Hard Rockin'

The other night Ethan came home from day care with a pony tail in his hair. Apparently Katie had one and so he had to have one. We took it out to get ready for bath but we thought he looked pretty cool with his funky hair-do!



Last Friday (2/6) was our last day as a foursome with Katie and Caleb before Katie was due to have her baby. We met at Panera for lunch and then let the boys run around as usual. Ethan followed Caleb everywhere and touched whatever he touched...which was mostly the nice looking trash can you can see in the background, but they couldn't resist a shot at some cash.



Look at how cute these guys are! I mean seriously. If only Ethan would look at a camera once in while.



Friday night Ethan and I met Jamie for dinner after work. We went to The Hard Rock Cafe and had a blast! It was really loud in there so E was a bit overwhelmed at first but he cracked us up by picking up the swizzle sticks and pretending to play the little guitars on the end of them! He was so good and ate well and rocked out and we all had fun.

Ok. Slight disclaimer here. It wasn't until I saw these pictures that I realized the stripes in his sweater are black! I have him in navy pants and onsie. Please excuse the fashion faux-pas.









He really wanted to drink his milk without the lid on. I was of course picturing him spilling it all over the place but he did really well. He used the straw for the most part. I'm still not ready to trust him with an open cup.





After dinner we made our own dance floor because we didn't want to leave! E was dancing like a crazy man and running all over the place. The whole bar was watching and the waitstaff and hostesses were dancing with him too. Of course he's a bit subdued in the video but he does show off some of his moves. He squats at one point because I was squatting to take the video. Monkey see...



Very late Friday night Steve finally got home. The test he traveled for did not go as planned...again. The issue was not anything that he and his team could have predicted and it was very discouraging for him. He's still recovering...

Super Bowl Sunday 2009

Super Bowl Sunday got off to an early start when Steve left the house at 6 am to board a plane to CA for work. I was so completely jet lagged from my trip I could barely keep my eyes open with Ethan in the morning! Of course we were up at 6 too. By 8 I could barely stand it anymore and knew I needed to get out of the house. I didn't even care where we went but I decided to take E to the Museum of Science. It sounds ambitious, and I guess it was, but as a Raytheon employee I get in for free so it was easy in that respect. I wasn't sure about taking him into Boston wearing his Steelers shirt on Super Bowl Sunday but we only got 2 comments...one from a despondent Eagles fan and the other from a fellow Steelers fan.

On the way in you pass a window into the dinosaur exhibit and there's a life size T-Rex. Guess where we had to go first...E couldn't wait to see the dinosaurs! Here he is posing with a triceratops.



The room next door was full of stations with buttons. We had to run around climbing up on all of the little chairs to press the button. I'd like to say that my 2 year old was interested in learning about electron-scanning microscopes or even the insects it was magnifying, but it was all about the buttons.



His daddy would have been so proud...E loved looking at the solar powered cars.



There's a woman on the "phone" telling him about finding fossils in Appalachia or something like that. I don't think he heard a word.



He was crawling all over this bench! It was Steelers blue after all.



Then we hit the motherload of all button boards. Each button lit up a spot on the map and E went straight for it. He stayed there for a good long time pushing button after button after button.



Then we hit the discovery room and learned about bees.







And then listened to the ocean in the conch shell.



This is not his best rendition, but Ethan does a great Steelers cheer. He was more interested in his hot chocolate then performing for me, but you get the idea.



Steve arrived in Burbank a few minutes late for the game. He called me wondering what happened in the first quarter. They had scored a touchdown when he was in the car but when he got to the bar they only had 3 points! You just can't miss a minute. Needless to say he was so excited for his team to win the big game. If only he had someone to share it with!

Mommy Goes to Hawaii

Last Monday morning I boarded a plane for my 14 hour journey to O'ahu! My team lead and I were heading to Hickam AFB for a meeting with the Army. Our meetings didn't start until Wednesday so besides responding to phone calls and emails on my BB, we had the day off! We were up at 4:30 for a teleconference with the team back home (HI is 5 hours behind right now because they don't do day light savings) and met at 7 for breakfast in Waikiki before heading to Diamond Head for a hike.

Diamond Head is a natural crater but was built into by the military prior to WWII for defensive purposes. The tunnel is the only way to enter unless you come over the ridge.





This is the view of Waikiki and Honolulu from the top.



Even without the sunshine, the water was a really cool blue/green.



This is all you would have seen from your post if you were stationed here 1900's. Actually, you would have seen the other islands in the chain on a clear day!



After hiking we went on a kayak tour off of Kailua Beach on the East side of the island. The weather got really bad so I don't have any pictures of that. We were freezing when we got back! I got warmed up and cleaned up and decided to take a walk on Waikiki before dinner. You can see Diamond Head in the background of this lovely self-portrait.



You can see how stormy it was but that didn't stop the surfers. There were tons of them out there all the time! The waves were not that big or that frequent at all so I'm guessing it's more of a social/spiritual thing.



This is Jim and I in our "nah-nah" pose for the team we left behind in Boston...



You know your a total dork when you're excited that the Sea Based X-Band radar is in port and that you'll get to see it up close! I don't work on this radar specifically, but come on, this is pretty cool.



Yes...I wanted my picture taken with it.



This is a view of the Arizona Memorial from Ford Island where I was to see SBX. I didn't get a chance to visit but just being around such poignant history was humbling.



This was the only sunset that I managed to see all week! I broke away from mongolian bbq at the Officers Club to get a picture.



We worked really hard while we were there but I was happy to have a little time to myself! I ended the week by spending a few hours at a spa right on Waikiki. It was ridiculously relaxing! I sat in a lounge overlooking the beach for an hour drinking lemon water, reading magazines, and eating fruit while waiting for my massage therapist to summon me. I felt like a million bucks! And then I flew 12 hours home...

I was really hoping to make a big entrance when I got home because this is the longest the little man and I have been away from each other. However, I opened the door to nobody. Ethan was napping and Steve was in the shower! Even when I went in to get E up from his nap he just looked at me for a minute and then asked me to read him his Curious George book...again. I guess I should be proud that I'm raising such an independent young man but I was really hoping for a little more fanfare!