Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Dave and all the fathers out there! We had a terrific day. It took a little while to get Alex to cooperate and give Dave his gift, but he finally did, as you can see below. When I asked Alex what he wanted to get Dave for Father's Day he very quickly answered "food treats." So, I got Dave one of his favorite food treats, Chex Mix. It was a big hit.

Dave waiting in the tent to get his presents. Alex decided that he was uninterested in this plan.



Alex finally giving Dave his Chex Mix.

Garden Field Trip

One of the highlights of our Memorial Day trip was taking a field trip out to Uncle Paul's garden. I failed to take a picture that would let you see the whole garden, but it is huge. Paul grows so many veggies, and we were there at the right time to have some onions, broccoli, and peas. Alex was fascinated with the garden and the tiller (which he kept calling a truck), but his favorite part were the peas, which we were able to pick from the plant and eat right out of the pod. Alex enjoyed it so much that before we left he asked to go see the food again (i.e, to see the garden again) and ate some more peas. Thanks Uncle Paul!

The master gardener showing Alex the onion patch.



Trying the peas. They are standing in the cauliflower rows. The heads of cauliflower were just starting to form, and we peeked in at the centers of a few of the plants to see how they look when they start developing.

More peas!

Family Visit

We spent Memorial Day weekend with Grandma and Grandpa C. and also got to spend time with both of my brothers and their families. It was a lot of fun. And, yes, I am blocking out the part where Alex didn't nap and got up at the crack of dawn every day because he can now climb out of his pack and play.

Here are some fun pictures and look for another post shortly about our field trip to Paul's garden. It certainly deserves its own entry!

Playing catch with my new ball.



Happy times with Maria, Anna, and Uncle Mark.



Getting a peek at a few of Uncle Paul's arrowheads. We even got to bring some home.



A hat this crazy could only have come from cousin Forrest!

Time For Bed

We have lots to catch up on, but the big news for today is that the crib has been converted to a bed. Alex figured out how to climb out of the crib, which seemed like a big game to him, so it was time to make the change. He was so excited that he jumped right in the bed and pretended to go to sleep. We'll see how good he his about staying in it. I'm sure we'll have more to report on that soon.

Here's the bed. Basically, it is the crib as a day bed with a partial rail on one side. No more fears of Alex landing on his head trying to climb out of the crib. (He never did hurt himself getting out, but we were still nervous.)



All smiles trying out the new bed.

Choo, Choo!

We were out in St. Charles/Geneva for a friend's 40th birthday this weekend and made it a mini-weekend getaway. Between our friends and my co-worker's family, who all live out there with kids, we got some terrific tips for fun things to do with Alex. By far the highlight of the trip for him was eating lunch at 2 Toots. They have train tracks running through the whole place, and your food is delivered by train. He loved it!

The caboose is red!



Here come more trains!



My food just came off of that train.

Letters

Sometimes Alex calls numbers "letters." Last night he saw the number 2 and the number 3 and was talking about them and called them letters. Dave and I explained the difference between numbers and letters, and as we were explaining letters Dave said the first few letters of the alphabet. This lead Alex to sing the Alphabet Song. When he finished, he exclaimed excitedly, "Someone wrote a song for the letters!"

This Year's Garden

This afternoon we finally got out to plant some seeds and get the garden up and running for the year. The oregano and mint came back from the winter, and we planted two types of basil, carrots, and lettuce today. We still need to pick up a tomato plant, but I'm glad to have the seeds in. Alex was a good helper, but he likes the watering part of gardening a bit too much. Hopefully the seeds won't get too waterlogged. The mint and oregano are clearly able to survive anything, so I'm not too worried about those.

Covering the seeds with dirt.



"Gently" patting down the dirt.



Here comes the water!



The proud gardener. (You can see how well the oregano came back. The container is already overflowing, and we haven't done anything to it.)