Thanksgiving in Vermont

We had an absolutely wonderful trip to Vermont to visit Grammy, Grampy, Uncle Paul, and other relatives for Thanksgiving. Jack, Charlotte, and I flew up last Saturday (the kids behaved pretty well for me), and Andy joined us on Tuesday. The weather did a great job of cooperating--clear skies and warm on all days that we traveled, but plenty of snow for playing the day before Thanksgiving. The kids, especially Jack, had so much fun in the snow. Here's Jack with Uncle Paul and Andy:

Jack went on the sled with Andy and me a few times, but I was impressed that he slid a lot by himself. We used a couple of hills; one was short and steeper, and the other was longer with less of an incline.

Charlotte got in on the sledding action too.

So cute!

Little Stay-Puft.

Good action shot of Andy (what you don't see is the ensuing wipeout).

The snow wasn't sticking at first, so we had a difficult time getting the snowman started, but we eventually made one that was about Jack's size.

Frosty bit the dust the next day as the temperature warmed up.

Some video of Jack going down the longer hill, and of Charlotte being pulled around. She kept making these cute squealy noises.

We had such a great week and are missing everybody already! I have many more pictures to post.

Hawks game

Andy and I took Jack to a Blackhawks hockey game Sunday night--Andy's work had box seats, and several families attended. It turned out to be a really good thing that we were in the box and set back from the general arena, because Jack was pretty freaked out by all the loud noise. He especially didn't like the horns/sirens that go off when goals are scored, and of course it wound up being a high scoring game.

This is as close as Jack would get to the action.

Jack still mananged to have fun hanging out inside the box with some of the other kids. Here's a sweet picture of Jack and Will.

Jack also spent some time with "big kid" Nicholas. He was so cute, imitating everything that Nicholas did.

Jack also devoured chips and other junk food all night. So in the end, I think he still had a pretty good time :)

Jack

Happy belated birthdays to our cousin Tyler (the 7th), Grampy yesterday, and best birthday wishes tomorrow to Great-Grampy!

With Charlotte hitting all these developmental milestones lately, she's been hogging the blog posts, so I decided it was time to focus some attention on Mr. Jack. I had Friday off work for Veteren's Day, so Jack and I spent some much needed alone time together while Charlotte stayed with Elif.

I had needed to go to the Oak Brook mall anyway to pick up a couple things, so I took Jack with me, and we visited the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I had always walked by those stores in the past but never actually went inside, so I was pleasantly surprised at the whole experience. The staff were really great with kids, and also very understanding and patient with Jack when some of the loud noises scared him. I also had no idea there were other animal options to choose from besides just bears; of course once Jack spotted the monkey it was as if the other animals didn't exist.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Build-a-Bear, there really isn't as much "building" as the name implies. The kids basically just pick out an animal carcass, oops I mean, deflated animal. Then, as you can see in the picture below, the animal gets a pipe shoved into its back and the guts, or rather, stuffing is blown in. Jack really liked watching the stuffing swirling around inside the machine, but it took him a while to brave stepping on the pedal to activate the blowing process because it was loud. He eventually worked up the courage, though.

Giving the monkey a "bath" (because I guess after an anmial is stuffed they are dirty?). Jack was also not a fan of the loud noise from the air dryers here. He told the lady they "needed to turn it down."

After the bath, we picked out some clothes for the monkey. I kept trying to get Jack to pick out some sports uniforms (there was this great red football outfit), but he insisted on the motorcycle gear. Here's Jack working on the "birth certificate." He named the monkey "George."

Proud monkey owner. Jack and I went to a restaurant afterward and enjoyed a nice lunch together. An overall great day for mom and son. We're also looking forward to tonight, when Jack, Andy, and I are going to a Blackhawks game! Hopefully we'll get some great pictures.

Halloween

Mater and the watermelon went trick-or-treating on Monday. Since it was a little chilly outside, Charlotte actually kept her hat on the whole time!

Jack enjoying some of the spoils of victory afterward. I'm still finding blue sticky stuff everywhere.

And finally, the waddling watermelon.