Aeries Visits For the Weekend Again :-)

Since it is our sworn duty as Grandparents to show off the grandchild ad nauseum, here are some more absolutely precious pictures. I have requested additional nephew pictures to post and brag about also and they will be forthcoming.
We think the picture of Aeries and Scooter is funny because it looks like Scooter is gigantic. Like one of those old black-and-white monster movies...although Scooter wouldn't hurt a flea (which might explain why he has so many). The other one of him is funny too because it kind of sums up the 'jealous-cat is jealous' mentality we see when the little ones are here...
"Fine, if you won't pay attention to me I'll jump up on the counter and lay on her blanket. Then you'll be sorry."

Videos

Twenty-two seconds of joy. (0:22)

DJ Aeries and the Animals. (1:10)

Aeries tries her hand(s) at pattycake. (4:45)

Aeries goes nuts. (4:29)

Today's Connerism

Conner is always coming up with something 'big for his age'. Here's a story his Daddy told us today:

"This morning, Conner climbed into bed with me at about 6:45 AM. Still
dark... he's wide awake and ready to go. After about 5 minutes of snuggling I say, "Conner, it's still dark. Why are you always wide awake and ready to go this early?" Conner says, "I can't help it, God just made me that way."

Aeries spends the weekend

Sometimes it seems like Aeries' favorite activity is smiling.

Mmmm, yummy washcloth. We took it from her and she cried so we gave it back....not that she's spoiled or anything...

"GRAAAAAANDPAAAA. HELP PLEASE. I CAN'T REACH MY TOYS."

Sleepy, adorable little girl playing with her frog at bedtime.

Practicing walking with Grandpa. Our destination was Grandma's arms. She was so excited and proud of herself. She would have done this all day long.

Relaxing on Grandma Syl's lap. Caption could read "Man, that is some seriously hot salsa.".

In one of her typical happy moods. Here's the video.

Great-Grandpa and Grandma came over for some serious bonding. It was wonderful.

It warmed our hearts to see the way she responded to them tonight.

Where better to fall asleep than on Grandma Syl's lap? Moments after this picture was taken.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Conner at Sausagefest

He is so serious on the rides. We got such a kick out of it. Here's the video.

I'm completely serious about the fun I'm having.

This slide is seriously going to be a lot of fun.

That was fuuuuuuun!!

Two words:

1) Sugar
2) High

That sausage-on-a-stick didn't have a chance.

8:15 and out like a light.

Wednesday with Aeries

More sweet little girl pictures. We feel so fortunate because we spend so much of our time with either our Grandaughter or our Nephew. Life is so much richer because of these two little beings. We are still enjoying thoughts of last Wednesday night when Aeries was here and at the same time looking forward to Saturday when Conner will be here to spend the night!


Playing with your feet requires a lot of concentration. Here's the video. It's quite entertaining!

This kid oughta join the circus!

Lily sits nearby hoping to scam some attention or food from us. Dream on Lily. Aeries is here, you'll have to wait.

Completely relaxed in Grandma Syl's arms.

Not sure what the deal is here.... actually we wonder if she's cutting a tooth. She did this a lot...

...and this.

Comet Encke's Tail Gets Ripped Off

Click on this gif to see a short movie (you might want to let it go all the way through once so the second time it will be in 'real time'). Swinging inside the orbit of Mercury, on April 20th periodic comet Encke encountered a blast from the Sun in the form of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). When CMEs, enormous clouds of energetic particles ejected from the Sun, slam into Earth's magnetosphere, they often trigger auroral displays. But in this case, the collison carried the tail of the comet away. The tail was likely ripped off by interacting magnetic fields rather than the mechanical pressure of the collision. This remarkable event was recorded by the Heliospheric Imager onboard the STEREO A spacecraft. In the movie, the time between frames is about 45 minutes, while the frames span about 14x20 million kilometers at the distance of the comet. Of course, similar collisions have happened before as the ancient comet loops through its 3.3 year solar orbit. So don't worry, Encke's tail grows back! This is the kind of totally amazing stuff we see daily on Astronomy Picture of the Day. We have it as our wallpaper so we don't miss a thing.