New Experiences

Brian's parents were down visiting this weekend. During their visit, Brennan got to try something that he had been eyeing for a long time... the carousel at the mall! We went there on Friday to grab some lunch and to see if Brennan would be interested in the kid's play area. While eating, Brennan was so distracted by the carousel. When we finished up and I took him out of the highchair, he went straight for the carousel. Gary and Caryl took him on. He seemed to enjoy it, so we will definitely do that again sometime soon.

After the carousel, we went over to the kid's play area at the mall, which is an airport theme. It has an airplane for kids to climb on (and slide down), luggage to climb on and even a control tower. Brennan was a little hesitant at first, but after seeing what the older kids were doing, he joined right in. In the picture below, he is starting to climb up the wing of the plane.

We went to the park for a picnic lunch on Saturday and Brennan played on the playground, with assistance, and on the swings. That afternoon, we spent some more time outside playing in the playhouse and zooming around the yard in the push car. On Sunday, before the Pecorinos headed out, we stopped at Tysons to do some shopping for my birthday gift and Gary took Brennan on the little train at the mall. Another new experience for the little man. I don't have any photos to share from that, but what fun this weekend was for Brennan!

All of this activity tired the little guy out, so he chilled out and watched a little Baby Einstein. I noticed while brushing his teeth this weekend that three of his canine teeth are coming in. The final new thing for this weekend is saying quack (or more like "ka") when he sees the picture of the duck in the 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' book.

Spaghetti

Brennan has been digging into spaghetti and meatballs this week. I thought these shots were so cute, so I had to share them with you. The video is nothing special, but he is laughing in them, so I thought the grandparents might enjoy it.

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a fun weekend with Mariah, Howie and the twins this weekend! We took the kids to the Reston Zoo on Saturday, which is more of a petting zoo/farm with some exotic animals (zebras, monkeys, etc.) It isn't a huge place, but you can get very close to the animals. Brennan was a little nervous about getting close to the goats and sheep, but eventually warmed up. I enjoyed the trailer ride, where Bison, Camels, Deer and Zebra were within an arms reach. You were allowed to pet and feed all of the animals, except for the Zebras.

Brennan didn't seem scared of the large animals coming up to us on the tractor ride. In fact, he was very happy to go right up to these animals and petted a few, including this big bison in front of him here with the large horns. They are beautiful animals.

I thought this one duck with a bouffant "hairdo" was too funny. And, I loved how close we got to the zebra.

To celebrate my birthday, we got a babysitter and went to Sakura for dinner on Saturday night, which is a Japanese hibachi steakhouse. Shana and Greg joined us. Dinner was delicious and Brian got a great cake from Cenan's Bakery... yum!

Hanging out with Nana

My daycare was closed this week, so my mom came to help us out. Mom, Dad and Debby drove down the day we got back from our trip and we spent the weekend together. Then, my mom stayed behind to watch Brennan for the week. With Brennan readjusting to east coast time, I think it was nice for him to be able to stay home and not have to go to daycare, so I am glad it worked out this way. Mom, thanks for coming! I know Brennan had a great time this week!

On Sunday, while Dad and Debby were still here, we went to the Reston Town Center to have lunch and spent some time playing in the fountains. I thought they might scare Brennan a little bit, but instead he got soaked and kept going back for more. It was a lot of fun watching him play. I had trouble getting a really good video, but here is a little one. He would get a little freaked out if the water hit him directly, but then he wanted to go back and play right away.

My mom couldn't have had a better week weather wise to watch Brennan. She and Brennan spent a lot of time playing outside together. Here he is playing on his Radio Flyer turtle, "mowing" the lawn and playing in his playhouse.

As of September 1, I dropped to part time at work and will only be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am really looking forward to having more time with Brennan. Mariah, Howie and the girls are driving down tonight and staying through the weekend. Brian and I just had our 7 year wedding anniversary and my 30th birthday is on Monday. It feels like a lot of good things are happening right now. I am looking forward to the long weekend!

France, Part Deux

Our week in France went by too quickly. It was a lot of travel with a toddler for just one week, but I am glad we did it. It was so nice to see the Simon family after 4 years. Brennan enjoyed meeting his French grandparents. We were spoiled with delicious food and wine. Thank you so much, Evelyne and Robert! Brian is having frommage withdrawal :)

After visiting Geneva, we stayed closer to home, enjoyed some time in the pool and walked around the Lake Bourget in Aix Les Bains. On Wednesday morning, Evelyne took us to the market, where there are so many amazing fresh products (locally made cheeses, meats, olive oils and produce.) Brian and I enjoyed seeing everything there was to offer. We wish something like this existed here at home.

We took a drive over to the Hautecombe Abby, pictured below, where Brennan enjoyed walking around the grounds.



Evelyne bought Brennan a children's dictionary picture book in French and Guillaume was reading it with him one afternoon.

On Thursday morning, we headed to Paris for the afternoon, where we planned to spend the night and fly out on Friday. We had no agenda for Paris, just wanted to walk around a little and let Brennan play in the park. An American friend of mine, who I met when I was studying abroad in Dijon, is currently living and working in Paris. We had dinner at her place on Thursday night. I hadn't seen her since her wedding 6 years ago, so that was really a treat. Thanks for dinner, Patrizia! We got some neat photos in Paris. Here are a couple highlights. I will post the rest through a slide show.

At the airport in Paris, there was a nice little play area that kept Brennan entertained for a good half an hour while we waited to board.