This is Annie's new trick. She can now pull herself up on the coffee table, and then stands! Karen sent me these pics while I was in class. That Annie, she sure is always into something! And she is also very fast at getting herself on top of the table... we're going to have to make sure everything is tied down now that we've got a climber on our hands! D'oh!

Annie's first photo shoot

This past weekend was Annie's fist photo shoot! I didn't want to look like I was trying to cannibalize on the photographer's action, so I only took one photo with my phone. Although, after I saw the pricing sheet I wished I would have taken many more... Anyways, Annie was great throughout the whole thing. She was very playful and didn't cry the entire time. Although most of the time she didn't smile either, but it's the small victories you have to take comfort in! The photographer was great with her, and I think out of all the photos she took we're going to have some really good ones. Annie had her picture taken on Sunday, and it was pouring the whole time, and we got snow! Unbelievable.

Saturday was beautiful. Karen was at a friend's baby shower, so Annie and I took our show on the road. We went downtown to meet our cousin for lunch, and had a great time! Annie was a champ the whole time. She got a little squirrely before we sat down, and right before we left, but other than that no major issues. And it was great to catch up with Holly!

Annie goes to the park and then terrorizes Whole Foods

Last weekend, which will probably be remembered as the last nice weekend, we took a nice long walk along the Charles, then went to Whole Foods. Although after looking at the photos, I'm thinking they were from different days since Annie is in different clothes... This is what happens when you wait too long to post!

Anyways, the weather was cool, but sunny. And since Annie loves going to the park, the slides and swings, we thought we'd venture out farther and go to a new park along the river. She loved it! Especially the covered slide, where a certain someone may have almost knocked Annie onto the ground when she came down the slide... But I won't name names...

At the grocery store (whenever that was...), Annie took her spiked hair on the road and terrorized the place! It's amazing the things you know, but forget to apply under new circumstances. For instance, I know Annie loves to grab things off from tables, and pull anything down that she can get her hands on. But when we're at the store and she's in the cart, I completely forget about the fact that if she is too close to the aisles... Those little hands just start compulsively grabbing whatever is closest! So that always makes things very interesting...

I'm not condoning this, but it's hilarious...

Magga and Poppa visit (weeks ago... and Jordan)

A few weeks ago Magga and Poppa came to visit. The boys (me, Poppa, and Jordan) went to the BC / Wake Forest game, where the photo above is from. The ladies went downtown, out to lunch (I think?) and did some shopping. Annie has needed some new shoes for a while, so Karen and Magga found some and she got two new pairs! And if you hear this story from Karen, she'll tell you that I made her buy 'boy' shoes.

They are not 'boy' shoes. All I said, was if we were going to buy two pairs, let's make one neutral-ish, so in case our next child is a boy, we can re-use some of this stuff. And not everything, but more expensive items (shoes, jackets, etc.) once in-a-while could be neutral and not always pink. Besides, why should we continue to pass on society's gender stereotypes? And then Karen says, well in that case if our next kid is a boy then you shouldn't mind if he's wearing pink shoes! Snap.

Really?

I'm so glad that all of Massachusetts' problems have been solved so that the legislature can now tackle really important issues.

From today's Boston Globe:
Lawmakers’ nod could sweeten the day for Fluffernutter fans

The Fluffernutter, once defamed by a state legislator, could soon become the official sandwich of Massachusetts.
“Well, it’s very flattering,’’ said Don Durkee, co-owner of the company in Lynn that makes Marshmallow Fluff. “I can’t think of any other sandwich that has the equivalent association with Massachusetts.’’
The sandwich is one of three foods that a legislative committee will consider for official state status tomorrow. The others are Necco Wafers, for official state candy, and Charleston Chew, for candy bar.
“A lot of these bills are filed by school groups,’’ said Lainey Titus, chief of staff for Representative Steven M. Walsh of Lynn, cochairman of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, which is holding the hearing. “In general, a couple of these sometimes go through every year.’’
The committee will also hear requests to designate the elephant as the official state mammal, “Fever Pitch’’ as the official state movie, and 6 as the official state number.
Representative William Brownsberger of Cambridge, who sponsored the “Fever Pitch’’ bill at the request of some Cambridge eighth-graders, said most such efforts do not pass.
Each bill needs to pass in the House and Senate to become official. “Moby-Dick’’ almost became the state’s official novel last session, but the measure died in the Senate.
“The Legislature is sometimes respectful, but it doesn’t want to get too distracted,’’ said Brownsberger, who has not seen the Red Sox-themed movie he is backing.
Massachusetts already has five official state foods, among the most in the country: the baked navy bean, corn muffin, chocolate chip cookie, Boston cream pie, and Boston cream doughnut.
Children pushing the legislation often appear to testify, lawmakers said.
“Lots of students came and testified over the years,’’ said Representative Antonio Cabral of New Bedford, a former cochairman of the oversight committee. “It can be a great educational tool.’’
Representative Mark Falzone of Saugus, who sponsored the Charleston Chew bill, said a group of Wakefield Girl Scouts appeared at a mock hearing in April to support the nougat treat.
“They testified not only on the tastiness of the candy bar, but they also danced the Charleston,’’ he said.
One student will speak at tomorrow’s hearing in support of the elephant. The origin of the choice was unclear yesterday, and the species is not known to flourish in the wilds of the Commonwealth.
The students “felt there should be a state mammal, I guess,’’ said Representative James Miceli of Wilmington, who sponsored the bill. “I know very little. We signed on, and it’s their bill.’’
Another student sent a personal letter to state Senator Stephen Brewer of Barre, advocating for the number 6.
“The number six is involved in much of our state’s history, and is part of many interesting state facts,’’ wrote Tyler Gibbs, 14, of Rutland, whose love of history, not the allure of school credit, drove him to write. “After I started my research, I learned that we have a state polka song, so why not a state number?’’
Massachusetts was the sixth state in the union and is the sixth-smallest state in the region, Gibbs wrote.
The three foods up for official status have Bay State ties.
Marshmallow Fluff was invented in Somerville and has been produced in Lynn for 80 years. Necco Wafers were formerly made in Cambridge and now are created in Revere. And Nat Sloane, the man who made Charleston Chews famous, was born in Belmont. The candy bars were also produced in Everett.
In 2006, a state senator, Jarrett Barrios, attracted national attention when he sought to limit the serving of Fluffernutters in school lunch programs statewide.
This year, Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein of Revere filed legislation to honor the Fluffernutter, the second attempt by a lawmaker.
“I associate the Fluffernutter with a really good childhood sandwich,’’ she said.
If the peanut-butter-and-fluff concoction gets a positive reaction from the committee today, it may mark one of the sandwich’s best weeks ever. The fourth annual Fluff Festival is scheduled for Saturday in Somerville.

Vacation part II

Here are some more pics from our time in Michigan a few weeks ago... While we were in GP we made it the park a few times where Annie loved the splash pad and kiddie pool, and also had a play date!

Day trip - Rockport, MA

It was such a beautiful weekend here! Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny and cool. On Saturday we decided to take Annie on the road and headed up to Rockport, MA. It's about 45 min north of Boston, and I lived in Rockport for a year during my under grad days. Rockport is awesome. It's this great coastal small town, with lots of fun shops, art galleries and restaurants. You knew there had to be food involved if we were going!

Most of the pictures are taken on Bearskin Neck, which is like this little peninsula that juts out into the ocean. It's lined with tons and tons of fun shops and tons and tons of galleries. It was a bit cliche that 2 out 3 art galleries featured nothing but ocean-related works... but they were cool none the less. And I think you can tell from the pics of Annie and Karen that it was a bit windy on the end of the neck!

Annie had a lot of fun, although every time we would take her out of her stroller to walk around, she would take off. She's not very good at holding your hand and walking nicely beside you, so I guess we'll keep working on that! Anyone have any advice or guidance as to when I can expect her to follow on command?

What else did we do? Well, after we got back on Saturday and we put Annie down for a nap, I had to watch "An Inconvenient Truth" for my Monday class. What it should have been called was "An Inconvenient Long Lecture from Al Gore for 90 minutes and oh yeah, still bitter I lost the election." Seriously. I consider myself myself a bit progressive, and I definitely try and do my part to reduce, reuse, and recycle - so I thought I would actually like the movie.

Not so much. In the first 10 minutes he referenced losing the election at least twice, pretty much implied GWB was at fault for most of the environmental problems, and was a big gass-bag. I'm also not the biggest GWB fan, but come on, the guy was only in charge for 8 years, hardly enough time to be guilty of the stuff that Gore tries to link him to. And I can't say this enough, the whole movie was about Gore! He did this, he has been working since 19XX, no one would listen to him, he tried to this... And it went on and on and on and on... I can't remember the last vanity project like this I've seen, unbelievable.

Annie loves the park!

There's this school playground about a 5 minute walk from us, and yesterday after work we took Annie by. She loves being in the swings, but now that she's gotten more mobile she loves slides! Everytime one of us would put her on top of the slide it'd be a race to get to the end of the slide as she immediately starts inching forward to go down the slide. It's pretty funny to watch, not to mention she gets a very serious look on her face!

Summer's over, d'uh! Vacation round-up, part 1

After a very nice and relaxing August... it seems like I should get back to work! July and August were a bit of a blur. From the last week in June until the first week of August I was in class two nights a week, and all day during the last week of July. The good news is that this is over, and starting tonight, I only have two classes left until I complete my MBA! Boo-yah!

Our summer was pretty busy with friends visiting and travelling to weddings. Most of which I've already covered. The week before Labor Day we headed to Michigan for a week of some much needed r&r, and backup! We spent the first half of the week in GP, taking Annie to the park, and on long walks. The top picture is from the boat, Annie in her very own life preserver! Which went over so-so. To be fair, it was the most easy thing to maneuver in, and whenever she fell, it was sort of curved-outwards in the front so if she landed on her belly her face would roll forward and meet the ground. After a few falls she got much better navigating around in her PFD and was much happier.

The other photos above are taken from Karen's primary school, and Annie is running down the "Nun's Walk." Annie has become a really good walker, and loves to run. She also has the funniest laugh, it goes from a 4 to a 10 in one second. So funny.