Grandparent Wrap-up

A few more pictures of Calvin blissfully wrapped up in his grandparents and their visit (well, pictures with Grandma. Grandpa was always behind the camera). They went home early Monday morning, and we were sad to see them go.

Discovery Museum

On Thursday we took the crew to Salt Lake where we visited a little "museum" that my mom and a few other people had told me about. It was much different than I expected - it's not really a museum, it's just the coolest playroom ever. Everything is scaled down for little kids. They had sucky tubes that took colorful balls in a winding systems, they had flowing water that built up pressure and pushed little balls around, they had a home, a "construction" area with big foam blocks for building, a market, a farm, and much more. Upstairs were high-tech educational activities for older kids, and on the roof was a life-size helicopter. We had a great time and Calvin loved it. We'll definitely be going back. Here are the highlights:

Special Vistors

Late last night Calvin's grandparents arrived from Pennsylvania for a visit. We are so thrilled to have them here, and Calvin can't stop running around and showing off and smiling and hugging them every chance he gets. We had a busy day. The morning was filled with this:

Grandpap, Grandma, Andy, and Calvin all went to the toy store "just to look around", and they came home with this adorable train set. Calvin can't get enough of it. He loves pushing the cars around and around the tracks, making noises as he goes. Even if he leaves the room for a moment, he keeps running back to where the train is and has spent hours playing with it already.

Also, today was Grandpap's birthday, so we planned a surprise party for him. It was a billiards theme because he used to compete semi-professionally in pool and is the best player I've ever seen. We had a fun dinner, and then had a darts and Wii pool tournament. The winners were Darts - Dick, and Pool - Mariah. I wish I had gotten pictures of the winners, but at least you can see one of their totally awesome trophies. It was a fun night and I'm glad we were able to celebrate his birthday together.

Valentine's Day

V-Day this year was very busy and wasn't the best. But even without all the romance, it's nice to be in love and be loved in return. I did receive flowers, chocolates, a couple of movies, and some sassy new shoes. My man is the very best. Here are some shots of our attempts at being festive:

New Word

Since weaning Calvin from a bedtime bottle, we've started a routine where after we bathe him, we get his blankets and a sippy cup of warm milk, turn all the lights off, and all of us pile onto our bed to watch a couple of minutes of something so that the boy can wind down before brushing his teeth and going to bed. Tonight we were watching a Baby Einstein episode and every time a duck came on, Calvin would yell "duck!" It was adorable how proud he was of himself.

He's kind of a random kid. I thought kids would say bottle or milk or relevant words, but Calvin still stands by his "apple", "go", and "duck". Also, he still says "gob'm"all the time, which we've decided is him saying his own name. We always call him or say Calvin when we're talking to him, and we think that's what he's trying to say as well.

Outdoor Lover's Paradise

Tonight Curtis and Mariah showed us this ginormous sportsman's place with the usual camping, fishing, hunting, and sporting gear. I'll be honest, someone could give me $10,000 in a place like this, and I wouldn't have a clue how to spend it. Maybe I'd get a kayak or some new running shoes. Or a solar powered camp stove because I know Andy wants one. But really, nothing about these places really gets my heart pitter pattering with excitement.

This place, however, also had a restaurant (granted they did serve things like "wild game sandwiches"), aquarium (local fish like trout), a stuffed animal museum (somewhat morbid), feeding pond, and a really cool atmosphere. The boys loved it. I happened to have our little crappy camera in my pocket, so I got some shots of a fun evening hanging with the honkies (meaning the hunters, not my sister and bro-in-law).

Auntie Riah and Calvin feeding the fish.

C in a Davey Crockett 'coon skin cap.

This was actually pretty entertaining. They would drop the food in, and then there was a feeding frenzy, with fish swarming and attacking the little pellets. Calvin loved it. He hung onto his dad's ears as handles, and jumped with excitement every time a fish swam near him.

Pictures of the fun bunch in front of the indoor mountain. There was a stream running around the base of the mountain where Riah and the boy fed the fish, and the mountain goats were climbing all the way to the top of the mountain that spanned two stories.

Fairly fancy for a camping store, eh?

...and Even More Snow

Today we had another 2-3 inches of snow, and while I would rather that it just be done already, Calvin loves eating it and playing in it. Andy attached a bungee cord to the snow tube, and ran around the yard dragging him behind. The boy loved it. Here are some of my favorite shots from his afternoon of frolicking in the yard.

Sippy Cup Dominos

We haven't been able to find any of C's sippy cups lately, so yesterday we went out and bought him several more. He spent the afternoon stacking them side by side, and then pushing one over and watching it knock the others as it fell, creating a domino effect. Kept him entertained forever. (Today I found seven of them buried in my car under toys and books, with various amounts of lumpy chocolate milk and fermented apple juice in them. EWW.)