Work winds down

The vireo breeding season is coming to a close. 2 of my last 3 nests fledged yesterday. I thought I would share a few photos. Here is the nest/nestlings the day before fledging...not a whole lot of room in there.

Awww, sweet little fledgling!

Mama vireo wasn't too keen on me checking out her babies.

And how about this awesome Turkey Vulture?? I came upon him very close to where I park my vehicle. I was amazed at how close I was able to get. He's actually quite handsome I think....

Summer is here

Summer hit without warning this week. We went overnight from having cool nights and mornings to sweltering heat 24 hours a day. As a result we've spent many afternoons in Grammy's backyard splashing in the baby pool. Lucky for us, we were invited to a pool party this weekend! We were excited to see how Quinn would react to being in a real pool...

Testing the water

Hmmm, I think I might like this

Dad, just let me go, I can swim

Hi mama

And finally, here's a video of the action:

He had a great time. He was in the water for most of our time there (2+ hours) and really loved walking along the steps, being pulled around, kicking and splashing - he even put his face under a few times.

I think we'll try some swimming lessons when I finish up my job in September.

This is what we do every morning and every evening (and frequently every afternoon too) - we parade up and down the street. Quinn stops to smell (and destroy) all of the flowers, to check out all of the house numbers painted on the curbs, to stomp on all of the water meters, to check himself out in all of the shiny hubcaps, and to escape from me up every driveway. I found him especially cute this morning in his new summertime digs. He was on quite the mission today. Happy news though, our backyard deck/patio projects gets underway on Monday!

He's a sweet one

Lately at daycare I've noticed that Quinn seems concerned when one of the little girls there starts to cry. He'll walk over to her, kneel in front of her and reach out towards her. It's like he wants to hug her and wipe her tears, but he doesn't get quite that far. This afternoon at Jeff's mom's house I was telling her the story and in the process of telling it I made the crying noise that the little girl makes. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that it got Quinn's attention, so I kept doing it. He promptly dropped his toy and ran across the yard to me and gave me a huge hug. It melted my soul. What a sweet boy!

Other developments: he's now saying "cheese" (he is definitely Jeff's kid)

One little monkey jumping on the bed....

Quite by accident we realized that Quinn enjoys jumping on the bed. He must have learned it from the "5 little monkeys" book we read/sing to him every night.

Mobile phone camera turned Holga

Thanks to Eric Jeschke, who let me know that my worthless little phone camera could be transformed into a wannabe artsy toy. Quinn didn't mind being the subject for my little camera experiments. I know it's cheating and not really film, but kinda a fun effect, no? Even the artificial light leaks! :) What do you think, Ando?

July 4 BBQ

Saturday (actually July 3rd) we had a little afternoon cookout with Grammy. The boys got to play in the water all afternoon while we adults enjoyed a few beers, burgers and brownies. Good times.

Kyan sporting his red, white and blue

Looking uncharacteristically serious

You could not keep him out of the pool. Quinn wasn't as sure about it, maybe because he did have such flashy swimming attire.

He did, however, enjoy driving around this little flintstone mobile.

The Sheas

Houston-Moores

John tried to take credit for having this sky painting done for Jaime.

Checking out the airplane

A glimpse into the future - dance moves

Kyan with his dad

Worn out baby in his favorite naptime spot. Quinn would never ever do this...we're a tad jealous.

But at least he's a good worker...getting him started early on lawn (patio) mowing

Books and Spoons

I hope that it's a good sign that Quinn loves to read. Maybe he'll be a good reader as an adult? One can hope... He's recently started to bring us books and will sit in our laps to be read to. The other morning Jeff peeked into his room to find this scene of him flipping through a book and making excited sounds with each page turn. He missed most of the action, but you'll get the idea.

The other latest "accomplishment" is spoon use. As you can see he's a long way from mastering the skill, but at least he's getting the concept. :)

Not much going on here for the holiday weekend. Jeff had a friend over this morning at 7am for beers to watch the Germany vs. Argentina soccer match. Nothing like getting the weekend off to a good start! Then we're heading over to Grammy's for a bbq with the rest of the Moores this afternoon.

As usual Jeffrey is in the kitchen cooking up something gourmet for the day. I think today's dishes are homemade bean/veggie burgers and apricot pudding (with fruits from Jaime's tree and a real vanilla bean). Looking forward to sampling it! mmmmmm