New York New Yoooooork!

In October we went to NYC. We go upstate to Warwick and go apple picking. I missed out on that part this year, but the boys had some fun. I don't have daddy's apple photo yet but it's a doozy (slathered with cuteness).

Daddy & Bunky in the city.

Bunky rides the subway. "F for Fintan!" F is the train to the Island.

At the Transportation Museum... sitting in an ancient subway car.

Don't let the toddler drive the bus!

How many tickets would you like?

I think Fin really enjoyed the turnstyles and the hands-on aspect of the Transportation Museum. He loves riding the subway, holding on, directing me to sit down, stand up, hold on. (He's getting really good at giving orders. At home now we only take orders from him if he's wearing his pirate hat. Bring that one up in therapy in a few years!! :P Aaarrr!!! )

RED ALERT!

I upgraded my blog and lost all the links to everyone else's blogs. Please help! Rori, Jenny, Dean... ack!!!

More photos coming!

Mark just pointed out that all this time i have had a card reader built in to my laptop. *sigh* No more excuses to be lazy and not download images. :)

Here are a few to start with... click to enlarge!

He's as much a cat as our other four cats...

He loves to ride the swing ride!

Replacement tire: $13.42

Kid's helmet: $26.27

Toddler bike seat attachment: $182.34

Finally finding something Bunky and Mommy can do together: Priceless

Rrrooooooaaar!

Mom is away on another business trip so here I am trying to provide updates to the blog. Unfortunately, the network is acting up a bit so I'm not sure if I'll be able to add any pictures.

Since Comic*con, Bunky has pretty much mastered the use of his potty. We still put a diaper on him every night, but that's mostly just a precaution - I think he's only used a diaper once in the past few weeks. Of course, this makes outings slightly more problematic since he doesn't quite have timing down yet. If it's time to poop, it's time to poop NOW and there better be a bathroom nearby. He also doesn't like the look of certain public restrooms and will refuse to use some of them, instead claiming that he just wants to wash his hands.

His reading has also improved alot, or at least his interest in books and his memorization. He got hooked on a PBS show called SuperWhy and since then he's been much more interested in his books. He's memorized "Goodnight Moon" and will read it to us at night, along with 3 or 4 others. Sometimes he'll start reciting a book we didn't know he had memorized and it's causes a bit of a double take.

He's also taken a renewed interest in hockey and skating and will drag me out to the front of the house to play a bit of ball hockey a coupel times a week. We took him back to the rink last week and he actually SKATED for nearly an hour and a half. He's beginning to get his balance better and not hang on us nearly as much, and didn't even visit any of the arcade games that normally attract his attention for most of our trips to the rink.


Grandpa and Grandma just came to visit and give me a hand while Mom's away, and also left lots of food so we won't starve. :) It was a shorter trip than usual, as they stopped in on the way to somewhere else so we didn't get many pictures. Which is to say, I didn't take any, and the few that Grandpa took are still in his camera. But here's a portrait from their last visit.

Bunky goes to SD Comic*Con

In the world of Geekitude, Bunky is a rising star. Today we took a day-trip to the expo floor of Comic*Con, the world's (I think) biggest convention for comics, movies, tv shows, fan stuff, more comics, etc. etc. [these shots are all from my Blackberry.] We saw lots of famous people but... yeah whatever. The exciting part was the trolley ride and the Dalek (below).

Here's a random shot of the floor... this isn't even the interesting area.

Oooh my favorite!!!

Apparently it's Bunky's favorite area too.

NO WAY! A life-size gold Dalek!!! Bunky is absolutely THRILLED!!!

Now, i expect most of you don't have a clue what a Dalek is, but Bunky does, and that just proves his superiority over you non-geek mortal types!!! :D

We had fun, got exhausted, took the trolley (electric train) from a remote parking spot to the convention center and back, and an Amtrak/Surfrider went by (full size double decker train) just 10 feet away and blew its horn!!! All that stuff was pretty exciting :D

First Poop in the Toilet!!!

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!!!

Isabel informed me today that Fintan made a poo-poo on the toilet. Not his little singing potty, but the big toilet. She said he seemed to prefer it for poo-poo. The little potty is okay for pee-pee. We started potty training seriously on Monday - no diapers during the day unless she's going somewhere with less-than-accessible toilet options (like the park).

She meets me at MyGym for Mommy & Me class on Thursdays (it's between home and work) and then afterward today we went to Wendy's new home for a short visit. Fintan let me know he had to go potty and Randy (W's son) showed us where his bathroom was, and Fin held it the whole time and then did a pee-pee in Randy's toilet. Woohoo!

Then before bed he asked to potty and he made pee-pee in his little potty.

HOORAY!!! I think we're getting somewhere - and without the bribes, fuss, or M&Ms.

Michigan Family Vacation

We had an absolutely wonderful time in Michigan this past week. It was great to see everyone and for Fintan to play with his cousins. They all hit it off really well and he had a fantastic time. His vocabulary and speech has improved, and he is definitely feeling more "3" than "2" now. Making that transition, finally!

Here are the photos from my camera. I may add more as I get them from everyone else.



Click the picture to see more. This will take you to my Webshots album. You can then view them all with the next/previous buttons near the top right (under the ad).

OR... here is the slideshow.

About the house on GULL ISLAND:

According to The History of Leelanau Township, the last time the house was occupies was before the Depression. Many colorful local tales speak of the Ustick’s family struggles with the nesting bords and suggest that they finally gave up competing with the birds and abandoned their cottage. After that, it was broken into and vandalized, and over the years the gulls made it part of their island home. All that remains are the two chimneys, still visible from offshore, and the building’s foundations.

Omi's Boat

Fin loves Omi's boat. In fact, he talks about it all the time. Sometimes he cries in the car because he thinks we're driving to Santa Barbara but we're not. Here are some photos of him driving the boat back on May 5. :)




Oh and this last one is us eating dinner. The mariachi (sp?) band played and the lead singer gave Bunky a good show because he was really enjoying it.