Owen - Daddy time in Tampa

Owen and I tagged along with Kristie to Florida while she attended a conference, and we were able to do all kinds of fun stuff. The three of us visited with Kristie's college friend Becky, her husband Matt, and their one-year-old Jake in Venice (happy birthday Jake!). Owen took some pointers from Jake on scooting around, talking, and playing in Jake's wild toy explosion, and we took a quick trip to the beach. And because it was 85 the whole time, Owen wore shorts FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Owen deciding whether or not to go in


Mom and the beach baby


Two pairs of troublemakers


Owen's introduction to slides


Peeking at mom


We got to have lunch with Melissa and Russ (North Carolina transplants), and their sons Chip and Ben at the end of our trip, giving us a look at how much busier a home with 2 kids can be than a 1 kid house. No pictures, but Ben and Chip were super well behaved and let Owen crash their party and play with their toys.

The story for most of the week, though, was me watching the little guy while Kristie was at the convention. And as much time as I normally spend with him, I feel like I got to know him a whole lot better after hanging out all day every day for a week. We stayed right in downtown Tampa just along the water and across the street from where the Lightning play. It was beautiful down there, and Owen and I started every day doing what became his favorite thing - walking along the water and pointing at all of the Pelicans, seagulls, etc.





It turns out that Tampa has a pretty awesome aquarium, and Owen loved it. He was completely enthralled being just a couple of inches from all of the animals. Kristie and I enjoyed it too, we even got to touch our first sting ray. Here are a few pictures:







Finally, while the water at the beach (which we visited again) was a little too cold for Owen, he did take a dip in the hotel pool, and he seemed to love it. He should be all set up for the lake at Grandma Carol's by the time summer rolls around in Chicago!

Owen splashing around


Searching for seashells


The jetsetter

The 22 lb. weight class and St. Patty's Day

We've been pretty busy these days with crazy times at Kristie's and my work added onto all of Owen's happenings, so I'll be doing some catching up in these posts. First off, Owen made his wrestling debut at a meet grandpa Barney helped run, and got to spend time with his uncles and cousin Zack as well. He's obviously not trying to cut weight yet, but his form looks pretty good!




Zack also squared off against my dad, which I can attest never ends well.


St. Patricks Day is a pretty big deal in Chicago, and our neighborhood does it up pretty big with a parade and plenty of green beer, so Owen got to attend his first parade (side note: we found out that our nextdoor neighbors are all the way Irish and moved to the U. S. 15 years ago - they like Owen's name but think it should be spelled the traditional way of Eoin). By this time Owen started pointing at new things, so he found plenty to occupy his pointer finger. Here is Owen watching the requisite firetrucks and bagpipers.





A later picture of Owen on his first swing!