A Cerney Periodical

Last night grandma had a hankering for some thai food. Also, we introduced grandpa to crab rangoon last weekend and have a new convert. So the decision was had... Penny's Noodles right next to the park.  With out any instruction, Brock cleverly bent his straw in half to mimic Matt and I's chop stick techniques. As we attempted to video the moment, Brock got distracted posing for grandma. So meta, the picture taken in the video. Have you figured out why this post is titled "sticks and ham " yet?  and finally, make-shift chopstick success! And the food ain't bad either!

Brock is getting more and more talkative every day. In reality, he never really stops talking unless he's sleeping or swallowing, but he's starting to get more and more conversational. Occasional his insights are pretty profound.  Last week Brock was arranging coasters on the table into a bunch of different shapes (triangle, square, line, etc) and one of them was giving him difficulty. Holly tried to help, and Brock swiped her hand away and said, "no we share, no we share!" (We frequently remind Brock that "we share" things, and that it's a good thing to do.) I asked him, "Brock, do you not want to share?" He got calm and super thoughtful for a few moment and replied, "Sometimes you do. Sometimes you do not." I couldn't agree more. Last night Brock was eating a sausage, and recalling a crying baby that we had seen at the store a few days earlier. "Baby make loud sad sounds in store," Brock said.  &

Here's Brock hanging out at Maggie Daley park. Brock mows the hardwood with two settings: slow and FAST!!!!! Jumping on the couch.

Here's some shots from my last brew day. Brock is a fantastic assistant brewer. He loves to taste the grains, smell the hops, and constantly ask to be picked up when I'm busiest. These pics are actually from post-cleanup. My mashing process uses a copper manifold that I take apart into a stack of pipes and elbows and tees to clean. They were just sitting on the floor while I did the rest of the dishes, and Brock went into an impromptu sculpture session. We did not prompt him, nor help him make any of the connections. It was pretty impressive.  Later that day he got creative with the condiment tray at Jerry's.

The Lincoln Park Zoo has what looked like a promising "Farm" area. Since Brock got his farm set for the big 0 2 he has been into it hard core. So we went to check it out.  Brock, cow. Cow, Brock. Haaaayyyy  Although very excited to initially feed the cows a fist full of hay, Brock declined the second invitation to do so and preferred to check out the "dome light". Note the undeniable expression of "meh" cross those cheeks.   Now for the main event... a tractor!! As his board book promised the tractor did have "big wheels make it easy to drive over bumpy ground".  For a Monday afternoon, the line for the tractor was long. Brock was very patient, but did keep circling the latter up to the tractor like a hungry wolf, waiting for the clear.  Finally! Much fun was had in the tractor. Too much fun for the "say bye bye to the.... (fill in the blank) tractor" line to come so soon. As mentioned, there was

A haiku to summarize our super special 4th of July: 4th of July Seattle, Omaha, WOW! Sun, Love, Thank you, BOOM!   Melinda saves A Cerney Periodical yet again with a fabulous post from Knight's Life. Click on the picture of the July sun that shone over us that night (thanks mom for the pic!) and partake of a true celebration of family who make such great friends. We had such an awesome time! Not only did we squeeze in a Happy Birthday celebration for America, we also managed to get a Happy Birthday for Julie, (and Melinda too!) a Happy Diamond Anniversary for Mark and Melinda and a Happy father's day Jim all in the same weekend. Go big or go home!  Or, if you were us, stay home and have everyone come to you!  

Last year opened our eyes to the marvels of St. Louis! The City Museum is such a stand out, we look forward to taking Brock there until he goes off to college (or starts his own business, or cures cancer or pilots to Jupiter or grows the first test-tube unicorn... ) Waking up to this view was such a treat. So we were looking at this view and I was like, hmmmm, where is the Arch, I thought we might be able to see it from our room... let's go pull the shades on the other wall... Holy Moly!!!!  Wow!! The famous Eads bridge that opened up the midwest! After a morning snack of Pharoh's Donuts (donuts are Brock's favorite, and this ratty hole of a shop in down town St. Louis is nothing to take a picture of, but man their products are tasty) we are off to the famed City Museum! Brock waits outhetside for us to get tickets. Don't worry, we chained him up. A bus on the edge of oblivion! Brock's first choice of exploration.     Aware of Br