Aerospace Museum & Playground Pics

Stephen, Chuck, and I went to the National Air & Space Museum (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center) yesterday. It's about a ten minute drive from our apartment, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out with the guys. Admission is free, but parking costs $12 (ouch). Still, it was worth it to see all the stuff they had on display.

Stephen Poses in Front of a Pod RacerOkay, so it's not really a "pod racer," but it was the first thing that came to Stephen's mind when he saw it. It does look a little bit like a pod from Quadinaro's racer from Episode I. Unfortunately, he's a little washed-out in this picture, but I thought it was funny.

Stephen & his CameraStephen enjoys taking pictures with our digital camera so much, that we bought him his own. It's a Fisher-Price camera with a built-in LCD screen. The picture quality is grainy at best (see below), but it's pretty sturdy and he loves to take pictures all day long.

Maddie, Through Stephen's EyesAs an example of Stephen's camera's capabilities, here's a picture he took of Madeline. It doesn't handle movement well, so both the person taking the picture and the target of the picture need to be relatively still. As a result, most of Stephen's pictures end up as unrecognizable blurs.

Chuck & Stephen Posing by a Black WidowChuck and is wife Karen are expecting a son next month (September). Stephen's two and a half years old, but I'm sure it gives Chuck some idea what he's got to look forward to. A little hands-on never hurt anyone.

Stephen Enjoys McNuggets and BBQ SauceWhen Stephen gets fussy, it's a sure sign that he's either tired or hungry. We decided to go to the McDonald's in the museum, and he consumed fries, McNuggets, and Diet Coke (his favorite). He was still a little bit edgy after lunch, but the food took the edge off.

Space Shuttle EnterpriseIt's pretty neat that they've got the Enterprise at the museum. I told Stephen it was a space ship, but he wasn't real impressed.

The New Playground
Our balcony overlooks one of our apartment complex's "tot lots." When we moved in, the equipment was serviceable, but run-down. Last week, they tore out the old stuff and installed a bunch of brand new equipment: slides, teeter totter, swings. Stephen has been wanting to go play on this stuff ever since they started installing it, but it's been way too hot. I took him out this afternoon and let him take the new stuff for a spin.

"I'm on top of the world!!"It was hot and humid out, but not nearly as bad as it has been. There was a nice breeze that would kick up every so often. Stephen doesn't seem to mind the heat, even though he turns red and sweats just like his parents do.

Stephen Tries a New SlideStephen loves slides. He's loved them since as far back as I can remember, when we used to take him to the little playground at our complex in Vista, and (especially) when we'd go to Stage Coach Park in Encinitas.

Stephen Swings!Stephen wanted to go on the swings, so I loaded him up and pushed him a few times. The novelty wore off pretty quickly, and he wanted to get down so he could go dig in the dirt a little bit. My gosh, does he need a haircut.

Maddie Is Working Up to CrawlingI don't want to leave Maddie out. She's doing real well. No more teeth yet, but she is working on developing some mobility. At the moment, she rolls around and scoots along like an inch worm, but I can tell she wants to go faster. Who wouldn't?

That's all for now. More in a while!

Brother & Sister

Here we have the kids sharing quality time in front of the television. Yes, sir. We waste no time whatsoever in rotting their brains with quality American programming (in this case, "Mickey Mouse Club House").

The new camera works, but it has so many bells and whistles that I'm not entirely sure what to do with it just yet. We'll have to get some more photos taken, but in the meantime...

It appears as if Mr. Man wants the camera for himself. Oh, dear...

Kid Updates

Real quick:

Stephen has slept in his "big boy bed" two nights in a row so far. We had one incident of him ending up on the floor the first night, and I'm not entirely certain how it happened, as I put an obstacle between him and the opening in the bed rail to prevent just such an event. I placed him back in his bed, and he slept the rest of the night.

Stephen also continues to potty train. Not a whole lot of progress (and what progress there has been is, well, better left to the imagination).

So yay for Stephen!

Today is Maddie's second month check-up, including her first round of immunizations. Poor baby!

As for the camera, Stephen's grandma bought us a new one. We spent last night messing around with it, and we'll try to snap some more pictures soon.

Camera RIP

Alas, our digital camera has given up the ghost. We've been giving it the gentle treatment for the past couple of months, given that the lense has a moody habit of not extending or retracting fully. Now, the little shutter that closes to protect the lens from our greasy grimy fingers refuses to open or shut completely.

Hence, no new pictures.

There are a couple still on the camera from when it was still (more or less) functional, so I'll gather those up and post the ones that are worth keeping.

As far as news is concerned, Amy is back to work as of last Monday. So far, she's really happy to be back.

Stephen is talking and talking and talking. He's a little parrot boy. He'll say just about anything you ask him to say. He might not get it right, but it's definitely recognizable. He's also very knowledgeable about lots of things, things I wouldn't expect him to know. Garlic, for example. I showed him a bulb yesterday and asked him what it was. "Gar-lick!" he answered. I was amazed.

He's also able to identify about 99% of the alphabet. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't remember learning my letters until age 5 or thereabouts. I've made him some flash cards with index cards and a magic marker, and I quiz him every so often. He's only familiar with capital letters so far, but I plan to work on lower case letters, numbers, and shapes pretty soon.

As to Madeline, she's growing and growing and growing. She's definitely got some meat on her bones now. She raises her head really well, is very attentive, and she even smiles at us every so often. Her next check-up is later this week. I'll be sure to post her current attribute scores.

There's nothing new in my world, unless you count my haircut. I visited a local salon a week ago, and the girl who cut my hair took a large divot out of my hair. Being that I wear glasses, and being that I wasn't wearing them during the haircut, I didn't notice the imperfection until I was driving away and admiring my hair in the rear-view mirror. Admiration turned to horror in an instant.

I wasn't prepared to go back to the same place and throw a tantrum. God knows, I'd get the same girl, and she'd end up shaving my head completely. I turned, instead, to another hair cutting place on the way home, and they set me up well enough. Granted, they had to cut my hair shorter than it's ever been in order to "repair" the damage. I feel like a shorn sheep. Or Sampson. I should've checked to make sure the girl's name wasn't Delilah before I sat in that darn chair.

Once again, I apologize for the lack of new photos. We'll be buying a new camera within the next month or so, I reckon. We've had one readily available for far too long to give up the convenience of it.