Dragon Boat Races

This weekend we went to the dragon boat races in Hartford. Ryan and his Dad got some good Thai food, I got a great smoothie and Ethan enjoyed listening to the Japanese drumming group. It was a beautiful (not hot) day outside and I'm glad we got out to do something fun before Ryan's school year started again.  I was excited that the guard at the Children's Science Center let me in to use the restroom after pointing out the port-a-potties the people in front of me.  Yeah for being pregnant!

Ethan signing "eat" he loved the Thai chicken

Here are the drums, I let Ethan get close at one point but he tried to go right up to the drums. So back into the stroller he went.

Here he was trying to dance to the drum music

 Watching the dragon boat races from the bridge

That night Ryan lit a fire in the backyard.  He even let Ethan put some wood in the fire, that definitely made me nervous! Ryan wanted to cook our dinner over the fire, but we compromised and made the shish kabobs on the grill and made bannocks (sort of like biscuits) over the fire.

Ryan making the bannocks. They actually weren't that bad!

Grandpa had to hold Ethan back because he wanted to keep adding wood to the fire.

We had a busy weekend and Ryan went back to work today so he hadn't had time to tend to the garden until tonight.  Here is just today's tomato haul (including the green ones that fell off because of the wind) I'm not sure what we are going to do with all these tomatoes.  Or what we will do with the cucumbers that keep piling up!

Too hot to blog!

It has been a hot summer and being pregnant hasn't made it any easier!  But I think I can finally catch up tonight.  Ryan has been busy working with his Dad on the kitchen so we've mainly stuck around the house. 

Ryan had a lot of drama this summer with his job.  He was pretty sure he would be laid off, so he started applying elsewhere.  He got a job offer and accepted it after the current district said they did not have a position for him.  He finally got a lay off notice 2 weeks later.  Then suddenly his old district called back and said a teacher resigned last minute so they do have a position for him at a different school (coincidentally its the school my mom teaches at)  Luckily the new job was okay with him resigning (probably since there are so many people looking for jobs right now) and so he is officially still with New Britain and we don't have to take the huge pay cut.   He has one week left before going back to work so I am glad it is finally settled!

Ryan has been hard at work in his garden as well.  Here is his cucumber haul for just one day!  Good thing we have neighbors who like them too, I don't know what we would do with them all! The tomatoes are just starting to ripen so I am sure we will have a lot to share as well!

My little boy is getting so big!

Here is his "what's that noise?" face, usually its a car or truck driving by.

Yup, he doesn't stay still for long

Ethan's first word was fish, well it sounds more like "ish".  Ever since he is obsessed with fish and since his bath towel has fish on it, he loves to wear it around the house :) He also can say "wa-wa" for water. We sometimes think he says other words, but nothing consistent enough to know that is what he means.  He is getting better at signing and is starting to pick up signs faster.

He still loves trucks and looks at his truck books all the time. He also loves cucumbers and will eat them straight out of the garden, skin and all!

Last week, Ethan and I went to a splash pad in West Hartford with our friends Clair and Ollie.  Both boys loved it and it was fun to catch up with Clair.  The best part was that it is all fenced in so Ethan couldn't escape!

Family comes to town

Ryan's dad has been here the last couple of weeks remodeling my parent's kitchen.  This past weekend Ryan's mom, his brother Nate and his wife Ashley all came up for a visit. We had a great weekend and enjoyed spending time with everyone, its too bad they couldn't stay longer. On Saturday we went to Ender's State Forest and then to my uncle's backyard bbq. It was nice to have so many adults around to chase Ethan around as he doesn't stay in one spot too long! On Sunday we went to my parent's house so Grandpa and Ryan could show off what they've done so far.  Thanks for coming up to visit and hopefully we get to see you guys soon!

Here we are (minus Grandma who was taking the picture) at the top of one of the waterfalls

The Fisher men 

Uncle Nate showing Ethan the water

Ethan just needed a little help getting up the trail and who better than Daddy and Grandpa

When we went to my parents house, the first thing Ethan did was run to the blueberry cages so he could chow down!

Cars and girly things

A few weeks ago we were very busy selling our old car and buying a minivan.  We had decided that our car would be too small for 2 carseats so we should start looking now.  Ryan spent a long time researching minivans and checking out prices.  I figured that we would actually buy one closer to my due date, but Ryan found a great deal and so we scrambled to get everything in order so we could buy it.  I never thought I'd be a minivan driver, but I actually love it! 

Ethan in Ryan's old car. He managed to get the right key into the ignition and turn it enough to start the radio while I was cleaning out the car! Now we know not to let him play in the driver's seat, who knows when he'll be able to actually start the car!

 Here is our new minivan, I snapped a quick picture before heading out one day which is why you can see Ethan peeking out of his carseat.

I also decided to try to make my niece Cindy her first birthday present.  I figured it would be a chance for me to try my hand at making some girly things for our little girl.  After buying some cute ribbon, I spent hours on youtube searching for tutorials.  I learned a valuable lesson, look for tutorials first, all the ribbon I bought was the wrong size! I also found a tutorial for a tutu and made that too. I found a great site for alligator clips and headbands and bought some for Cindy and our baby girl. I am definitely not crafty so I was relieved to see how easy it was.  I was never into bows and frills, but now I am excited to have some girly things for her!

Petting Zoo

About a month ago Ryan, Ethan and I went to the petting zoo at Flamig Farm. Since it was a Monday morning, other than the day-campers, we were the only ones there. Ethan loved all the animals, he wasn't scared of any of them.  I lucked out and got to take pictures while Ryan helped Ethan feed the animals. They were both a mess and covered in slobber by the time they were done.

Ryan teaching Ethan how to feed the animals.

One of the camp counselors was nice enough to bring out a baby goat.  Ethan didn't really like it though, he wanted to play with the bigger ones!

He actually caught and picked up one of the hens! The hen wasn't so happy, but Ethan thought it was funny.

We ended the outing with a bottle of Avery's soda, even Ethan got a taste!