Tuesday, September 30, 2014

16 Months


In just one short month we have gone from having an infant to a full-fledged toddler. Luke is running and climbing and spinning and dancing and throwing tantrums right and left. He has learned the dreaded "no" and its many uses: long and mournful "noooooooos" and short rapid-fire, irritated "nonononos!" He still can't say yes, so no serves both purposes. His vocabulary has expanded to "night-night" and "nummas" for food, but his favorite word by far is "dada" as he wanders around the house wondering where he is. 


Luke loves to play in the kitchen with pots and pans and spatulas and still loves to eat as often as possible. He has learned how to climb onto the kitchen table from the kitchen chairs to access whatever goodies might be up there and can now reach into all of the as-of-yet-non-babyproofed drawers in our apartment.


He has also learned how to navigate the ipad well enough to take pictures and initiate facetime, so if you see a missed facetime call you weren't expecting it may, in fact, be Luke. He loves to throw things (anything, really) and has recently learned the joys of playing hide and seek. 


And no, his hair still hasn't been cut.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

15 Months



Luke's fifteenth month had lots of airplane rides in it. He got to spend some quality time with his cousins in the mountains in Washington state and then was left with Mere Mere and Opa D for ten days while mom and dad left to go on a bar trip. While away he got better and better at walking, learned to crawl up and down stairs, rode in a canoe for the first time, and went swimming in a lake for the first time. The canoe wasn't his favorite, though he warmed up to it a bit when he realized he could throw rocks in the water.



Luke is still signing and jabbering, but finally the words "uh-oh" "mama" and "dada" are distinguishable (dada being the official first word). Eating is above and beyond his favorite thing to do with making noise a close second.


Luke apparently loves trying on shoes, as we learned when we bought his first pair, and wants to wear his as often as possible. Sleeping is still his least favorite.



Lucky us.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

The UK: Edinburgh

Things we saw: Edinburgh Castle, Calton Hill, Mary King's Close, the Scottish Museum, Arthur's Seat, the Royal Mile, Scottish Parliament, and Hollyrood House. 


Stuffed Dolly, the first cloned sheep.














Ken's Favorite: Edinburgh Castle
Emme's Favorite: the view from Calton Hill

The UK: Inverness and the Isle of Skye

Things we saw: Eilean Donan castle, some breathtaking scenery, Loch Ness from afar, and a bunch of seagulls. We also touched the Atlantic Ocean from the Western edge of Scotland!














Me asleep on the bus...

Oh, the ever United Kingdom.





Friday, September 26, 2014

The UK: Dingwall

Things we did: hiked the mile or so to our hotel, stayed in a Scottish castle circa the fifteenth century, tried some award-winning haggis and blood pudding, and were haunted by the resident ghosties (at least according to me, who awoke to find what I thought was an arm pulling back the drapes). 



I'll have you know I did absolutely nohing to the photo to get the sky that way!




Haggis is right above and to the left of the sausage. Blood pudding is the black blob at the top.


The UK: Liverpool

Things we did: attended a boisterous football game (Chelsea vs. Everton), saw nine goals scored (nine!), and sat right in between the two teams as they shouted drunken obscenities back and forth.




Our sad attempt at a selfie.

Probably the most British thing we did.