Cherry Blossoms and Easter Eggs

My Grandma came to visit for about a week and a half around Easter. It was one of the longest trips she's made recently and we were excited to have beautiful weather while she was here, she's been freezing all winter in Ohio! We had planned to take Grandma to DC to see the Cherry Blossoms for her first time, but with the beautiful weather coninciding with the peak of the blossoms, Easter, and the local Spring Break, DC was mobbed. Instead of fighting the traffic and the crowds, we opted to go to Meadowlark Gardens to see the blossoms. Timmy loved getting to wander around on the paths and spotted lots of wildlife too! While we were there we posed for our first Four Generation picture with Grandma, Dad, Me, and Timmy.

Later that weekend we colored Easter Eggs at my parents. Luckily, Timmy was happy to color his with his crayons, and didn't question us not giving him the dye!

Visiting with the other Joneses

We've gotten to spend lots of nice family time with Tim's families in the last few weekends. We hosted his Mom, Al, and all of his siblings at our house to celebrate Elena, Jenny and Chris's birthdays (they are all the same week!) We had good Chinese food, cake, and some time for Timmy and Brayden to check each other out.

The following weekend we went out to Tim's Grandma's house with his Dad, Susan, and all the siblings to visit while his Aunt Dale was in town. We had an Easter Egg Hunt (you will notice Chris took the hunt very seriously because of an egg with a $20, but Timmy found it, and ran over to show it to him!) We also had a picnic lunch and played a few rounds of croquet. It was an absolutely beautiful day!

Spring is Here

Thanks to some beautiful weather recently Timmy has been enjoying some fun times outside. Last weekend we took him to an Easter Egg hunt with the playgroup that Baba takes him to. He played nicely with a few of the other kids while waiting for the hunt to officially start, and even had a bit of a head start, as he was picking up eggs before he was supposed to. He wasn't being selfish though, he was distributing them evenly to all of the awaiting baskets! When we finally got the go ahead to start, he wandered around and filled his entire bucket with eggs!

A Happy One and a Funny One

I have two recent Timmy stories that I want to share today. First, the Happy One:

When Tim and I got back from our Anniversary Cruise I was really nervous going to pick Timmy up! This was largely thanks to my Aunt, who told me they had gone on vacation without their oldest son when he was about a year and a half old and when they got back he wouldn't even look at her for a week! We had missed Timmy so much on our trip. We had talked to him on the phone and gotten him to say, "Mum" and, "Da" a couple different days, and I had even made a video of me reading one of his favorite books for him to watch while we were gone. But I was still worried. I didn't need to be. When we walked into my parents house Timmy was in the front room. He looked at us for a moment with a half smile and a look in his eyes of confusion/excitement/and happiness! He looked back and forth from Tim to me a few times, and then came running to Tim (he was closer!) and gave him the biggest, longest hug ever. Then I got my turn. It was the best feeling! Timmy remained cuddly for a while but slowly decided to get down and show us some of his toys. We gave him a Pirate's Hat and Maraca's, just a few of the things we had picked up for him, and he flashed a goofy, tooth-filled grin and danced around for a while. Part of me was screaming to get up and get the camera, but I listened to the part that said, "Don't you dare miss a second of this!" and stayed put, enjoying the show. :) I got the same huge hug Monday when I picked him up after work, I think that he thought that I was gone for another week!



Now the Funny One:

As I mentioned in the 21 Month post, Timmy is still a daredevil and loves climbing. Mom and I recently took him to the playground at the mall, which has lots of different sizes and shapes of things that can be climbed on and things that should be used as slides. While I was talking to another mom, Timmy climbed to the top of one of these slides and was clearly about to jump down, a good 30-36" drop. I managed to make him freeze with a "Don't you dare" while I ran over, and then let him jump to me from the top. He climbed right back up to the top and decided to try to walk down the slides face, I made him hold my hand. He climbed right back up and didn't want to hold my hand, so I let him try, but caught him from falling on his face about an inch off the floor! The next time at the top, when I made it clear he was going to hold my hand, he opted to actually use it correctly, and slide down. Then he was off to do something else. I eventually went to sit on a bench and just watch him playing. When he noticed that I was sitting, he made a dash back to the slide, figuring he would get to walk down on his own. Unfortunately for him, by the time he got to the top and looked up, he was looking right at me! He looked a little startled and dissapointed. He sadly shook his head no, and then looked a little hopeful as he pointed to the bench!!! He was basically telling me to go sit back down! I was laughing so hard, but still made him hold my hand as he walked back down the slide. Then he was off to something else again!

21 Months!

Well, Timmy won't stop growing up, so here we are at 21 months! Here are a couple pictures of him right before bed yesterday (St Patrick's Day) wondering what Mommy put on his cheek (World's Cutest Leprechaun Tattoo, of course)

Getting into one of his toy baskets (that his mean Mommy keeps under the coffee table in the corner)

Posing for the camera while helping unload the dishwasher

Checking out the fishy (He's standing on the back of the couch to get to this position!)

And trying to climb onto the counter!

Timmy continues to be a dare devil and is expanding his horizons as far as what can be climbed! He was also attempting to climb out of his crib for the first time last night, but luckily he was trying on the end of the bed, which is the highest part, and solid so there's no where for his foot!

Five Years!

Tim and I just got back from a Cruise that we treated ourselves to for our Five Year Anniversary. We had a really nice and relaxing trip. Our Ports of Call were Colon Panama, Limon Costa Rica, and Belize City Belize.

In Colon, Panama, we went on a tour that took us to Portobelo Bay, a stronghold for the Spanish where they would hold the Gold and other exports from throughout South America until they were ready to be transported to Spain. We visited the Customs Building and San Jeronimo Fort, one of three forts that guarded the Bay. The forts were built entirely out of coral! In Portobelo we also got to do a little shopping, the locals set up little souvenier stands and we bought a few of the handmade items.

From there we went to a private beach where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and open bar. They served their Rum and Coke's light on the coke, so it was an extra good deal!

Our final stop in Panama was the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. It is known as the 8th Wonder of the World, and it was very impressive. We got to see a massive ship finish it's trip through the lock. Later in the week we happened to catch a documentary on the Canal, and the new portion they are building, which was nice timing and answered some of the questions we had about how it works.

The next day in Limon, Costa Rica, we took another guided tour and we did so much! We stopped at a roadside fruit stand where we got to sample bananas, pineapple, and mangos. Then we went to the Del Monte Banana Plantation and saw the long process for getting bananas from the fields to the delivery boxes. While we were there we also got to see a 3 toed sloth, it really did move sooooo slowly, it was unreal.

From there we went on a boat tour of The Tortuguero Canal through the rain forest. We saw several types of birds in the wild and made a stop to see a baby alligator! From the boat tour we made one last stop at a wildlife preserve where I held a Maccaw.

In Belize City, Belize we took a tender out to Banister Island and enjoyed some time in the sun at the private beach. The weather and the water were beautiful! From the island, we went snorkeling at the Barrier Reef, the second largest in the World. The puffer fish in the picture below was ENORMOUS, it was probably 3 feet long!

We agreed that we were glad we visited each port, but also agreed that there was no need to go to Panama or Costa Rica again, unless we went to the West Coast of each, which is apparently completely different, with Sky Scrapers and all.

It was a wonderful trip but we were so happy to get home and get back to Timmy! He had a nice vacation too, taking turns being spoiled by all of his grandparents. :)

Folding the Laundry

Timmy has apparently been watching me fold the laundry as I take it out of the dryer, I place the shirts under my chin to hold them and then fold upwards. When I asked Timmy if he wanted to help Mommy get the clothes out of the dryer, he pulled out each sock individually, and tucked each one under his chin before handing it to me. Here is a video of him helping with some of the larger items.