A family tradition

After Luke was born, our first family outing was to a garden center. This past Monday, we decided to repeat that trip with our little Eleanor, making her first destination a nursery named ‘Plants of the Southwest’.  My concern for germs far outweighs my concern for cool temps, so even in the winter months a garden center is super newborn-friendly in my book. As soon as Luke glimpsed their collection of wagons, he heartily approved of our new tradition as well.

Of course a wagon isn’t complete without someone to push in it. We just needed a ‘baby on board’ bumper sticker to complete the scene:

The tradition suits Erik and me well too since my parents have visited soon after both children’s births and we always love to get their expert advice on what to plant in our yard. This time, they helped us collect ideas for our side yard which we’d like to one day reclaim from the wild and for our front yard which we have aspirations to xeriscape.

But of course we didn’t just talk plants with my parents. Here are a few pics of them with our munchkins. Luke is still making a racecar version of ‘vroom, vroom’ noises the way my dad did with him…

and he hasn’t forgotten making brownies with Nika! I hope he remembers that for a long time because this level of participation won’t be permitted again until she comes back!

Papi and Nika were also wooed by their newest grandchild – little Eleanor! They helped put on her hat fashion show (photos here), ran errands, helped take care of both kiddos, and cooked marvelous meals. Here you see Eleanor posing with Papi in her cow outfit in honor of his dairy farm roots. Luke did the same thing as a newborn here!

Today we’re thinking of taking our second family outing since Eleanor’s birth. Poor Luke has been confined to the house mostly, because I suspect that Eleanor’s first sickness will be a gift from her big brother. So our plan is to stick with outdoor destinations and head to the biopark, double stroller and blankets in tow!