The Great Uncles

Johnny and Hank are fortunate to have a lot of extended family. And even more fortunate that a lot of their extended family lives near them or if they don't, they really enjoy coming to visit often.

Last month, Uncle Bobby and Uncle Tommy (of the great variety) came to visit from New Jersey, so we got to spend a little time with them at John's parents' house.

Learning the ways of Mr. Potato Head with Aunt Lisa

Spelling with Aunt Julie

This was Hank pretty much all afternoon and evening.

Aunt Lisa with cousin Jack

The only picture I got of the uncles. From inside.

Jack putting numbered bowls in order. I asked Lisa how crazy it is that we both have boys obsessed with letters and numbers. She's more inclined to think it's not by chance, it must be genetic. She has a point.

When we came over on Friday night, neither boy had napped and thus, they were NOT inclined to be friendly, preferring to snuggle with John or me. Our evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house ended abruptly when Johnny started melting down, crying to go home. So we went. Which is why I don't have any pictures of the boys with Uncle Bobby or Uncle Tommy.

The next day, we only came by to say a quick good bye to the uncles since they were leaving on Sunday morning. So of course the boys wanted to stay for HOURS. Luckily, John's parents were completely accommodating (which is how they are normally), thus there was enough food and space for all of us. And it was at this point that the boys decided the uncles were cool enough to play with. And of course I didn't have my camera. Damn the luck.

But the uncles made a lasting impression on both Johnny and Hank and to this day, weeks later, Hank will say occasionally "Fun with Uncle Bobby! Fun with Uncle Tommy!" and Johnny will add, "It's nice to see you, Uncle Bobby!" Adorable.

Backlog: Emily's Wedding Part 1

WARNING: Pic-heavy post...

Yeah, I know we went to John's cousin's wedding in August, which was about, oh, five months ago, but I never blogged about it. And I should blog about it because BOYS IN TUXEDOS!

John's cousin, Emily, got married last summer in New York. At first, I was not interested in going. Dragging two toddlers cross country to stay among the highrises in Manhattan for five days and then attending a huge wedding at night, with said screaming toddlers, did not sound like something I was interested in. So the initial plan was that John would go on his own and I would keep the toddlers at home, where their screams are (usually) tolerated.

Obviously, that idea didn't last long.

So on August 15th, we found ourselves waiting at Lindbergh field to board a six hour nonstop flight to Newark with John's family. Surprisingly, the plane ride wasn't awful. We brought along Johnny's car seat and he was totally content to sit there and play with the new quiet book I made for him especially for this trip. Plus John's mom packed some kid-sized backpacks with new stuff to keep them occupied.

Watching the planes

Playing with trash cans with Aunt Julie, arguably the best part of an airport

Letters and numbers from Johnny's quiet book

Concentrating

Hank enjoying Johnny's car seat for awhile

The flight was not that bad. We ended up in Economy Plus seating, which has extra leg room, Johnny and Hank both napped a little and were content to let us entertain them for the rest of the time. But we were all definitely ready to get off at the end.

Burning energy while waiting for rental car

Lifting caution cones. Because why not?

Then we were off to Aunt Janet's house. John's Aunt Janet owns a fantastic house on a horse ranch and it was the PERFECT place to stay with two young energetic boys. The pre-wedding party was held at her house, so we didn't have to go anywhere for a couple of days, which was just fine with us. The boys explored her lands, met some horses, picked flowers, threw grass, ran to their heart's content and were overall stinking adorable.

Neither Johnny nor Hank was particularly friendly with many of the family members that came around, but of course, most of them were strangers since the boys either hadn't met them before or hadn't seen them in a really long time. That was really the biggest problem early on; that and Johnny not understanding that we were 3,000 miles away from home, so he kept asking to go home. Oh, and neither of them slept much at all.

Sleepy Daddy... especially since he slept on the couch.

Look! We were there!

Meeting horses

Johnny's favorite person, John's cousin Joey

Whoa, dude, grass!

Visiting a local animal rescue ranch

Look! A Hank-sized pony!

And that was only the first part of the trip! The time at Aunt Janet's was, actually, a lot of fun. Even though the boys (and thus John and myself) hardly slept, it was great to watch the boys explore and spend time with the extended family.

I'll come out with Part 2 (the part with tuxedos!) later. I know. I'm such a tease. :)

2011 Christmas Celebration

2011's Christmas was spent in Albuquerque, NM, with my dad and stepmom... coincidentally named John and Gayle, just like my in-laws... John and Gail. Random, right? I was really excited to go because it had been four years since I visited my dad's house and they had done so many new things to it, plus it was going to be cold!!! A cold Christmas! And maybe even a white one!

I wasn't disappointed. It actually snowed the morning we arrived. Or so the weather app on my iPhone said, because when we arrived it was sunny and crisp outside. Desert weather is weird for sure.

The whole four-day, five-night stay was filled with delicious food, even better wine, phenomenal fudge (I know it classifies as food, but I though it deserved it's own shout out considering I consumed about a pound of it) and delightful Christmas ambiance. Since I took so many pictures, I figured I'd just let them do the talking instead of boring you with text.

Thanks again for your hospitality, Dad and Gayle!

Johnny running around the airport without any pants. It's a good story. I'll tell it later.

Johnny and Uncle Dylan

Grandpa and Hank

Dinner on Christmas Eve

Johnny exploring the Christmas tree

Hank entranced by his new toy.

Johnny entranced by Hank's new toy

Dad carving the bird

Boy pile!!

Playing at a local park

The weekend

I had a student once who had a stamp that read "EPIC FAIL." Every now and then, he would take graded papers for another class and stamp "EPIC FAIL" at the top of a few... if I still had contact with that student, I'd let him stamp the crap out of my forehead because this weekend? EPIC FAIL. I mean, it was awesome, don't get me wrong, but I didn't take A SINGLE PICTURE.

My brother graduated from college this weekend (congratulations Scott!!), so Friday, Saturday and Sunday were filled with family, friends and food. My dad and his wife stayed with us from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon and did lots of babysitting and cleaning for me, which was AWESOME. My kitchen is cleaner than it has been since before I was pregnant with Johnny and they even washed their own towels and sheets. Oh, and my stepmom and mother-in-law did some nursery prep for me so now all I have to do is buy a tub of Vaseline and diaper pail. Score!

On top of all the help I was given, we got to celebrate my brother graduating with a Bachelor's in Biology and Kinesiology by having a wonderful dinner on Friday, lunch on Saturday and a rockin' backyard barbeque at my mom's on Sunday. The weekend, while exhausting, was the most fun I've had in a while.

Oh, and shout out to my former student, Kate, who babysat Johnny on Friday for a whopping 10 hours and managed to keep him happy and entertained until he went to bed ON TIME. People, even his mother sometimes can't manage this. Okay, I rarely manage this. She did an awesome job.

And now, a random picture that has nothing to do with our weekend shenanigans:

Spring Break

Aunt Julie came to San Diego for her spring break and got to spend a little time with Johnny while she was here. Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures even though there were many opportunities... I'm such a bad photographer. However, I got some really adorable ones of them reading and playing peek-a-boo through the sliding glass door. We miss you Auntie Julie!