Adam goes to Myrtle Beach...

Let me tell you a little story about a boy who has an awesome family who invited him to join them on their trip to Myrtle Beach. 

There were sand castles built and lots of holes were dug. 

Ice cream was had - strike that - a lot of ice cream was had. 

Games were played - mostly card games - a beach tradition. 

Some school work and reading was done (ahem, perhaps not as much as there should have been). ;)

Two rounds of Putt Putt were played - and I'm told he beat Uncle Mark both times. 

Most of all, a grandson, nephew & cousin got to soak up a week in the sun with his family. 

He was missed by his mom and dad of course - and was most missed by his brother - but happily we were about to meet up at a different beach for round two of Adam's end of summer beach extravaganza! 

11 months for Harper...

It is so hard to believe that we are so close to celebrating Harper's 1st birthday, but alas, here we are celebrating month 11. So much has happened this last month most notably related to Harper's mobility. He has mastered the art of crawling and is doing it on hands and knees now and honestly - don't blink or you might loose sight of him! He also decided that he likes the view from up high so he's learned to pull up and is cruising a bit around furniture, his music table, his crib, etc. etc. Needless to say - we're exhausted! Ha! Though we are at least still getting 12+ hours out of him at night - but still...we're exhausted! :)

He has also started going to school. He goes three days a week and while we've had a few short illnesses as a result (gotta build up that immune system) he's really loving it and I know a lot of his mobility success is due to being around other new explorers - they do learn so much from each other. I'm already looking forward to the little pieces of art work to come home that he's participated in - definitely a benefit of going to school - goodness knows I'm not about to be putting paint on his hands and feet to do crafts! Ah! Just the thought of the mess has me shaking. ;) 

He's doing some talking now as well - we're hearing "Momma," "Dadda," and we actually think we've heard something close to resembling "Adam." He also totally knows how to get your attention - if you aren't looking at him - he'll cough and sure enough that gets your attention at which point he just grins and laughs. Oh boy - I think we're in trouble. 

He also had his first ice cream, first ride in a shopping cart, and did I mention he can climb steps now? Oh no? Well yeah, he does that too now. See above about the exhausted part. 

To celebrate the 11 month mark, which happened to land on the opening day of the Olympics, we went with an Olympic themed ice cream cake. Seemed fitting for multiple reasons but mostly because there is no doubt this 29 weeker has won the gold for defying the odds. Go Harper go!

Old School Pool Party...

I had some of the best friends growing up and an awesome group of friends to survive high school with. Sadly I haven't kept in touch with them all as the years have passed but every now and again we find an excuse to get back together - this time it was for a pool party. 

We had lots of pool parties in high school, mostly because our friend Ashley had a pool in her backyard and her folks were always so gracious to have us over - luckily her folks still own the house and still have the pool and were still gracious enough to have us over. 

While the location hadn't changed - the atmosphere sure did. Sodas were replaced with wine and beer and the numbers increased - mainly due to the enormous amount of offspring we have all produced over the years. :) 

It was so fun catching up with everyone and best of all seeing the next generation hang out and share laughs in the pool that we all grew up laughing in. 

Hiking & a Picnic at Great Falls...

A few weekends ago we loaded up the family for a Sunday afternoon hike at Great Falls National Park. It's amazing that this place is just 15 minutes from our house and yet we've been really bad about taking advantage of this beautiful National Park in our backyard! We purchased a season pass to encourage ourselves to visit more often - and I think we will. 

Adam was not so impressed with our hike - that is until he saw the falls - and then he changed his tune. Boy is it ever magnificent - and again - practically in our backyard. We snapped a ton of pictures then had a nice picnic lunch under the shade of the trees. 

A simple but active and fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon - looking forward to many more visits - especially when it results in this kid who swears he's never tired to do this on the drive home... 

A Patriotic 10 Month Celebration for Harper...

Harper hit the big 10 month mark on July 5th. He had another great month making lots and lots of progress including finally doing some crawling. He actually put that together during our big Disney trip and while he was still doing the military style crawl boy could he get where he wanted to go - and fast! It was fun to finally see him move towards you - all smiles and ready to climb into your lap. The best! 

He continued to be a solid eater and sleeper - eating everything he's been given, including feeding himself Cheerios, bananas and cheese and sleeping nearly 12 hours every night. Go Harper! 

With all the pool time he got during our big Disney adventure we could tell that he loves the water. He just splashes around and when you've got him in the big pool you can see those legs just kick kick kicking under water. A happy water baby!

Playing with him is such a joy and Adam loves his Harper play time as well. Rolling balls back and forth is still a favorite and he loves his music table and this Elmo book he has that plays sounds - he lights up when he hears Elmo's voice - who doesn't? 

To celebrate the 10 month mark we built on the excitement of celebrating Independence Day and did a flag cake. He looked ready to dive in! 

Happy 10 months Harper!!