Who Needs Toys When There are Straps??!

We've known for awhile that B likes to chew on fabric textures. We could not get these bag straps out of his mouth without some wails:


Jack actually wants to play with a toy and reaches for it while Cady tries to take a bite out of his head. Brooks? Just some straps, thanks very much!!

B's Favorite Part of Summer

Let's be honest: I'm not a very exciting playmate. Brooks has been so lucky to have lots of playtime this summer with his daddy who, even amidst earning 9 hours of graduate school credits and spending lots of hours working in the weight room, has been home for some serious fun. I am beginning to get nervous about next week, when the football craziness begins and Seth is pretty much out of the house until sometime in December.

In just a span of a few minutes yesterday...

Seth set up a puzzle station so B can take out the animals and gnaw on them. (He always goes for the lion first):

Made funny noises with a straw:

Taught the art of fumble recovery:

and made B laugh REALLY hard (without making him feel bad about the copious amounts of drool):

Wheeeeeeeee!

I'm not very good at knowing when the baboo is ready for various things. I often need to be told--or shown--by others. Thanks to Brooks's precious twin, I realized it was time to hit the swings!

Two Babies and a Dog

Something over there must have been really interesting!!

It's Stuffy In Here

Brooks came home from Texas with a little souvenir--a cold! We hung around the house yesterday because we were worried about spreading germs, and Little B ended up taking several long naps. These pics are from this morning and reveal a congested, nose-wrinkling, eye-closing B. We can't just show the happy times, right? (Oh, who am I kidding? He's still super happy even amidst the runny nose!)

Texas Adventure Part IV

We finally made it home. Our return trip was complicated a bit by a 1.5 hour delay in Memphis, but, as you can see, Little B managed to entertain himself on the airport floor with Froggy:

Unfortunately, the delay messed up our timetable as related to his getting sleep, so the passengers on the flight from Memphis were treated to a few minutes of crying right from the start as he expressed his exhaustion. We were all thrilled that he finally got it all out before too long and collapsed on Seth for an hourlong nap.

Between Part III and today's return flight adventures, however, the Brookster got in a few more good visits.

With Aunt Sara:

With Cousin Rachel:

With Grandma and Papa:

And with that crazy lady who's always lurking around:

We had a FABULOUS trip but are happy to be back home!

Texas Adventure Part III

We had a delightful afternoon yesterday visiting the Kroll family. Jack was born exactly 2 weeks before Brooks and showed his wisdom by explaining the nuances of the carousel toy to B:

I am so thankful that Carrie and Seth grew up together because she's yet another fun friend that I've co-opted for myself! :-)

We then met the family crew at Chuy's for some Tex-Mex. B really enjoyed the tasty menu:

Part IV of our Texas adventures begins today as we return to Seth's mom's house for the remainder of our trip. Since it is the land sans internet, I will be electronically incommunicado for a few days. Happy week to all!

Texas Adventure Part IIc

So far, today has been about carrying on traditions. First up was getting pics of 3 generations of Astros fans:

(Eww....horse hair):

Then, Big D, Kathy, and Seth humored me by allowing me to carry on a Moore family tradition in their midst. Where are we in this pic?

Getting warmer?

How about now?

Mmmmm....Luby's. "Tastes Like Texas. Feels Like Home." I thought it was time for the Brookster to taste his first bite of the creamy goodness that is the macaroni and cheese.

Texas Adventure Part IIb

Saturday's adventure started with some migas (homemade by Big Daddy) for a tasty breakfast, complemented by Promised Land whole chocolate milk (BEST EVER!) from a dairy outside San Antonio. BD and I made an HEB grocery store run in the morning where we found the milk, of which Seth promptly consumed enough to exceed the FDA allowance for calories-from-fat. Undaunted, we ate our way through the rest of the day...

I like to take advantage of being in new cities and did some internet research to track down a local Bubble Tea establishment. We ended up at North Austin's Chinatown shopping center at a fabulous place called Short 'N Sweet Cafe. In addition to many milk tea and smoothie flavors, they also sold ice cream-- both Blue Bell and some Asian varieties, like the Green Bean ice cream that Big Daddy ate. As you can see, the cafe also had lots of bulk dried items (including spicy squid); Christy, I tried to find dried pears for you but it was a no-go!!

Little B was too fixated on the giant straws to smile:

Later in the afternoon, we met the entire family for dinner at The Salt Lick, one of the most famous barbecue joints in Central Texas. It's quite the hangout for large groups so we had a bit of a wait on the patio even at 4 pm:

My fabulous sister-in-law, Sarah (we missed you, other fabulous sister-in-law, Sara!):

After stuffing our faces with brisket, ribs, sausage, turkey, potato salad, cole slaw, and beans, we went to the Key household to celebrate Rachel's first birthday. How fun for Brooksie to get to celebrate the momentous occasion with his cousin!

Texas Adventure Part IIa

We had a very low-key Friday which was wonderful since Brooks had been off his nap schedule for several days. Our main adventure was meeting two of Grand Big Daddy's (aka PawPaw's) colleagues for a guided tour through an Indian buffet. We have eaten Indian food fairly regularly since moving to Maryland, but had never gotten lessons on the order and style of how it should be eaten!

The rest of the day was spent just hanging around, and Little B got in some good playtime with PawPaw's wife, Kathy (aka TaTa) before we put him to bed and settled in to drink some good (and inexpensive) Texas red wine...and eating good sharp cheddar cheese, of course!! For those of you in the Lone Star State looking for a bargain, the Becker (Fredericksburg) Iconoclast Cabernet is a winner!

Texas Adventure Part I

Upon arriving in Austin Tuesday afternoon, we were picked up at the airport by Seth's mom and stepdad. We trekked out to Dripping Springs and the whole fam came over for some fun.

Grandma (and Papa in the background) with the 4 grandkids:


Seth took Brooks for his first dip in the pool:


The four Kenton siblings and their maternal unit:

Wednesday morning, we got up and headed to Waco. Little B was very excited:

We arrived in time for the Brookster to experience his first tea party:

We had a fabulous time at Heather's house, made even better by Lindsay and Barrett driving down from Dallas for the afternoon:

We got to try out our inflatable duck tub...thanks, Cady, for the suggestion!

Then, Thursday morning, it was time to head to Baylor. Brooks encountered all kinds of new things:

Bears...

... Samuel Palmer Brooks, his namesake...

...and his first Ninfarita, which made him a bit drowsy:

Finally, on the way out of town, we stopped by to meet Mason and to visit with his mother, Jennifer, who lived 2 rooms down from me in Collins dorm freshman year!

We arrived back in Austin yesterday afternoon and have moved into Part II of our adventure. Stay tuned!

We Made It!

Just wanted to report that we had a relatively easy adventure getting to Texas! The flight to Detroit went very smoothly, and B had just a minor crying jag on the flight to Austin that thankfully ended after a few minutes of singing him (to sleep). We will be entering the land of constant wireless internet this evening so I am looking forward to posting more about our Texas adventures soon!

Reunited and It Feels So Good

Brooks and I finally got to see Cady and Lindsey yesterday after their loooong vacay to Colorado to visit family and before we take off on our own family-visiting trip. It was so fun to see the twins back together-- they both had new (tops of) teeth to show off, although Miss C leads the way with 2 poking through! Happy 6-month birthday to both B and C today!

By the time most of you read this, we'll be en route to Austin (via Detroit, because it always makes sense to go north in order to go south.) I get the shakes when I think about being separated from my good friend, the internet, for part of our trip but I will do my best to document our travels as best I can. We're looking forward to spending lots of QT with all of Seth's family as well as fun friends...and I imagine there will be some Blue Bell, barbecue, and Tex-Mex thrown in there, too! If you're reading this sometime before 3:30 Eastern time, I would appreciate any happy thoughts for a well-behaved Brooksie on the flights. Between the squirmy-worminess and the teething, I fear this adventure is going to be a bit more difficult than our very smooth trip to Dallas back in May!

PS-- Thanks to all of you who left comments yesterday! What fun to see where everyone was on that day 7 years ago!

Where Were You? A Readership Participation Activity!

July 14, 2001

It's time for a virtual roll-call! Do you remember where you were on Saturday, July 14, 2001? Were you sweltering in Waco with us? Were you celebrating Bastille Day, sitting around watching baseball, or (for you young'uns) studying for the SAT? Or perhaps something even more exciting? It's time to speak out by leaving a comment below. (Please note-- you do NOT have to have a google account. You can either select the "Name/URL" option and type a name in the Name field, or you can select "Anonymous" and sign your name in the text itself.)

The Long Take

Since Entertainment Weekly recently named Pulp Fiction as the #1 New Classic movie, we decided we better watch it (again for Seth, and the first time for me). After it was over, I went straight to imdb.com to read all the associated trivia and goofs, as I always do, and learned that it is a Tarantino director trademark to include at least one long take. In homage to that--and frankly, because it didn't happen on the first try--here is a video of Little B's latest trick. I imagine this may be the only time there is a blog post about both the Brookster and Quentin Tarantino...

Future Science Teachers of America

Two of Seth's favorite colleagues from the science department gave birth to little boys this spring as well. Gavin (at left, below) was born in early April and Zachary (at right) was born in late May. (Yes, Z is bigger than G!!) We had the mothers, fathers, and babies over for dinner last night and had a great time passing around the wee ones. Sadly, the Brookster had already retired to his room by the time everyone got here so he missed out on the party.

The craziest part of the evening was when Allison said, "Our wedding anniversary is Saturday" and Christina said, "Ours is Sunday", and I said "Ours is Monday." What are the chances of THAT?

I'm Not Sure if We Can Afford Clown Shoes!

So maybe sometime he'll stop being a giant but that time is not now. We went to B's 6-month appointment today (a few days early since we're headed out of town on his b-day next Tuesday) and, alas, he's still greater than the 95th percentile in length at 28.5 inches. His chunkiness quotient is way down, however: he weighed 17 lbs 8 oz, placing him squarely in the 50th percentile.

At any size, he is still one happy guy!

Thursday Adventures

Green beans were eaten...

Matching double chins were exposed:

Smiles were flashed:

Computers were utilized:

and magical diets were had by all: