Theo-Bot (Liam's Birthday Party!)

We had the pleasure of attending one of our Indiana friend's birthday parties this past weekend. I've known Ashley since we were about six and her son is about right between Theo and Eli in age.  This mom threw a really cute robot birthday party (I  was glad I packed Theo's robot shirt two months ago). 

I have always called my oldest Theo-Bot (don't know why), so I was especially excited she made a photo station that worked well.

 

Just one of the cute robot-themed menu items.

 Once gifts and cake were finished with indoors (my son is the only one that asks for a second piece... not sure what that says about my parenting).  Bubbles and Liam's new wagon kept everyone happy and busy outside on the beautiful day.

Eli loved playing with blades of grass...

and many kisses and hugs from the pretty girls there.

Too bad we don't live closer...

(All photos are courtesy of Ashley's little sister since Theo decided our camera was dirty and gave it a bath in the dog's water dish.)

Local Attractions: Northern Delaware

Delaware Museum of Natural History:  Interesting exhibits for parents, and this place had a great room designed just for hands-on play for little ones.  We could probably spend at least an hour there alsone.  I wish I could make Theodore's room look just like this!

Camden Children's Garden:  We had a great time here with our cousins!  This place has limited hours, but kids two and under are free and the rest are $6 if you can go a time that they are opening.  Theo loved the carousel, as well as the ability to run around outside and see exhibits.

Milburn Orchards:  In addition to picking fruit, they have a petting zoo year round and a newly remodeled farmer's market.  They also have a playground, wooden train, sandbox, and other outside attractions for the little ones to play on.

 Adventure Aquarium:  Similar to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, a great place to spend the day.  Is better in the afternoon, as school groups tend to dominate the exhibits in the morning.  They have many touch tanks for the kids to feel the creatures.

Delaware Children's Museum:  This is a fairly new museum, where we can spend an hour or two with our active toddler.  There are quite a few different exhibits, but T. spent a large amount of time at this one last time:

Update... 15 months

Now that Theodore is mobile, it is much harder to work on the computer than one would think. Currently, he is out grocery shopping with dada so mama can have some alone time, and I finally have a chance to update my blog. I have only a month left of school, and am looking forward to getting to take Theodore out and about more this summer. I'm considering swim lessons, hope to find some story hours, and plan on taking Theo to many parks and markets throughout the summer. Dada is still working toward his "tam" so we hope to have many picnic lunches outside Brian's lab this summer.

Theodore began walking back at the beginning of the year, and is now almost a pro at walking without stumbling. He hasn't mastered going down stairs yet (he fell at the zoo today, and has a big mark on his head), but he is able to climb up on the table if your back is turned for a few seconds. He has learned "open-close" (with closet doors, flip phones, and fridge doors) and "on-off" (with light switches, the vacuum and the tv). Most recently, he also learned to LOCK doors, which really freaked mama out, but I called Brian and he instructed me on how to pick the lock.

In the last few months Theo has had his first birthday, got his molars (he's up to about 10 now, number 11 is trying), had his first hair cut, and has tried many new foods. His current favorite is wheat bread, but bananas and blueberries still come in close second and third places.

Some of our favorite pics from the last few months include:

Blueberry Adventures (and Other Produce Pursuits)

So this summer, two of our main sources of entertainment have been going to farmer's markets and orchards. Two things I never really did in my own childhood. Since I lived on a farm there was no reason. We could get fresh eggs from an aunt or pick strawberries from my grandmother's patch. We didn't need a market or an orchard to help us connect to our own food supply. But out here in Delaware, we need to.

We've been up to Wilmington for a small farmers market in Little Italy (Saturdays, 9-1, 8th & Bancroft Parkway), headed over to U of D's own market on campus at Mentors' Circle (11-2 on Thursdays), and found the best selection at Newark's own farmer's market that operates every Sunday (10-2, 280 East Main Street) where we can easily head to after church. Among other things, we've gotten a lot of green beans, some rhubarb (made my first strawberry-rhubarb pie-it was fantastic), fresh herbs, and of course baked goods for Brian.

Theodore at the UD Farmer's Market.

Milburn Orchard has also been a favorite destination of ours this summer, and for the first time in well over a decade, my blueberry feign of a husband got to go blueberry picking. It was the orchard's first year for blueberries, and they had three different varieties to choose from. The first variety is probably the reason I mistakenly thought I didn't like blueberries. They just don't hit my taste buds right. But in the following rows, I finally realized that blueberries might not be so bad after all. For years I have baked blueberry pies without tasting them, skipped the blueberry sauce on waffles, and picked blueberries out of fruit salads. I just thought they were not the berry for me. However, by that night around 9:30 pm I had a piece of blueberry pie that made me seriously doubt my behavior. IT was delicious! I can understand now why Brian is always begging me to make this pie for him.

Since we the perfect fresh blueberries to use, I went all out and even made the pie crust from scratch, and watched the blueberries go from this:

We had a fun time at the orchard, though we are still riding this East coast heat wave to the fullest. Theodore and I ended up back in the car in the air conditioning while Brian was still picking. He would have probably stayed out there until his basket was full if I let him.

I've also kind of fell in love with my mother-in-law's garden this summer. I love to see things growing, and her garden has so much variety. She brought us out a bunch of peppers and eggplant and kohlrabi among other things. It's even better than a farmer's market.

Cooperstown, NY

Sunday and Monday we spent a packed two days in the quaint and beautiful little village called Cooperstown. Known as the baseball capital of the world, it was a perfect trip centered around this American pastime. My friend Mariah's little brother Walker was playing in a tourney at the Cooperstown Dreams Park, and we trekked up toward Albany to be a part of the action.

Our first stop of the trip was Brooks House of Bar-B-Que. We called ahead and grabbed take-out to eat on the picnic tables while Theodore continued to nap in the car beside us. I normally don't eat chicken off the bone, but this was excellent stuff. I liked that it was a dry barbeque, without the sauce, though Brian and I both agreed it would be good to have a little sauce to dip the breast meat in. This was one of many places we visited that Rachael Ray suggested in her Aug 09 magazine. That article alone was enough to get me up to Cooperstown.

Our first stop in Cooperstown itself was the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It seemed like we had to look all over town, but we eventually found a parking spot right behind the museum. I would definitely suggest looking into the park and ride trains or trolleys to avoid the parking issues next time. We had an enjoyable time here, as anyone who knows Brian knows how he can read every article in a museum and spend the whole day soaking up information. I had to drag him out of there so we could get to Cooperstown Dreams park for one of Walker's games. When we got there they weren't doing too hot, but they soon put Walker in to pitch and the Wizards won a great game.

The next day, after an early morning game, we headed to Brewery Ommegang to have a tasting of the Belgian brews, and enjoy the scenery. A free tour accompanied the tasting, though I was disappointed they didn't actually have the bottling going. I would have loved to see that. After trying all the brews, I was able to finally get a handle on just what kind of ales I like (and don't). I always end up asking Brian if I'll like something, because I can never remember all the different kinds. I of course liked their lightest beer Witte, but also enjoyed Rare Vos as a great drink, and appreciated the quadruple Three Philosophers, though that may be partly because she had us try it with a side of dark chocolate. I wasn't a big fan of the BPA or the Abbey Ale (maybe the licorice turned me off?), but would love to try their Hennepin with some roasted chicken.

From here we followed Rachel Ray's advice to Alex and Ika where I agree that the BST (bacon, spinach, tomato) is a great sammy, and the fingerling potato fries live up to their praises (the Chipotle Aioli Dip was to die for). The last establishment we visited was The Penguin, an ice cream shop that boasted "custom ice cream". They basically take regular hard ice cream and blend in your toppings, more like a DQ Blizzard than a Cold Stone Mix-In but still being hard ice cream, not soft. I had a cone with butter pecan though and thought it was pretty great.

We enjoyed one last game before we headed back from an awesome trip.