Finally...an Update

What a bad mom blogger I have been. No update since the Fall! What can I say, life gets in the way. Evan has been growing and changing so much over the past few months. The biggest change is his vocabulary. He had a remarkable language explosion between 15 and 18 months. Now (20 months today) he knows so many words I can't even keep count. He understands just about everything we say, although he doesn't always comply (typical toddler, right?). Here are just a few highlights of the past few months.

Hanging out at grandma and grandpa's farm

Our family Christmas picture

Evan checking out his new Christmas presents

Getting a wagon ride from the neighbor kids

Exploring the park

Here's a recent video of Evan "reading":

Pumpkin Patch Time!

Yes, it's October so that means we, like all other self-respecting parents of toddlers, must take our little one to a pumpkin patch for the obligatory pictures involving lots of orange and usually some hay thrown in for good measure. Actually, I was looking forward to Evan's first trip to a pumpkin patch. We opted for a farm called Crowe's Nest near Manor, TX. It was great because it was a short trip and they had a LOT of animals, which Evan loves. Sure, they had the usual goats, cows, pigs, but they also had ostriches, buffalo, tortoises, owls, and llamas. It was a lot of fun and we even did the hayride. They also had a little store and we bought some of the best homemade wheat bread we've ever had. Yum! Here are a few highlights from the trip:

Evan Goes Colonial

We just returned from our first airplane trip with Evan. My brother recently started teaching Sociology at The College of William and Mary so we thought we visit him for fall break. For those of you who don't know, William and Mary is the alma mater of such famous folks as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and (a few years later) Jon Stewart.

Evan did pretty well on the flights, with a little help from noise canceling headphones and the iPhone Sesame Street videos. Sitting still for over two hours is hard for a 16 month old.

One of our first stops was, of course, a tour of the W&M campus. It really is a lovely campus. It's so tree-covered, you almost feel like you're in a state park rather than a college campus. Evan really took to watching the numerous squirrels ("quirl") on campus. He became our squirrel-spotter, pointing out everyone he saw. He must have gotten a little confused, however, because he soon started "meowing" each time he saw one. Hey, it's pretty good logic for a 16-month-old: the only other furry thing with a tail he knows is cat.

Evan even stayed up a little late one night to go to a W&M football game. He enjoyed it for about 45 min and then he had seen enough. For all you Texas folks, all I can say is, football in VA is not like football in Texas. The size of the stadium at W&M would be the size of a high school football stadium in Texas.

Next, we were off to the other main attraction in the area: Colonial Williamsburg. I had always heard of it, but I really didn't know that much about it. It turned out to be very interesting and educational. It was pretty warm outside so it was tiring but fun. We were able to see many of the colonial stores and famous buildings. I was impressed with the authentic knowledge that the staff colonial "players" seem to have. It really seemed like they knew about 18th century VA and were not just reading a script. Evan liked running around the streets and especially like seeing the horses pulling the carriages.

We also made a quick stop by Yorktown, VA and visited the beach along the York River. It was quite beautiful. I had no idea a river could have such a lovely beach. Evan got to have his first beach experience.

All in all, it was a great trip. Traveling with a toddler is never easy but it's worth it to see him experience all these new events.

Lake on the W&M campus

Evan watching the game ("Go Tribe!")

Wig shop in Colonial Williamsburg

Silversmith

Evan resting with Grandma on the steps of a colonial house

Checking out the horse close up

Carriage going through town

Classic colonial house

Learning about 18th century politics at the State Capitol

Evan at Yorktown beach

Summer Vacation

We recently returned from a two-week summer adventure. We hadn't been away from home for that long since our honeymoon. I had a feeling that two weeks away with a toddler in tow could be quite an adventure indeed or perhaps an event never-to-be- repeated until Evan turned 18, but it turned out great! Evan has turned into quite a good little traveler. First, we went to west Texas to my parents' place to spend a week with them while Patrick was traveling for work. Evan had a wonderful time with his grandparents and got visit his great-grandparents also. He LOVED being outside at the farm and learned a new word, "tractor" (it comes out more like "ta-ta" from him).

Evan in the cotton field

exploring the farm

Evan had the chance to visit all his great grandparents.

I love this! Great-grandma playing the harmonica for Evan

When Patrick returned from traveling we all packed up and headed for Ruidoso, NM. We vacationed there many summers when I was a kid and we knew it would be a good low-key spot to relax. We enjoyed the cool weather and pine trees while it was scorching in Texas.

hiking in the cool pines

just a swingin'

"Dad, can I have a train too?"

relaxing to some Chitty Chitty Bang Bang music on the ride home

Weekend Fun: Longhorn Caverns

With the temperatures heading towards the 100s, it is hard to want to spend much time outdoors. This weekend we were looking for something fun to do but knew it was too hot for going to the park, then we remembered Longhorn Caverns near Burnet. Ahh, a cool 72 degrees all the time. We packed up the car and Evan and headed out Sat. morning. We stopped for a quick lunch at a cute little cafe near the caverns and arrived just in time for the 12:00 tour. Little did we know that the tour was an hour and a half long. But, Evan did great in the backpack carrier and Patrick got quite a workout carrying him through some pretty low clearance areas of the cave (work those quads!). I think Evan enjoyed, although he won't remember it years from now. This was sort of a reminiscent trip since Patrick and I went to the caverns once early on when we were dating.

about to head into the cave

naturally formed "dog" (no, it wasn't formed in this spot, they moved it)

Evan touching "the bear"

They made it through with no bumped heads!

4th of July

Well we had a great 4th of July. Evan had a big day at the Georgetown 4th of July celebration!

Birthday Fun!

We just wrapped up a super fun birthday weekend for Evan. Although his birthday was on the 17th, we planned the party for this past weekend to accommodate everyone's schedule. As it turned out, it was a good thing we did that since he was sick on his birthday :( He started coming down with a stomach virus on the 16th and by the weekend, he as still recovering. Then, he kindly gave the virus to me and Patrick! We were wiped out. Luckily we were all better by this weekend.

We started the weekend by attending a birthday party for my friend Jackie's kids. They were turning 7 and celebrated with a great pool party. Evan loves the water!

Now, on to Evan's party. He had a farm/John Deere theme since this is probably the only year he won't have an opinion about it, so I got to choose.

Evan's aunt Helene made the cake and did a fabulous job (as usual). She's cake queen!

Opening gifts

Playing with aunt Robyn

1st birthday candle!

testing out the cake

Oh yeah, it's good. He's going for it!

The whole crew