Vermont trip

Jack and I returned from Vermont yesterday. We had a wonderful trip! We got to visit with extended family, watch Uncle Paul run in his first marathon, visit a farm, and of course had plenty of quality play time with Grammy and Grampy. It'll probably take me several posts to go through all the pictures.

These first few were from Saturday morning, when Jack was having fun with Grampy. What started off as a simple game of putting a paper ball into the little garbage truck quickly escalated into throwing the ball--mostly at Grampy. Jack's hair is evidence of the momentum he worked up when hurling the ball.





Later that day, a large chunk of the Jarvis clan came over for a cookout. We were able to see Great-Grampy and Aunt Maria, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Marty and Uncle Cary, cousins Nicole, Allison, Emma, Rachel; and Rachel's 3 sons: Jack, Cooper, and Sam. Before lunch, we enjoyed some time outside. Here's Jack giving me a flower.


Grampy took us for a ride with the tractor. Jack was pretty nervous about the whole experience, as you can tell by his expression. It helped to have his cousins come along, and he was able to relax slightly by the end of the ride.


Big Jack


Emma and Cooper


Our dependable driver


Toward the end--the worried expression is still there, but at least he calmed down enough to sit instead of stand.

First Cubs Game

Jack went to his first Cubs game last night! We were on one of the rooftop decks, so we weren't actually in Wrigley Field, but it was close enough. As you can see below, Jack was fascinated by the field (though I think he was more interested in the stadium lights than the game.)




Rain had been predicted for game time, but we lucked out and the weather was perfect.



Jack and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Vermont to visit Grammy and Grampy Jarvis, along with all our relatives up there. We haven't been there since Thanksgiving 2008, so it will be great to see everyone again. Here's a picture of Jack helping me pack earlier:

Go Hawks!

Wow!! The Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup finals! They just beat the Sharks in 4 straight games.



We spent the weekend at the lake, and Grandma and Grandpa Nold came to visit. The weather was beautiful, and we got to take the boat out for the first time this season.

Jack was a big help with driving the boat.



He also got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma read him some books, and they also had fun with the big shiny firetruck that Grandma and Grandpa brought.



Lou also had to join the party




Lou gets worn out with all the running and playing he does at the lake house.


Our dock was visited this morning by a big bird (heron?) and his breakfast.

Jack will be starting speech therapy soon, but he does at least say a couple of words. Here's a couple videos I took of him tonight saying "Momma" "Papa" and the letter "m." I also managed to catch him doing one of his funny new tricks of blowing air through his mouth.

Weekend at the lake

It's that time of year--we spent this weekend at the lake house and got the dock and boat put in the water! Jack still loves playing on the screened-in porch and looking out at the water. Here's a picture of him doing the same thing last year:


Playing with his ball (note Lou is not in the picture--even though he loves the porch too, he's afraid of this ball for some reason. Whenever Jack plays with it, Lou retreats as far away as possible.)



We also made a trip to Petco, which is one of Jack's favorite places. The store in Michigan has kid-size carts, which he would push around for hours if we let him.


You can't see real well in this picture because I was behind the screen, trying to be inconspicuous with my camera. Andy was working on the dock (that's our boat there on the left), and we noticed this other boat floating out, unmanned, into the lake. It belongs to people a few houses down from us, and I'm not sure if it didn't get anchored, or if they had tried to beach the boat and it wasn't stable enough. They took action very quickly--the owner kayaked out to the boat, hopped on, and drove it back. It was fairly entertaining.

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day! Grandma and Grandpa watched Jack on Saturday night so Andy and I could go out to eat with friends. Then on Sunday, we went to pick Jack up and Grandma made a yummy dinner. Jack wasn't in the mood to eat much, but he sure had fun playing with the new toys Grandma had for him. He loved this little construction truck.


He wasn't interested in sitting on this tricycle, but he enjoyed pushing it around.


He also got a big kick out of watching the dogs run around. Aunt Lisa's Labradoodle, Macie, is much bigger and playful than the last time we saw her. She's about the same height as Lou, though most of her size comes from fur, so he still outweighs her by a good 15-20 pounds. They had a blast chasing each other around!

Fun in the sun

The weather has turned a bit chilly now, but earlier this week it was really warm. Here's Jack showing off his hat and shades look.


His cheeks were a little pink from the sun in this picture. Here's Jack in one of his favorite places to relax--Lou's dog bed.