Weekend visitors

Mason has had visitors the last two weekends.

First he spent some time with his Greatgrandparents who live up the road in Morton, Ill. Somehow, I managed to get everyone with their mouth closed.

Last weekend Mason's Nana and Papa came for two nights. The weather wasn't great, but we made it out to the annual Urbana Sweetcorn Festival.

Mason was enthralled by the petting zoo. Maybe next year, we'll buy a ticket and go inside. Mason also got a Urbana Fire Department hat to wear.

Later he tried some corn.

Mason's Nana left some of her pasta, which Mason loved. We also discovered while taking these pictures that he knows to smile for the camera.

Mason in his yard

Mason loves his backyard and wading pool. The other night he thought that it would be fun to collect all of his balls in the backyard and throw them into the pool. Unfortunately, he still lacks a bit of object permanence and almost ran into a tree.



Hopefully Mason won't hold our laughter against us when he's older.

Visiting Peoria

Mason's latest adventure was driving over to Peoria for a Gentry family mini-reunion and birthdays party. Unfortunately, we were so busy chasing Mason around and vising with relatives that we didn't take many pictures.

It was really hot last Saturday so here's a picture of Jeni and a very sweaty Mason.

I don't have any more pictures of Mason so here's one of my cousin's daughter Emily and my cousin Emily. (I also have a cousin Joe and a nephew Joe, a cousin Jennifer Gentry and a wife Jennifer Gentry, and a cousin named Ken.)

A visit from Uncle Chris

Mason's Uncle Chris visited from New Jersey a few weeks ago. They had lots of fun together.

Here they are in downtown Urbana looking "GQ."

They didn't quite "get" reading together at first.

They figured it out though and read a few books. Amazingly enough Mason actually looked at the camera for this picture.

Mason went to a wedding

Mason went to his first wedding back in July. My cousin Lisa married Max. Here they are at the reception at her Dad's house.

Mason spent a bit of time with lots of family. Here he is with his Great Grandma and Grandpa. He likes to put things around his neck and you can see the camera case.

Mason is really starting to have fun with his cousin Joey. Here Papa is corralling them back towards the party.

While we were still all dressed nicely after the wedding ceremony we tried to get a picture of Mason, his cousins, Papa, and I. It didn't work out too well.

It was too hot for any more takes.

Performing at dinner time

Mason loves an audience and he loves dinner time. So meal times can be pretty funny. Sometimes too funny and Jeni and I have to stifle laughs so as to not encourage some of Mason's behavior.

Still, much of what he does is harmless as well as funny. Here Mason is eating one of his favorites, cantaloupe.

This particular day, when he finished his serving, Mason put the plate to his face and....TA DA!

Eventually, he took the plate off his face, handed it to me, and asked for "more." I gave him a bit more and we repeated the whole thing.

Meadowbrook Park

When we bought our house, we didn't realize we were so close to one of Champaign-Urbana's biggest parks, Meadowbrook. There are a few miles of walking paths, a restored prairie, a community garden, and a sculpture garden, but, of course, Mason prefers the playground.

Mason stands near the entrance and welcomes everyone into the playground.

Sometimes he has to take time out to steer.

Mason likes to swing, and to push the swings as well.

Mason loves going to the park.

We got our camera back!

So we haven't posted any pictures lately because I left our camera at my uncle's house. Look for lots of pictures in the next few days.

Here are some pictures of Mason in his new house.

The stairs were an issue for a while because Mason could go up, but not down. He has since learned to go down the stairs on his belly.