Theo's Adventures at the Reunion (Part 1)

As many of you know, this posting correlates with our daughter Julia's first week of Kindergarten. The following image is a brief glimpse of Theo's reaction to all the changes occurring on that first monumental day for his sister. He is obviously a bit sad:



Fortunately, however, Theo is quite resilient and returned to his happier self quite rapidly. Therefore, instead of focusing on Theo's reactions on his sister's first day of school, I thought it would be more fun to give you a brief glimpse of our little guy at the family reunion we attended two days earlier. This reunion is a fun and festive event that occurs every Labor Day weekend and involves relatives from Theo's Mom's side of the family. Please note, I am only providing a brief glimpse, as I plan to include more images in future posts about the reunion.

For a two-year old, reunions are exciting and amazing adventures involving exploration of new environments. Here we see little Theodore after he found a favorite toy from the yard of our hosts:



In this image, we see Theo's sister, Julia having fun by pushing Theo on what he was calling his "race car":



Julia pushes the car with all her might, and only a few seconds later, we have this closer view of the scene:



After riding around on the car for nearly an hour, our little guy grew thirsty and parked his racer near the large, "kid's beverage" dispensers:



Still later in the day, Theo and his sister found enjoyment in sitting on a "70's era" vinyl chair brought out of the garage to provide extra seating. Both siblings had fun making this chair rock:



At every reunion there is a "business meeting" to track expenses and to make plans about future reunions. This meeting is not fun for kids. Therefore, each year during the meeting, a few adults create a series of kid's games for the younger members to participate in. Here we see the "Monkey Toss" game that turned out to be a favorite for both Theo and Julia:



The object of the game was to throw banana-shaped beanbags through the mouths of the monkeys to win a prize. Both Theo and Julia did win prizes. Theodore, in fact, may have a future career as a pitcher as he rather accurately threw the beanbags with exceptional speed... especially for a two year old.

Even though the prizes were a hit, as these pictures attest, both of our children found the "Monkey Toss" board also very interesting to look through:



It was a wonderful reunion for us all, and I am especially pleased with Theo's having had a good, and well-behaved time.

Theo's Dad

Chicago in April!

In mid-April, our family was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few days in the exciting city of Chicago! Theo has never visited Chicago before, and he was very excited. We had a very enjoyable drive into Chicago, but because of the late afternoon departure, it was night before we arrived at our hotel. But, both Theo and Julia were able to nap some on the journey and they both arrived fresh and fairly energetic (at least relative to their parents):



For part of the day, Theo's Mom was away tending to some needed tasks, so I took both Theo and his sister to the NAVY PIER area of Chicago. The weather was nice, especially for April. Theo and his sister were both interested in the early plantings that were already showing bright colors along the busy street:



At NAVY PIER, there is a massive shopping center, but our primary goal was to get to the second floor which housed both and IMAX Theater and a renowned Children's Museum. I bet you can guess which second floor destination we had in mind! I have many other images I hope to show you soon (they are on a memory card that I seem to have temporarily misplaced). But here, you can glimpse little Theo exploring one of the many building stations set up for hands-on play at the museum:



Fortunately, Theo's Mom was able to join the rest of us in the late afternoon and we all started to explore the beauty of this city. Here we see my three favorite people indulging me as I alternate snapping photos from both of my cameras:



Here again, we see another image I have taken of them as they sit on a park bench as we explore the city again the next day:



As we walked some more in the early morning, we came across a wonderful, large iron-work sculpture that Theo and his sister both enjoyed exploring:







Here is an especially nice image of Theo, showing how enthusiastic and energetic he was at this park:



A wonderful time was had by all. Again, expect more detailed and elaborate photos of this trip when I eventually locate the missing memory card.

Theo's Dad

A Return To July

At this, the beginning of Autumn, I feel a touch of melancholy at the loss of the nice, warm days, and the decreased flexibility in work and school schedules. To dissipate this melancholy, I thought it would be a fun idea to look back into the archives of my photographs and pull out a few images from this past Summer.

Therefore, in this retro-image post, I will focus on our trips to the Saginaw County Fair and also a picnic at Bay City State Park. Both adventures occurred in late July of 2007.

In the first image, we are visiting one of the animal exhibits at the Saginaw County Fair. Theodore and Julia are both utilizing some of their paternal genome in studying the lifestyle and behavior of the pigs at the fair:





The pigs were rather large and too sleepy and cumbersome to hold, and so Theo soon lost interest. However, little Theo found great excitement in observing an animal similar in size and age to him.... a baby chick! Here, we see him gently petting this downy feathered friend:





A few days after our visit to the Fair, all of us in the family decided it would be fun and exciting to make a picnic supper and take it to a park. We wanted to be comfortably messy and have plenty of room to play. The park we chose was Bay City State Park, and we planned our excursion for a late Monday afternoon. The weather was beautiful, with temperatures in the mid 80s. Choosing dinnertime on a Monday proved a wonderful decision as only a relatively small number of other people were using the park, and we had plenty of options on locations to eat, where to explore, and what to do.

Theo's mom prepared a wonderful feast consisting of a cold chicken & salsa salad. We ate the salad mixture on tortillas and also had fresh vegetables and various other snacks. The meal was a true gourmet delight! Theo loved the meal, and simply referred to everything as "tacos" or "cheese", but his aiming ability (success in getting food to his mouth) was as usual only around 0.500. For Theo's Mom and myself, it was pleasant being able to allow the numerous crumbs to simply fall to the ground.

Here we see our little guy sitting at the picnic table after having worked on eating his desert, chocolate pudding:



Eating energized little Theo and here we see him on the swing set at the park. Even though he is a little nervous about the swinging motion itself, he was very adamant about trying the activity (especially since his sister, Julia, is so very fond of swings):





After expending some energy following dinner, Theo and the rest of the family decided to take a long, gentle walk along the paths leading up to the beach at Bay City State Park. At the beach,we removed our shoes to be able to feel the warm sand between our toes.

Theo, having never walked on the beach before, was a little unsteady due to the sand shifting under his feet. However, after a few minutes he found his bearing and started racing up and down the beach:





These two wonderful adventures help me to recall some of the fun of this past Summer.

Theo's Dad

A Multitude of Parties for Theo!

This past weekend was the Labor Day weekend, and our family did indeed labor.... we labored to have a lot of fun! The weekend started off with attending the wedding of my cousin and his fiance (grown-ups only were invited, so no photographs of Theo or Julia). The next morning, the family awoke early and was on the road at 6:30 am to headed to Theo's Mom's family reunion held each Labor Day. This year, the reunion was held in East Jordan, Michigan. To conclude this adventure-packed weekend, my sister and brother-in-law invited all of us to their neighborhood's block party held this year on the Monday of Labor Day.

The images of little Theo start when we arrive at East Jordan. Theo bounds out of our minivan and runs around as fast as he can looking at all the reunion festivities. As Theo is especially fond of large vehicles (trucks, tractors and the like), the campers first grab his attention. Here we see young Theo running around his grandparent's camper:



When we have him stop moving for a moment and ask him what he would like to do first, he emphatically expounds about wanting to eat:



Theo's maternal grandmother has thought ahead, and purchased a large number of "cheese and cracker" snack packs for both Theo and Julia. As both are very big fans of cheese, they are both delighted. Here we see Theo enjoying his snack:



Here is a closer look at Theo as he continues to eat the cheese and crackers:



Following the food, Theo also wanted to have a beverage to drink. In doing so, he ended up getting VERY messy. So messy, in fact, that Theo's Mom decided he needed to change his shirt. Here we see our little guy dressed in his "camo" outfit:



One of the events that is a regular staple at the reunion is a "fishing" contest for the younger kids. The kids fish by guiding a fishing pole (the line and hook (a large, safe, kid-friendly hook)) through an open window of either the host's home or their camper. Hiding behind the window, the host running the event attaches a prize that the kids can then reel in:



This year, the theme of the reunion was "Easter". The kids pulled out an Easter Basket filled with all sorts of fun items. In Theo's basket, he found a wide variety of toy sea creatures (sharks, etc). Here we see him showing off his prizes to his grandpa:



Like his sister, Julia, Theo also received a pair of sunglasses. However, his were yellow:



While Theo was happy to receive his sunglasses, he was actually much happier, simply running, and running, and running from place to place at the reunion:



The next day, at my sister and brother-in-law's block party, Theodore was once again very excited to run and run and run... back and forth between the seating areas, to and from the various tables of food, and in visiting with the other guests. However, he actually stopped moving for a few moments when he saw one of the older kid's bicycle. This "mean-green" machine captivated little Theo:



Eventually, however, Theo left the bicycle in favor of petting one of the several dogs and puppies that were also at the block party:



As you can see, the weekend was a whirlwind of fun and excitement for little Theo. Be sure to check out the Adventures of Julia , to see Julia's take on this fun-filled weekend.

Theo's Dad

Continuing On

Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I last posted. I had not felt able to post since my last update. Very sadly, Theodore's paternal grandmother... my beloved mother, became gravely ill and was hospitalized for seven weeks. She came home to us in the late fall of 2006 and appeared to remain steady and even become somewhat stronger in health. However, very unexpectedly, she passed away in March of 2007. It has been a very difficult time for everyone in our family. She is so dearly missed.



On Mother's Day of this year, so all of us could spend some time remembering her, each of us took time to write out our emotions and our love for my Mom (Theo's paternal grandmother). We then attached our notes to a white balloon. Each of us took turns releasing our own note carrying balloon, and we thought about Mom as we watched the balloon disappear into the sky. The above image is of little Theo as he holds his balloon just before releasing it for Grandma.

Theo's Dad

The Return

It is with great pleasure that I return to posting on the "Adventures of Theo!" site. I apologize for the delay, but circumstances during the interim hampered my posting efforts.

Today, to get my creative juices flowing, and my posting skills back up to snuff, I offer you a series of images that are not particularly themed based. Instead, they are a smattering of recent activities in which little Theo has been involved. In future postings, I will return to being more theme based and will also begin searching through my extensive photographic archive about activities during the missed period. So, please continue to look for new material as well as postings entitled "Retro Theo" for pictures during the hiatus.

As always, be sure to visit the two complementary sites, The Advetures of Julia!!!, and Art by Julia.

Also, please keep watching this site for the announcement of a new site as well, Art by Theo!

* * * * *

Since it has been quite a while, you may be surprised at the changes in Theo. He is now a very healthy active one-year old toddler:



He clearly enjoys his soy milk. Theo is now almost 14 months old and has roughly a 10 word vocaublary. The biggest five words in order of apperance include:

1. mama
2. no!
3. baba (bottle)
4. five (as in "give me five!")
5. dada



Sometimes it appears our little Theo has a penchant for science and technology. He often takes on a look of a baby version of Einstein as can be discerned above.




Theodore is not as enamored with shopping as is his sister, Julia or her mommy. Sometimes he finds the endeavor so dull, that he instead decides to sleep through the effort as is seen above.




But, very much like his sister, Theo enjoys being at a party! The picture above is of Theodore as he wears a hat in the celebration of yours truly's birthday party.

Welcome to the World!

It is with great pride and joy that I announce the birth of our new son into the family. His name is Theodore Michael:



The vital biological statistics are as follows:

Weight: 7 lb. 5 oz. (3.32 kg)
Length: 18 inches (45.72 cm)
Birthdate: October 18, 2005
Time of Birth: 09:10 am Eastern Standard Time

It seems like it was only moments ago that Theo's sister, Julia was a newborn. It is amazing how small Theo seems, yet he is heavier than his sister was when she was born:






Thus far, Theo has been a happy and contented member of our family. Additionally, his older sister Julia, has been very excited and pleased at having a little baby in the household. She calls him "Baby Tio" and is very attentive to his cries.

Theo & Julia's Dad