Shoes

Brennan has officially reached "monkey-see, monkey-do" phase - he rubs his face whenever I let him hold a bottle of anything that could be lotion, and holds anything that resembles a phone up to his ear. He also really enjoys putting on his parents' shoes and shuffling around.
However, his own shoes aren't that important to him. Here he is at the Academy of Sciences, after losing a shoe in the Living Rain Forest Dome. Well, it wasn't really lost, I could see it just fine, there at the jungle's edge. I just wasn't allowed to retrieve it (we did eventually get it back). Bren had fun anyway, he loves to run around the aquarium level and point out all the cool animals to me - like giant sea stars and glowing jellyfish:
Then it was Easter, this year with CANDY! I did buy him a new toothbrush to offset my guilt.
Hooray! More rain! So we had our Easter Egg Hunt in the living room!
Brennan eventually discovered that the eggs opened. The jelly beans he could take or leave - mostly leave, judging by the one I found under the sofa yesterday - but the chocolate eggs were a big hit -
However, he needed a little help with removing the foil wrapper -
Another important event that day was watching the first Yankees home game (?) with Daddy. Brennan was interested for about 12 minutes, about 6 minutes longer than Mommy.

Eventually the sun returned, so we hit the big playground. This is a pretty common view of Bren at the playground. I always blink first. I wonder how far he'd get if I didn't chase after him - the ocean?

He also really likes the sand. I could do without it, I think I get more in my shoes & clothes than he does. At least he's stopped eating it.

And we had a big treat last week - Uncle Gavin came for a visit! Bren enjoyed taking him to the Academy of Sciences. He showed off his favorite spots, like the children's eel cove, and he also showed off his ability to eat noodles off a plate, without using utensils or even hands! So talented. He also perfected a new word - truck - so he could point them out to his uncle. We wish he could have stayed longer. To babysit. OK, kidding. It was just nice to seem them having fun together.

Vail

After our trip to Florida, we had a few weeks to enjoy some pretty spring days in San Francisco - the sun came out, the plum trees bloomed, and the playground dried off. Too bad it was a trick. It's raining buckets again. If only I'd paid more attention in 9th grade science during the "El Niño" section.

One way to get a break from rain is to go somewhere cold enough that it snows instead. And we were lucky enough to be able to go here:
After our weekend in Tahoe, Brennan's daddy apparently got bit by the snowboarding bug, so when our friends in Colorado suggested a trip to Vail, we signed right up. Also we haven't seen John, Suzanne, Audrey, and Grace since our visit to Boulder last September. I think it's especially fun to watch Bren & Grace together - she's only a month younger, so they do a lot of the same goofy toddler things.They seem to have a lot to say to each other, although Gracie's side of the conversation is much more intelligible. She can say things like "I wanna apple", where Bren sticks to his tried-and-true hand wiggle accompanied by whiny monkey sounds. We only got asked half a dozen times if they were twins.
In addition to passing along her apple procurement and eating techniques, Gracie also taught Brennan to pull his own hair and say "Owww".
Big sister Audrey was a big help, too, keeping the little monkeys entertained with singing, dancing, and telling stories. These stories were introduced with "Everybody keep quiet, I have a question". She was also very adept at getting her pink boots in front of her face just as I snapped a picture.
Thanks to ski school, the Golden Peak nursery, and the Duke's great babysitter, the adults managed to get away and hit the slopes for a few hours each day.
We lucked out with 8 or 9 inches of fresh snow early Friday morning, which made falling a lot less painful. And we did a lot of falling. Here are Mike & Suzie, enjoying a rest between wipe-outs:
They were doing much better by Saturday -
Brennan didn't get to go sledding, but we did have a little time in the snow. We had to, he had a snowsuit he was outgrowing. I took him out for a little walk while Daddy argued with United, who cancelled our Vail to Denver flight.

We did eventually make it home, but by the time we got back I realized my fatigue, scratchy throat, and trouble popping my ears was not just due to altitude and too much snowboarding - I had a pretty nasty cold. I lost my voice for 3 days, and I felt crappy, and that's my excuse for taking so long to post these photos. Let's see if I can twist an ankle or something so I can blame that for how long it takes me to put up the Easter pics.