Las Vegas Proper

We took a couple hours to see the sights in the Strip. It was Silas' first trip to Las Vegas, so he was anxious to see what all the excitement was about.

Despite his parents' neutrality toward the slots, Silas was pretty fascinated by all the flashing lights and ringing bells.



Surprisingly, in the Venetian, there were several folks who paid to take gondola rides, but then spent the experience talking on the cell phone. Maybe they realized too late the inanity of their decision and decided to at least share it with someone on the phone... Nonetheless, this part of the Venetian is visually impressive for a mall.



Crazy ceiling art:



We even found a lackluster Gold Elvis to sneak a picture with...

Hiking outside of Henderson

We got out for a very nice hike for a few hours on the 27th. This trailhead is only a few minute drive from the grandparents' house.

Christmas day fun

Silas had a blast Christmas day. He loved opening presents and hanging with his cousins (Quinn and Zoe), not to mention the rest of the family. He even helped the rest of us with the unwrapping.



He was particularly fond of taking Zoe's princess wand and trying to do some magic with it...



He and Boo also spent a lot of time wrestling over toys and balls.





One of his favorite toys of the day was a great ball drop tower. It came with a mallet to knock the balls down through the holes in the top so they would drop down the ramps inside the tower.



He helped read the instructions for cooking the ham.



And cousin Zoe was kind enough to show him how to use her Nintendo DS (DS Lite?)...

Good holiday eats!

Silas had a lot of great food during the trip to see Bethany's parents.

Double-fisted utensile wielding with Robin:




Being fed by Grandpa Bob:


Filling up before a day of hiking near Lake Mead:


Breakfast before packing up and heading to the airport to come home:

Flying to Vegas

We flew to Las Vegas to spend some time with Bethany's family for a few days. Silas was a trooper on the trip. He refused to sleep on the flight out. Except for a brief outburst, he did a really good job on the 4 1/2 hour flight.

Opening holiday presents

Silas got all sorts of great gifts for Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice. He had a lot of fun opening presents at the house before we left to spend some time with Bethany's family.



Sharing Christmas cookies (being followed by Guthrie)


Let's see, what else is in this box?


He's going to take a couple more rounds to warm up to the animatronic gorilla.


And in the end, he composed a very nice song about all the fun things he got...

Eating salsa

After having been properly trained in the art of eating hot foods, Silas has grown to really love salsa.

CD Reorganization Day

Left to his own devices for some independent play, the ever-helpful Silas decided to help reorganize the CD shelves.

Playing in the leaves

So, this is from last month, but (for the family) it shows how big he's getting.

Walking the dog

Silas and I have been trying to walk Guthrie more often. The poor guy is so pent up. It's also good to help Silas learn to stay with me while walking, instead of trying to go up every set of stairs to porches or into walkways to the backs of houses. Guthrie gets frustrated at the slow pace at times, but loves it nonetheless.

December 12, 2009: 16 months and counting

Hooray for Papa for updating Silas's blog! They have so much fun together, it really makes me happy.

In the meantime, while the boys are sleeping in, I have finally got all of the pictures from October through the beginning of December up on our flickr site. We have been doing so much, it is really tough to update it all here, so I am going to just post a link to Silas's folder.

I must add one video though. Maya and Ryder got married on October 24th at the Mattress Factory. The wedding was beautiful and loads of fun. One of the nice things about it, was all of the guests were given time to wander around the museum. We must have spent at least 10 minutes in what I tend to call 'the dot rooms.' Silas had so much fun, and I can't remember the last time that I smiled so much, for so long! This definitely gets chalked up as one of my early fond memories of Silas.

Fall 2009, Part 4: Mama!

But most of all, we like it when Mama gets home, and we all get to have adventures together.

Fall 2009, Part 3: Nature

No matter where we go, we always appreciate nature.

Fall 2009, Part 2: Parks

Lots and lots of time at the parks!




Sometimes, Guthrie gets to come along. We always feel guilty leaving him, but he's not so great around other kids sometimes and isn't allowed in the play areas... Alas.

Fall 2009, Part 2: Starting the Days off Right

We know that it's important to start the day off right with a good breakfast, and we know how to do that! Standard breakfast items around the house are eggs, bacon toast, farina, coco wheats, french toast, and pancakes. However, when we go out for breakfast, our favorite is the home fries with eggs, cheese, soysage, sauteed onions, and garlicky aioli with tortillas on the side from the Quiet Storm (as shown above).

The rest of the morning (before Silas' midday nap) can be spent lots of different ways...

Usually, we read the news, check our email, and watch the Muppets, kittens and puppies, bike movies, and whatnot on youtube.


Then, sometimes, we go to the bookstore and play in the kids' book section, where we frequently meet new friends.


Sometimes, we do stuff around the house, like laundry.


And, we frequently make trips to the grocery stores, making sure to balance onion rings or faux chicken nuggets on our heads.


Although, the farmers' market was fun before it shut down for the winter.

To be continued...