Greetings from Zach

It occurred to me that I hadn't posted any normal photos in a while, so here are a couple:





New firsts of recent weeks:

• haircut (with Josh's beard trimmer)
  
• cracker
  
• dosa, at the Bombay Club (that was a big hit)
  
• cold - first and second, in fact
  
• sausage
  
• trip to Texas

Photo credits for both of these goes to Josh (I'm assuming - I don't actually remember, but I think those are my hands in the pictures).

Water fountains

Can you find Joshua, Estee and Zach in these pictures?






As seen in San Antonio.

Sleepy butt

Poor unsuspecting child, thinking he's taking a nap, not posing for a photo shoot.

San Antonio impressions

First Date

With Lilia, and candlelight.

Horses

Just back from a trip to the land of Texas. Our official business was the wedding of Josh's cousin, Nick, but while nearby we stopped in to meet his other cousin, Brian and his brood of horses on the outskirts of San Antonio. Zach was mesmerized by the large animals but exercised caution when it came to touching them.

Thanksgiving crafts

I got a bit choked up this morning when Jen and Wendy (Zach's daycare providers) presented me with his very first little hand/foot-tracing turkey.

And, here we are making pie for a holiday preview last weekend. Zach was pretty psyched that he got his own whisk.

Disco babies

The babies hit the dance floor yesterday afternoon. Saru, Ryan, Jace and Heather...and a whole lot of bubbles.

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Whoa, dude...wacky lights.

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Must touch bubbles.

More naked silliness

Zach takes Lilia's new Rody for a spin. He's wearing a diaper - he just looks like he's completely naked.


And the struggle to get dressed, in a Quality Inn bed after bath. With remote.

$.79 just doesn't buy what it used to

I mentioned our quick trip to Harrisburg - were just there briefly to see Josh's Aunt Pami, who is fighting pancreatic cancer. It is a very tough disease, and our thoughts remain with her as she continues to fight it.

A cheerful detour of this trip - and a break from the driving - was a quick visit with my sister and niece, Jeni, in Jersey City on the way back, where we stayed just long enough to wander the streets and eat some tacos.

And count the abundant $.99 cent stores in the 'hood. This one has taken a unique approach to market differentiation:

Plum Island stripes

Just got back from a last-minute trip to Harrisburg with a quick stop in Jersey City... more on that later. We're recovering from the disruption to Zach's sleep patterns now. Here are a couple pics from the weekend before, when we headed up to Plum Island - Zach's first trip to the place that growing up was simply "the beach," with Opa (my father). Despite being bundled up and hoisted into a backpack carrier, he seemed to enjoy the view.

Narcissism

1st Halloween

Baby costumes are a bit silly, yeah, but what are we going to do - not dress him up for his very first Halloween party (thanks, Jace!)?

And, the napping cow:

Pumpkins

Took Zach and Ryan to Wilson Farms to pick out pumpkins for their parents. Pumpkin for Josh to carve, just squash (to eat) for me - I am not getting myself mixed up with knives and pumpkin gutting with a squirmy, crawling, puts-everything-in-his-mouth 8-month old to keep tabs on.

Exhibit A: Just Squash

Exhibit B: Oversize pumpkin with undersize people

(I think this one was place just for the photo-ops, judging from the line of babies. These 2 were so enthralled by the hay they were seated on that it was impossible to get both to look up. We left with some lovely grass-butt souvenirs. )

Exhibit C: Ryan with pumpkins

Watching soccer

The camera agrees with Sarah. And she's still little enough to not be self-conscious about it, allowing for some interesting close-ups.


This was on the sideline of Sydney's soccer game - Zach's first. His assessment: grass is yummy.

Grandmas are cool

Spent the elongated weekend/Yom Kippur visiting Josh's family in Annapolis with a side-trip to my mom in Virginia. So, Zach got to hang with both grandmas. And play with trees and bubbles.

Flowers

Sorry, it's chonic, as I think I warned in one of my first posts, back in '06.

Shades II

Took the babies to the North end a few sunny weeks ago, back when it was still warm and sunny up here. For a break from the strollers, we enjoyed the lovely grass where I-93 used to loom overhead, thanks to the Big Dig. Amazing what 14.6 billion dollars can do for urban development!

Ryan seems to be missing his pants, but tries to pull off the look too, anyway:


Needless to say, both babies had pulled off the glasses and were chewing on them a mere few seconds after capturing this.

Baby Mozart?

No, no, I'm not delusional, I do understand that he just likes the piano because it makes noise when he bangs on it. But he has been enjoying it so much lately that I thought it was time for him to have his own seat, you know, so we can play 'heart and soul' together. He does the top part.

Spoons are cool

Ryan demonstrates the cool-ness of spoons to Lilia and Zach:

Then Zach tries to chew on Ryan's back:

I'm not quite sure what that hand is doing, but what do you boys think of Coldplay?

Naked Zach

The G-rated version:

(bathtime - he's graduated from his baby bath to the sink itself, where there's no room to practice underwater crawling... )

And the one I probably shouldn't be posting on the internet:

Changing has become a bit of a challenge these days! Hopefully this won't cause years of therapy...

The Arizona roads

Roads in the northeast just don't look like this:

or this:

Or for that matter, like this:

Zach putting up with the driving tour...

well...sort of. In the early part of the days...He'd reach breaking point around 4 each afternoon of driving and would then spend the next 45 minutes screaming. But in fairness, he did sprout 2 sharp little teeth that week.

All of these pictures were taken from a moving car through the windshield, despite my better judgement, driving through 1) hills north of Flagstaff, 2) just east of the Grand Canyon, and 3) the bizarre rock formations around Sedona. Yes, Justin, dead bugs can also be seen blurred in the foreground on #2.

Oh yeah, we went there too

Need I explain?


Yes, it was grand.

Kudos to those of you who've hiked down and then up - not sure I'll ever be in shape enough for that - but we did enjoy the lovely flat path along the south rim!

Couple more pics:




(That is, I have about 200 photos from the Grand Canyon alone, but I tried to limit my selection to a my favorites.)