A zoo to ourselves

Matt was going to take the boys ice skating after mass today, but the open skate hours weren't good. So we decided to bundle up and go to the zoo. It was EMPTY!! The Columbus Zoo is one of the largest and best rated zoos in the country. But I guess when temps are only in the 20s, most people would rather stay warm at home. We really only did the inside exhibits: the aquarium (Luke is in a shark/sea monster phase), the manatees, the reptile house and the Asia house. But it was so much fun to have the place virtually to ourselves. I thought it was funny that the only other people we saw there were families with young boys like ours--"airing them out" as my mother would say. Check out these very rare pictures of an empty zoo!

This is the entrance where people are normally lined up to buy tickets.

Just inside the main gates.

Luke walking on the concrete "balance beam" back towards the nearly empty parking lot.

Behind Michael and Daddy you can see the other parking lot, normally full, with not a single car in it!

Superheroes

This is a new game the boys have been playing first thing in the morning. They put on their hooded towels and run around saying that they are superheroes. Not sure real superheroes are supposed to be this cute and cuddly. And I'm pretty sure real superheroes don't finish up their missions by asking for warm milk.

Big Boy Underpants!

Here's Michael flashing his Handy Manny underpants. I was a pretty lazy potty training mom this time around and Michael wore pull-ups for about three weeks. But he's definitely ready for the real thing now! A few more good days, and we'll be off to the John Deere store for a big boy reward! On a side note, who thought putting Handy Manny's face on the butt was a good idea? Look at where his nose is!

A Room for Big Boys

We finally ordered the other half of Luke's bunk bed set when Nan was here and it came today! Matt rearranged the whole room. The beloved, but peeling, truck stickers on the walls have been replaced with Spiderman. The boys weren't nervous at all about their new beds and both of them slept great! Thanks Poppy and Nan for such wonderful bunk beds!

Luke-isms for Nan . . .

These have already been posted on Facebook, but Poppy and Nan have probably missed them since they don't check in that often.

Earlier this week:
Mommy, why does Jesus get to go to heaven with his skin on, but we only get to go up with our souls?

Tonight:
"Mommy, I'm afraid of ghosts because they have sharp horns and teeth that bite and they jump around." "Really? I didn't know that about ghosts." "Remember, Mommy, we saw them at the zoo?" Ummmm. "Oh, GOATS, you're afraid of goats." "Yes, goats."

Godsons

We had our friends the Doughertys and the Maseks over for dinner tonight and, goodness, our godsons are getting big!

Benedict is almost 16 months and was contemplating a more interesting beverage than the apple juice his parents offered.

Mark is 6 months old and loves his feet.

Monster Jam

Matt took the boys to see the Monster Jam monster trucks yesterday. These were the "real" monster trucks that Luke and Michael have about a zillion of at home in toy form. Our neighbor Ethan and his dad Josh came along, too. It was loud and crazy and our kids loved it--Ethan was less impressed with the monster trucks, but liked the motorcycles and ATVs.

Our Mighty Knights

This is Sir Armor the Silver Knight posing with his battle axe.

This is Sir Me the Star Knight whose battle cry is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Here the knights are preparing for battle.

And here they are fighting the evil Sir Grackamel the Black Knight. I believe he was vanquished . . .or maybe just exhausted.

Coldest Weekend Ever!!!

For some crazy reason, we decided the first weekend of January would be a great time to drive to the cottage in Canada. We made it up without too much trouble, although the last couple of hours from Toronto to Waubashene were pretty dicey. Matt says Blue Thunder handles great on the icy roads, though. We got in just as the gale winds were starting and the temps were dropping towards zero Farenheit (they were already well below zero Celsius). Granddad and Grandma Sylvia mainly use the fireplace to heat the cottage, so it was warm enough when the fire was going, but the nights and mornings were brutally cold. Once I got the kids in their long underwear, they didn't come out of it all weekend. They even slept with long underwear and socks on under their blanket sleepers (the fleece jammies with feet). Nobody bathed or showered for two days because it was just too darn cold! Thank goodness I remembered to pack slippers for everyone because you couldn't walk around the cottage without them.

Luke's only wish for months has been to skate on "Granddad's lake" which happens to be an inlet of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. So we bundled up the boys: long underwear, sweat pants, sweat shirts, two pairs of socks, snow pants, jacket, mitts, hat, hood, boots. Matt and I got as bundled as we could and we all ventured outside on Saturday. Michael promptly face planted and started screaming and that was it for him. He stayed inside with mommy the rest of the weekend. Matt and Luke quickly realized that they needed to cover their faces and came back in to regroup. They tied scarves around their faces and headed back out. They shoveled a rink and went skating three times that day! We think the wind chill was around -20. I'm so proud of them for braving the cold and having a good time.

Meanwhile, Michael and I did something more our speed, we explored Canadian culture via Sylvia's cracker collection featuring various flavors (or should I say flavours) found only in Canada: dill pickle, ketchup and "all dressed" (a very strange flavor that defies description). The boys also got new tool benches from Granddad for Christmas and they spent a long time playing with them.

The weather did not improve on Sunday, although I did get my peameal bacon fix. We were supposed to go see Uncle Greg's new house in Toronto that afternoon, but the driving was terrible. It took us five hours to get from the cottage to London, Ontario where we decided to stay the night and break up the drive. I'm sure glad we did. As we drove the rest of the way today, we stopped counting after we saw ten cars abandoned in the ditch.

Why no pictures of this wild and wintery Canadian weekend? Because the minute I turned the camera on, the batteries died--or froze. We do have the skating on video and when we finish the disc maybe I'll figure out how to post it.

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday afternoon we endured the 4pm Children's Mass at Immaculate Conception with every other Catholic in Clintonville. Phew, what chaos! We were very happy to get home to our Antipasta and Gnocchi dinner. Then it was off to bed for the kids and off to work for Santa's elves who purged all the broken toys from the house and put two giant bins of baby toys into storage. Good thing we made lots of room for new toys because Santa and the grandparents were overly generous.

The morning started dark and early at 6am. This is Michael's monster truck ramp from Santa. He won't stop playing with it.

These robots came from Grandma Carole. They are loud and obnoxious and the boys love them!

Poppy and Nan sent Luke TWO building sets. This is the recycling truck set. It's really cool.

And this is the pirate ship set. Luke's favorite part is the giant octopus.

Michael got Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse car sets from Poppy and Nan.

Luke had been asking for "robot animals" since he saw a commercial on tv. Santa found these baby pandas. They have bottles for feeding them and make eating and sleeping noises. Luke, especially, likes taking care of his panda. I wonder if he'll be quite as excited about taking care of the new baby in April?

Imitating Caillou

This is Caillou. He's Canadian and does a lot of winter activities. Luke learned how to ice skate by watching Caillou. Today Caillou was sledding. The boys were disappointed that there wasn't enough snow in the backyard for them to take their sleds out, so they practiced inside instead. Hurry up, big snow, the boys want to be like Caillou!

The First Snowman

We got just enough snow a few days ago for the first snowman of the season. Luke named him Rocky. He's no longer with us, but I'm sure there'll be another snowman along soon.

Wildlights

We went to Wildlights at the zoo tonight. Matt thought the boys should walk, but by the time we got dinner and got parked, it was almost 7pm, which is usually bedtime for our kids. So, we ended up renting a double stroller and it was very nice to have the kids contained all evening. By the end, Michael was totally zoned out and Luke was pretending to be asleep. Both zonked out completely on the ride home.

Superheroes

Have you met the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel?

Reading with Nan

Michael's posse

This is from before I left for El Paso when Michael was in full goose-egged forehead mode. Michael has quite the stuffed animal crew and he is usually accompanied by at least two of them. Monkey and Elephant go with us most places around town. He reluctantly leaves the rest behind, but once home, he likes to have the whole gang around.

Some news

I haven't blogged for a while. I took a quick trip to El Paso for my Grandpa S.T.'s funeral. It was a time of remembering with my extended family. I got to see all of my cousins on that side, which is very rare considering one lives in Taiwan and another lives in Beijing. I got back just in time to teach my last class. Nan arrived yesterday in the middle of a major windstorm. Today we had our "big" ultrasound and . . .

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

We've been hearing a lot about My Three Sons.

I've been waiting . . .

. . . for five years for Luke to be old enough to understand and enjoy our Fontanini nativity set. We set it up today and he loves it. I am learning to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and not sneak over after he's done playing to put the figures back in their "proper" places. It's really ok if Jesus is on the roof.

Michael as human train wreck

Geez--he's croupy, snotty and he faceplanted at a friend's house yesterday resulting in a giant goose egg on his forehead. Still cute, though.

Blue Thunder

We are now the proud or, in Matt's case, resigned owners of a minivan. Luke has named it Blue Thunder after a monster truck, don't you see the resemblance?