A New Chapter

I am pleased to announce that I have been named the new Education Director of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. I "officially" start on July 11. I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to the new chapter in my life.

Eat It

Samuel was SO excited to start "solids".


On June 16, he had his first taste of rice cereal.

By the second night, he was slurping it all up! Mmm mmm good!

On June 21, he tried sweet potato. Who doesn't like sweet potato? YUM!



On June 24, he sampled some yummy Oatmeal. He loved the taste, but broke out in eczema shortly after...coincidence or allergic to Oatmeal? We'll find out when I reintroduce it after the eczema clears up...

And on June 28, applesauce was the dish du jour.



I just love making his baby food just as I made Jackson's. What will be next for the little guy? Why broccoli straight from our garden! Delish!

Big And Chunky

6 Month Checkup
26.5 in (67 cm) - 44th Percentile
18.8 lbs (8.5 kg) - 66th Percentile
A clean bill of health (with the exception of his eczema which is flaring up again)

My sweet little chunker!

Thomas and Friends

On Friday, my family hopped in the Ol' Swagger Wagon for a weekend trip up to Indianapolis/Connersville with the intention of doing three things: going to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, swimming, and attending A Day Out With Thomas.

Bright and early (read: 9:30am) Friday morning with Donut Bank and three Redbox videos in hand, Mom, Dad, Jackson, Samuel, Myles and I headed north.


The excitement was palpable.

Three movies later (Tugger, Super Mario Bros 3, and 101 Dalmatians to be exact), we arrived at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.


We were greeted by such things as dinosaurs, Bumblebee, a Mona Lisa made purely of jelly beans, and my old 2NE friend Katherine and her family (Dennis, Colin and Owen).


While Myles, Mom and Dad explored the "older kids" exhibits, the Good's and Bennett's went up to the BabyScape exhibit to let the kids run off some energy while we chatted.

Jackson enjoyed playing in the water.



And he loved it even more when his buddy Colin joined him.



There were several of Jackson's other favorite toys:

Trains,


Slides,


And a huge magnet wall with letters and puzzles.



Next we took the boys up to the Carousel for a ride.



The boys enjoyed playing in the House of Mirrors...


...and having a tea party with the Bear Family.


We even enjoyed some black light magic.


I think Katherine and I shut down the museum. It was so good to see our friends. I wish we lived closer so we could play more often.
Here, we are waiting on the elevator on the 4th floor. Mom, Dad, Samuel and Myles are already in the lobby. Can you see them?



From here, we drove about an hour to our hotel in Richmond. After a quick Red Lobster dinner (where I ordered chicken and Jackson got the mac and cheese - there is just something about eating seafood this far inland that bothers me; I can only eat it on the coast), we all (exception being Mom - she was the Nana-razzi) put on our swimsuits and went down to the pool.


Jackson still loves the water as much as always. Mostly he liked to swim using only his floaties - most of the time he didn't want anyone to touch him/help him/hold him up. He acted like he was much older than two, navigating the water like a pro kicking those feet and doggie paddling everywhere. That's my little fish!



Samuel also had his first experience with swimming. After the initial confusion of why he was in a "large bathtub" with his "clothes" on wore off, he had a great time.



After about an hour of this, I think we were all ready to go to bed. Samuel slept in the hotel crib and Jackson slept in the bed with me. I quickly learned why his hair is always so funky in the morning. He went to sleep quickly, but couldn't seem to find quite the "right spot". He tossed and turned and rolled and kicked and wiggled and flailed every which way. At first I thought he was just acting up so I pretended like I was asleep. But when I realized that he was asleep himself, I just watched him in amazement! It took all I had not to laugh. Eventually he did find somewhere to settle...in the middle of the bed.


This pretty much went on every couple of hours all night. Samuel slept normally. And I think I got a little sleep between feeding Samuel and getting kicked by Jackson!

When my alarm went off in the morning, they were both out. I was able to take a shower, get ready and pack up before they even began to stir.



I was even able to go down and get Jackson some breakfast before the boys woke up.


Jackson was treated to breakfast in bed which he thought was pretty cool.



Jackson was so excited to go and see THOMAS! We had enough time before we had to leave to sit for some pictures.





After a half hour drive, we were finally there. Connersville. Temporary home of Thomas. We got in line and then....Thomas pulled into the station. I wish I would have been quicker with my camera. Jackson had a look of awe on his face. We boarded the train and took a 30 minute train ride. On the ride, Jackson swore he saw Diesel, too. I'm pretty sure this was the best day so far of Jackson's life.








After we disembarked, we stood in line to get our picture taken with Thomas. Jackson kept waving and saying "hi Thomas".


Jackson was so in awe, he didn't want to look away from Thomas, much less to take a picture. Luckily, my dad was able to snap a decent one.


There were lots of things to do. There was a Percussion Show. Jackson and Myles got to play a lot of instruments.



Halfway through the show, I guess Jackson lost interest so he just got up and hopped in one of these cars for a ride. It was funny after we got over the scary feeling of losing him for a minute. (Side note: I comtemplated investing in the kid-leash at this point.)

These cars were evil. After the ride, another lady lost her son after the operators told us they would be coming around one way and they didn't only to let the kids off at the ride's beginning BY THEMSELVES. This ride was my only complaint from the day. Needless to say, I didn't take my eyes off Jackson the rest of the time we were there. So scary! (The lady found her boy, by the way... but it was a terrifying 5 minutes for her.)

There were old trains on which to climb,


Toy trains with which to play,


And Thomas tattoos with which to become bad-ass.


Jackson got to meet Sir Topham Hat,



Pet a donkey,


And ride on a pony named Goldie.



All of this excitement created one exhausted and completely happy little boy. He was out before we hit the highway.



We had one last adventure before arriving back in Evansville: a late lunch at Big Boy's.




It was a fantastic two days. Jackson had the time of his life. Who am I kidding? I did, too. Samuel, I am pretty sure, had no clue what was going on, but was happy to go along for the ride. Jackson hasn't stopped talking to me about Thomas, Percy and James, and playing with his trains new and old all day today. Choo-choo!