Thursday, May 24, 2012

Singing into the trash can

Hudson recently discovered the fun of our trash can that automatically opens when you wave your hand in front of it. However, the first few times he successfully opened it happened to correspond to him walking up to it and making a noise into the sensor. He then proceeded to repeatedly back up, and walk back up and sing into the trash can, and to his excitement it opened every time! Unfortunately he has learned he can also open it by waving his hand in front of it, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Day out with Thomas

Hudson's current obsession is Thomas the Tank Engine, so naturally when Thomas came to Baltimore we decided to go. It was at the B&O Railroad Museum near downtown Baltimore which turned out to be awesome. Uncle Marcus was in town and we had a great time.

Thomas in real life.
I don't think you're supposed to do that Hudson.
Uncle Marcus (or "Marc" as Hudson currently calls him) gives Hudson a tour of the museum.

This is a cool place.
Hudson is staring down Sir Topham Hatt, who he is fascinated by and slightly scared of. I think it is very wise to be a bit cautious around mascots.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Funny toddler stories: Part 1 and 2

Hudson is now 20 months, which means he is hilarious. Like every parent in the history of mankind, I am astonished at how quickly he is growing up. I don't want to forget the priceless things he does so figured that is a great reason to start blogging again. I figure if I write my story on a Google machine it will exist until the end of the world. So here is Part 1 and Part 2 of hopefully many stories...

Part 1

The other day Becky, Hudson and I we were at the new playground near our house. There were a lot of kids there, but one in particular caught Hudson's attention. This was because this little boy was wearing a shirt with Elmo on it. This boy was a good amount older than Hudson (though about the same size), so was moving much quicker than him. Hudson's full attention was on following Elmo wherever he went, and whenever he managed to catch up to him he would poke him in the chest and say, "Elmo!"

So this is a funny enough story as is, but it got even better the next day. I did not mention that the little boy was Hispanic. One great thing about the community we live in is the diversity. Basically every possible color of child is represented most every time we go to the local playground. Regardless of the fact that Hudson has seen many Hispanic kids in the course of his short life, he was convinced that the Hispanic boy he saw at Costco the next day had to be the same one he saw on the playground...so while waiting in line with Becky he kept pointing to a child he had never seen before while yelling, "Elmo!"

Part 2

So Becky is pregnant, and Hudson is a bit on the larger size right now. When we first began to explain to him that there is a baby in Becky's belly his immediate reaction was to pull his shirt up, smack himself in the belly, and yell, "baby!"

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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Space Shuttle

I was able to see the final flight of the Discovery space shuttle outside of my office as it did a fly-by of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center today. The shuttle program was a huge inspiration for me as a kid and no doubt played a significant role in directing me towards the career I ended up in. And of course I got to be a part of a simulated shuttle mission while I was at Space Camp!

Here is a good picture taken by someone at NASA that shows the view I had this morning.


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Monday, January 9, 2012

Christmas in Michigan

When spending Christmas in Michigan it seemed reasonable to expect that we would have a white Christmas. While I was disappointed that that didn't happen, we at least got enough snow the day before for Hudson to experience his first sleigh ride! Grandpa Bernie makes quite an excellent reindeer.



The whole fam dressed up for church on Christmas day.


This year Hudson was actually more interested in the toys as opposed to last year where the wrapping paper was much more interesting.


Hudson has a blast with Uncle Marcus.


As at home, one of his favorite things is to listen and dance to music. Once he realized where the music comes from at Grandma and Grandpa's house he spent much of his time there.



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Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Holloween!

Please don't mention this costume choice to Hudson until he thins out a bit.

Keeping the hat on was quite a challenge.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Zoe still gets to have fun once in awhile

Zoe the dog's life has changed significantly since our child-free days in Colorado. Her life used to consist of two outdoor exercise sessions a day, often with a spectacular view of the beautiful Flatirons in Boulder (I like to think that dogs appreciate good scenery). Winter weekends were spent chasing other dogs around in several feet of snow at a ski resort parking lot while summer weekends were spent hiking and swimming in the mountains. She has adjusted well to her new role as big sister but Becky and I often feel badly about the fact that she gets much less attention and exercise than she used to.

This morning, Zoe and I had the chance to go for a hike at Catoctin Mountain Park about an hour from our house. I think we both appreciate days like today more than ever.




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