Seersucker Sunday

Get on Your Boots!

Cody and I are just back from our whirlwind 36 hour trip to Baltimore to see our all-time favorite band in live action-- U2.   A big thanks to GG who let us indulge this fancy as she stayed home with the boys-- who did GREAT while we were gone.  James has fallen into a not-so-cute habit of throwing Frogger overboard (out of his crib) before every nap and every night, requiring us to go in and re-place him in the crib over and over until he's tired enough to go to sleep.  Its so frustrating that I was consulting Tom and Colleen this weekend about how to break the cycle.  Little did I know-- while I was gone GG went to work with her baby-whispering skills, and amazingly, miraculously (I don't know her trick), the child has not thrown the frog overboard for two full days (that's 2 naps a day and a night time---6 times in a row!).  Sean went poop on the potty the whole time we were gone --- we just need to call her in more often to work her grandmotherly magic.  If any of you are having baby behavior troubles, just call GG and she will have the problem solved in 36 hours or less. 

Back to our trip--it was amazing and wonderful.  The concert was awesome.  They played mostly old stuff-- even though their latest album (No Line on the Horizon) is really good, I think they only played 3 songs from it, and the rest classic U2.  They played for 2 1/2 hours, YET, I felt like they would have had to play for another 2 1/2 to get in all the great songs in their library.   The set included classics like Mysterious Ways, One, Sunday Bloody Sunday (which the drunk Irishmen in front of us loved), Beautiful Day (with a special sattelite appearance from Gabriel Gifford's husband, relaying the words from outer space--wild), Until the End of the World, Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, and some of our modern favs like Sexy Boots, Moment of Surrender, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, Elevation and Walk On.  Not included were some of my favorites such as Sweetest Thing, Angel of Harlem, or In a Little While (not surprising, but would have been a nice treat), but thrown in was a special rendition of Amazing Grace at the end.  Beautiful.  

We have since heard that the set for this concert was the most expensive set ever made for a world tour, takes about a week from start to finish to build and tear down, and the tour is the highest grossing tour ever. The stage was unbelievable-- the whole show was 360 degrees, with a huge (HUGE) LCD screen in the round, suspended above the stage from which they played videos, streamed the show, and featured guests such as Giffords and some other world-political figures. Bono seemed great--classic running around and dancing, but he seemed to show his age a bit more than when we saw them about 6 years ago--the running was slower, dancing more controlled, and longer catching-your-breath breaks in between songs.  Yet, still amazing and you could tell he put his all into the show.   

Our tickets were General Field Admission, which means we stood with the masses on the field at Raven's Stadium for about 4 hours.  It was awesome because we were about 50 yards from the stage, could see everything and rock out with the most intense fans.  There were 80,000 people at the concert, the largest crowd ever in Raven's Stadium (since they filled the field with people as well as all the seats). Towards the end of the concert I was severely conflicted between not wanting to the show to be over, but not wanting to endure any more back/foot/shin pain from standing for so long.  I found when the show did finally end, I was more dissapointed about that than the pain!

We spent the rest of the next day at Club Galloway, or Tom and Colleen's house, sleeping in, eating, swimming, playing bocce and just visiting.  We got back last night and concluded it was quite a perfect little trip.  I love my husband-- what a gem to do this for us!  I'm just so sad its already over.  Here are some memories:

Here you can see some of the set, while Florence and the Machine was playing before U2.  Her face is on the gigantic LCD screen.

I haven't been to a concert in so long, since smart phones were invented, that I was just sort of amazed at what happened as soon as the band came out.  How many phone screens can you see in this shot?  The entire field exploded wiht lit-up phone screens.

As Bono and the guys came out from under the stage, we watched on the big screen.

Yet, we were close enough to enjoy the show w/out the big screen.  Here are Bono and The Edge-- a shot from my own camera.  I feel giddy thinking about that. 

The Edge, Larry, Bono and Adam.  Great show.

And here we are the next day, Kacie, Cody and Tom enjoying a Fake-Saturday on a Thursday morning.  Thanks guys for making the most of our 36 hours!

Heard Around the House

Yesterday, upon waking up from naps, with Jamesie sitting on Sean's bed, Sean declared:

"Jamesie smells so delicious when he is in his jammies."

Thanks to Meg's blog for the picture! http://www.megandtimputnam.blogspot.com/

Swinging and Sliding

Two of our favorite activities around here lately!  Here are some great shots of both swinging and sliding in many forms from our week with the Groebers:

Up until a few weeks ago Jamesie was very nervous and uncomfortable in a swing.  Now he is totally relaxed and I can't get enough of his smushy little face!

With GG and DaDa.  I would like to point out that the swing Seannie is in (in which is is perpendicular to the ground!) does NOT have any sort of strap in it.  Seriously.  Who thought of this? 

At a playground near the mountain house Sean went wild with slides for about 45 minutes one night after dinner.  He and I made the most welcomed discovery that he can climb the stairs and come down even the highest and twistiest slide all by himself now, which he did about 30 times in a row before helping Jamesie down his very first slide ride!

Mommy with the boys on the slide!  Yea!  A point of interest to other moms and dads: we have one friend who's 2 yo daughter sprained her ankle and another friend who's 2 yo son broke his leg, both by going down a slide on an adult's lap-- there is a danger of the little feet getting stuck on the slide, and the momentum of the bodies going forward is very unforgiving.  So, I have heard NOT to ride with the kiddos on the slide.  I, however, did take J down, and was very careful to lift his feet up, literally in the air, so that his back was against me as we slid down. 

Sean had his very own swing installed at the Mountain House last year for his 2nd birthday. He was SO excited to reunite with it this year.  So much so that more than 50% of his waking time was spent on the swing, and the adults just took turns standing and pushing....luckily it is set up on the gorgeous porch where we mostly congregated, so the designated pusher didn't have to miss much adult conversation.  Here is a great series which illustrates Sean's stamina for swinging that clearly outpaced the adults' attention span for pushing:  

More sliding: there is a great place in the mountains called Sliding Rock that I've been hearing about from Cody for years, but we hadn't made it there until now.  It is a gorgeous waterfall that empties into a shallow little brook that was just the right depth for sean to walk around in by himself (with lifejacket). 

The rock under the waterfall is so smooth that you can actually slide down it like a waterslide without anything but your rear!  Its very slippery business getting up there, but Cody and Sean hiked all the way up like champs!

Next is scooting over into the water....very slippery--I don't know how Cody did this with Sean.

Oh that's cold. 

They did it!  Sean's usual M.O. for adventures like this is to be too scared to try it, then once he does (like most of us), he realizes how fun it is and does it over and over.  For some reason, the exact opposite thing happened at Sliding Rock---he immediately wanted to try it, laughed his way down, loved it, and then didn't want to do it at any more.  I guess he figured he proved himself--no need for further showing off.  There was also a group of three 15-yo boys there that took about an hour to build up the courage to go down the fall-- I couldn't resist telling them that they had just missed Sean doing it.  One kid said, "What?  He's like 3!" I said, "actually, he's 2.  You can do it if a 2 year old did it."

Here are Beth and me getting ready to go down-- mostly just getting used to the cold mountain water, and discussing who would go first.  I volunteered her.

I don't know if you can see my face in this one, but it represents pure terror.  Probably the same face I made the day Cody pretended to propose to me in the law school computer lab after 12 hours of studying.  Terror. 

In these situations I'm usually not scared of the actual feat, but have a huge fear of anaphylacting in the cold water at the end of the feat.  Cody had to stand next to the pool and promise he would pull me out if I anaphylacted.  I didn't.  It was really fun. 

And then I got this prize at the end.  Pure sweet. 

GG, Dada, young Groebers (us), Micah and Bef.  (One of the 15 to boys is standing at the top of the fall in the background, contemplating his options.  he would do this and then walk down about 10 times before actually riding it.)

And, so that one day when our kids look back on these pictures, they'll know that there parents were cool at some point, Cody and I got in another little swing while the kids were napping one afternoon:

And finally, a few cute shots from swinging and sliding here at home at the park around the corner:  

Concentration.

And pure beauty, truth and excellence in baby form.

Gone Fishin'

While in the mountains last week I took a ton of pictures.  Too many to document at one time.  Also while in the mountains last week Sean went fishing for the first time, and the pictures from that experience are unbelievably cute, and managable. 

In the back of Uncle Micah's truck getting the gear ready.

So happy to be hanging out with the guys.

Seannie with his "fishing poole." He's hoping for a Seannie-sized one to come his way around July 2. 

So Sean and I actually sat on a blanket on the river bank while Cody, Micah and Aubrey Anne fished.  He still thought the whole experience was "fishing." Here he is watching the fisherpeople through is "ga-noculars."  We also touched worms and read Berenstain Bears on the blanket, first with me, then with a very obliging DaDa while I read a little Jane Austen and smelled the awesome country air.

Watching Aub through the ganoculars.

After Cody fished for a while he came back up and let Sean be a more active participant.  I love this picture.

Just because I couldn't help it.

Sean has been talking up a storm about fishing.  Especially after he heard Micah tell Beth that he would catch her a trout and bring it home to cook for their dinner ("I caught you a delicious bass."). Adorably, he gets the words "trout" and "Detroit" mixed up (they sound alike and we talk about both) and told someone yesterday he caught a "Rainbow 'Troit" (which he did not.).  Today I took the boys downtown and we walked around Waterfront Park a little, looking for dolphins.  Sean said, "Mommy, you catch a dolphin and bring it home to cook up for our lunch."  Someone call PETA.

Ear Infection?

We think Jamesie might be fighting his first ear infection, but we're really not sure.  One would think that after a combined 4 years of parenting babies I would be able to spot an ear infection, but neither of our kids have ever had them, so I'm really clueless in this area.  It makes me realize how lucky we have been with their health!  Anyway, J has a fever and red ears and he's irritable (crying and whining).  He had 2 molars come in last week, and they are still working their way through his gums, so that might be it as well.  No other symptoms like snot, grabbing his ears, sleeplessness (he slept great last night).  Anyone out there with ear infection experience have thoughts?  could it be teething or a virus?  We're all ears.  hehe. 

Guy Smiley

If you've seen Jamesie at all in the last few months, more than likely he's had this expression on his face: 

While I generally notice my kiddos hitting personality-milestones around 3 month marks (at 3-6-9-12 mo they always seem to turn a corner and a new part of their personality takes off), I have to say that the 13.5 month mark has done wonders for Jamesie's disposition.  While he used to have the above expression about 80% of the time, it has given way to this adorable little face in the last week or two: