Hookie Day

Working from home never is a good idea unless you want to end up at the American Museum of Natural History. Jaime loves going because he's able to run around on his own with me close on his heels. The North American Mammals diorama room is great because it's not as popular as the dinosaur skeletons and lots to see at his level.

First Haircut

It was time to say buh-bye to the baby mullet that was developing and give this little boy a hairstyle.

Home run!

One Saturday in September we made trek out to the Bronx to see a game at Yankee Stadium.  It was quite the adventure with a little guy.

To get there we took a train to a bus to a train.  Needless to say, we missed the opening pitch. But there were teddy bears left at admissions so Jaime has a blue Yankee's teddy bear from going to his first baseball game.

We found our seats and began the process of annoying everyone around us. ;) It was lots of fun to see Jaime take it all in.  But he was squirmy. And he kept losing his shoe.

Dan took James to toddle around while I enjoyed the game.

But Jaime did enjoy watching the game and the crowds. He loved all the clapping.  When the Yankee's hit a homerun he just loved all the cheering and joined it. It was pretty much the cutest.

But then he was exhausted and we had a long trek home so we decided to cut out.  We made it through a fair percentage of the game with a 14 month old so not bad.

I grew up watching and cheering for the Twins. After moving to Chicago I did kind of cheer for the Cubs but never adopted them as 'my team'.  I wonder if the Yankees will be Jaime's team.

A Lovely Morning - Belvedere Castle, Shakespeare Garden, Le Pain

Sometimes we have these completely lovely family outings in our neighborhood that make me so happy with where we are exactly at this time in our lives. The types of moments that you want to remember as an example of this chapter in our lives.

Jaime is always super active in the mornings and we were transitioning from two naps to one after lunch.  So we tried to get out in the mornings.  The first weekend in September we headed out and I had grabbed my real camera.  The September light, transitioning to fall, and the quiet streets/park were gorgeous settings.

We headed down our street to the park.

I love how the locals here take their newspaper to read on a bench in the quiet mornings at the park, before the crazy begins once the tourist decend.

Then we strolled through the Shakespeare Garden.

Then we finally made our way to Belvedere Castle. Lots of running around by the little.

Followed by a break.

Then we made our way back down and landed at the fountain.

We stopped at Le Pain in the park to sit outside, have a snack and people watch.  I can't get enough of these two...

It was a completely lovely morning with the family.

Labor Day in Maine

For labor day we headed north to visit my sister Pam's family in Maine. We had a great time visiting and catching up as always. Jaime loves to hang out with his cousins. 

We underestimated the drive, of course. The drive should be about the same (just a little longer) than driving from Chicago to the farm but we go through multiple cities and areas where people are also headed to northeast vacation spots so traffic is horrendously slow. We took off the afternoon and headed out but ended up staying overnight just a couple hours from their house since it was getting so late.  So we arrived Saturday morning and were there until Monday morning.

A beach trip was a must and quite refreshing since it was so hot.  Jaime just loved it and thought it was pretty much the bomb.  He had a huge grin the entire time, even when he started to get really cold from the ocean breeze.

We visited a wildlife refuge and saw the local animals up close. It was a neat place.

And picked up lobsters for dinner as per the tradition. Jaime would not try the lobster... maybe next time. We did a lot of hanging out and relaxing, which was perfect for this tired pregnant lady.

Then it was time for the long drive home. We stopped at Sbux to re-caffienate and let Jaime stretch his legs while snacking on a banana, he of course took the opportunity to make friends with people across the table.

It was a great weekend to end the summer season!