Another long (summer) day in Ireland

Facing Mr. Bull.

Dee and Mary looking swell.

Everyone pitching in to turn the hay.

Has Sean got pom-poms?

Where did Patrick disappear to?

Small boy, far away and rapidly retreating.

Hay is fun to blanket yourself under.

Apparently that is the case for frogs too.

Aw he's cute. And now, won't be tossed or furrowed or baled!

After a long morning's work in the sun, a cool bit of wading...

...dam-building...

...and stone washing.

What, there's more? Why yes, we went to pick raspberries!

Bottoms up!

A wild part of the walk. A determined walker.

Look how many raspberries Aine and Aoife picked!

Leo HQ

Granny Ann and Granddad William have been looking for pictures of our house for a while now. Sorry for the delay, and here they are!

Leo's room is on the far side of this chimney.

You can't see Leo's room at all from here:

Nor from here (but you can see the boy himself, to give the scale):

Leo's room is the top right window (and there's the boy himself again, and Noemi in the distance).

A close-up on Leo's room - it's the top-right window and the window just around the corner that you can't quite see...

And that concludes the house-pictures-post thinly disguised as a post-about-Leo.

Birthday Jumper & Thumper

Our little Thor with his mallet, sporting a new lovely sweater from Mamie. Thank you!

One long day in Ireland

At the playground, swinging along, ...

... and spinning around.

At the farm.

Herding sheep.

Hanging out.

Brian looking cute.

Anthony with ol' Minnie.

Granny Ann found the lost lamb.

Looking fly with a hip hop lid.

A goodnight story with Grandad.

Wiped out after a long day, falling asleep reading a book (upside down).

Chalk art

Flowers blooming on our driveway.

Big ones -- see how they tower over the house! (and the beehive next to the house)

Leo has a very long name with lots of letters in it.

First Trip to NYC: Dinosaur Edition!

We went on our first family trip to New York City. Funny taking the train in the opposite direction to the school!

Zoom!

And then we took the subway from 34th street.

To the Natural History Museum! To see dinosaurs!

Big ones!

Good thing the park is right across the street. Nice place for a picnic lunch.

Lovely view over the lake.

and even a glimpse of ... possibly... Micawber.

Portrait of the Young Man as Artist

One day Leo came in to ask us if his eyes were red. (He had a red crayon in his hand.) We said no, your eyes are blue. He agreed, and went back out. Later, we saw his creation -- his first self-portrait! (From June 1.) Signed even!

Bead Art

We have a triceratops in our house.


And a pterodactyl.


And a little man.

"C'est un bon. homme. C'est un bonhomme. Oui. La. Oui. La. Des longs bras, et des mains la, ca c'est un long bras la, et une main, une petite main la. Et ca c'est la tete. Je ne sais pas."

"It's a man. A little man. Yes. There. Yes. There. Long arms, and hands there, that's a long arm there, and a hand, a little hand. And that's the head. I don't know."

Baking Chocolate Cake

You know what this cake needs?


Tasting!


Hands-on involvement!


Keeping your eyes on the prize!

Max and the Maximonsters (Where the Wild Things Are)

So Leo dressed up as a shark...

and read with Papi all about another little boy dressed as a wolf, who did loads of naughty things and got sent to his room.

Thank you for the photos Mamie!