Hike up Mount Tom

After the first leaves here began to change, we took a hike up Mount Tom - its really more of a hill and so it was really more of a walk. But anyway, Grant walked/hiked most of the way up and almost all the way down. At the top there is this 300 year old tower you can climb up in and check out the surrounding area. The camera did not do the view justice though. Its been a good year for leaf peeping in New England this year.

This is the old, old, old tower. It's old BTW.

Here is the view from the top. Leaves just beginning to change and there really was more color but the photo stinks. Our house is off to the right of the picture's view.

Grant and Peter at the base of the tower. There was a swarm of Ladybugs and this is one of the few moments they weren't swatting at them.

Grant's Filibuster

Grant uses a great many techniques to get what he wants. Whining, begging, crying, repeating, singing, stealing, throwing, bargaining, bartering, bribing; and now we can add.....filibustering (just like Congress). He usually does it at night when he is way too tired and does not want to got to bed or even be told to go back to bed. So he'll just ignore you and keep talking over you in an attempt to win some more awake time. It doesn't work, except we listen until its over as it is hilarious. But it does make for great blogging! This attempt is full of his favorite thing ever - mowing and weed wacking.

Peter's Laugh

This is the hardest Peter has ever laughed. All Grant's doing. And yes, he did pee his pants, but then again he always does.

Grant is Obsessed with Mowing

Everyday Grant wakes up and wants to mow the grass. Everyday! When I finally get to go out and mow he has to hold my hand (or maybe I have to hold his?) until we're finished. It takes a lot longer than it used to. Anyway, after watching me start the mower so many times here he demonstrates his vast knowledge of starting the mower. We'll cover what to do once we get it going in a later video. Really.




This is Grant demonstrating what to do with the mower once its started and what happens when the grass catcher gets full. He covers maintenance as well. The little guy is amazing at how fast he catches onto things. Of course when its time to get Dad a cold drink, the newspaper, and a foot rub, the kid pretends I'm speaking Swahili.

Little Leap Gets Mowed

This must have been a rainy day out and Grant had brought his mower inside for some practice. He has this talking stuffed animal frog that says the alphabet and stuff. He's called Little Leap. Well, Little Leap was just minding his own business one day in the reading room when Grant found him relaxing on the carpet. As Grant had already made a few passes through the rest of the house he quickly fixed his sights on some fresh frog blood. Peter made several desperate attempts to save the reptile friend but to no avail. The cameraman was apparently held hostage by her own laughter and could only hope her chuckles would console Little Leap as his fate played out before her. Grant must have had the mower set to 'mulch' as he left the machine on top of the victim for some time to ensure full choppage. Just another day in the life of the boy obsessed with mowing.

The Baseball Trip

Here is the only surviving evidence of our trip to Chicago/Milwaukee (there had been some doubts as to our whereabouts by some of the wives). We in fact did make it to Milwaukee and here we are. It actually was a great game, one of the best i've been in attendance for. The kettle corn was the best ever and I'm not a big kettle corn fan. I had 3 chorizo sausages and then almost threw them all up during the sausage race. It was awesome! Milton Bradley has still not recovered from our heckling.

Empire Strikes Back comes to Bantam

Peter is one noisy critter. He has his quiet moments but its pretty much all or nothing. His amplifiers definitely go to "11" - thank you Spinal Tap. No in between. He even makes noise whenever he eats and I have finally pinpointed the sound. Here is the best example we could get on video:



The following is the link to the noise I knew so well as a kid (you have to copy and paste it):

http://www.digital-audio.net/_aude/empire/tauntaun.mp3

It's a Hoth-hopping Tauntaun from The Empire Strikes Back!



















I finally solved the mystery! We call him Tauntaun whenever he does the noise now and Grant, like any jealous older brother, imitates him to a tee.




I couldn't resist sharing this despite how nerdy I must look now. But, if this odd bodily function wasn't enough - just read the post below. I'm all about posting my kids' noises for all to enjoy. And may you all visit soon as these posts barely do the sounds justice. Much better in person.

Grant's Nugget

Grant has been potty training for sometime now and is supposed to say "Pee-poop" when its time to go to the toilet. He does a pretty good job at this although sometimes he only tells us so we'll remove his already soiled diaper with said "Pee-poop". So now Erica and I talk about his progress as we await that blessed day without any diapers, wipes, or running pants-down to the toilet (Grant's pants that is). In fact, as I get home from a long day at the office, it's first and foremost on my mind and we usually have the following conversation:

Ben: I'm home. How are you ____? (insert your choice of term of endearment)

Erica: Fine. How was work?

Ben: ______. (insert your choice of soul-crushing sob story)

Erica: That's nice dear.

Ben: Did Grant poop while I was gone?

Erica, for a while, had the same 2 or 3 answers to the question:
1. Yes, a lot.
2. No. Not at all
3. He's gotta go now. Can you take him?
But one day she added the following to her answers:
Yes, but only a nugget.
It would be an adequate description as many of his future "prospecting" attempts would only profit us a "nugget".

Anyway, this is going far too in depth for such a short punch-line. The other night we we're sitting at the dinner table scarfing down the "mass-quantities" and Grant had bad "wind". He let loose on a few (which turned out to be a mere drum-roll) and then we got the grand finale. It stopped us mid-bite as we tried to assess how much of our son would be missing. He looked at us and said "That was a nugget!" Never before had man been so proud of his own offspring. We couldn't stop laughing and I swear Erica said "Pee-poop" as she was unable to help herself to the bathroom. Just kidding honey. It was hilarious.

Grant at Home Depot

Here is Grant at the local Home Depot. They have a great program where you can take your kids there and build some toys with them. This one was a mini racetrack and two cars. He's still a bit young to handle the tools himself - Erica helped out a lot - but he had fun anyway.

More of the boys....

I probably should have put a disclaimer on this post about the level of cuteness on display - sorry about that.

It has been too long since we last posted and just wanted to add something before the boys went to college : P This Grant making Peter laugh - Grant is one funny kid and constantly surprises us with how observant he is. He is taking to Peter like big brother should and we think they'll be buddies. Peter is huge and just went 4 days without making doo-doo. That's not why he''s huge though. He's just big, even bigger than Grant was at the same age. They are our main source of entertainment definitely.