Grossman family west

At the end of May, our good friends Kate and Seth got married in the Berkshires and, after discussing it with Mom and Dad, we decided that we were ready for a vacation, so we made a trip out of it. We flew into Boston and saw the entire family, including Nanny!, then went to New York and visited some friends, and finally drove to the Berkshires for Seth and Kate’s beautiful wedding. We had so much fun seeing everyone! And, of course, we just posted a photo album to share the fun with you. Enjoy!

Hey, I needed a break!

We recently read that scientists think that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to truly master a skill. And, of course, we want Avi to be a Rock Star. Put those two facts together and it didn’t take us long to decide that we should spend the drive from NYC to the Berkshires practicing singing. Of course, all Rock Stars will have a “Before They Were Stars” TV show, so we recorded part of the rehearsal for future licensing.

You can watch part of the Singing Session here, also linked from the Photo Gallery.

9,997 hours to go.

For everyone who was disappointed that our Tahoe album had only 7 photos (and we know that there were a lot of you!)–great news! While getting our other camera ready for Boston, we found another set of photos from Tahoe! We added 19 MORE photos (for a total of 26) to the same Lake Tahoe 2010 photo album. Enjoy!

I want more pictures of Tahoe!

We consider Avi a “talker” as, much like his grandmother, he always seems to have a word to offer. That said, at this stage his words are better characterized as “sounds” or “noises”, though he is getting quite good at repeating words like “Nanny.” I assumed that he wasn’t really sure what he was saying—instead just realizing that Mom and Dad seemed excited when he made the same noise that we made, so he repeated it.

Then, the other day, Mommy asked him to put some of this toys back in the bin and, much to Daddy’s amazement, he did exactly that. Shooting a surprised look at Daddy, Mom said “that’s nothing. Watch this!” and suggested I grab the camera…

About halfway through the video, I started to have the feeling that my home wasn’t the complete “safe conversation space” that it used to be…

I present to you, with much pride, Avi Aaron, the Flashcard Ninja.

The safari hat helps contain my giant brain!

With a Dad like Joel, it’s pretty amazing that Avi learned to eat WITH utensils. But indeed, he has! Check out two videos that show the progression of Avi eating with a spoon (luckily, he has not learned about catapults, yet!) You can see the videos here.

Avi Eating with a Spoon

Last month (sorry for the late post!) we headed up to Tahoe with our neighbors. We got in a beautiful day of April skiing, explored Northstar village, and, of course, played some Rock Band! A short photo album now posted in the Photo Gallery!

Avi and Mommy relax in the Tahoe snow

Swinging on a swing? Check.
Animal Noises? Check.
Crawling? Check.
Walking? Check.

For Avi’s next feat, he masters complicated puzzle sets with amazing deftness: circles, rectangles, and squares are no match for the Puzzle Master. Next week, we shall start on advanced cryptography and more complicated puzzles.

Check out the video here.

A few weeks ago, we got a family membership to the Bay Area Discovery Museum and brought along our friends the Weekley Family whose Dad, Corey, just happens to be a professional photographer. What happens when you mix a professional photographer, a photogenic 1-year-old, and a scenic venue? Our first ever official FAMILY Photo Shoot! Enjoy!

BTW, if you are in the Bay Area and looking for a great family photographer, we highly recommend Corey! You can check out some of his work on Flickr. Email us if you want his contact info!

GFW Under the GGB

You may have heard the rumblings, you may have heard the rumors. But you probably won’t believe it until you see it with your own eyes, right? Well, wait no longer! It took Avi 11 months to figure out this whole crawling thing, which he quickly decided was completely overrated. And so, two months later, he’s over it. And he’s walking!

Now, his walking is certainly a bit precarious—enough so that Mom and Dad have considered sticking a helmet on him during the daylight hours. But we’re here to celebrate the victories and so, without further ado, I present four video clips of AVI WALKING!

It's true, I can walk! But I still prefer this...

A couple of weekends ago, mommy and Avi went to Seattle. While there, we got to celebrate our friend William’s second birthday at his sport-themed party and visit friends and family—including Uncle Dale, Uncle Mark, Aunt Liz, and Cousins Carson and Jennah. Everyone is getting so big! Check out the pictures in the Photo Gallery.

It was great to see everyone in Seattle!