Madison Trip - Splash Park

Daniel and I sure picked a great time to travel to Madison! One week earlier and we'd have hit the 60's (which is fine with me!) but as it happened we hit a heat wave... Basically on Monday and Tuesday (June 6-7) it was hotter AND more humid in Madison, WI than in Miami! Due to the heat, I decided to take Eric to the splash park so he could run around and have fun ;) as well as stay cool. He LOVED it, and basically ran around the splash pad for 45 minutes to an hour. I got lots of pictures that did not include him as it was hard to keep up with him! Luckily I did get a few that turned out pretty well.

 Every time he'd get under a place that sprinkled water on his head, he'd cover it!

  At some point he found a unattended bucket and had fun with it.

I wish I could say he likes showers more after this, but unfortunately he doesn't. He thinks they are just about the worst thing that could happen to him!

Madison Trip - Arboretum

We arrived Friday evening and got settled in a friend's apartment (thanks Margaret!) Saturday we ran some errands and such. Sunday we went to church, all took naps and afterward felt much more rested! After dinner we went to the Arboretum. When we lived in Madison, Daniel and I would take trips to the Arboretum to see the birds. We loved taking the less traveled paths and seeing all the different plants and animals that were there. We saw quite a few birds as well.

  I love how they have benches and such by trees.

 I loved this shot even thought it turned out a bit blurry.

 This bench has a great view and it was near here that Daniel and I saw a brown thrasher a few years ago.

 I think this bench would be a perfect place to take couple pictures, especially grandparents!

 This is the view from the bench. I love it as well.

 Daniel was sitting here and I loved the shot, so I made him look to the left to get a profile instead of just the back of his head.

 This tree intrigued me

 so I took a close up picture of it.

 LOVE this flower, so interesting.

And now for the birds we saw: 

Eastern Bluebird

Northern Cardinal

Tree Swallow (not a positive ID)

No clue.

No clue being mobbed by a BlueJay

Brown Headed Cowbird (bottom)

Blue Jay

Baltimore Oriole

Traveling

The trip to Madison was such a whirlwind trip - from planning to returning it was 2 weeks, or just over - yep that includes buying plane tickets! We did have some time to watch a show all about airports (one of the episodes in Mighty Machines, one of his favorite shows!) 

I think having him see the airport and watch all about airplanes helped him - he LOVED the flight out (the flight back was a little more rough since we woke him up about 4:30 to catch it - no luck keeping him asleep while getting him in the car!)

 Flight out, this was actually the flight from Chicago to Madison.

 Airport in Madison bright and early Saturday morning on the return trip. He loved looking at the planes, trucks while waiting for our flight!

 "It's an airplane!"

 Flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City.

 Look at those clouds!

 Another shot of the flight from Chicago to Madison.

 Somewhere in the Midwest...

The Rockies! I always love to see how massive these mountains are when flying.

Eric also enjoyed riding the bus while in Madison. We rode it a few times to and from campus (and downtown.)

 He loved looking out the window at all the cars and trucks we passed by.

 He started riding like a regular bus traveler!

 He'd walk to the back of the bus and sit in the seat like such a grown up!

 Except the pacifier and playing with his ears...

Eric really loved the bus rides!

More to come later... Eric really did enjoy the traveling part of the trip though so I thought it warranted a post all of its own!

May 2011

 Almost two months late, we took Eric to his 2 year check up. He's doing great ;). Not even a week later, he came down with an ear infection... We knew he wasn't feeling well when one night he managed to climb out of his crib even with his sleep sack on and came upstairs dragging his blanket and pillow. He then proceeded to lay on the couch and look pretty pathetic.

May also brought more edits with Daniel's thesis and having to redo one measure of complexity due to finding an error in the formula. (We don't think he would have noticed if he didn't have a math minor from undergrad studies.) He was able to complete the edits and get it back to his advisor who gave him the okay to schedule his defense. The defense was planned and our plane tickets bought by the end of May.  Daniel also had his 28th birthday!

We don't have a lot of pictures to show... I was busy trying to help Daniel with his thesis however I could and also finishing a room remodel in the basement so Eric could finally have his own room. (After 2.17 years, Eric is out of our room!) However, we still need to do the edging and get a floor in.

That's about it for May. Here's some of the photos -

 Birds I saw on while walking the dog.

 Here's Eric's room. I really need to wash the chair cushions - I didn't realize it until seeing this picture!

Here's the crib... which he can climb out of even with a sleepsac on!

 Dresser, fan, humidifier (duck) and lamp (we still need to put in a light fixture).

 Temporary flooring and rug... The rug will go with the flooring but not so much with the current colored tiles... kid of busy!

 Curtains. I made these with fabric I bought while pregnant... finally got them made!

 I also tacked a black background to help keep light out and hopefully let him sleep later... hasn't worked so far, but he does sleep until 7 so I don't want to remove it and have him wake up at 5!

Coming soon... our trip to Madison, Wi complete with lots of pictures (and multiple posts.)