New York New York

Today we went on our first little excursion together without Ernie. We hit New York City for a quick weekend getaway and hung out with Seago and Nora.

I finally watched Coraline on the plane ride. I've been fascinated with the Laika studio's movies since I saw a member give a talk at the St. Louis International Film Festival. It was a very cool stop motion film.

Watched the goofy vampire movie Renfield. Plane rides are such a good time for movies.

Ernie took care of Aunt Zoe while we were gone.

We arrived in NYC pretty late and just wanted a quick bite before bed. Somehow that ended up with us eating at a Taco Bell Cantina. The one in Vegas is pretty classy but the one in NYC is... not. It's mostly just a normal Taco Bell but they serve alcohol.

Our hotel roof had a good view of the Empire State Building.

The Black Bean Incident

Ern gave a kiss of one of the new babies at his daycare.

Big Ern played at the playground at Totem Lake Park.

We got Chipotle on the way home and Ern ordered a kids meal. We didn't realize the beans were a little bit spicy and Ern got some in his eyes. He was sad.

Boxing Day

Really the only reason to buy toys is that they come in boxes that are way more fun.

Lydia wanted to pack him up and ship him to Dupo but I convinced her to postpone.

St. Paddy's

Big Ern is about to change schools. We found one that's closer to home and also does the meal prep, so that was a win. Here he is taking a last ride around the school's neighborhood with some of his friends.

Ernie got a St. Patrick's Day card from Nana and Baba and had to thoroughly investigate it.

Diaper Man

Ern has figured out that he can squeeze around the safety fence we put up in order to retrieve and reorganize our shoes.

Now that Ern is a standing man we sometimes have to put his diaper on while he's working on his projects.