Food and a Good Find **EDIT**

Some random musings about food:

--Earlier this week, I cut open a peach for Matthew and I to share at breakfast, and it was the most beautiful peach you've ever seen. The juice dripped out as the blade of the knife cut through, and the inside color was just amazing. The flesh was so yellow, and right by the pit it was the deepest of burgundys. It tasted just how it sounds--perfect.

--A deli sandwich is so good, am I right? But when you add sliced tomatoes, it brings it to a whole new level.

--I totally had a craving the other night for a Subway sandwich: tuna on wheat with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. It seemed that it would be so refreshing at 9 o'clock at night. But I never found out, cause I didn't get one. And I'm pretty sure they're not open that late anyway.



We went to some garage sales today, and we parked by a tree that had some squished nuts on the ground. Upon closer inspection I discovered they were buckeyes! I'd never seen a buckeye tree before, so I was really excited. Josh even cracked one open and brought it home.


We also found a Little Tikes work bench for $10! I was so excited, cause I had recently thought about getting something like that for Matthew for Christmas. Those kinds of things can be expensive, but the Lord found us a great deal, and Matthew loves it.

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Matthew with said work bench.

And sticking his tongue out at Daddy.

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And here's just a couple pictures of our boy growing up before our eyes.

A Picture Look Finale

Another morning opening gramma's gift. Matthew is such a boy--so into cars and points them out whenever he sees them.


During one outing we made sure to get a 4 generation picture: my dad, me, Matthew, and my grandmother, Mahmon Bazorg.


Then we switched out Josh for my dad. Matthew smiled so well for these pictures.


And my family (Sara, Tony, and Ari were at Storyland this day): my colege-age brother Pete, my dad, my mom, and my grandmother.


Cannon Mountain

We took a gondola ride up Cannon Mountain, and there was a nice hiking trail to an observation deck. We got some pretty scenery shots.
And that's not one of them :)


Ok, that's better, now that my silly husband is out of the way.


Josh, aka Adventure Boy, deviated from the trail many times and went closer to the edges than I dared to go. He found this pretty mountain flower out there.


Not staged, I promise. Well, it sort of was. I had my camera all set to take the shot, but then Josh turned around too soon. So I made them turn around again so I could capture this look.


Love this one. They both look so cute!


This sign showed us the division between Cannon State Park and the White Mountain National Forest.


More scenery.


A reward for all that hiking he did. Well ok, he was carried the whole way, but we had him climb some of the stairs of the observation deck, so his little legs got a workout.


Family picture (obviously)


The Last Day

Ari had this Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playset thingy, and I think that was Matthew's favorite thing to play with all week. It was pretty cool. Even I liked playing with it.


I had to find time to get a pic with my favorite sister!


And Matthew made sure that Daddy made time to wrestle with him.


Here's my 5-month belly picture! I compared this pic to when I was pregnant with Matthew at 5 months, and I think I'm a little bigger. In fact, I think it's closer to my 6 month Matthew pic.


We went to the outlet mall nearby because they were having sidewalk sales, and for lunch we hit Burger King. Matthew is already trying to take off the crown.


The night before we left, Ari wanted to come into our room to say goodnight to "Baby Matthew." Then somehow they both ended up jumping on the bed. Crazy kids.

The Ride Home

We stopped in Massachusetts to visit my grandpa. So yes, we took another 4 generation picture.


Matthew really liked his great-grandpa and had a great time using his walker and playing peek-a-boo.


We also made another stop to see Matthew's great uncle on my side, Ahmoo Hesam. Both were short visits, but it gave us nice family time and a chance for Matthew to move around and not be stuck in a car the whole time.


And that pretty much sums up our week long vacation. The flight home was uneventful. Matthew was more uncooperative than normal, but a week of little naps and fewer sleeping hours was catching up to him. He actually fell asleep on the plane on Josh's shoulder for about 40 minutes. He looked so precious and exhausted, but I didn't want to snap a picture and make him wake up.

The first week we were home, Matthew had trouble adjusting back into decent naps. They got longer as each day went on though, and now it's better. A definite plus since we've been home: Matthew's been "sleeping in." He used to sleep 10 hours at night, but now it's more like 11 or 11 1/2. Oh yeah, this is one happy mommy, and we've got a happy daddy on the weekends. Matthew's benefitting too. He's a happier boy with more sleep for sure.

A Picture Look Plus a Video

We spent a couple nights at the pool. Ari loves to swim, and Matthew's never been, so it was a good opportunity.

Ari looked so goofy in those goggles :)

A cool family pic if it wasn't so blurry. See, when I used the flash, it came out dark. And when I took the flash off, the picture was brighter, but they tended to be blurry.

A cute father/son picture. I got a few of those on this trip.

Matthew wasn't too sure of Ari's floatie device. He wasn't too sure of the water in general. It took him a while to warm up to all these new experiences.

The Willey House
We went to a historical landmark called The Willey House. There's a nice pathway to walk on, a gift shop, and ducks to feed.

More sunscreen. Oh, I guess there is another picture of him with his hat on. But I'm pretty sure he took it off before we left the parking lot.

My two boys posing oh so nicely for me.

Matthew checking out the ducks.

Ok, I know it's not a picture of Ari's face, but I love this one, cause you can see the ripples in the water coming off her finger. I think it's pretty cool anyway.

More ducks. I like how you can see the V trail behind each one.

Me and my hunny.

A candid of my family. And yes, that's my sister's candid face. She always looks like that in pictures ;)

Silver Cascade
There are many beautiful waterfalls along the roadside, one of which is the Silver Cascade. We all stopped there for a little while. I stayed at the bottom with Matthew and my parents and my grandmother, while everyone else climbed higher. Josh took these pretty shots.

The Cog Railway and Boise Rock

A much needed juice break.

A sibling picture.

Future model :)

Mount Washington

Family picture in front of the cog. There's four of us here, can you tell? ;)

There was a little museum indoors that gave the history of the railway and all. Matthew and Ari liked the more interactive components, such as this part of the train.

We are so strong. With Tony on top there, it made it much heavier ;)

I guess Josh must have taken this one. We're on our way to get some fresh mountain water--yum! Some days we spent much time in the car, so whenever Matthew had a chance to get out and walk around, we let him. Those little legs need to stretch too, you know.

FOOD!!

After a long hard day of sightseeing and such, we found a local pizza joint that was so yummy! We got Matthew spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread, while Josh and I had salads and a meat lover's pizza.

I love their expressions here.

Yeah, I know, we look awesome, don't we? :)

Matthew was eager for food, but it's impossible for him to understand that the chef has to cook it and yadda yadda. Luckily I happened to find a basket of blocks for the kids to play with. And we entertained ourselves with some trivia cards they had.

Mm, dessert! We hit a local ice cream place and I got my fav--black raspberry ice cream. They had this elaborate play area for the kids, and Matthew and Ari had a good time there.

Alright, that's all the pictures for this entry. I think I can get the rest into one more, so be watching for a final installment...