Yuma Art Symposium

Steph went to the Yuma Symposium with some art colleagues for the first time last year as a participant and had a great time. She was selected to be a presenter this year, and since Alex had to go with her to eat and my mom wasn't going to be available to provide childcare this time (she was going to be back in Philadelphia with my sister Hilary for the imminent birth of her first child) we decided to take a short family vacation to Arizona.

As I mentioned last month, we've been working on getting Alex to sleep better but it's been a struggle, so this trip didn't come at the most convenient time ever. We all had a good time, especially Steph (which was the main purpose of the trip), but the boys and I spent a lot of time in the hotel room trying to get one or the other of them to nap. That's proven to be hard enough at home, but it's extra challenging when you're all in the same room with nowhere else to go.

Anyway, that's why a lot of our pictures are of us in the hotel room, such as this one of Steph and Evan reading the paper in bed:

and Steph and Alex playing on that same bed:

Since Evan had to spend a lot of the time playing quietly so Alex could sleep (thank goodness he's willing and good at that) he spent a lot of time with "his guys" -- in this case, Blue Corvette, Lightning McQueen, Miss Sally, and Scoop:

Of course we didn't spend all of our time in the hotel room. We took a long walk around downtown Yuma each day for one of Alex's naps, and we went out in the evening most days too. On the last day of the symposium, though (when they have several outdoor activities), it rained on and off all day. Less than 0.3" of rain and an 87% chance of sunny days on average in February, and it rains on us! We didn't really come prepared for walking around in the rain so we waited for a dry spell before venturing out, but it didn't last. Fortunately some of the symposium goers bought boxes of plastic garbage bags, so we suited ourselves up as best we could:

On our last day in Yuma, before starting the 3 hour drive back to San Diego we wanted to let Evan run around a bit, and we'd read about a pretty cool playground that was part of the park system that ran for several miles along the Colorado River (including a section we'd already visited right by our hotel). So after a somewhat leisurely morning (if any morning that starts before 7AM can truly be considered leisurely) we stopped by the Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground on our way out of town:

That's Evan on the right standing in front of one of the castle parapets. There were several neat themed areas of the playground like that castle at the main entrance, a multi-level pretend tree (almost more of a tree house) you can walk up into, a jet airplane structure, and a huge spider in its web, just to name a few:

Then it was time to pile back into the car, drive to the San Diego airport, and fly home. As I mentioned in passing above, we all had a good time in Yuma, although I doubt the boys and I will make the trip next year. I'm pretty sure Steph's going to be an annual attendee, though, and hopefully in a few years we'll all go again and the boys and I will get out to see more of the sights (or at least swim in the hotel pool).

Valiant 42

We're going to an art symposium in Yuma, Arizona this weekend, so instead of waiting around in an airport for an hour or two to transfer to a little propeller plane (a planelette? a planito?) and another hour flight we decided to fly to San Diego, rent a car, and drive across the desert to Yuma. Besides saving us some hassle and money this also meant we got to see Jim and Sheilagh on their boat, which is docked in a marina right outside the airport (their slip is literally less than half a mile from the terminal). Since they've put the boat up for sale we were worried that the boys were never going to get to see it, but now those fears have been allayed. Sure they won't remember it, but at least they have seen it. Anyway, to the pictures....

As soon as we got on the boat Evan immediately set about exploring all the nooks and crannies, like the forward berth:

and the anchor chain locker in the forward berth, or as it's also known, the Paige Escape Hatch:

The Paige Escape Hatch? When our nieces were having a sleepover on the boat a year or two ago, Paige (the youngest one... I think she was 4 at the time) semi-woke up in the middle of the night. Disoriented and finding herself in a strange place she tried to get out of bed by climbing through this door. Fortunately she wasn't able to get it open before Jim got to her.

But I digress. Here's Evan scaling the ladder to get back up on deck:

He took a break from exploring to hang out with Alex while Steph changed his diaper:

But then it was right back to scrambling around. We spent quite a while in the cockpit, as there was lots of cool stuff to see and do there. He got to pull all the rope out of a bag and then stuff it back in (evidently that's more fun than it sounds), pretend to steer the boat, and climb around on all the various chairs. I think these stern seats were his favorites, probably because they were the highest and suspended out over the water a bit:

Grandpa Jim showed him some of the tackle they used for fishing in Mexico (when they fished, which I don't think was very often -- neither Jim nor Sheilagh are big fish people):

Alex spent most of his time on board below deck hanging out with Mom and Grandma while they talked and got lunch ready, which he seemed fine with:

And no, that's not a baby megaphone, just a plastic funnel for Alex to chew on. Any pacifier in a storm, ya know?

Velociraptor

Alex has really gotten into screeching like a velociraptor (or maybe a pterodactyl) recently:

Flip

Steph found out today (so I found out this evening) that Jodi (our regular babysitter) has been helping Evan to do a flip of sorts. Here are Steph and Evan practicing:

I've never seen it for myself, but apparently when Jodi does it Evan whips all the way around without catching his leg or anything (which happens to us almost every time). We'll keep practicing, though.

Still More Exersaucer

We just keep getting better pictures of Alex in his Exersaucer...

And video, too:

Mom and Boy

I got some nice pictures of Steph and Alex today, of which this is the best:

Big Boy Utensils

Evan has been eating with a fork and spoon for quite a while, but if there was cutting to be done he mostly called in the big guns (or rather, the big knives), Mom and Dad. That might be about to change, though:

Of course, he probably would have been wise to choose an easier target than a green bean for his first time using a knife: