Maryland Basketball Game

Last weekend, Julie and I took Aiden to his first college basketball game. Julie's boss has season tix and gave us his tickets for the Maryland vs. Charlotte game (thanks Jim!). To add to the fun, we sat with Julie's friend from lab, her husband, and and their son Mason (19 mos). We really enjoyed watching the boys' reactions. Dana & Griff have season tickets so by now Mason is an old pro, even saying "Go TERPS!" when prompted. He proved he was a true fan by being reduced to tears when confusing halftime with the end of the game. Aiden really seemed to enjoy the player introductions and cheerleaders, but he did a lot of indiscriminate clapping during the actual basketball game too (often when the other team scored). Check out a couple of the pics below. We got one with the TERP mascot before he realized it might be something to be freaked out by!

Christmas 2008

We are just settling back in after the holidays. I had a fairly long break from the hospital and was able to spend some quality time with Aiden and Julie. We started our vacation with a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Andrew and Tracie gave us a year-long family pass for Christmas which inadvertently came to our house, allowing us to take Aiden before Christmas. He really seemed to like the aquarium and especially the dolphin show (thanks guys!). The pass is really nice and Julie and Aiden have already been back for a second visit. Next, we headed down to Norfolk to spend an extended time with Julie's family. It may take us months to reverse the degree of spoiling at the hands of Aiden's grandparents, aunts and uncles.

As you can see in the pictures, there were no shortage of toys for Aiden. The horse he is riding was his big surprise for Christmas morning. Although it is a gift to stay at grandmommy's house for Aiden and the pending cousins, Aiden was very delighted with "Lucky" (did I mention the pony talks?). The uncles came through big too, though he is still a little afraid of the remote control car that Uncle Andrew gave him. I feel like I spent my whole holiday eating but we were able to fit in a night out for Julie and I with Tim & Andrea (friends of Julie's from high school), a trip to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Chrysler Museum, a Christmas Eve puppet/caroling service at Julie's parents' church, and a stop at Julie's Aunt Andrea & Uncle Jesse's in Warsaw, VA for one final holiday meal en route back home. Now back to residency where I can relax a little.

One of my favorite parts was that we were able to have our first ever successful web-video conference with my family back in Illinois on Christmas Day using their new webcam. As we have been working on this for a few weeks now with my parents, it truly felt like a Christmas miracle. It was so great to talk with and for Aiden to SEE so many members of our family out there (including my 100 year-old Great Grandpa Moses!). Anyway, I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and I wish you health and happiness in the new year.