Sunrise at Old Hilltop

Today I woke up at 5:45am, something I haven't done in ages or since E was a teeny babe. Why would I do such a crazy thing?! Well, Sarah invited us to a morning tour Pimlico. Right at the height of Preakness fever! Brian even came with! It was so amazing to see the horses warming up, and getting baths.  Bob Baffert gave us a little speech about his horse Bodemiester and his hopes to win at Preakness. We also got to hear from the owner of the Derby winner, I'll Have Another. I have to say, Bob Baffert was much more of a likable guy. We even got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, so beautiful. The jockey locker room was interesting and let me say those guys are amazing. Hearing some stories from the guy who runs the locker room was pretty entertaining. E even got his own set of jockey goggles! We made it back to the grandstands just in time to see I'll Have Another warming up. The kiddos were loving every minute of the tractor that was grooming the track, with their little noses pressed to the fence. We decided to go and grab some yummy bagels, since it was only 9am after all. It was a fabulous morning, enjoy the pics! xoxox

B and E at the Stakes Barn

Clydesdales

I'll Have Another

Bob Baffert

Friends!

Cuties!

Some of my favorite littles and bigs!

Jockeys Locker Room

Where the heck are we?! (the locker room)

Handsome (at the bagel place)

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all the mamas out there! My Mothers Day was perfect and simple. I was given my two favorite things, sleeping in and breakfast in bed! Flowers and other tokens were merely an added bonus :). I slept in till 9:30 (so so fabulous) and awoke to a darling toddler and his father standing over me saying, "Happy Mothers Day" with a tray of fresh waffles dusted in powdered sugar, extra crispy bacon, and sliced strawberries. E, Brian, and I lounged in bed and chatted while I ate. Ferrous even joined the convention. It was quite a memorable affair. E tucked under my arm talking to me about what they made. Brian and I laughing at his obsession with my OJ, and then he finally asked "can I have my OWN juice." Ferrous simply laying at the foot of the bed just in case I dump the tray of food. I love my boys. It was just one of those moments where you wish you had a family photographer to jump out and capture. So much to say about today! A long walk in the park, watching the fish, chasing the ducks, chasing the squirrels, and playing on the playground. Laying in the hammock, snuggles, giggles, and dinner with friends. Nothing super grandiose. Just little bits of perfect rolled into one special day with the sweetest boys in town! Hope that everyone had a great day! xoxox

Wordless Wednesday

Absolute joy! How much do you love this boy!?! xoxo

Thomas the Tank Engine

So, we did it. We caved and took E to go see Thomas the Tank engine at the B&O museum. Brian took off of work, and we made a morning of it. It was a pretty spectacular fun-filled day! We even got to ride on Thomas (GASP!!) How stinking cool is that?! We played with bubbles, went to the petting zoo, played the train tables, and even met Sir Topham Hat (E and I both were not so sure about him). E was zonked by 11:30, so we coaxed our angelic distraught toddler out of the museum by bidding Thomas one final goodbye. Enjoy the pics! xoxox

One of many animals pet!

Riding choo choo blue

BUBBLES!

WHO IS THAT?!

Isn't he cute?

So excited he can't stand it!

Giving daddy some love

Admiring his Jr. Engineer certificate (note the tickets still clutched in his hand)

YAY for Thomas!

Thomas chuffing away

E soaking up the majesty of the roundhouse

The Big Apple

This weekend, we headed to NYC to meet up with Nana and Niti (Brian's mom and sister) for some fun! We arrived early afternoon on Saturday to gorgeous weather!  After checking into our hotel and getting our bearings, we headed to Central Park for the afternoon. E was so excited to be in the big apple, he kept shouting enthusiastically at all of the hustle and bustle." Look Daddy, HUGE buildings!" "Look Mama, Taxi Cabs!" He loved every minute of walking the city streets. We watched a few innings of some baseball in the park, climbed some rocks, played at the playground, and even spied some wildlife. As the sun was setting on our first day, we headed to grab some dinner and go back to the hotel and wait for Nana and Niti. When they arrived, Nana and E immediately began to have some serious fun with a pillow fight and chasing each other around. Niti then gave E a bath, and came equipped with a wonderful new story book for E. We all went to bed and even slept in the morning! Sunday the weather was awful, but we didn't let it stop us! It was Niti's birthday! We went to mass at St. Patricks Cathedral, then headed over to Rockefeller Center to shop around and eat lunch, and then we made our way back to the hotel for a nap. We all knocked right out. We then woke up and played in the hotel for a while and sang Happy Birthday to Niti and ate some delish cupcakes. We decided on some Italian for dinner and found a place not far from the hotel. We ate fabulous Italian, had the best waiter, and E loved eating olives, saffron risotto, and salmon. We then made a jaunt around Times Square...which E thought was the coolest thing ever. Made it back to the hotel and started to put E to bed. Nana and E enjoyed yet another pillow fight and Niti gave him his bath and read his story. E then proceeded to talk to his favorite lovey, Monkey, for a good hour about all the things he saw that day. It was the cutest! Monday was our last day in NYC, and we took our time getting up, packing up, and spent a lot of time playing and talking. After we checked our baggage, we headed to 5th Avenue to visit FAO Schwartz, of course. We had a blast! We then walked Nana and Niti to the hotel to get our baggage and send them to the airport. It was such a great trip, we were so sad to see them go. We then headed out to grab some lunch at the yummy Shake Shack before heading home to Baltimore. It was an amazing weekend with perfect memories! Enjoy some pics! XOXO

pondering the beauty of Central Park

Happy Boy!

goofing around :)

love him!

We caught a racoon people watching in a tree!

Nana and E reading

Nana and Brian

Niti and E reading

Pictures at Rockefeller Center

FAO Schwartz

Daddy and E having a blast on the Piano

Who is this masked man?

Climbing in Central Park

Throwing coins in fountains

Mass at St. Patricks

Where did the week go?!

Man, this week has gone by fast. I feel like it was just last weekend. I have been checking things off the spring cleaning checklist like no ones business, when E is napping. Which lately has been monster naps, 3-4 hours long. The boy is growing, again. Eating and sleeping like a madman. I have no idea how I am going to survive the teenage years, if at his 2 year old growth spurts I have to shop big. I might have to build a special pantry for it. The teenage pantry. That's an idea! With this added growth comes added energy, it seems. So yesterday, we spent the morning and ate lunch with BB. She has an enormous yard (much bigger than our pretty city postage stamp) that E loves running around in. I came prepared with a bag of goodies for him to play with, including a tee and baseball set that his Grandpa Steve sent him for his birthday. He had a great time playing slugger E. Not to mention blowing dandelions, which he learned. We even watered some of the seeds we planted last weekend in BB's yard. He ran around like crazy. Heck, BB even made us a delicious lunch AND some fantastic brownies. On the way home, we were in mid conversation when he fell asleep, for a wonderful 4 hour nap! What is not to love about going to BB's house! Enjoy the pictures! xoxo

Slugger!

What are these things?!

Big boy

So happy!

Is anything coming out?!

Careful attention to his seeds :)

Transportation Day

Well, today was a super huge day for E. It was transportation day at school! They bring in buses, police vehicles, boom trucks, cement trucks, and bulldozers. It is a little boy's dream come true. We got to school and immediately E was shouting, "LOOK!". We carefully crossed the street and went into the parking lot, where he threw his hands in the air and let out a cheer. The rest was a mad dash to and from trucks, buses, and cars. His favorite activity by far was "driving" the school bus. He even learned how to turn on the flashing lights and stop sign. The bus driver knew us on a first name basis we were there so much! After an hour and a half of running around looking at everything, we worked us quite the appetite and met Auntie Christy for lunch. It was a fabulous day! Enjoy the pictures!xoxox

Going up on the boom truck...I was not so sure about this!

Way up high!

Driving the police car

E and Caro in the back of the police car

in the firetruck

Facinated by Buster the bus

Bus driver E

Mailman E

boys playing in the tractor

Dump truck!