How hard is it for both of them to look at the camera at the same time?

© 2011 Scott Everett

Matthew loves his, too.

Though it hasn't required so much effort thus far.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Not cool at all

Just this past week Matthew has started calling us Mom and Dad. Andrew still calls us Momma and Daddy. This certainly isn't cool.

It took some convincing, but Andrew loves his bike now.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Sure, we were out riding bikes

But that doesn't mean Matthew can't scavenge for cool things.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Matthew was too cute for me not to do this.

Matthew just being cute from Scott Everett on Vimeo.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Matthew has the longest eyelashes

I'll have to try again later, but I still can't believe his eyelashes.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Rocking the Razor Scooter

Thanks Grammy and Grampy!  He loves his scooter and has entirely defaced our street with chalk stripes.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Project for Matthew

These last couple trips to the zoo have been multitasking events.  Not only did I go there to entertain the kids, but we are also making a lamp for Matthew's room.  Liz found a website that does custom lamps & shades (I don't have the link right now).  She wanted to incorporate some abstractions on zoo animals for Matthew's new lamp, so I grabbed some textures from the zoo.  We should be receiving the lamp shortly and I'll update when it arrives.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Zoo pt 3

...and there were animals there, too.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Zoo pt 2

© 2011 Scott Everett

Still running around, even after we returned (zoo pt 1)

We got back home on Sunday and I had arranged with one of Andrew's friends (and his mom) to meet at the zoo the next day.  Sure, the kids were tired, but they were used to doing something every day and I thought that scheduling something in the morning and then taking the afternoon off would be a nice way to come down after a long vacation.

Andrew, Eliot, Lucy, and Matthew had a blast.  We need to do that more often.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Modern tourism

The Hermitage was a pretty cool home to tour except for 3 things: there was a medical emergency on the second floor and we weren't able to go up (not their fault); it was way too expensive ($18 for adults and $8 for kids); and they promoted the audio tour.

I guess being from the DC area, I'm a bit spoiled and feel that every museum like this should have free admission and funding out of our tax dollars.  We were a bit taken aback by the cost.

The audio tour was something else.  I decided after the first couple of exhibits that I wasn't going to listen.  Not that it was that bad, nor was it uninformative.  I just felt as if it took the experience away from me.  Rather than feeling like a biographer researching Andrew Jackson in the mid-19th century, I was constantly reminded of the laziness and sloth of our lives some 166 years later.  To paraphrase a line from the tour, "Imagine yourself walking these grounds with Andrew Jackson himself."  How can I with some disembodied voice communicating with me over these electrical transducers?

That said, the kids ate it up.  There was a special tour with separate numbers for the kids, narrated by Jackson's pet parrot, Poli (or Pol, as he called her).  Andrew still spouts off some of the things he learned that day and seemed to have a blast.  Matthew was as attentive as one could expect a three year old to be.  He'd listen for a while, run for a while, hear his brother talk about Poli and request the headphones again...

© 2011 Scott Everett

Huzzah!

Matthew made through the night without a Pull-Up!

© 2011 Scott Everett

Pedicures

A couple weeks ago, Liz went in and had a manicure and a pedicure.  Well, of course, as soon as she came home the boys wanted to do it too.  She happily helped them out with the assistance of some tempura paint.

© 2011 Scott Everett

What a long trip

Last week we met the Cherrys in Nashville, TN and hung out for a while.  I didn't get any photos during the stay, even thought we went to the Children's Museum, the Gaylord Hotel Gardens, and downtown Nashville.  I'm kicking myself now.

We stopped in at The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home on our way back.  Andrew loved learning about President Jackson through the audio tour, narrated by his parrot Poli.  Matthew latched onto the fact that he is dead, even though he confused the former president's name with his brother and his best friend's names.  He kept saying that "Jackson and Andrew are dead."

Even though we were there at the worst possible time for photography, I decided to see what I could do anyway.

Andrew "posing" for a photo:

A guy offered to take this photo for us.  It took me a few moments to actually extricate myself from my camera and teach him how to use it.  It's a good thing it was a simple frame, he looked a bit confused.

© 2011 Scott Everett

Even thought it's been hot, we've still gone to the zoo.

It's (almost) tolerable in the early morning.

© 2011 Scott Everett