To the Zoo!

On Monday he drove down to the Philadelphia Zoo to take advantage of our new "Zoo Membership" (thanks Mom and Dad!)  We had a beautiful, not too hot, day to wander the paths and check out the animals.  One thing we discovered is that zoo animals, like us, enjoy a nice afternoon nap.  So lots of the animals were either lounging, dozing, or actually snoring, but they were still fun to look at!  Here are some pictures from the day:

Hippos

Yaks

Tortoises

Penguins

Lions

Pumas

Tigers

Flamingoes

A very sleepy bear

Zebras

Giraffes

The last animal we saw was Aiden's favorite, and one of our's too.  The Polar Bears!  Unlike with some of the others, Aiden really watched the Polar Bear and seemed interested in him.

So we had a great first trip to the Zoo, even though we didn't get to do some of the fun things like the bird building and the monkey house.  Maybe next time!

Assuming the weather holds up, we are planning on spending tomorrow amidst the herds of exotic animals and school children at the Philadelphia Zoo!  We'll report back soon with all the details.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!  Especially to my beautiful wife (and Aiden's awesome Mom) Jen.

Sun + Son = Fun

Just some more pictures of Aiden having a good time outside.

April Pools Day

What do you do when it's 90 degrees in April?  Why go for a swim of course!

Some people may remember Aiden's first pool experience from last summer.  Entertaining? Yes.  Successful?  Ehh...maybe not.  

So, with the sun beating down over the weekend (and with another year of wisdom and experiences under his belt) we thought it'd be a golden opportunity for Aiden to have another try.  

How'd it go this time around?  Well, between a happily splashing baby, and a cool place for parents to rest their feet, lets just say we may be seeing a lot more of this pool in the months to come...

Earth Day Adventure

I don't know if anyone out there had big Earth Day plans, but we did not.  In fact, I think that we were sitting around after lunch and Jen said, "Hey... today is Earth Day."  And I said, "Hmmm... maybe we should do something earth-y."  Then Aiden said, "Ba, ba, ba... blahgity hughhh!"  And so it began.

In lieu of something more substantial like planting a tree, or saving baby seals we decided to keep things manageable and start some carrot seeds in the garden.  I had been meaning to get the carrots planted anyway, but it was a fun project to do together.  Hopefully later this summer we'll be munching on tasty carrots and reminiscing about the joys of our first Earth Day adventure.

Getting started:

First we had to get the soil ready for planting.  As you can see Aiden has a firm grip on his trowel, and he's ready for action

Everyone got involved!

Next we put the seeds in and covered them with a thin layer of soil.

Things were getting pretty down and dirty by the end.

Bailey is not allowed in the garden, but he was standing by, showing his Earth Day solidarity.

All finished!  The carrot seeds are planted and ready to grow.

And finally we enjoyed a little after-gardening swing session.  A great way to end a great Earth Day!

Lesson Learned

Parenthood, I'm finding, is full of surprises.  And it seems to me that being a good parent is all about the lessons that you learn along the way.  Here a few lessons that I learned recently:

1)  Occasionally your child may have a blowout diaper of epic proportions, and if (when) that happens, you will have to improvise.

2) Sometimes, if you are mid-improvisation and find that your child's clean clothes are two long flights of stairs away, it may be necessary to allow said child to go about his morning with only a diaper on.

3) And finally, some children (and ours in particular) really, really enjoy running around clothes-less.

Kitchen Aide(n)

Aiden always loves being right in the middle of all the action.  Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, he wants to be right there with us.  

The other day as we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready Aiden dove right in to help.  Of course to him "help" really just involves toddling around the kitchen with a pot in his hand.  It was pretty entertaining though, so that was kind of helpful.

Here he is, showing off his kitchen skills...