Two of my favorite things

Tivon LOVES to go through my spices in the itty bitty kitchen. He also LOVES equally taking off his diaper. How lucky that I could catch both in one photo.

Wild Ride in Texas

Tivon and I ventured to Texas to visit friends and he was pleasantly surprised by all the toys! This riding toy was by far his favorite, but don't get any ideas. We have absolutely NO ROOM for any toys of this nature in our apartment. :)

Here's the link to watch him ride--Aunt Nini makes a guest appearance as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjDFcG-EbXo

Weekend Getaway

As if there isn't enough for us to do in NYC, we decided to getaway for the weekend. It was a trip down nostalgia lane for me. We went to Fire Island where my family use to vacation when I was young. The island really is idyllic and picturesque. No cars, just bikes. No streets, just boardwalks. The ocean on one side of the island and the bay on the other. The entire island is only about 30 miles long and less than a mile wide.

Here's where we stayed: Pelican's Roost (every house has a name). We got it on a last minute deal on Craigslist. Boy, do I love the internet.

Josh and I took turns watching Tivon on the beach so that we could play in the ocean. This is how Josh watches Tivon:

And here we are on our way home, waiting for the Ferry to take us back to our island home: Manhattan.

Finally!

We caught the fish face in action. Missy (our friend in Clemson) taught him how to do this and we've been trying for months to capture it on film. Now what will we do with our spare time?

What is a summer without bike riding? Ti guy may be a little small to get those peddles going himself but he's the perfect size to go along for a ride.

Again, I'm not sure if Josh or Ti enjoyed this more. We rode down to 10th st our first adventure (about 100 blocks each way). Since then, we have ridden around central park--stopping at the merry-go-round and park--and a county fair on pier 72 and of course, many other parks. I'm pretty sure by the end of fall, we're going to be able to give you the skinny on every park in manhattan!

Fun in the sun!

Tivon, Josh and I set out for an adventure a few weekends ago--we went to the infamous Coney Island. Although it took us over 1.5 hours to get there via the subway (under construction), it was well worth the travel.

Josh LOVED it. I'm pretty sure that we will need to settle (if that ever happens) somewhere near the ocean. He is truly a water baby. Tivon on the other hand is still trying to figure it all out. He had a great time but was definitely tentative. He and I built sandcastles, well, mostly destroyed other people's sandcastles.

Then we walked down the boardwalk and of course had coney dogs! They were delectable. Tivon had a plain hotdog (dairy in the batter) but enjoyed it just the same.

Our New Home


Josh found our new apartment. The best part? It's across the street from Aunt Gretchen's! It's a great neighborhood. Yes, it's small and dark but, hey, it's home.

The outside of the building

One more IN favorite: Steak and Shake.

Tivon could be the poster child for chili and beans. We were all laughing pretty hard--I had no idea he could get THIS messy. But you know, he's full of surprises. He even started waving to the waitress and customers because he KNEW he was cute. Oh brother, I think we might have a ham on our hands. . . I wonder where he gets that?

While in IN, of course we had to do the favorites: eat at Pizza King, catch lightning bugs and ride on a tractor. Here's Tivon's first tractor ride--I think Lin enjoyed it as much as Tivon. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!
For mom's 60th birthday, all the kids surprised her and came to visit for the weekend. We can rarely all get together because we live so far away so this was very special for mom. There was a lot of coordination and outright lying that had to happen.
We then had a surprise party for her with coworkers, classmates, family and friends. What a fun time!
Here is a picture of the siblings with our kids. And an attempted picture of all the cousins--not sure what Tivon and Natalie are doing.

How can it be?!? Our little monkey is walking. For a firsthand viewing, click on the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bH1rtgaus