Trip to Europe

Brandon has been a busy boy lately. So busy that he's been skipping many of his naps and staying awake the full day. All I can say is that he's probably becoming like his dad, always going and going.

He's starting to put phrases together, and it's cute to hear him say them. For example, if I make him crack up with some weird facial expressions, he blurts out "funny guy!".

Just a couple weeks ago we came back from our trip to Europe, where we spent two weeks - Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, and a drive through Austria were all included. Brandon did really well on all the travel, even sitting in his airline seat for 9 hours on the way home. We all slept really good the day after we got back. Since there's so many places we saw and went to, I'll just post pictures below with descriptions.

Our first stop was Heidelberg, Germany and Brandon loved the place. We couldn't put him down much because he'd want to go into every store we'd let him and play with all the cute things.

He found a dog to play with in Schweitzengen, another little german town, and this was when Zenna reminded me that he needs a dog...

We spent a few days in Switzerland, and it's a pretty amazing place. There are villages built on the sides of mountains, one of which we visited here - The views are breathtaking.

We took a little stop on our way to Garmisch, where this valley vista opened up for us. Switzerland is a beautiful place. Brandon behaved so well on this drive.

When we arrived in Hungary, Brandon was eager to get out and play... this tub allowed that nicely. Those floor tiles in the bathroom were quite slippery, Brandon fell once.

Once we got to my grandparents, he found more toys to play with...

We also saw my dad, and on the couch are four generations of Krauss.

We didn't ride the trains as much as we hoped, but when we did, Brandon always got excited.

Our last stop was Venice, and Brandon did really good for most of the walking. And having an ice cream cone to start out the trip didn't hurt either.

After 2 weeks, we all felt like this. The plane on the way home didn't have video screens in the seats, so Brandon couldn't watch movies like on the way to Europe. Either way, he had enough stimulation for a while.

Summer Time

It's the middle of September and we're realizing that summer's just about over. We did a lot of hiking in June and July around Ogden, and we'll try to go a few more times. Brandon has enjoyed the excursions and here are a few shots from our outings,

He found a beetle on the trail to the Mt Timpanogas Cave, and it really piqued his curiosity. Here's a video of him following it to some rocks:

The next few pictures we took while hiking near Wheeler Creek in Ogden Canyon.

This year we were able to grow a garden in our backyard, and it's amazing how much we got from it. We planted tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and all kinds of herbs. We are still getting boxes of tomatoes every week, and we cannot can fast enough. Like us though, Brandon likes to eat the cherry tomatoes straight from the vine. In some cases, he'll go for the large ones, like in grandma's garden:

I'll leave you with this picture of our wonderful garden that just refuses to quit,

Chicago Trip & 2nd Birthday

I meant to blog in July to keep every one up to date at least once a month - oh well. Brandon has turned 2 years old in May. We're not sure where the transition happened from baby to big boy, but Brandon still wants to be treated like he's a baby. Sometimes he climbs into his old reclining bouncer and says "I'm bebe!". Or he wants to get into the stroller instead of the Radio Flyer wagon, so can still get bundled up like when he was younger. And of course, he still loves to have his mommy hold him, and be around him as much as possible - the word "mommy" gets exercised a lot around our house.

At least now we are much better aware of his needs and are able to communicate with him. He can tell us when he pooed in his diaper and needs a change, or if he's thirsty and needs a drink, or if he wants to go outside and play with the neighbor kids. Zenna and I are trying to also set good examples for him as we deal with everyday situations, so that he can have good manners from the get-go. It's sometimes hard when you see other kids mistreat each other and then telling Brandon that he can't do the same to other kids. I sometimes wish other parents were a little more involved in their kids' lives.

A lot of things have happened this summer so far that I haven't covered in previous blogs, so I'll try to catch up today. Since I was in Florida on a different postflight trip until the 1st of June, I missed Brandon's 2nd birthday. They had a celebration in Idaho, and then when I came back, we celebrated a second time. Brandon doesn't care what the reason is for eating cake, the more the better. So Zenna made him a yummy brownie cake with 2 candles in it. He was determined to eat the whole thing.

He got some clothes with the Cars theme and Wall-E on DVD, and a little Thomas train engine. He had a good day - although we still don't think he understands what Birthdays are all about.

A few days after I came home we also went to Chicago to visit my brother Ervin. We spent 3 days out there and it was a lot of fun. Brandon tried to absorb everything. Here are some pictures,
All right, new toys to play with!

We stopped at a hot dog place downtown, tasted better than any place at the airports.

And Brandon had to have an ice cream cone, of course.We ate at the Signature Cafe on the 95th, in the John Hancock Center. The views were great!

This place is so cool, I don't want to leave!

Travels to Florida

Back in April, I went down to Florida for part of the postflight disassembly of the last shuttle flight's boosters. Since it was only for a little longer than a week, I took Zenna and Brandon with me. Right before the trip, Zenna got him atravel bag, since every time we've traveled, he's wanted to pull one of our bags around. It worked and he was so happy to pull his own little "Cars" luggage around!

This was the second time they came out, and this time it seemed Brandon enjoyed it better than the time he was there last year. Of course the beach is where we went first and Brandon had fun running back and forth among the waves.
The Easter bunny was here in Florida as well and we happened to catch him in one of the local parks.

A few days after arriving, we went to Walt Disney World in Orlando, and saw the Magic Kingdom. The park is huge and we weren't able to see everything. We think Brandon may have been overstimulated as well. But we still had fun. We stayed until late night to see the fireworks shows. We didn't get back to Port Canaveral until about 1 am. Here are some pictures from our visit:


We took a ride on a river paddle-boat about noon and Brandon thought it was fascinating with the big paddle wheel pushing the boat along. Along the way, he made a new friend:


Then the daily celebration parade came by with all kinds of floats. Brandon wanted to go with the Disney animals on the floats, but sadly he had to stay with us.


And of course we had to get a picture in front of the castle.

The next few days we spent going to the beach and having fun. I even borrowed a boogie board from the postflight office and let Brandon have fun with it.

Brandon Happenings

The last couple of days I've been staying home with Brandon while Zenna went to Provo for a massage therapy workshop. I took work off and was the caretaker until tonight. It's fun spending the days with Brandon and this way I don't miss out on what he does during the day. Just yesterday I was doing laundry, and he climbed up on the washer and wanted to help put the clothes in. That's how he is with any chore that mom and dad is doing. He wants to help in whatever way he can. If I'm cleaning windows, he wants to clean windows. If I'm sweeping the floor, he gets out his small broom and sweeps. Here's a video of him cleaning the toilet:

Brandon is at the point where he's starting to form words and phrases. It was just last week I decided to write down his vocabulary so we know when he says certain words. The count right now is about 55 words, although I'm sure I've missed some that Zenna also hears from him. The longest phrase I've heard so far is "One more bite".

A couple weekends ago Zenna's brother & family came down and we drove to Salt Lake for Disney on Ice. Brandon loved it, and afterward we went ot Liberty Park. Here are some pictures from the day:

Since then, we've gone to the junk yard or Smith & Edwards for a variety of reasons, and Brandon loves these places. He was crawling in & out of cars and finding good junk at Smith & Edwards. He was having just as much fun as his daddy.

Brandon turned 22 months just a few days ago, it's hard to believe he's almost 2 years old! Zenna and I have some ideas on what we'll do, since it'll be here sooner than later.

A Growing Boy

Who knew March would be here so quick! Brandon is already 21 months old... I think I need to write at least once a week to make sure we don't miss things he does. Just last week, he was saying "mama" meaning "grandma" while "ma" means "mom", and "da" means "dad". He's been starting to throw soccer balls and bouncy balls, and it is the most fun he can have. A few weeks ago he was just throwing it up above his head, but now he can aim and actually toss it into your lap. This week I also noticed that he finally said "up" when he wants to be picked up. If we don't pick him up, it won't stop him though from climbing. Just last Sunday, he climbed up on top of the washer and started to clean the cabinet above it. We grabbed the camera quick and snapped a few pictures below:

One thing Brandon's trying to do more and more is roll his eyes. We get the feeling that he's trying to toy with us when he does this, or it may be a side effect of the realization that he's getting plenty of attention. I know that for about 3 weeks now, he keeps taking his tricycle to the threshold of the stair case, and teasing us that he's going to roll down the 4 steps. He only scoots away when we threaten to remove him. Back in January though, he did roll down those 4 steps with his fire truck landing on top of him. That scared him enough I think that he hasn't attempted it again. He has begun to love the books he's got and every day he asks one of us to read a book to him. Usually, if grandma is in the recliner, he just runs up to her with a book and jumps up so she can read to him. He definitely likes to jump into the story and jabber along.

In other news, it's been 2 nigths (started on March 4th) since Brandon has been sleeping in his crib, and we think it's time to start making the transition. We tucked him in and held his hand until he fell asleep. He woke up just once each night, and Zenna is getting closer to getting a full night's worth of uninterrupted sleep. To end this post, what better way to part than a picture of him enjoying an ice cream cone!

Valentine's Day

The last few weeks, we've gotten plenty of snow here in Ogden, and all three of us are at various stages in overcoming colds. Valentine's Day was last Saturday and Zenna made a delicious cake for me. That I hid from Brandon. But I had a little present for her that involved refurbishing candle holders I made in the 7th grade. They turned out really nice and the picture below shows Brandon helping with sanding after I applied the 1st coat of wood stain.

We've gotten a lot of snow the last few weeks, and every times it snows, Brandon want to go out and help shovel. Even if the snow is hard packed, it's not enough to deter him from shoveling.

In other happenings, he has learned to say a few more things clearly, like "juice", "up", and "out". Every time we go somewhere in the car, he says "Vroom, vroom!" and gets all excited. I remember the time when he hated being in the car seat... we're glad he enjoys going places now.
As of late, he's been fascinated by my tools and gadgets in the garage. As long as he's not breaking something, I let him play with them, like the valve with actuator below:

Christmas Break and the New Year

A new thing Brandon has started is saying "Oh-oh" when he drops food or has an accident. He also uses it when other people drop things. He is very observant. In the last post I mentioned how he understands everything we say to him, and in the last week or so, he's been shaking his head up and down if the answer is "yes", and left and right if the answer is "no". He's also surprised us by using sign language to signal some things to us, even though we taught him signs many months ago. This has made it a lot easier to understand his needs and wants. Here's Brandon having fun with Play-Doh.

Last week, we started to sleep him in his crib for several hours at a time, and it's my hope that in a few more weeks, he can sleep by himself. But now let's talk about Christmas. Brandon's Christmas morning is show in the video below:

For Christmas, we had a busy 2 weeks planned. It started by us flying to Denver to see my mom and siblings, and Brandon had fun seeing his uncles and aunt. We went shopping in Boulder and walked around the Pearl Street Mall. He really enjoyed going to the many specialy stores there, especially Into the Wind, where there was all kinds of unique toys to ply with. We came back on Christmas Eve and cleaned up the house for Christmas the next day. We were pretty tired, but Brandon woke us up and we all started opening presents. Zenna got him all kinds of fun stuff, and he loved it. I stayed up late the night before assembling his little trike.

Then we left for Idaho late in the afternoon, trying to make the Moser Christmas dinner. We actually got stuck in some snow drifts near Grant, and were only about 1 mile away. Brandon handled it pretty well, considering he had to sit in the car for 4 hours until he got out. But once there, we stayed a week until New Year's Eve, and came back down to Ogden with Zenna's mom. We stopped in Willard Bay, since the 31st was the last night for Fantasty at the Bay, which was a fully lighted-up park with all kinds of Christmas themes. Zenna's brother Spencer and sister-in-law MaryAnn stopped by later in the night, so that we can celebrate the new year. Here he is wearing his Supreman pajamas on the last day of 2008.

For the last two weeks, we've been trying to get back into some sort of schedule, especially since November and December were quite hectic.