NYC (aka The Big Apple)

This is my biggest adventure yet.  After 15 hours on planes and in airports (our flight was delayed for 6 hours out of Denver), I arrived tired and cranky in the Big Apple.  So New York is really big.  We are talking 316 Missoula’s (seriously).  By the time the trip was over I was beginning to believe that I was one with the Ergo carrier.  We saw lots of cool things, all of us got sick, and the best part was hanging out with Uncle Dan.

NYC skyline from Central Park. That park is enormous!  We spent 20 minutes walking to the middle of the park, well I rode in the Ergo, but it took forever.

We have arrived.  Uncle Dan, Mom, Dad and I are standing on the steps of the MET.  We spent way too long in there looking at broken objects, bent rings, partially assembled columns and huge paintings that you couldn’t even touch.  

Walking back through Central Park.

Cool architectural spires on St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Whereas Rocco architecture is my favorite, I find the Gothic style to be quite inspiring.

Grand Central Station. I was pretty much asleep for most of this, so there is little to say.

This is the view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the park where we ate famous pizza (I don’t know what all the fuss was about - we stood in line for 45 minutes and met the NYC pizza nazi) and had some frozen yogurt.  

Uncle Dan became my portable Johnny Jump Up in NYC.  I just can’t live without that thing for very long.

King of the Mountain

Roar!!!

Fully functional, original gas lamps.  We weren’t here long enough.  I could have stared at those lamps for hours.

The view from our hotel room.  The Empire State Building is the one that has red, orange and yellow lights at the top.  We went there a couple of days after we took this picture.

 Jump up and down, clap your hands and get excited (that’s what mommy did). I just stood up on my own for the very first time!  It’s a whole new world up here.

Waiting for my very first boat ride, and to the Statue of Liberty no less.

Posing in front of the Statue of Liberty. Notice Uncle Dan’s clothes match Lady Liberty and her pedestal - way to go Uncle Dan!

On the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.  This is the position I was in for at least half of the trip.  Now I know what the term bow legged means.

Aren’t I cute!?

Here we are at Washington Square Park with mom’s friend Jasmine, who now lives in NY (they used to co-manage Auntie’s together).  I chewed on the Ergo while the adults chewed the fat. 

At Washington Square Park with Uncle Dan. I was able to spend some quality time with him while we were in New York and, even though he is going to school to be a lawyer, I really enjoyed my time with him (sorry Uncle Dan, couldn’t pass up on the lawyer joke).

I like to think that I help people in their exercise programs, holding me these days has got to get heavy after a while!

Whoa, hold on - baby holder check. Okay, still Uncle Dan. Everyone may carry on.

Jasmine turned out to be quite the baby holder. This is one shoulder I am not easily letting go of.

The view from the top of the Empire State Building. I was fast asleep by this point and apparently missed quite the site. Oh well, I’m not going to remember this anyways.

At the entry to the Empire State Building. This is where Buddy, one of my favorite movie characters (not!), tried to enter to see his dad at work, but the mean guards sent him to Gimble’s instead.

Here I am standing on a bench along the Hudson River. I am standing more and more by the day.

I am currently giving Mom and Dad the run down on Hudson river history.  Many great things happened here and I just thought they should know about some of them.  Once again, I'm not sure they fully comprehended the depth of my knowledge, but they'll catch up eventually.

Here we all are at the Hudson river. This is on our last day before heading out to the airport to head home (ack! another flight). 

On The Road Again

So before we went to New York we hung out at Grandpa and Grandma Stewart’s for a few days.  Fun times where had by all, except mommy, who got sick (I’m noticing a trend here).  Crawling is quickly becoming my newest obsession.  I'm getting better and better every day.  I overheard mom and dad talk about how it's getting hard to keep up, but I just laughed over my shoulder and kept going.  They're bigger, they're bound to catch up.

You wouldn’t know it, but I’m working just as hard as Daddy.  I am currently doing push ups against his back - whew!  It’s my way of encouraging Daddy to go a little faster.

This is one of my dogs having fun on the run. Cosmo is always happy outside.

This is one of my other dogs, Haley.  Isn’t she cute!

The giggles strike again.

I think I can, I think I can.  I’ve got crawling on the floor down pat, the new challenge is crawling up onto things, in this case Grandma.

I knew I could, I knew I could. 

Don’t get me wrong, crawling is lots of fun, but standing is now where it’s at!

This is me about to body slam my favorite toy.  He’s called Icy Bat, which means he should be able to fly away, but I have disabled his wings with relentless chewing.  

After successfully body slamming the bat, I am now setting my sights on the picture taker.  I mean, enough is enough.

Action shot of me jumping on grandpa.  In some circles I’m known as “The Blur.”

Great grandpa doesn’t know it yet, but I have currently disabled his oxygen supply.  Muhahahahaha.

Over the Hills and Through the Woods

Can I just say I am sick of riding in the car!  I have spent hours in that dumb seat over the last couple of weeks.  It has been worth it though because I've been to lots of great places and seen lots of fun people.  The beginning of our vacation started off with a trip to visit my birthmom and her family.  They are so much fun!  We played with lots of toys, I got some great cloths (fashion is my current passion), and everybody held and snuggled with me for a couple of hours.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love a good hug?

Here aunt Kelli is helping me earn the best smile award.  I've been working on it for weeks, but I think we finally achieved perfection!  What are your thoughts?

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I'm a photographer in training.  I spend so much time in front of the camera, I thought it was about time I started working that contraption from the other end.  Mom and dad haven't given in yet though.  They seem to object to my dirty fingers on their fancy camera.  Here my birthmom, Tawnie, is showing me her new camera.  You will observe that I am touching it - yes, I'll have one of those in my hands (or my mouth) before you know it.

This thing has lights, rolls on it's own and plays music.  I'm in love.

Well, maybe not in love, but it sure did look tasty.

Grandpa Jon has these scratchy things coming out of his chin that are mighty intriguing.  I'm not sure what to do with them, though putting them in my mouth seems like the most logical choice.  Pretty much everything is supposed to go in your mouth after all or didn't you know?

All smiles with Tawnie, she tells the best stories!

Here we are again.

Aunt Kelli is taking a picture of me and Grandma Angie is giving me lots of love while I work hard on creating the perfect smile.

Aunt Kelli is currently my favorite jungle gym.  I loved climbing all over her, as you can see.  She enjoyed it to, as you can see.  

I climbed all the way to the top and decided to give aunt Kelli a kiss.  I think I actually ended up nibbling on her nose, but she didn't mind.

Look at all those smiles.  Lots of happy people!

I look so good in hats, if I do say so myself.  Right now I'm giving someone the nod, you know "the nod".

Another great smile!