I can't believe how fast babies grow up. It does not feel like Eli is 8 months old! He's crawling everywhere and pulls himself up on everything. The other day I caught him climbing up the stairs! I didn't know he could do that and now I have to be extra watchful.

Eli thinks his big brother Miles is so cool, you can see it in his eyes when he's watching him or when they're laughing together. This week our challenge is getting Eli not to take all of Miles toys. It doesn't matter what Miles is playing with, Eli wants it. So Miles usually gives it to him and finds something else to play with and sure enough Eli wants that toy too. Miles is finally getting tired of it and now he just takes his toys and runs away screaming, "My toys Eli."

Oh I love my boys! I can't wait for their friendship to grow and develop as Eli is able to do more things. I have a feeling we're headed for some pretty crazy moments here at the Watson house.

Stormy Weather

This video doesn't do it justice but it was a crazy storm.... wind gusts of 60 mph, thunder and lightning, and 3 inches of rain in an hour and a half. It was pretty cool. The noise that you're hearing is the rain pounding down on our lanai.

Playing around on our lanai
A little frog on a palm tree in front of our house
Miles new table (actually I've had it for over a year but it's been in storage and now there's finally a place for it:)

Miles out by our front door
One of Miles bug catchers.....a favorite past time for Dad and Miles. By the way, the other day John and Miles were out catching lizards and they caught one....well the tail of one. Miles brought a lizards tail (still moving) into the house to show me. I know it's a natural defense mechanism for lizards to shed their tails, but I still felt bad, especially when I went outside and saw the tailless lizard. Are his friends making fun of him? Does anyone know how long it takes to grow back???? (Rob, Quentin, anyone...)
This is a moth John saw on his drive down here, I think in Kentucky.

The Move

Miles loved "the big yellow truck"
Taking a frostie break
Miles, Dad and Grandpa Gary

Our Little Helper

Newest Member Of The Family......

It's not a bird, a plane or a train, it's.....SUPERMAN!!! Miles is obsessed with Superman. We found this toy at a comic book store in NY and he just loved it! He had to tell the people of New York all about it. On our drive back to Ann Arbor, we stopped at a Target near Pittsburgh and found Superman PJ's....pretty much he only lets us take it off after they are filthy dirty and even then he puts up a good fight (you'll see more of the outfit in future posts). I try to teach him a new word everyday and yesterdays "word of the day" was cryptonite (not sure how that's spelled. Good thing I don't have to teach Miles that yet).

Dylan's Candy Bar....greatest candy store on earth! I heard about this place over three years ago on the Martha Stewart show. Dylan is the daughter of Ralph Lauren, and instead of going into the family business she wanted to open a candy store. It's two levels of any candy that was ever made, there was nothing we couldn't find. On the third floor was the soda fountain with super yummy ice cream treats and baked goodies. Praise the heavens for her.... I LOVE CANDY!!! I just wish we lived closer.

Central Park at the softball fields. We met up with one of Rich's good friends, Darren, from Sunnyvale who he grew up with. Darren's team was playing a game the same day we were there so we got to spend a few minutes with him and his wife (they're the ones taking the picture)
The financial district

Lady Liberty herself
Really blurry, but hard to take a picture when you're moving on a ferry heading back to Staten Island.
Jackson and Miles on the subway, great entertainment for two boys!
Mom and Eli at Central Park enjoying a treat from Dylan's Candy Bar.
Family pic in Central Park....all five of us together.
Jackson taking a quick nap on his dad's (my brothers) lap. The kids were so great the whole day!

Grand Central Station

...And We're Back

We left for Philadelphia just a few hours after John's last final. The boys took a nap and John and I spent the next two hours talking each others ears off, catching up. The drive through Pennsylvania was beautiful and the boys were great! We stayed the night in a little town a long the way and arrived in Jenkintown (at Rich and Nat's house) Saturday afternoon. We were able to spend Saturday with my parents also, who were out there for my brothers graduation. They left for home early Sunday morning.
This was the best slide ever!! Rich and Natalie took us to a park in Philadelphia that was amazing. Miles would go down the slide and get right back in line to go again.

This was the biggest sucker (and we were the biggest suckers buying it for Miles) It was a huge mess but he loved it.
Jackson taught Miles how to paint...Miles was more interested in seeing the water change colors than actually painting, but it was his first time and Jackson (who is a "seasoned" painter) did a great job showing Miles how to do it.
We went to a school carnival in Jenkintown and Miles and Dad got to ride on top of a fire truck. Miles LOVED it!!!
He also loved trying on the fire helmet and was more than a little sad when he had to give it back.
....not sure what this is (John posts the pics and I write) but it must be a picture John took when he was tending Eli.

There will be a lot more to come about our NY trip, the move, and beautiful Naples. Stay tuned.......