Birthday Party, Baseball, and a Bike Ride

This past weekend, we celebrated Seth's birthday with his two close buddies and the rest of their class at a local, minor-league baseball game. It was so much fun! The kids played in the play area (merry-go-round, moon bounce, whiffle ball), ate an unlimited buffet of hot dogs, popcorn, chicken nuggets, and ice cream, and watched a great baseball game. The birthday kids got to stand on top of the dugout while the whole stadium sang Happy Birthday.

Then they got to go in the press box and announce a hitter ("Now batting, Buck Britton!"), learn how to work the score board, and see the behind-the-scenes working of a baseball game.

Seth especially loved the mascot, Louie. Check him out, peering up at Louie in this picture:

Equally as exciting as the birthday party, however, was the huge milestone of Seth learning to ride his bike! Without training wheels! I actually got this one on video. He's still learning how to stop (as you'll see in the video) and how to start, but he's so proud of himself!

After such a busy and exciting Saturday (which included a t-ball game in the morning), we were able to chill out a bit on Sunday and enjoy new toys and bike riding and a great dinner with out neighbor and Baba.

Today was back to the grind--a rainy, cool Monday. Blah. Seth and I took the Metro to work today because our car was in the shop. Taking the Metro on a rainy day is not on my list of things I love to do, but Seth was such a trooper. Our train into the city this morning was packed like sardines, and Seth and I had to stand almost he whole time (thanks, two middle-aged dudes in the seats right by us--I guess chivalry really is dead). He didn't complain at all! When we finally got seats, there was a long delay, so by the time we finally hoofed it to his school from the Metro station, he had missed morning snack. We were both starving so we went to my office building and bought breakfast in the carry-out and ate it in my office. Seth's comment on the way back to his school made it all worth it: "This is turning out to be a great day!" Too cute.

I'll end with some pictures of Seth and William on Seth's actual birthday:

And finally, a chair picture, reminescent of the chair pictures I took every month for the first year of Seth's life. Now:

And then:

November 2008