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.)

What passes for a national forest

...in Arizona. Guess the standards (or water tables) are a little bit lower.

Pueblo with clouds

also within Wupatki National Monument park, and framed by some of the most spectacular clouds I've yet to see.

Clouds, schmouds - here's the baby pic:

Looks thrilled, doesn't he? Well, in fairness, it was about 90 degrees at this point.

Sunset Crater

Who knew there were extinct volcanoes in Arizona? Apparently there are a lot of them. And yes, I'm sure lots of people knew this already - just not me.

Overlooking the Sunset Crater in Wapatki National Monument, near Flagstaff - 1000 years since eruption, so you'd think there would be a few more trees, no?

Saru, Justin and the ever-squirming Ryan:


And Zach, napping through his hike with Dad:

Zach does Arizona

In case you're wondering where we'd disappeared to (ok, so you probably weren't really wondering)...



We spent the last week in Flagstaff, AZ with the Wades, where Mr. Z spent a lot of time watching in jealous fascination as Ryan crawled in circles around him - stealing his toys (well, till he discovered the joy of hair pulling). Here we are, waiting for the hostess to seat us for dinner...at 5.

More pictures later as I sort through them.