fun winter weekend

Keith and I were able to take a day off together last Friday and we took Dylan to New York City for some Christmas-y fun. We took the train into Penn Station, which made him happy, considering his love for all things "choo-choo" Then, we took Dylan to each of our offices so he could meet everyone and have a warm lunch inside. We checked out the train store and walked through Bryant Park. We saw a kind of creepy Elmo and cookie monster and took pictures with them on the street. Then we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center. By that point, Dylan was exhausted and fell asleep in his stroller, allowing me and Keith to enjoy some burgers & fries at our favorite diner near Carnegie Hall. After that nap/lunch break, we went to FAO Schwartz and Dylan picked out one toy for himself (a train, of course) and then we headed home. We took a taxi back to Penn Station which also seemed to be exciting for Dylan who repeated many, many times that we were in a "taxi-car."

The following day, the whole Mason family attended mass in honor of Keith's dad. After mass, we went out to dinner together at Charlie Brown's. Dylan always enjoys spending times with his cousins, who he also calls "my friends!" It was nice to have the family together for a little bit.

The day after that we had Chloe's Chef party, and as you can see from the picture, it involved actual cooking. Dylan made stromboli and a gingerbread cookie, though he was probably the only child concerned about getting his hands dirty. We'll have to work on that! We also took last weekend to decorate the house and put up the tree. We're officially ready for Christmas now!

Very Thankful

Just wanted to post a quick note as the holiday season gets under way. Dylan has had some fun visits from friends who have visited us from the west coast like Miles (and Nate and Meg) and Emiliana (and Todd and Amanda). He has gotten to to birthday parties like Franco's and Mikah's and is looking forward to Chloe's cooking party next weekend. He got to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade with his daddy and his grandma and he's been bundling up with his Abu in the mornings now that's it's so cold and I've been having early morning court hearings way too often.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are, as always, so grateful for everything we have, most of all each other. Though there are loved ones who are missed, we are surrounded by friends and family and you can't ask for too much more than that. And though we are really busy and sometimes tired, we are always happy and thankful for the life we have together. Plus, Keith is never too tired for a kitchen dance-party and Dylan takes after his daddy, which makes for some fun times. Above is a picture from Thanksgiving, our family with our good friends the Martinez family.

Now, on to Christmas decorating and making plans for New Years!

Halloween, raaaar!

So, this Halloween Dylan ended up being a Dragon. At first, we had actually gone to the mall with him and he picked out a giraffe costume for himself from Old Navy. After a couple of weeks of asking him if he was excited to be a giraffe for Halloween, and him responding, "NO!....my want to be a dragon, raaar!" we finally gave in and exchanged the giraffe costume for a dragon costume. After Keith and I spent a very fun weekend seeing Phish on Friday and Saturday in Atlantic City and Dylan having fun with his Grandma at the beach, we headed back home to Cranford and went to Drew and Mindy's "Hallerween" party for a while where Dylan was surrounded by many cute, costumed kids. As it was getting dark, we headed back home and trick-or-treated around our neighborhood. It was Dylan's first time trick-or-treating and he caught on pretty well, asking after each house"one more house???"

After collecting all his candy, our little munchkin laid it all out on the floor so he could look at it, organize it, and pick a couple of pieces to eat. It turns out he really likes candy.

Other cute little things: as he picks up better pronunciation and more and more words each day, Dylan is now able to have full conversations with us. And he has really funny comments -- like today when we had to get up early because I had to be in court in New York. First he was very confused as to why were up while it was still "night out?!" And then I told him I had to go to work and take him to his Abu's house, but since we were up at the same time as Daddy, we were going to drive Daddy to the bus stop. He answered: "that's a great idea!"

We always get to see his little brain working in really cute ways...like, since he knows it sometimes only rains a little...he calls the opposite, storms, "big rain." And since he knows he's sometimes just a little tired, when he's really tired, he says he's BIG TIRED.

Yesterday, when he was driving in the car with Keith, Keith asked him if he loved the song that was playing on the radio and Dylan answered: "NO, my no love that song, my love you!"

Does it even get any cuter than that?!

"you make me happy"

Just wanted to post a couple quick stories before I forget.
We had a lovely labor day weekend even though the three of us were all a little sick with colds.

On Friday night, we had a little dance party at home. I taped a couple of the songs and posted one below. Sometimes Dylan asks for dance parties, sometimes it's Keith that requests them, but the two of them always have fun and usually talk me into putting my book down and joining them.


I spent a lot of the weekend reading and studying and as you can see from this picture, Dylan helped me get through some of my more difficult and theoretical books. He looked through this book closely and then closed it and said "the end." and moved on to stealing my nose and telling me he was going to put it in his pocket until I asked him PLEASE to return it to my face. very cute.

After grilling at home on Sunday, we went to a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's on Monday and the whole family was there plus lots of family friends. Dylan debuted his new joke: "Guess What?" "...chicken butt!" (except in the cutest toddler voice imaginable). He also stole lots of noses and tried to do some knock-knock jokes except that he's still answering his own knocks, and sometimes just telling people that it's "Dylan" when they say "who's there."

On Tuesday the 7th of September, I went to pick him up from my mom's and I walked in on his going to the potty for the first time. very exciting! but it still hasn't been repeated. baby steps, I guess.

Finally, yesterday while I was at class, he and Keith were having a little talk before bed-time and Dylan stopped in the middle of the conversation to say "Daddy, you make me happy." When Keith told me that story, I just got filled up with joy. What can be better than hearing that? Must have been such a sweet moment. This morning when I dropped him off and was having breakfast with my mom, I told her the story and Dylan was next to me listening to us talking. After I finished he said, "you too, mommy. you make me happy, too." Just when I thought that story couldn't have gotten better...it did. Seeing my baby growing up and talking more and more is really nice and fulfilling. And watching him string so many words together to say a complete sentence is always fun, but having his complete thoughts and sentences be such kind and thoughtful ones makes me feel overjoyed. In some way or another, he makes us happy like that everyday.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmiSHwrLDTE

This way beach, that way ice cream.

This year's Mason family Jersey Shore trip was extra special...because we got to see Snooki. Just kidding. Though we did see Snooki, but that wasn't the special part. Dylan had so much fun hanging with his cousins all week. There were times he would look at them all and say, "my cousins!" We spent our mornings at the beach where the water was just beautiful most of the week. Dylan took his naps after lunch and by the time he woke up, his cousins would be back at the house, ready to play. They taught him how to play football (sort of)...he does love the hiking part but kind of lingers in a crouched position looking down for a while before throwing the ball forward. Emily gave him some soccer advice. They all played baseball and nerf bowling with him. He watched cartoons with Logan. He had a blast with each one of his cousins and they were so good to him, always letting him play with them and taking care of him, too. There were times they would be playing their own games, and Dylan would come in and demand attention and they just adjusted their game to include him...it was so sweet.

Though Dylan was very fearful of the water all week, and didn't really like the feel of sand at the beginning, or the look of the birds on the beach...he apparently turned into a fearless child at the boardwalk. Keith took him to the games at Seaside and Dylan went on lots of rides with his older cousins that mommy would not have approved of if she had been there. Luckily for Dylan, I was away for one night (seeing a Phish show) and the daredevil side of our child was allowed to shine, under the supervision of his older cousins who took good care of him on the rides, I hear. I wish I had been there.

Finally, the most consistent part of the trip was our nightly ice-cream walks. Every night, a while after eating dinner, we all took a walk to get ice cream together. Every night, Dylan ordered for himself. Some nights, "Nilla" (vanilla), other nights "Nilla and cookies." From our beach house, there were only two directions, according to Dylan: this way beach, that way ice cream. you'd think that's just a toddler's simple perspective, but for most of that week I think we all felt that way which was really nice.

Lilith Fair

We took Dylan to his first concert last weekend, the Lilith Fair. It was a beautiful day thanks to that month-long heat wave finally breaking. Though it was a little hot in the sun, once it started to go down a bit, it was a perfect evening for live music. We went with my friend Gina who is on an extended stay in NJ, having left her home in London to have her baby here in September before she moves to Lebanon. So it was nice to catch up with her and be around a nice big baby belly for the day. We also got to see "Grandma" who had been there early for a special lunch with her friend Kathy. The music was very mellow most of the show. Not too much dancing, unfortunately, but lots of relaxing. The Indigo Girls were the highlight and we left after their set because our little man was falling asleep at around 10pm. I'm glad we got to take Dylan to his first concert and saw that he had fun. I'm also glad it was at the PNC (Garden State) Arts Center where we've seen so many concerts, and I even remember seeing a play there on a grammar school field trip (about Jackie Robinson). That place is kind of special to us and it's so close to home. Now that we've been camping and to a concert and saw that Dylan liked both, a camping music festival seems like the next logical step...

Camping

Last weekend we took the kids camping and enjoyed some down time doing nothing but communing with nature, swatting mosquitos and playing with Kari and Avram's ipads. It was very nice. The kids seemed to have fun and the grown-ups really enjoyed some time away from everyday life.

We got pretty lucky in that despite the severe weather that seemed to have hit other parts of NJ, we only got some rain with minor thunder on each night and it started just about the time when we were getting ready for bed, so we never had to figure out what to do to entertain the kids during the day.

On Saturday we went to the Delaware river and spent a nice day there. We did well with the food, too. Brian and Keith grilled up some sausage and chicken on Friday and Keith made some burgers and hot-dogs on Saturday. Sunday, Avram made awesome breakfast treats that consisted of butter, bread, eggs, and more butter. YUM!

Sunday, we took a walk to the Wolf reserve that was on site. And finally after we were all packed up on Sunday and heading for Hot Dog Johnny's, the rain started coming down hard, which did not deter us from getting hot dogs, but did make us grateful that we weren't packing up in that storm.

All in all, it was great to spend a weekend not having any real plans, and just sitting around talking, always outdoors in fresh (although hot and humid) air. Dylan renewed and strengthened his bond with his new BFF, Brendan, who he now calls "that guy." And he came home saying he had fun with Sam (Kari's son). I think all in all, everyone had a good time and we hope to make this a yearly trip.

Here are some more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=185314&id=650388930&l=aaac7c2f3a