The Hank Show

Okay, so not really hundreds… These photos were taken before we left for the cabin. As usual, Hank had a blast at music class. He likes to sing the songs from class. He usually puts the words from whatever song to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, which is, I believe, currently his favorite song to sing. We met some friends for fun at the library and then a picnic at the park. We’d never gone to this park before and it was so fun, like a big fort! Hank really liked it and enjoyed eating lunch outside and playing with his buddy Peter.

Then, when we were preparing for our trip to the cabin, we took out some of our cold-weather things. It’d been a while since Hank had worn any of them so we thought we’d try everything on to make sure they still fit. We ended up passing along a few winter things, but not before snapping photos of Hank trying on his old hats. He didn’t wear the gloves last season because they were too big (and now he’s outgrown his little mittens and the gloves fit perfectly), so he thought they were pretty cool and didn’t want to take them off. All the hats made me think of that Dr. Seuss book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Tyler said he’d never read it. I remember my dad reading it to me and then reading it on my own. I also remember liking the story, but thinking it was rather long. Hank have one atop the other like Bartholomew, but he certainly had fun wearing them!

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Usually we go to the cabin in August to escape the Texas heat, but this year, we were too busy in August to go. So we decided to take a trip this month instead. Tyler had never been to the cabin in the fall before and we wanted him to see all the beautiful foliage. Lots of fun getting to see actual seasons! Hank was a stellar traveler and had so much fun on the airplane. He’s still talking about flying on the airplane actually and I think may be a bit disappointed that we don’t have any more flights scheduled at the moment.

feeding the deer with Daddy

The cabin was wonderful, as always. We had a great time relaxing and playing outdoors. Hank very much enjoyed feeding the deer and making sure they had water. The first morning we were there, he put out food for the deer and shouted, “Here deer! Come See Hank! Breakfast!”. It was charming. Hank had fun putting out seeds for the birds and sweeping and playing on the playscape. He especially loved riding in the ATV and going to the river to throw rocks into it. I’m not sure if teaching our toddler to throw rocks (or anything really) was the most wise decision, but it certainly brought him great joy and we think he understands that we only throw rocks into bodies or water (I hope he doesn’t take that literally and bring rocks to the bathtub). One afternoon, Grandad was putting away one of the ATVs and Hank heard him and called out (while running toward Grandad), “Wait up! I wanna throw rocks!”. And an hour long adventure ensued. Hank had a blast.

We celebrated Hank’s birthday with GG and Grandad and their best friends (who are like Hank’s surrogate grandparents) John and Cheryl. We had some of Hank’s favorite foods for dinner (Mom’s macaroni and cheese, Grandad’s pinto beans, hamburgers and GG’s salad) and I made Hank a birthday cake. I have to say that baking at higher elevation is really interesting. The cake turned out perfectly (hooray for “The Joy of Cooking”!) but the icing didn’t set up how I’d hoped it would and while it tasted delicious, was rather the consistency of thick chocolate syrup, which suited Hank just fine. He really enjoyed his chocolate cake with chocolate icing/syrup and all the fun with GG, Grandad, John, Cheryl and Mom and Dad. Hank is looking forward to his birthday party at home and talks about his “Happy Birthday” at least once a day. Whenever he sees candles (like in the jack-o-lanterns he carved with Daddy) he likes to blow them out and say “happy birthday!”. Fun times.

Hank plays with his solar cricket

While Hank played with GG, Tyler and I took a day trip to Taos where we got a Hank a drum, hand made from aspen and cow skin by a lovely American Indian man. We also bought a beautiful necklace from a woman who shared her story. It was a very interesting story and we learned something new, that the reason many American Indians accepted Christianity when it came to them had little to do with the message and everything to do with the symbol of the cross, a symbol that has been in their culture since several hundred years before the birth of Christ. We never knew that. She also told us that the making of jewelry for her is a way to honor her ancestors and share the story of being. My necklace is made of moonstone, jade and blue lace agate which she said is a very special spirit stone bringing harmony and truth. She called the jade “the guards”, we’d never heard someone refer to anything in jewelry that way. We were also blown away by the Rio Grande Gorge. Obviously the name implies something big, but the river seems so small down at the bottom… however, to see the huge Grand Canyon-esque gorge and imagine that that was once all river was amazing (by the way, i’m sure the river itself is rather large, it was definitely swift, but looking at it from the top of the gorge, it looked like a silver and white ribbon).

the train!

We visited the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway. The train wasn’t actually leaving from Chama because the trestle burned down a few months ago (someone said it was arson, so sad), but they were doing maintenance on the trains in the yard there. We drove up to Cumbres Pass to see the train depart (buses took passengers from Chama to Cumbres) and Hank thought it was SO cool to see the steam engine at work. The engineer, a jovial man named Ray, let Hank sit on the platform between the engine and the tinder, which was very cool. Hank wasn’t very keen on the loud sound the engine made with the steam and the whistle at the same time, but he had fun waving to everyone in the train as they passed by. After the train left, we looked for the pennies Grandad had placed on the tracks and one them ended up on Hank’s walking stick.

We had so much fun and so many adventures while at the cabin, we could write an entire volume. We thought instead that we would just share some photos from our trip. This is probably the most photos we’ve ever loaded into one gallery but there were too many cute photos so we decided to include a bunch of them.

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The first weekend in October, we went to Fort Worth for the inaugural Cowtown Celtic Festival. Sarah was thrilled to have been invited to be a part of the very first CCF. This was the first festival where she had the opportunity to perform both Celtic and children’s music (normally its one or the other). She and her band did 4 shows in 2 days, one Celtic and one Kids each day. Tyler was asked to be the official photographer for the festival so he was running around taking photos of everything he could (and doing it with aplomb if I do say so myself, yes, I know I’m rather biased being married to him and all that). 🙂 It was an absolute blast, but an incredibly tiring weekend. There is no way we could have had such a successful weekend without the help of Tyler’s parents (and our friend, John, who took care of Cody and the fish for us while we were away).

Hank and Ainsley help Micah play with his new tools

On Saturday, they took care of Hank while we were at the festival which made it possible for Hank to go to his cousin, Micah’s birthday party. Micah is my best friend, Chrstiane’s son. He was born about 3 weeks before Hank (Christiane, incidentally married Tyler’s cousin, Monty, which makes us family via marriage which is super cool). We’re really glad Hank was able to go to Micah’s party because he missed his cousin, Kai’s party that weekend at home since Mom and Dad were working at the festival (He also missed his friend Ethan’s party the next weekend and Henry’s the following because we were out of town again. So many October birthdays!). While he was at Micah’s party, he got to play with his cousin Ainsley and he very much enjoyed that. Hank had fun playing on Micah’s new playscape and we hear he was among the first to be ready to eat. GG and Grandad took lots of pictures for us and from the look of them, everyone had a splendid time at the party.

Hank has fun at the Cowtown Celtic Festival

On Sunday, GG and Grandad took Hank out to the festival for the day. He fell asleep during my first set (Celtic) after helping me do my sound check (he sang, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to great applause from the waiting audience). Grandad sat with him while he slept and it was so incredibly sweet to look from the stage and see my son completely asleep in his stroller sitting beside his Grandad. Later that day, Hank wanted to help with the sound check again before my Kids set. This time, when he went to sing, the microphone wasn’t on yet. So instead of continuing to sing, he simply backed up and waited, watching the sound engineer until we were given our cue to check the mic. Then he sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star again and this time he didn’t want to leave the stage! So I had to tell him it was Mommy’s turn and make sure another adult had him (yay, Grandad!). Hank had a blast running around the festival. He did art projects, ate the biggest hot dog I’ve ever seen (he didn’t eat the whole thing), had Irish stew in a bread bowl (he really liked the bread part of it), checked out lots of musicians, pet many dogs, said hello to countless strangers, climbed on fake sheep, took a nap, ate sweets, danced, explored and laughed a lot, not necessarily in that order. Here are some photos from that weekend, enjoy!

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So, I’m not sure where September went, it simply flew by! I’m not sure if having 31 days in that month would have made any difference either. We began the month with a trip to the metroplex and then to Florida, then we went to Houston, then to Fort Worth…. we’ve put photos of most of those adventures up and here are some from all the fun in between trips. Hank has really been enjoying his music class. He used to spend most of the class time running around the circle until instrument exploration time, and then on the way home he’d sing all the songs. Now he’s participating in almost the entire class, doing actions, using instruments, playing in time with the music and even singing. Its been fun to watch this transformation and he’s always surprising me (and everyone else in the class) with the things he’s choosing to be a part of. Most recently, he counted to 10 very loudly along with the group before we turned the lights out for lullaby time. It was very cute (the following week we counted in Korean and he didn’t know those numbers so he seemed a bit confused). We took Hank to a ballet show in early September. He had so much fun and sat gleefully transfixed for most of the show. It was a ballet where the dancers glowed in the dark and was pretty impressive. Hank also had fun at my show in September. It was the first time he went right up to the front of the stage with the other children too. I was nervous he might get swept up in the kiddie mosh pit (he certainly loves to jump), but Dad was close by so all was well there and it was so cute to see Hank and Tyler at the front of the crowd.

Hank loves to read, now he likes "reading" books by himself

Hank has been having fun with all his buddies, Henry and Ethan in particular. He really likes playing at Henry’s house because Henry has a couch that he’s allowed to run and jump on. Hank and Henry take all the cushions off and have an absolute blast with the pillows and running on the couch to turn the light switch off and on. We’ve met up with Ethan and his mom (Hopie) a few times for story time and tea afterward. There’s a charming tea shop just down the street from the library so we like to walk together there and have a little snack. The boys enjoy playing with toys (especially the trains and tools) while we moms enjoy a cup of tea. Its really lovely actually. I like how Henry, Ethan and Hank play together and its so fun watching them interact with each other. They’re all growing so quickly and each of them celebrates their 2nd birthday this month, wow!

Hank enjoys filling the bird feeders with seeds

At home, Hank is quite the helper. He likes to be as independent as possible and he also likes to do whatever Tyler and I are doing. Hank especially likes sweeping. We think we need to get him a push broom because he doesn’t seem interested in sweeping in any other fashion than pushing the bristles of his broom across the floor in front of his body. He’s very good at using a dust pan and whisk broom to sweep up piles and he really likes putting things in the trash can and the washing machine. Hank is a very good helper! Outside, he likes to water the plants and feed the animals. Filling the bird feeders is one of his current favorite activities outside, along with feeding the fish in our pond. Filling the bird feeders takes a little more time and seems to be more rewarding for him. We like to sit in the yard and watch the birds come eat the seeds Hank puts out for them. We didn’t plant a fall garden so our gardens are a little worse for wear presently, but we still have quite a few peppers growing. Hank really likes peppers which is surprising to Tyler and me. He likes to take Tyler’s hot banana peppers off his plate and eat them. He doesn’t want any of his own, just Daddy’s.

Hank gets ready to make a basket

We’ve gone for several bike rides, Hank really likes to ride in the trailer behind the bike or to go for rides in wagons. He also loves to go to the grocery store so we’ve taken a few trips there, walking, with him in the stroller and he thought that was so fun. Hank got a little baseball bat and has been having fun playing baseball with the balloons he gets from the grocery store. We weight them down so they’re at the proper height for him and he has fun hitting the balloon with his bat. I’m happy to say he’s presently a left-handed batter. Who knows, he may end up being a switch hitter one day. 🙂 Here are some photos of every day life in September (in no particular order) in between all our trips. Some of them may be a little blurry (my camera was a bit wonky earlier in the month) but they still show a part of our life so we thought we’d include them anyway. Hope you enjoy the photos!

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We went to Houston a few weekends ago to visit with Sarah’s sister, Laura and her family. While we were there, we celebrated both Alyssa and Laura’s birthdays. We went to the zoo for Alyssa’s birthday and everyone had a wonderful time! Hank especially enjoyed walking around with his cousins and being carried by his Aunt Laura. Tyler took some awesome photos of various animals and Hank got to see a helicopter take flight while we were at the zoo. We rode a carousel and in typical toddler fashion, Hank first wanted to ride on the zebra (currently one of his favorite animals) and then when we put him on the zebra, decided he didn’t want to ride there after all. So we rode on the bench instead and Hank had fun finding Daddy every time we came around. Hank has so much fun with his cousins and Aunt and Uncle over the weekend, we’re glad we were able to make it out to visit them this fall. On Sunday, we went to church with Laura’s family and Hank was quite fascinated seeing Uncle Jon  in his vestments. He just stared and stared. During Sunday School, Hank got to check out the church organ (the organist obligingly showed him how she plays with her feet too), he’d never seen one up close before. I’m not sure what he thought of it, he seemed a bit nonplussed. We had a very full weekend with family in Houston and Hank slept almost the entire journey home. He asks for his cousins regularly now and we’re all looking forward to the next time we’ll get together. Here are some photos of our fun that weekend in no particular order:

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Earlier this month (September), we took a trip to visit family in the metroplex and celebrate Johanna’s baptism. Johanna is Sarah’s best friend, Christiane’s new addition and one of Hank’s cousins (Christiane married Tyler’s cousin, so now we’re related). The service was lovely and Johanna did beautifully. Hank, however, wasn’t feeling very swell. We actually made a pit stop at the children’s hospital on our way to church that morning to have his breathing checked. As it turned out, Hank fell asleep in the car on the way there so one of the specialists came out to our car to check him out. He was pronounced okay and we were told what to watch for so we went along to church… and Hank ended up going home with GG and Grandad part way through the service. Tyler and I were scheduled to leave for Florida that day, leaving Hank to play at Camp GG (and Grandad, but camp GG is shorter to say). Based on the morning’s events, we weren’t feeling confident about going, but the entire family wouldn’t hear of us skipping our kid-free vacation so, while Hank napped, we spent our time up until we had to leave for the airport filling out new patient information in the event that Hank had to visit Micah’s pediatrician. The we got in the car and headed on our first child-free (since Hank was born) trip that didn’t involve a Celtic festival (we’ve been away from Hank overnight twice before and both times it was because I was working).

Ainsley and Hank share a hug

hanging out in Hogsmeade

Florida was really fun. We hung out at our very lovely hotel,  enjoyed some delicious food and spent some time at Universal Orlando Resort there. We had a blast riding the rides. Although, I have to say, some of them were rather lame in our estimation (don’t get us started on Twister). Our favorite by far of the two parks at Universal Studios is the Islands of Adventure. We especially enjoyed the Incredible Hulk roller coaster (you go from 0-40 mph in like 2 seconds and it shoots you out of this tube into what looks like just the air, before flipping you upside down) and we spent a lot of time in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was really neat to see Hogsmeade and Hogwarts looking like they do in the movies, except for all the park goers wearing shorts and such. The attention to detail in the entire theme park was great, keeping the them of whatever part you were in (Suesseville, Jurassic Park, etc), but it seemed even more detail oriented in the Harry Potter part. For example, they didn’t sell soda there, but they had Butterbeer, various teas, ciders and pumpkin juice you couldn’t get anywhere else in the park. And in the bathrooms (which seemed as though they could have been in a castle), you could hear Moaning Myrtle talking. The other bathrooms were thematic with their area, but none of them had someone talking (they did play music, like theme songs from movies and such). Anyway, since we know many of our friends and family members are big Harry Potter fans and have no idea if they intend to travel to the theme park, we took several photos which you’ll see below.  It was nice to be back in Florida. I’d rather forgotten how it rained almost every afternoon during this season. It was so pleasant to sit on our balcony, hearing the rain on the palm fronds and the call of the herons and egrets across the lake below. A wonderful trip and we’re so glad we took it.

Hank has breakfast in the hospital

We’re also very glad we took the time to fill out all that paper work (and to make a notebook of Hank’s info for GG and Grandad before the trip even began) because the day after we left, Hank was still breathing unsually.  GG took Hank to visit a new pediatrician and he ended up being sent to the children’s hospital where after two breathing treatments, he was admitted for the night (GG stayed with him). Hank seemed to have a wonderful time at the hospital, it was like an amusement park for him! He got to go for rides in the wagon, watch movies (he’s now seen Cars and Finding Nemo for the very first time), play with toys, play on a computer, play with his bed and make new friends. We were told he was quite the charmer. He went home with two new toys and several stickers, gifts from the nurses (one of the toys was from one of Grandad’s clients who made a special trip to visit Hank and GG while they stayed in the hospital). Of course, in between all the playing, he had several breathing treatments and when the doctors were satisfied with his oxygen level and ease of breathing, he was allowed to go home. It was quite the adventure! He had more breathing treatments with GG and Grandad and when we came home at the end of the week, he was back to his usual demeanor, making us laugh. We think he must have heard the alphabet song quite often during his hospital stay and time at Camp GG’s because he sang the first half of the song to us on the phone one night, we were quite impressed. He’d usually just sort of hum the song and not say any of the letters. We were so proud!

When we returned from our trip, Hank seemed to have had a blast at Camp GG. We went to the zoo with Ainsley and Aunt Traci and then we headed home after a very very full week. Here are photos from our various adventures, enjoy!

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Its been a few weeks since this happened, in fact, Ben and his family have already headed home to Ohio by now, but a few weeks ago, Ben returned to the States from his summer in Singapore. We were all so happy to have him home, especially Nancy, James and Paul. It was fun getting to spend some time with him, a whirlwind week of play dates and dinners before they had to head home. During that week, James celebrated his third birthday. He had a party at Grandma and Grandpa’s pool and most of his cousins were there  (Laura and her family couldn’t make it so Ben, Nancy and the boys went to visit them on their way home to Ohio later in the week).

James checks out his birthday cake

Everyone had such a wonderful time at the party, swimming, eating, laughing and playing. A storm threatened so we went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house where James opened his birthday presents, we had some more cake and Ben shared some photos from his trip with us. SO many beautiful photos! I definitely want to go check out Cambodia in person now after seeing some of Ben’s photos. It was so much fun having them all in town, we miss them already. Hank often asks for James and Paul. When we tell him they’ve gone home to Ohio, he asks for Ben and Nancy. I think we’ll need to start using Skype to see them soon. Here are some photos from the week of Ben’s return and James’ birthday party in no particular order, enjoy!

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A few weeks ago, we took a trip to visit Ainsley (and her parents, Traci and Geoff). Hank and I left earlier in the week and Tyler flew out to join us for the weekend. Hank and Ainsley had an absolute blast playing together. Ainsley shared her favorite toys and introduced Hank to the joy of her bouncy house. Hank had lots of fun playing with new (to him) toys, bouncing and playing games with Ainsley and of course, playing in the pool. Hank loves the water and Traci and Geoff’s pool is perfect for Hank because it has fountains in the shallow end for him to play in as well, so much fun!

Ainsley and Hank on the komodo dragon statue

We went to the zoo and visited the new Museum of Living Art (MOLA). Hank had lots of fun at MOLA, checking out the fish and turtles. He even got to pet a snake! Ainsley seemed to really like the snake too. Hank also liked the zoo, as usual. This trip, he seemed very interested in the rhinos and tigers. We met GG and Grandad for lunch that day (after our zoo adventure) and it was the first time I’ve ever tried asking for a substitution in a kid’s meal before. I asked for Hank’s shrimp to be grilled rather than fried and the restaurant was so accommodating, I think I’ll be asking for substitutions in the future to avoid the “all-fried kid’s meal” phenomenon. On the way home from the morning’s adventure, both Hank and Ainsley fell asleep in the car, they were too cute!

Hank plays in a fountain near the farmer's market

Hank also got together with Micah to play one morning while I got to visit with Christiane and Aunt Joan and Uncle Melvin (Hank likes to say “Joanie!”). We met Johanna for the very first time. She was just born in July and Hank kept calling her “Paul”, probably because he spent so much time with his cousin Paul this summer. Johanna was so sweet and little! I forgot how little newborns can be (Hank was 10 pounds and 4 ounces when he was born, that’s little to me, but big as some babies go), and I love their little fingers and toes! Micah seemed to enjoy having Hank around. The boys explored the house together and had fun climbing to the top of the stairs (which had a gate at the top so there was nothing to go to up there). Micah has a little toy robot that Hank didn’t seem to know what to make of. Sometimes Hank would laugh and ask for more, others he’d run away shouting “No! No!” like he was afraid. He definitely kept his distance when the robot was moving.

After Tyler arrived, we went to a farmer’s market where we all enjoyed some peaches. Ainsley was photographed while eating a peach, we wonder if she’ll end up in the local newspaper? We had fun shopping and meeting new dogs that day. GG and Grandad watched the children while Tyler, Traci, Geoff and I went to a movie and had dinner together, that was wonderful! And on the Sunday of that weekend, Tyler and I had lunch with some of our friends, Clint, Laura and Dennis. It was good to catch up a bit and visit. We had a wonderful time visiting our friends and family and look forward to our next trip to see them. Here are some photos from our visit in no particular order:

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A few weeks ago, James, Paul and Nancy came with us to music class. Hank really enjoyed having James visit his music class. I think he was especially pleased to have another friend there to run around with. James really seemed to enjoy himself too, especially playing the drums and dancing. Paul seemed to like the music and was often all smiles. Hank and James have really been enjoying playing Ring Around the Rosie together (falling down is the best part) and playing “tent”. The tent game involves counting to three and then throwing a blanket over both boys who then jump and dance with delight, laughing all the while. Its really lots of fun. Here are some photos of James’ visit to music class and playing some games in no particular order. Enjoy!

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