Dinner Time

On October 5th, my mom (Lynn's) birthday, we all headed to dinner at Mesa Verde. Fortunately, that dining room is a very kid-friendly place, because between Tyler and Emma, quite a mess was made! They certainly had a good time though. Here are some fun pics of the kiddos:

I love cold spoons!



Learning the the ropes from Emma!

What a Cutie!

Here are a few fun pics taken by Aunt Gretchen at the beginning of September! She's captured some of my favorite Tyler shots. :-)

Pumpkin Patch and Swing Time

Somebody had fun at the pumpkin patch!! Last weekend, church had a giant pumpkin patch set up on the lawn after services, so out we went to pick Tyler's pumpkin. As you can see, Little Man had a lot of fun with his grandpa! After checking out a few pumpkins, we ended up with one that weighs at least as much as Tyler does. It's currently living on our front porch. Here he is trying on a few for size...

As well as some family pics hanging out together:

And then today, after a giant walk to the beach, complete with wading in the white water and eating a few handfuls of sand (not the best idea...), we headed to the park for some big-boy swinging in our very own swing. Unfortunately, the video doesn't capture it as well as I'd hoped, but Tyler was giggling like crazy every time he would get close to me for another push. He had a great time! I pushed him for over 20 minutes before we finally called it quits because everytime I tried to end the ride, he let me know he wasn't finished. Here are some action shots followed by a short video.

Until next time....

Tyler Goes to Disneyland!

Since I really have no hope of catching up on all of the posts I should've been making these last few months, I just decided to start clean with Tyler's recent activities, and that includes his very first trip to Disneyland on Saturday, October 4th. We had no idea if he would "get" it, but it turns out, he did! Tyler had a blast at the park. He loved the carousel (and tried to eat the pole); he loved Casey Jr's Train, and he was a little unsure about the Pirates of the Caribbean. Fortunately, after squeezing my hand really tightly as we descended into the darkness, he decided he was hungry, and ate for the rest of the ride. By the time he was done, the ride was over. Perfect timing!

Here he is enjoying the carousel (it looks like we'll be spending a bit more time riding it at Fashion Island), and below is Casey Jr's Train. We sat in the caboose, and Tyler tried to "sing" along to the songs on the ride. It was very cute.

The day culminated at The Jungle Ride, which Tyler completely slept through, and of course, we got the obligatory photos in front of the Magic Kingdom and with a Mickey hat on (thanks to Kristin Cornuelle for that one...I know Tyler looks a little bewildered in the picture we caught, but trust me, he loved it!). All in all, it was a great day and Tyler had a blast. Since we now have annual passes to the Magic Kingdom, we will definitely be heading back for more adventures!

Finally, a New Update!

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have been so remiss in not posting a new entry. I must get the award for the world's worst blogger! Well, I am finally up and running again, so here is a monster update to get you up to speed on how our little guy has changed since the end of April when I last posted. There is lots to report on....another visit from Grandma & Grandpa Anderson, visits to the desert (with more pool time), my first Mother's Day, a trip to Hawaii, the 4th of July, 4 new teeth (with 2 more on the way...this kid is a teething machine!), swim lessons, learning to roll over in order to get to his toys, sitting up like a big boy, solid food (oh my!) and bouncing in his bouncer...one of Tyler's favorite toys ever. Wow, have we been busy!

To be continued with pictures...

The Mexican Uncle Comes to Town

Uncle Dave, aka the Mexican Uncle, finally got to meet Tyler a few weeks ago. Here they are at their first meeting. It was love at first sight! :-) Dave is down in Mexico doing research on a very exciting Mayan site called Xtobo in the Yucatan Peninsula for his PhD dissertation. After a full year of excavating and research, he took a break to come home for some R&R and a visit with his nephew. (Check out his excavation blog at http://mixtuux.blogspot.com/). Of course, we thought it was fitting to take Dave straight to a Mexican restaurant where little Tyler was very well behaved. He did, however, have a few nightmares about his uncle going back to Mexico. Here's a picture to prove it!



But, Uncle Dave dispelled any such fears with some after dinner flying, which Tyler quite enjoyed once we all got home.

The next day, we all took an outing to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The goal was to get Tyler to check out the fish and start tracking things with his eyes, but the reality was a little different. The aquarium was packed (that's the last time we do that on a Saturday afternoon...), and Tyler wasn't too cooperative. We did have a few moments where he showed some interest, particularly with respect to some neon yellow slow-moving jellyfish, but in general, he was unimpressed. Hopefully next time he'll be more excited about it.






After our jaunt at the Aquarium, the little man decided it was time for a nap, especially since he felt so safe with his Uncle Dave. This is a man, after all, who owns a machete, and more importantly, knows how to use it. How could Tyler not feel relaxed and protected?? Until he gets to see his Uncle Dave again, Tyler has a little lion named Doug that Dave brought him to keep him company. Hopefully he won't have to wait too long though!

Easter & Tyler's First Swim!

Tyler celebrated his very first Easter out at the desert at the Reserve. He had a great time, and even got to swim for the first time. Of course, with his mom, learning to swim is a big priority! Here's the little guy with his first Easter Bunny portrait. Not sure Tyler fully appreciated what was going on, but we had a great time at the Easter carnival and barbeque put on by the Reserve. Next year, he should be a little more into it.

Matt was also very excited, as Tyler got his first Easter baskets. Grandma Anderson sent a fabulous basket with an adorable green Easter bunny (that bunny is living in Tyler's room right now), and the Reserve provided (what else!) golf themed Easter baskets. So, here you have Tyler with his very first golf set! This now lives out at the desert, so as he gets a little bit bigger and can actually stand, he might have some fun with it. It's never too early to start learning golf, right Dad?

Tyler also had some very special Easter visitors! The Thorntons & Kilhoffers were in California enjoying the sun (a nice change of pace from a Chicago winter), and they got to meet Tyler for the first time as well. Here we have Colleen Thornton with her granddaughters Sarah and Anna & her daughter Maureen. They brought some adorable gifts for little Tyler, and he certainly seemed to enjoy basking in the attention of all of those ladies!




Easter Day saw Tyler's first dip in the pool, and he was a total trooper! We'd tried to take him swimming the day before, but as soon as we got him all decked out in his sun hat & sun screen, he promptly fell asleep. Fortunately, on Sunday, he was a little more cooperative. The pool was all heated to make it nice and warm for his little body, and he seemed to really enjoy it. We even dunked him underwater a few times with no protest, although he definitely came up blinking pretty frantically! Here he is hanging out on the waterfall and zooming around the pool with mom, as well as video of him "swimming" about with both of his parents. It's our first foray into video, so hopefully this clip works!

I think Tyler's least favorite part of the whole experience was getting out of the water and drying off. He's the same way after his bath. He seems to like the water a lot, but not the aftermath. Especially after the swim because he's too little to wear the Little Swimmers diapers, so his diaper was a seriously heavy, waterlogged mess after his dip. Oh, well. At least he's happy in the water. Check out those muscles! What a strong little boy!

Emma Turns One

On March 16th, our niece, Emma Pharris, had her first birthday. Where did the year go!? It's hard to believe that Tyler will be able to do all the things Emma can do in just one short year. It's amazing how fast they learn and grow. She certainly loved her cake! Here she is just a year ago, on last March 16th. Such a little one...

There were lots of cousins on hand to help Emma celebrate. First, of course, was little Tyler, and while Mom had great fantasies of taking lots of pictures of Tyler with his cousins, he was far more interested in sleeping his way through the entire party. Here he is at his best that day:


Other cousins in attendance were Courtlynn Davis (with her mom Shelley, Catherine's cousin...Courtlynn's 1st birthday was just February 26th) and Bailey Grover, another newbee born on February 12th. Here she is with her mom, Nicole Grover. Dad Paul and son Paul Jr. were running around too, but they evaded my camera.



Emma certainly enjoyed her day! Here are some parting shots of her happy family enjoying that delicious cake. Next year at this time, she'll be a big sister. We can't wait for little boy Pharris to join us in September!

Great-Grandpa Anderson!

OK, so I know I'm a little bit late in posting this entry (sorry about that), but at long last, here you go! Tyler was incredibly lucky to have a visit from his Great-Grandpa Anderson and many of his Anderson relatives on March 7th & 8th. We had a great visit with everyone, and are so grateful they all wanted to come down and meet Tyler. Pictured above are Matt, Great-Grandpa Anderson and his wife Liz (and of course Tyler...), and in the background it's Matt's Uncles Chuck Ludwig and John Anderson, Matt's Aunt Pat, his cousin Patrick and Catherine. (Notice how I didn't say "Great Uncle" or "Great Aunt"...there's been some resistance to that moniker from that generation... :-) It was quite a full house, but we had a great time with everyone.

Here's a few pics of Great-Grandpa Anderson bonding with the newest member of his family (and his first Great-Grandson...so special!)

We were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather on Saturday, so we took the whole crew out for a harbor cruise. It was Tyler's first trip on a boat, so of course, we had to memorialize it. Here's our little family just after the cruise. You can tell Tyler was really enjoying it...just as long as we didn't let go of that pacifier...

Here's some other family shots from the boat. Check out Tyler looking all gangster with his Aunt Pat...

And Matt's cousin Patrick, a newly minted Marine, was able to make the trip down from 29 Palms to meet the new arrival. Back in November, Tyler attended Patrick's graduation in San Diego, and he even sported a tattoo in support of Patrick...

And lastly, Aunt Pat presented Tyler with an incredibly meaningful gift. When Matt's cousin, Jenny, was born, his Grandma Anderson began two samplers...one for a girl and one for a boy. When a girl arrived, the boy sampler remained unfinished. Matt's grandmother has sinced passed away, but her half-stitched sampler was saved, and Aunt Pat completed it to commemorate Tyler's birth. Matt was very close with his grandmother, so the gift was incredibly sentimental and appreciated, and it now hangs proudly in Tyler's nursery. If you look very closely below in the left corner, it reads, "Great Grandma and Aunt Pat". (Look who's avoiding the title of "Great" again... ;-)