Things that should have gotten a post but didn't.

One Saturday morning this summer a marching band came by our house.

The whole band complete with color guard paraded by, some on the front yard. Alastair was super excited and thought the drums were the best. I wonder what those people enjoying the hard to come by luxury of a good lie in thought when they woke up to that.

Our neighbors pooled enough money/donations to get our own private mini-concert. Well, as private as an entire marching band can be.

Did I mention Alastair is a hand holder? Loving it up with his pal MC.

Getting ready for an important milestone: the carpool lane.

School is back in full swing now. This year, the first day of school was marked by an exciting (at least to the driver) milestone: Alastair now gets deposited at school through the carpool lane. This is one step closer to being ready for kindergarten (sniff, sniff) and it sure makes the mornings easier. That is, mornings are easier on days when his mother isn't worried about missing carpool time entirely and having to walk him in wearing slippers. Which at least don't look like slippers. (A good thing since I have forgotten to change shoes more than once and worn them out and about. Sometimes leaving the house with kids is such a feat that wearing slippers in public doesn't seem that bad at all. That said, I draw the line at actual sleepwear. Monday at Kroger, there was a man in the self-check in a robe. Seriously.)



We have also been to the zoo twice in the last month. It is really cool to watch Emery look around and really notice things.

What is that?

She points at her discoveries all the time now and exclaims, "eh! eh!" which is her favorite sound as of late. Every time we're outside she is scanning the sky for airplanes and birds. Today she was excited to point out the moon to me and kept an eye on it, even though it didn't move.

As close as Alastair would get for the picture.

On our last visit, we finally got to see the animatronic dinosaur exhibit that has been there all summer. The dinosaurs, about seven or so of them, move a bit and make scary noises. The first time through, Alastair was my shadow and made sure that both Emery and I were between him and the dinosaurs. By the end, he was much more comfortable and we went through again before heading home.

Emery is only crying because the stroller stopped moving, I swear.

Did you know that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was indigenous only to forested river valleys in North America? Sort of the Seattle/Vancouver area actually. I'm not sure why I find that so interesting, but I do. Alastair was more interested to learn about carnivores vs. herbivores and some of the ways to tell them apart like the type of teeth they have. He hasn't been that into dinosaurs to this point, but I think this exhibit may change that.

Did you know we have a bunch of birthdays coming up in our house in the next few weeks? Brace yourselves.