Brudam Brigade's First Trip to the Zoo!

Today was definitely one of our best days as a family . . . the Dallas weather dropped below 100 for the first time since June and we took full advantage by taking the boys on their first outing to the Dallas Zoo! All four of us were in great spirits throughout the day and the boys had much more positive reaction to seeing animals in person than we'd expected.

We started off the day with a monorail ride . . . twenty minutes in duration and about ten minutes too long given that the boys were required to remain seated for the duration of the ride, which was not their preference. Cute pic of Noel just as we were starting the ride:















After the monorail, we made our way to the new Africa section, which was shockingly authentic and well-designed (surprising given the repuation of the Dallas Zoo). Once in "Africa," we watched the trainers examine and then feed the lions (hard for the boys to get to the front and see) and then made our way to giraffe feeding station, which was the biggest hit. The boys absolutely LOVED the feeding . . . the giraffe area is actually sunken by a couple of floors, so we were able to walk right up to their mouth-level. We purchased large leaves of romaine lettuce and the boys were completely fearless . . . Ethan was especially giggly and actually tried to prolong the experience by tearing his lettuce into very small pieces (which obviously didn't sit well with the giraffe):



























After the giraffe feeding, we made our way over to the Children's Zoo, which also exceeded our expectations. Our first activity at the Children's Zoo was the horse petting area, which got some cute and funny reactions from the boys, who were perhaps thinking they horse hair would be as soft/slick as the synthetic horse hair from one of their peek-a-boo books:
































After walking through the barnyard section (pigs, bunnies, horses, barn owls), we went to a great koi pond with an underwater viewing area that was right at the boys' eye level. We then made our way over the baby goat (kids, if you will) feeding/petting section, which was another big hit . . . that is until Ethan starting confusing kid poop for kid food and we had to make a hasty exit:


































This was certainly one of our most successful days as a Brigeade . . . which was evidenced by the fact that the boys were literally crashed out asleep within 3 minutes of pulling out of our parking space!

Vail re-visited . . . Sweet Basil on our last night!

Adding a last photo to end cap our Vail story . . . Papa headed out to gamble the day and night away (or at least get caught up in traffic towards that goal), so the rest of us, sands the tiny portion of the Brigade, headed out for a fun dinner at Sweet Basil in Vail Village. Many stories (and several cocktails) brought out a ton of laughter over the course of the night, which was capped with our introducing our video them of the trip, "The Honeybadger Don't Give a S@#$" to Gramma.

Definitely a fun night . . .

2nd Annual Brudam Brigade Vail Trip!

Last month we ventured off to Colorado for our second annual trip to Colorado.

You know, everyone has been impacted by the economy and we had to tighten our belts this year as well. For one thing, we reduced the number of trips to the Emergency Room from 2 to 0. And this year, no private planes were chartered for our Matriarch Milam - Barb had to fly home like the rest of us...in coach...on a commercial flight! For anyone missing the sarcasm, just go here for a recap of last year's trip.

It's amazing what a year does to our family vacation. The boys were amazingly active, ready to take on the wilderness of Colorado and it was great to see them really enjoying themselves.

A few highlights from the trip:

The hills are alive with the sound of Brudam!

Which way to the Widowmaker Trail?

Batting his lashes on the gondola ride down.

Post lunch in Vail - the water was super cold and the boys couldn't get enough. Noel would thrust his face into the water and just laugh:

Cute pic of Rocky Mountain Bathtime:

Noel making the game winning shot against Dad.

Pai and Ethan skipping rocks

Dad and Noel throwing rocks

Our best attempt at a family photo....they were getting a bit cranky.

The house next door had a fountain and it was the highlight of Noel's trip:

Professional Photos - 18 Months - Outtakes!!

And now for a peek behind the curtain to see how the magic was made . . .

As I stated in the last post, this is was by far (and by far, I mean by FAR) the most difficult shoot of the 6 to-date due to the fact that the boys just wanted no part of it. In looking at the 100 or so final pictures that Chad forwarded, there are no more than 5 where even one of the boys are smiling and absolutely none of just the two of them together due to the fact that one of them was screaming, eating or crying at all times.

We all kept good humor and relied on Chad to get the best pictures he could, but I must admit that we were as (or more) entertained by the outtakes he was able to get, some of which were hysterical . . .

First up, the "crying toddler" setup, combined with a crying Pai:

Secondly, the "can't sit still" setup, where the boys not only refused to situate into a set pose, Noel then decided to arbitrarily stuff his fist into Pai's mouth. Not sure what's going on with Ethan . . . seems like he's giving us a little "tough guy" with this look:

Next up, Noel's phooooooooooooooootobooooooooooooomb!!! At this point in the day, we'd thrown up the white flag with regards to involving the boys in the photos and thought we'd get a nice shot of the Knippa side with Dad. Noel then apparently had met his fill of Gramma, Papa and Shawna and decided to wander over and crash on the soft concrete . . . an odd, odd, funny shot:

Lastly, a super adorable shot of the boys giving us a clear non-verbal that they'd definitely had enough. This pic is definitely a keeper:

Professional Photos - 18 Months

We've been incredibly fortunate to have some very good friends, Chad and Marci Peters, with some incredible photography skills. It's hard to believe it, but this 18 month shoot was our sixth session with Chad and Marci and we were excited to include the expanded Brigade with us for this one, including Gramma & Papa, Avo, and Uncle David, who was visiting from Hong Kong. Chad found a great location for the shoot in a event rental warehouse near Fair Park - great space with interesting decor that provided a great backdrop for our shoot.

The shoot itself went a bit differently than we expected, as the boys were definitely not in the mood to sit still and we spent the majority of our time trying to distract them with toys, blankets, pacifiers, and food with the hopes of getting at least a few good pics. It is definitely a testament to Chad (and his fast camera!) that we ended up with a ton a great shots on what was definitely our toughest shoot to-date.

Up first, some great expanded family shots . . . it's definitely tough to get this group in the same city, much less the same room, so we took full advantage and took numerous pics of the expanded family:
























Next up, some great individual shots of each of the boys . . . Ethan with Uncle David's gifted soccer ball and Noel with his second best friend (after Ethan), his blanket:






















This shoot didn't provide many opportunities for a family shot of the Brigade (despite our many, many attempts) . . . below is definitely our favorite one of the day, interesting setting and good perspective of the boys side-by-side:














The next two pics are definitely our favorites of the day . . .

• Dad with Noelly Canoli, who is giving a little "over the back of the couch" charm























• Pai with Ethan (Pea Pie), who is definitely flashing his brightest smile of the day
  

Next up, some great shots of the boys with their respective grandmothers:

Gramma and Ethan, snapped just after she used her special powers to calm him. Such an incredibly sweet picture . . .

Avo and Ethan, who is giving us a great tussled hair look

Avo and Noel, both looking adorable

Lastly, some immediate (upper) family pictures, taken late in the day when the boys had declared that they would no longer be participating in our silly picture endeavor. We were definitely glad to get these pictures as a bonus to the 18 month shoot.

Random Posting...

Just a few pics/videos from the past month:


Noel loved Weezie's glasses so much and walked around like a little professor























Even better....Ethan loved Weezie's wig and had to try it on:

























A cute pic of Ethan while we were walking Sunday. This picture makes him look much older than his 19 months:
























And last but not least....a video of the boys at the gym:

Sliding Down the Stairs

The boys adapt pretty easily to most things and getting down the stairs is no exception. They initially took their time getting down and the more they did it the braver and more efficient they got.

I managed to get a video of this before they begin walking down like big boys:

Another great visit with Kim

When we met Kim back in the middle of 2009, she was the first surrogacy candidate we interviewed and things just clicked from the beginning . . . our times together are filled with humor and genuine friendship, which makes the days fly by. While we've never taken that for granted, as we've met and shared experiences with other parents that have gone through surrogacy, we've certainly come to realize our relationship with Kim is incredibly rare . . . we really do love her like one of our family.

This was Kim's second pilgrammage east to visit the Brigade and this visit was certainly a different experience given how active the boys are at 17.5 months. The boys were immediately calm and affectionate with Kim upon her arrival and within just a few minutes, they were flirting and showing off for her. Lots of fun, simple times for this weekend . . . books, casual meals, and a fun trip to the park. Some great pics below that clearly show just how much the boys adored their trip . . .

First off, some great pics of Kim reading to them on the couch . . . she managed to rope them both into her story for a while, but Noel really hung around to find out how it ended . . .

Next up, a couple of pics from our trip to our favorite park . . . Kim taking Ethan for a ride on his the beetle care and then providing some welcome hands to catch Noel as he came down the slide . . .

Lastly, a pic I love . . . Kim and Ethan being silly out at lunch on Saturday. Kim looks super cute and Ethan looks . . . well . . . sort of intoxicated, but still adorable!!! Can't wait until the next trip!

Noel the Ham . . .

Our Noely-Boo (aka Bootsy as of today after an approved naming rite of passage from Pai and Gramma today) has become quite the entertainer over the past few months . . . he has a rubbery face and is able construct a plethora of expressions well beyond his months. We look forward to using this to our paranting advantage in the years to come, but for now, we're happy to share three shots exhibiting his hammy side . . . just a shame that the giggles can't translate through the photograph.

This last shot is a bit of photographic coincidence . . . Noelly and Dad managing to present the same face to the camera. Noelly is definitely cuter. :)