The Fine Game of Nil

We have done many things, had many visitors, and gone many places in the past few months. We have fallen really behind on updating here, so I wanted to throw together a quick post with pictures from various things over the past few months. (Actually, as I got through this, it got late, so this is just pictures from New England BIolabs’ company picnic in September. I’ll do other updates soon).

First, Alex and I found a sad little wooden rocking horse on the side of the street back in August/September. We brought it home and Alex repaired it’s broken seat. We then painted it. This is the rocking horse:

New England Biolab’s company picnic was on September 13th at Crane’s Beach in Ipswich. We had a really fun time at this family event/clam bake. It was Liam’s first trip to a beach/the ocean.

Liam and Mama love corn

His shirt says “rocket scientist”. Alex wore a shirt that said “rocket science is for kids, bioinformatics is for scientists”.

Liam likes watermelon…

And is good at sharing

a boy and his pail

yeah, we like ice cream too

Liam helping Daddy fly a dragon kite. I should mention that my grandfather was a great kite flyer. He would make his own kites out of wood and plastic bags, then take us up the field to fly them. He would sometimes string the kite string through a fishing pole to make it easier to reel in and out. Flying kites always reminds me of grandpa. He would have gotten a kick out flying a kite with Liam, his great grandson.

and then we were kung fu fighting… that babe was fast as lightening…

“I don’t want to be a lifeguard on the beach…

…I want to run naked through the grass!”

All in all, it was a great day, even if it was too cold to actually get into the ocean.

Every year my company throws a Halloween party for all the employee kids.  I started in November of last year, so Liam just missed it.  This year though, he put on his best skeleton costume and hit the party.

Hanging out with dad.

There was an amazing spread of food that The Boy took full advantage of, and plenty of places to run around and explore.  Three flights of stairs to climb (4 times in total), and so many new people to say hello to that he was running around like the party was thrown just for him.

The stock room was closed down for the day, and converted into a spooky Halloween house.  Though initially tentative, we warmed up quite quickly to what turned out to be a miniature baby rave with trippy hanging lights, banging music, and a bubble wrap floor.

It pays to be the first one through on the bubble wrap floor

Liam the ghoul

Even a ghoul need his mommy

All told, it was quite the halloween party, complete with a sizable candy haul, none of which he got to eat.

Liam knows exactly what a rocking chair is for and how to work one.

Emily’s parents also dropped into town and spent a good bit of time playing with their grandson.

On Saturday we headed out to the center of the state and met up with my Parents at a pie diner in beautiful downtown Rolla Missouri.

We already knew Liam is a big fan of pie, as I’ve made plenty at home.  This place, however, had an entire lunch service based entirely around the pie format.  Between the chicken and mushroom pot pie, the bacon quiche, and the strawberry rhubarb pie the boy was in heaven.

We met up with Bruce and Barb at the pie restaurant.  Its been a while since they’ve seen Liam, and was quite the charming character, running around the restaurant and saying hello to everyone.

Liam hanging out with Bruce, two knuckles deep showing off his newest daycare skill.

After lunch at the pie diner, the five of us retired to a local establishment which was slightly more child proofed to do some quick laptop repair.  Here’s Liam working to debug the wireless settings on Bruce’s laptop.

This past long weekend Emily, The Boy and I were all down in St. Louis visiting the relatives.  Among other things, we visited the zoo.  As you can see from the video, Liam spent the first half asleep, tired out from having spent all morning getting into his cousin Paul’s big kid toys.

Walking in the Zoo

He completely missed the rhinos, which is too bad because we already know he has a soft spot for them.  But he did wake up right after the above video was shot and got to see the hippo swimming laps in the tank.

It was cold that day, and we'd already done a good bit of walking around, so Liam got to wear Dad's flannel to keep a bit more warm.

Visiting some more distant relatives.