4 days with the Brooks Baby

Addison is sitting on the family room floor flipping through her "Chicago Friends" photo album and playing with her toys. She seems a little bored with out Evan around.

Addie and Evan played pretty well together. It fun to watch them both move around the family room and kitchen at lighting speeds and remember that just a few months ago they would simply lay on the floor and stare at each other. Addison shared her toys, by sharing I mean she would let Evan play with some of her toys, and when she was done with him playing with whatever it was, she'd take it back...sometimes by force. That seemed okay with Evan, however, as long as she shared the remote control, the camera case and the phone.

We went down to Fountain Square on Tuesday with Kim and Rylan to check out the new farmers' market. We decided it wasn't so much a farmers' market as it was a place to buy chocolate chip cookies and homemade hand soap. I guess I should stop expecting Green City Market to open a branch here. For some reason a camera crew seemed to be following us around the market...probably because of our super good lookin' kids.

Tuesday night Evan's Gramma Rose came down from Dayton for a visit with the babes, bearing gifts of toys, cheese, homemade mustard and jellies, quilts and more. Shortly after dinner, Rose headed back to Dayton, Renata and I meant to go to bed but instead got sucked into hours of American's Funniest Home Videos. Yep, we're kinda losers.

Yesterday, we packed up the Tuscon and headed to the zoo for a few hours of outdoor entertainment. Evan slept through most of it, and the place was crowded (darn summer camps!) but it was a nice outing. I swear the babes had a lot more fun than picture shows! After a quick trip to the Green Papaya for some Thai food, we headed over to to the Neyers so Evan could meet his beach pals.

Throughout the visit our darling babes decided that naps, and bedtimes for that matter, were optional. In an attempt to wear them out yesterday we logged some quality backyard time. It didn't really work, but at least we were in the sunshine.

Once the little ones were finally asleep Renata and I sipped a glass of wine on the back patio, chatted a bit and then acknowledged the obvious : We were EXHAUSTED. By 10:30 we were both snug in our beds.

This was a great dry run for the beach (22 days and counting) and I think vacation will be a ton of fun...and that we'll be in bed quite early!