A father’s pride: the Sunday morning Bugs Bunny crew
Using the super bowl as an excuse, mom made her famous from-scratch pizza
Dad’s been unusually interested in fresh pineapple in recent years, though Eleanor has zero complaints
Commercial dancing with ma
Goodnight keeses
Des and dad watch a few minutes of Planet Earth II downstairs while sister is nursing
The aquarium provides a whole new experience for walkers. Eleanor was looking for a truly hands-on connection
Everyone searching for their personal penguin
Eleanor was generally oblivious to the giant sea turtle floating just overhead
The traditional tropical fish pose, now a walk-up destination
A new sibling experience as well
Chatting up the locals
With a portion of the railings on the jungle upper level under construction, there was a certain unfamiliarity and anxiety to walking clockwise
Our little monkey
“DAT!”
Starting with a sprint…
…eventually ended with a whiny surrender.
With the jungle restaurant unusually understocked, this non-hotdog-or-cheeseburger-eating group pursued extraordinary means. On the car ride west, mom wielded the immense power of child messaging: by introducing the word “meatball” to Desmond’s vernacular, he was compelled to repeat the word over and over to master pronunciation. Mom had effectively created a cheering squad that ultimately resulted in dad driving to Meatball, a newer-ish restaurant in the Blackstone neighborhood near home. Score one for mom.
Desmond showing surprising variety by requesting something other than Star Wars, though a mandatory “mix it up” edict has been recently established
Eleanor really getting into playing in brother’s room, it’s where all the good toys are at
Desmond demonstrating the only other safe place to eat a popsicle, though porch days will return eventually
Ella trying her hardest to “wink” with Ms. Kristen
Eleanor assisting Ms. Kristen in the office
It was just one of those days you needed a good snowball fight with a tree
Ella decides to pop a squat on her decidedly new afternoon seat, mom’s knee
“Gossie is a gosling, a small yellow gosling…” by mostly memory at this point
Eleanor is firmly on Team Gnocchi
Glittery holiday signs made with ma- perfect for hanging out of reach for most everyone
Eleanor was up early in the morning with ma, so she was ready for a quick catnap by mid-morning
Desmond takes a few minutes to wake up, even after naps
Eleanor’s first time walking outside to the car. This was immediately proceeded by her falling down the slight declining slope. But a resilient spirit, she was back up faster than you’d think
Desmond was pretty stoked to be in sandals once again, demonstrating his newfound foot agility- with conviction
Dad is occasionally jealous of the fun that warmer-month birthdays invite. So why not pack and pile the kids into a hotel room merely 10 minutes from the house just to play at an indoor waterpark? Because he had one of the best birthdays in recent memory, that’s why.
Yup, lots to look at, pretty exciting!
After Eleanor got tired walking around the pool (you know, because she’s decided that she’s solely a walker on all surfaces), it’s time for a break
Not shown (regrettably- though forever engrained in dad’s memory, via fear): Desmond, resident three-year-old, going down a two-story waterslide by himself (hey, he technically cleared the 40″ minimum height line). TWICE!
Hanging out at the end of the kiddie slides to watch big brother
“WHEE!”
“Look, Dad, Dad, I’ve ate my share of snapea crisps. In fact, I’ve ate like a lot of people’s share of snapea crisps.” Eleanor clearly prefers the snack course of the hotel room pizza party
In jammies and exhausted
After the girls fell asleep, Desmond and dad laid on the bed watching the rest of Brave. Good movie, fun times
Des engages in the Great Tug of War with Cali and Buddy before mom and dad head out on a special birthday date night
