A Very Fun Day!

Alex had a busy day yesterday. In the morning, Eric and I took Alex to his first Easter Egg Hunt. He definitely knew exactly what to do, but quickly got distracted - first by all the fun playground equipment around him and then when he discovered there was CANDY in those eggs!


So, you see me opening this candy right now??

Sweet tarts - a little sour....


Then after nap, Alex and I met our friend's, Kendra and Rory at the Botanical Gardens. They have a lot of great new water features on their tree house exhibits and in their Children's Garden. The kids played for hours. I am so excited that we have a membership there - we will be there A LOT!

Alex found this ball and carried it everywhere with him for awhile....



They had Lily Pad Land - with a wading pool, fountains, and rocks that served as lily pads.



The end of a very fun day...


And congrats to Eric who ran his first 5K yesterday!

This is pre-race with our friend, Rebecca.

Looking Good!

21 Months (and a week)

Alex is getting scarily close to turning 2! Everyone lately has been commenting on how big he looks - he is so tall!

Besides the growth spurt, the biggest changes this past month have been with his language development. He is using new words daily and putting together more and more 2-3 word phrases. Here is a little sampling....

"Ea ouwside" - he requests this basically every meal now that we have done it a few times. The boy wants to "eat outside" and pretty much spend every second if his day outside. And he recently expanded it to "Daddy ea ouwside".

"bite" and "nother bite" - Alex does not care what we are eating - he doesn't care if he likes it or not - he must always have a bite of it! And even if he doesn't like it - he will often ask for another bite.

"Momma See" or "Daddy See" is his new favorite "game". It is basically "I Spy" and we play it in the car, at the dinner table and at many points through out the day. We have to say something that we see and then Alex has to find and point at the object.
Hours of fun for all ; ). The phrase is also used if he wants to see something. Like if he hears the girls behind us playing he will ask to see and that means we have to lift him up to see them.

"Hi" - Alex has turned into Mr. Social. Anywhere we go, especially if there are other kids, Alex is saying Hi and giving a little wave.

Alex's other big favorite lately is to count. (Josh this one is for you) Anytime we walk up or down our stairs we have to count them out loud together. (video coming soon!)

Alex continues to be the world's greatest helper and the "Help Me" phrase is used a million times a day, from having to help get his own cereal in the morning, putting the top on the milk, turning on the dryer, to his new favorite chore - refilling Buddy's dog food.

Alex is always imitating us - here he is putting tools in his pocket, because he saw Eric carrying a tool around in his pocket.


We continue to spend all of our awake time outside. Alex is currently obsessed with lawn mowers and spots them everywhere we go and he loves to push Eric's around the yard. We got him an early birthday present of a sand box.


Alex is still pretty easy going, but definitely has his "testing" toddler moments. Alex does not entertain himself very well by himself inside - something we need to work on. But outside he does well. He is definitely good at finding trouble though - going out the doggy door, bothering Buddy, finding pens and glue in the junk drawer, etc.

Spring Break - the rest of the week

The rest of the week we spent most of our time at the beach since Alex loved it so much and played so well there. It was warm and muggy, but we had a couple of days where it was so hazy and foggy that we could barely see the sun - but we were happy it was warm and we could still be outside and at the beach.


One morning we found a little pool of shallow water that the tide had made and Alex loved splashing and playing in there....


And of course, Alex found time to fit in some golfing too....


Alex was very excited when Papa caught fish - but didn't want to get too close!


After his initial hesitation earlier in the week, Alex decided that he LOVED the ocean! He absolutely loved jumping in the waves and would do it until we got tired of holding him out there. The bigger the wave, the harder he giggled.


Here is a short video - notice his little excited dance that he did while waiting for the next wave :). The last wave that crashed over him - I thought he was crying at first - but no, he was laughing and immediately turned around for more!




Thank You to Papa and Grandma for a wonderful week and many great memories!!

Spring Break - Day 3

We had another sunny but cooler morning, so we headed out to the Gulf Shores Zoo for the morning. It was definitely not the most impressive zoo I have been too, but it was just the right size for Alex to walk the whole thing on his own. Papa bought him food to feed the animals and that is all he wanted to do the whole time.

Spring Break 2011 - Day 2

Day two of our vacation started out a little cold. It was sunny, but only in the 50's in the morning and very windy. So, we headed out to see the Blue Angels practice and tour the Naval Museum.

Alex was a little unsure about the Blue Angels. They were great from far away, but when they got close he didn't like how loud they were.



Alex loved the museum. He was entertained all morning just walking around and looking at all the airplanes. Of course, the best part for him was sitting in the cockpit of the airplanes. He kept asking to "drive".


And here is his prized possession, an airplane that Papa bought him from the museum's gift shop.

Spring Break 2011 - Day 1

My parents generously took Alex and I on their Spring Break vacation with them this year. We just got back from spending a week in Perdido Key, FL (between Orange Beach, AL and Pensacola, FL).

Day 1 - fun at the ocean! Alex LOVED the beach. He loved playing in the sand and we would make him little "pools' to play in. He chased birds, dug holes, hit golf balls, splashed in the water, found sticks, etc. and just entertained himself for hours at the beach. He was a little unsure about the big ocean at first - but that definitely changed by the end of the week.

Here he is all ready to go to the beach for the first time...


Fun in the sand and water....



Alex's word of the week was "see", as he had to see everything we were doing and then help us do whatever we were doing ("help me"). Alex had to"see" and "help me' fish a lot with Papa.