen spent the night with my parents. The last time he did that he was 8 months old and it did not go well. This time it was perfect. Brig and I went to a bday party that night (Happy 40th Joe!) and got to sleep in the next morning. It was nice but also very strange for him not to be at our house in the morning. I don't know when we'll do it again, but at least we know it's possible and we all survived.

5. We must really like Owen's school. Preschool registration for children already attending was yesterday. You may remember my ordeal from last year. Did you notice it was raining yesterday? I did b/c I was out in it around 7:00 a.m. This year I was the third person in line. The process is ridiculous and I don't really get why this has to occur in February when school doesn't start until September. The warmer months are coming so I don't see why it couldn't wait until April or May. I digress. This year Owen goes two days a week and next year he will go three.