It's a Virtue

First are the rest of the photos from our trip to San Antonio over Thanksgiving.

Froot Loops on vacation. Nice.

On Friday we went to the San Antonio Zoo, where we met my old high school friend, Dr. Daniel Howard; his wife, Louise; their two kids, Elena and Bryce; and Dan's parents, Bill and Julie.

Friday night in San Antonio is always a big event as there is a huge parade on the riverwalk. We ate at a very nice restaurant and then had great seats for the festivities.

Mommy was very proud of the additional storage she picked up and how nicely the living room looked. Too bad it only lasts so long and then it's destruction all over again. But let's not think of those times. Let's remember the serenity and beauty of it all...

I know you believe our little Simon is as happy as a clam all the time, but oh how wrong you are.

What a life this kid leads.

Hopefully I got some good husband points for sending these flowers to mommy for her birthday.

New Do

I still need to upload more pictures from our San Antonio trip (hopefully that'll happen sometime this century), but I wanted to post this pic taken yesterday. Simon got a nice new haircut and looks pretty sharp.

Way Cool!

Uncle Bunk, I am sorry I had to steal your line but I couldn't say it better myself. Today was a very special day -- we picked up our brand-new 2012 Nissan Leaf. It's completely powered by electricity and has ZERO emissions. I have destroyed a lot of the Ozone Layer with all of my driving the last eight-plus years, so our household needs to try to do its part in reducing our carbon footprint. But it's also a pretty cool little car; it has 100% torque and some neat little gizmos. Stop on by and we'll give you the 411. And someday I hope to obtain all of our needed power from the sun, so then we can say we have no carbon footprint whatsoever in terms of energy consumption.

And I haven't forgotten that I need to post more pictures from San Antonio. They'll be here eventually, just be patient. Finally, I haven't had a chance to acknowledge the passing of my grandmother, Ilse Ruth Brauer, on Monday. She was my last living grandparent, so definitely the end of an era. For those of you attending her funeral on Thursday you'll hear some additional remarks from me at that time.

SAy It Loud

Since the 26th has now come and gone, we now only have to tell people Simon's age in months for another few weeks. We'll soon be able to say, "He's Two," something he's also very good at informing people of as well. We had a very, very nice trip to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. Aunt Robyn was a very nice host and we were grateful everyone could make it. I'll have more photos to post later in the week once mommy gives me her phone for a few minutes, but here's some from my device that helped make Steve Jobs (RIP) a billionaire. As you know Mr. Simon is in constant motion, so we have to take turns keeping him occupied when trying to sit down for a nice dinner. Thursday night we ate a cool restaurant called "Q" (I think), and this was taken as I was sitting outside the place with the little guy. He actually sat very nicely for a while because we saw lots of yellow taxis on the street.

San Antonio is known, of course, for it's Riverwalk, and our hotel was right in the middle of it. These were taken Friday morning after breakfast. There were lots of ducks and airplanes to look at.

San Antonio also has a very big parade on the river the night after Thanksgiving, so we had a nice dinner at a place called Zuni and then stayed for the festivities. Simon was able to stay up much later than normal as he had a lot of stimulation.

And if we could only just let him look at jets all day long, life would be much more calm.

LYFAO

Sultan of Swing

We had a busy weekend but all events went well. Yesterday morning I made blueberry pancakes, which were a hit in the household. Then we went to synagogue. Following that we all took a nap. Then we headed to Gurnee Mills and the Pleasant Prairie outlet mall for a little shopping. Grandma Janet met us for dinner at the Chancery nearby the mall. A few weeks ago mommy ordered some larger prints of photos that were taken over the summer. This one is very well placed as we see it every time we enter the house from the garage. How can this not brighten your day?

And here's kid #2 at the 20-week ultrasound, which was done last week. Can't believe we're halfway there already!

Very focused on his Thomas the Train video.

This was the big purchase at Gurnee Mills last night.

Today was spent around home but it was still busy. I made cheesy eggs for everyone for breakfast, then mommy headed off to Yoga. When she got back we went to Wadsworth Park.

There are no free lunches in this house!

Finally, I want to thank those pesky Miami Dolphins for winning their third consecutive game today. Now my Vikings are tied with St. Louis and Carolina for the second-worst record in the NFL (i.e. second pick in the draft!).

Week's Worth

Now that mommy (and soon yours truly) has the IPhone there's a good chance many more pictures/vidoes will be taken. That's good for you and bad for me. Grandma Fun stayed a few more days, and there was a lot of activity.

As you all know Simon has a very difficult time standing or sitting still for more than a few seconds, but what a treat it was on Sunday to have one of the owners of the house, Jim, come by to mow the lawn. Simon was captivated by the work and we didn't hear a sound out of him for about 20-30 minutes. How nice.

We do dress the kid every once in a while.

He always finds the best spot on the bed. It's also a good place to avoid being harassed by a crazy kid.

Later in the morning on Sunday we took a trip to Costco.

Monday morning was very nice as I didn't book any appointments, and Grandma Fun, mommy, Simon and I went to the Kohl's Children's Museum in Glenview.

I had to go to work but the other three stayed for lunch. Looks like it was yummy.

From Tuesday afternoon.

The next Carl Lewis? This morning we went to the nearby Russell Military Museum. Even though it's only a 10-minute drive from our house Simon still fell asleep on the way!

Finally, we want to say a quick Mazel Tov to my cousin, Justin Laven, and his wife, Jessica, on the birth of their second child, a daughter named Lillian. She was born on Thursday.