Breakfast on the Patio

Mark, Cherron and Curly did some planting first thing in the morning. Melanie made an amazing brunch of blueberry and strawberry pancakes that we ate on the porch. Liam likes being outside on the porch of "Melanie's Garden". Liam took several nice naps today and spent sometime with Grandma while Mark was on a conference call and Melanie was at acupuncture. Later, Mark, Natasha and Cherron went to see a concert in San Francisco. At the same time, wooden insects flew around at home. These awesome insects were created by artists at Creativity Explored -- and will soon hang in Liam's room. You can see he likes the bee! I like the dragonfly best!

Introducing Uncle Cherron

Liam spent time sleeping in the Grandpa Bjorn Borg and met Uncle Cherron for the first time! Grandma and Grandpa Arens bought groceries and Grandma helped out around the house. Later, Joel and Natasha came over. Mark picked up dinner for the crew at Flavors of India, College Avenue. Does the new one in Montclair taste as good as the one on College Avenue?

Egg Shoppe and Farmers Market Sunday

On Sundays Liam likes going to the local farmers market and to the Egg Shoppe for breakfast. Today he went with Grandma and Grandpa Arens -- it was his third visit there. Later, we were amazed at how he went from a full-blown cry to completely calm with the magic of music.

Grandma and Liam:

The moment the music started, the crying stopped (crying not shown):

Gingko-A-Go-Go

Today we planted a Gingko Biloba tree for Liam. Check out the video (with Liam's funny position) to see our planting ceremony. The Gingko dates back at least hundreds of millions of years and was once thought to be extinct. Ginkgo extract is used to aid the immune system and memory retention. We like all of this, but primarily it will be a great tree for Liam to climb on in about 10 years. We (well, Cathy and Curly) also planted an Arbutus Unedo (Strawberry Tree), a clumping Bambusa, Oleander and a Cordyline Australis. Yesterday they planted a Feijoa Sellowiana (Pineapple Guava) and a shrub I can't remember the name of. Cathy (Grandma Nemeth) and Curly (Grandpa Arens) have done a fantastic and greatly appreciated job with planting and garden maintenance these past couple days. Due to Mark's injury and pending surgery, Mark can't and is not supposed to do much. Liam's side of the house is looking great.

Liam is getting to a more interactive age -- he is smiling at all of us more often but he really seemed to enjoy and smile often at Nana. Nana left tonight for Sarasota. :( We really enjoyed her visit and appreciate all that she did --- add to that list a big thanks for purchasing the Ginkgo, Bambusa, Oleanders and Cordyline Australis for us.

On the way out Mark went flying down a set of stairs bruising his shin badly -- Nana's trip started with Mark losing the car and ended with Mark getting hurt. (When Mark would visit his family for holidays, his mother, father or brother would hear a crashing noise in the next room and simply announce "Mark's home!")

Three generations

LIam enjoys a nap on Grandma Arens and mom. They all have lots of love or one another.

Liam meets Grandma and Grandpa Arens