Where Do Apples Come From?

Ollie has been asking lots of questions lately. His favorite is, "where does __________ come from?" So when Ollie asked where apples came from, we decided to show him. Papa planned a special secret Sunday trip upstate. He told Ollie it was a secret and not to tell Mama. The next time Ollie saw Mama he promptly told her, "we're going apple picking!" (But it was okay that he blew the secret part, because Papa still had a secret massage appointment for Mama up his sleeve. Ahhhh, what a great Papa this Mama has!) 

Ollie was pretty excited about pulling his own wagon.

A lot of the apples were pretty high up in the branches so we started out with a little help from Papa.

But Ollie's favorite part was the special apple picking stick he got to use.

And insisted on carrying himself.

It was a little heavy so Papa helped him get the apples down.

Which was VERY exciting to him, "we got an apple!!!!"

We collected a few bruised ones before Ollie understood that he had to put them gently in the bag rather than throwing them from 2 feet away.

He ate probably 5 apples that day... and some more when we got home.

And that is where apples come from.

i wanna be a raver some day

the story of my first rave:
according to papa, when mama and papa were in college they used to go to raves all the time....i am not sure if this true, cuz i hear papa was just a part time raver.... i asked papa for some pix of said rave days, but unfortunately his pix are not digital.  he did find some videos of raves he attended in a tunnel and in a run down mall in pittsburgh.

back to the story...here I am with mama and my fellow raver ju-ju bean at the secret meeting spot -  where we had to get directions for the party.

after a long drive in a a van, we came across the rave site...a tent in  ju-ju's backyard

after the sun went down, we got in to our pjs  and  got the party started!!! 

papa provided the choons and ju-ju's daddy provided the  

glow sticks!!!!

rave on!

glow stick action!!

luckily i couldn't figure out how to use seth's camera, otherwise i would have been able to film papa who fell asleep in the middle of the rave! smile!

i can't wait for my next rave....

First Day of School!

Yep, can you believe it? Ollie's going to preschool! We're doing it Brooklyn style. Six families have formed a coop, named it Tiny Human Academy, hired an amazing teacher, and will take turns hosting the new classmates at each home every six weeks for three mornings. Ollie was REALLY excited to go. He's been telling everyone, including the guy who runs the parking lot down the street, that he's going to preschool. We've been talking about it for a while, got a special new backpack, and he knows a few of the kids in his class quite well (the first week is at Zadia's house, so he's really familiar with his "classroom" this week). All of that made the first day a lot of fun—he didn't mind at all when Mama waved goodbye... it was just Mama who got a little teary.

First though, Ollie practiced being a teenager and tried to sleep in on his first day.

But soon enough he was up, filled with breakfast, dressed, and ready to go with his new monster backpack. 

High-fives for Papa on his way out.

And poses with Mama.

Zadia's house was all ready for the first week... complete with special cubbies for each kid!

On the first day of school when Papa was little, Poppy used to tell him, "the party's over!" since summer was ending. But we think for Ollie, the party's just starting!

Never Too Much

I think Ollie has a new favorite food....one he calls Something for Licking (vs Something for Eating or Something for Drinking)

...as you can see Ollie like his folks is not good at making a choice. 

Why choose when you can have two flavors!

Biking Pregnant Lady and Toddler Style

A beautiful day and a trip to Governor's Island.

We rented a "family" bike. Mama and Papa did all the pedaling (and by Mama and Papa, I mean Papa).

And Ollie was in charge of the brake. Which is a good thing, because we all know Papa is a wild driver!

We spent the first half our our bike ride frantically searching for the ice cream lady, who Ollie spotted on the ferry boat over. We promised him ice cream when we got there, but then the ice cream lady took off before we even got off the boat. But luckily we found her and then there were two happy ice cream monsters.

A Little Fun with Tuesday

Ollie's friend Tuesday came over for dinner the other night and they had lots of fun together.

Papa read them books. Then they ran around the kitchen island in circles chasing each other. Papa tried to help out by telling Ollie to go the other way to catch Tuesday. A brilliant plan except that two excited toddlers running around in circles can't stop very fast unless they crash into each other. Funny stuff once you determine that they're ok.

And they were ok!

Happy Birthday Sofia and Matias!

Five!? Seriously?! Five years old? We can't believe it. We miss you lots! Hope your birthday is the best one yet.

Playdates With Emmett

Emmett's mommy brought Emmett's new little brother home from the hospital the other day, so Ollie invited him over for some playtime to give his mommy a bit of a break.

The boys had fun eating together.

And papa was a great sport (and target) on the roof with a little water fun.

Then more eating. (Jeez, you'd think this boy actually ate from all these eating pictures, which is rarely the case.)

And this video is from another of their mornings together, but just a little taste of what it's like with the two of them around. Two little boys can really rile each other up in about 60 seconds flat.

Before and After

You may have noticed in recent posts that Ollie got a haircut... here's a little before and after.

See how much happier he was with a new haircut? Or more likely it was just the balloon?

Coney!

Ollie appears to have picked up his parents passion for amusement parks....

He enjoyed riding around and around on the choo choo train...

...And around and around in the pony cart...

...And around and around in the duck pond...

...And around and around on the whale...

...And around and around (backwards) on the jet....

...And around and around on the 226 fire truck....

...And after a  perfect day at Coney, with Nathan's in tow, Ollie conked out on the subway back home...

Braver Than Mama

(Grampa emailed and said, "Hey Mama, Ollie has been sleeping in that carseat too long! Let's see some new pictures!" Thanks for the nudge Grampa!)

Ollie went to the dentist today! He went for the first time when he was 1.5 and the iron drops he was taking turned his teeth gray. That appointment was h-e-double-hockey-sticks-ish. Not sure if it was worse for Mama or for Ollie. But today! Today Ollie was a champ! You all may know that Mama once fainted at the dentist, she's so scared of them, so we're hoping Ollie won't have the same issues with evil teeth cleaning doctors. And if today was any indication, he'll be fine. He sat in the chair all by himself, said "ahhhh" like we practiced at home, and then watched Cars the whole cleaning, scraping(!) and flouriding time. (Sunglasses provided by the dentist.) Afterwards he said, "That was fun, going to the dentist!"

Zonked Out After a Day at the Beach

Two seconds after we got in the car.

Big Cousin, Little Cousin

Two and a half years apart in age, but still these two can play together all day.

Going for a Stroll

Exploring around the cottage with his cousins.

Papa Takes Ollie on His First Fishing Adventure

It was while the boat was docked and Papa seemed to have even more fun than Ollie did, but they both enjoyed catching those little fish and throwing them back to grow bigger for us to catch next year. Ollie caught his first fish! An Ollie sized one. And then Papa caught a "Papa fish".

Happy Birthday Grampa!

We're happy we got to spend the day with you!

Bathtime at the Cottage

This is the way we take baths at the cottage! And only every three days or so.