France, Part 1

Well, we surived the trip. Brennan did pretty well with the travel, but had enough of being confined to such a small space by the time we arrived in Aix Les Bains (it was 18 hours of travel.) We just relaxed at the house the day we arrived. Evelyne made some delicious chicken and almonds in the taggine. She grew up in Morocco, so her cooking has a lot of Moroccan influence, its great!

We visited Sven and Audrey on Sunday. I am not sure if they are okay with me posting their photos, so, Mom and Dad, I will share them with you when we are back home. On Monday, Guillaume took us on a little tour of Geneva, but the weather was way too hot, so we decided to keep the tour short and go back to the house to cool off in the pool. Here are some photos from Geneva:

SMILE!

Brennan will smile on demand when I point the camera at him and say "smile." It's so funny, he gets an awkward, cheesy grin that cracks me up. Here are a couple of shots and a video of him trying to smile for the camera.

Weekend Playtime

Last weekend, Brennan was a real trooper while we dragged him from one place to the next, trying to take advantage of Virginia's tax-free weekend and get some supplies we needed for our trip to France. This weekend, we didn't have any major items on the agenda and I wanted to make sure Brennan got some serious playtime at home. We spent much of Saturday lounging in the baby pool and playing in the playhouse.

While Brennan napped, I got through the laundry and read the manual to our new digital camcorder (thanks Mom and Dad!) This year, we missed our traditional meal at Buca di Beppo for Brian's birthday. We decided to go for an early dinner this afternoon. Brian had high hopes that Brennan would go nuts for Buca's huge meatballs, but the only thing he would eat was bread! Thankfully, we were able to enjoy dinner and took a little walk around Dupont Circle afterwards. Although I didn't get video of it yet, Brennan figured out how to stand up completely on his own, without pulling up on anything today. This opens up a whole new world, since he doesn't need to scoot over to something to pull up. I am glad he figured this out because he's been getting frustrated with having to scoot and I've had it with him getting dirty from scooting in public places! Here is a little walking video.

I've been a little behind on posts, so here are a few other shots that I wanted to share....

Bike riding fun on the trail with Brennan from a few weeks ago:

Just a sweet smile while he reaches for the camera:

For a few days last week, he was gripping the back of his head while walking... too funny!

And We're Walking!

Brennan starting taking a few steps on his own earlier in the week. He practiced going farther and farther distances each day. Today, he started doing laps around the house! He also walked all over the lobby at church and around Chipotle! Thought you'd enjoy these videos.