July trip to NC

We took a quick weekend trip to NC to visit Josh's grandparents and our friends who were vacationing nearby. We wish we could have stayed longer but I had a busy week and work that next week and Josh had to be at work on Monday so there wasn't a way to arrange for a longer visit. We are glad it isn't too far for a weekend getaway!
I forgot our camera so no pictures from this trip other than a couple Josh's grandma sent us. Luke loves to feed the squirrels with GG (great-grandma) and he also loves to play with a remote controlled car that they have. Here he decided to combine his two interests!



We had a great time visiting with our friends at the camp they were staying at. This was the second year in a row that Luke and I visited there. We made progress from last year as this year Luke actually put his feet in the lake! He didn't want to go further in than that though, so maybe next year!

It was great to get away for the weekend. We need to do it more often!

4th of July

To celebrate fourth of July, we made it out to see a morning parade on July 5th! Late night fireworks are still probably a couple of years away for us, but it was nice to be able to do some kind of celebrating this year. We met up with Luke's best buddy's family and some of their friends who had a great spot near the end of the parade route with a couple of tents to shield us from the intense sun.

Here are some pictures from that day:

Luke before the parade starts



Luke and his best buddy laughing at something :)



Sitting on the curb waiting for floats to come by



Enjoying some fresh fruit!



The heroes





Luke waving. The marchers threw tons of candy out to the kids. Luke was stuffing it in his pockets. Luckily, the tootsie roll pop he is eating in this picture was the first piece of candy he caught and it took him the whole parade to eat it so he didn't actually get to eat all the candy he had since we emptied his pockets before nap time!



Josh trying to shield some of the sun off of Luke



Some of the floats we liked:
Always like a gator!



Elmo! A favorite of the kids



I thought I was seeing Johnny Depp!

Luke's first movie in the theater

On the 4th of July, Josh and I took Luke to see his first ever movie in the theater. We had been planning to take him to see Shrek the Third, but I guess we waited too long because it wasn't playing around here anymore. Luckily, Toy Story 3 had also come out and Luke was sort of familiar with Woody and Buzz from watching Toy Story for about one week prior to our outing.
We talked it up a bit to him, got him his own little tray of popcorn and fruit snacks and a lemonade. We weren't sure what to expect since he never really sits through more than 10-15 minutes of a movie at home, but figured since his ticket was free it was worth a try!
Here he is before the show starts:



And after the movie in front of the theater whose doors were decorated for Toy Story 3.



Luke did pretty well. He was interested in it for about an hour and then said he wanted to go potty (which at that time he was not doing, it was just an excuse to leave and he knew we had been encouraging any interest in using the potty!) I think it may have been to a scary part for him. For those who have seen it, they were in the darkened preschool classroom at the time and maybe it was a little too dark for him. Anyway, I took him out to the bathroom where he wanted to wash his hands and then we went back in and stood off to the side for about 10 minutes. After that little bit he was ready to go sit back down and did so for the rest of the movie!
We haven't been to another movie yet, but based on that experience, I'd take him again!

Best buddies

In early July, Luke hosted his first playdate at our new house. We moved out of the apartment in mid-June and have been loving having more space. Luke loves it most of all since he can run around and has his own playroom.
The apartment served us well for the last year, making it very easy for Josh to get to work and go to the hospital when he was on call, but we are thankful that we have more space. Plus, we really needed another bedroom for baby Bop!

This video is of Luke and his best buddy playing with Noah. I love Luke's fake laugh, see if you can pick it out.



Luke and his best buddy, I love Alec's sweet face in this picture!



In the playroom after the boys (and a little sister) have had a good time!



Since the house is not ready for a photo tour (although it is much closer thanks to my mom and dad helping hang curtains in the living room recently), I'll just have to give little snipits like this in posts :)

We also went to the pool later that day. Of course I forgot to bring my camera. Luke was his usual cautious self, he got in then wanted out, then would get in again for a minute and get out. It was fun to watch Alec and his sister have a great time in the pool. Alec was jumping in to his parents and Luke was carefully watching him, but not quite brave enough to attempt it himself. Josh was able to get Luke in the pool later for quite a while, but then the lifeguard took a break and made everyone get out of the pool so we packed up and headed home for a pizza dinner. Good time with friends! It is nice to have space to invite friends over finally.

Telling Luke he's going to have a little brother

We found out on June 15th that we were going to be blessed with a second son. Luke, who has been calling the baby "baby bop" for months had been telling us he thought he was going to have a sister. I think that might be because several of his good friends have sisters and I think he may equate that with a baby. Anyway, after we found out baby bop was a boy, I picked Luke up from school and I asked him what he thought baby bop was an here is his reply:



So then I told him he was going to have a little brother. He seemed excited, for a moment, then was distracted by seeing a classmate's mommy.



Maybe I should have waited until we were out of the parking lot and he was done with his fruit loops snack to get his full attention :)

My Birthday

I turned 31 in June and for my birthday I wanted to eat Japanese food, one of my favorites! We usually avoid the hibachi table experience and just eat in the dining room at regular tables. I mean, once you've seen it once (or 20 times) you pretty much know what you are missing. (I may also have a slight fear of flaming onions and twirling knives...I just don't need that kind of excitement before I eat my food). However, for this occasion, I thought maybe Luke might enjoy seeing the show since he's never experienced it before. Our friends Carl and Amanda joined us for dinner...thanks to Amanda for the video and pictures from that evening as I forgot my camera.

Sitting at the table






Luke was a little frightened of the pyrotechnics the first time they occurred, so Amanda videoed his reaction to the flaming onion demonstration. Although he is a little cautious, he didn't react as much to the second fire show. Notice though that I am way far back from the table :)



What Japanese birthday celebration would be complete without a gong, a song, dessert, and embarrassment?

Randomness

Another of Luke's creations:

Summer Fun

In early June, Luke's best buddy had a Tumblebus birthday party! The tumblebus is a gym on a bus attraction that comes to Luke's school each week. I know he has been on it before at school (they sometimes pity the kids whose parents won't pay) and he has told me he likes it, but we still haven't felt like it was worth the price they want per month for the weekly half hour lesson. So when Alec's mommy rented the bus for the party I figured I'd get my chance to see Luke in action and decide if it would be worth the money next time it was time for sessions.





Maybe it was because I was there, but Luke wouldn't leave my side, he didn't want to participate at all. I think he was just out of his element and confused as to why he was seeing so many friends from school and yet wasn't at school. While a lot of the kids had a great time, including the birthday boy, there were several others like Luke who were a little clingy so at least he wasn't the only one. He did get a medal for participating though...



After the bus left the kids moved to the backyard and had a great time playing back there. Luke loved running up and down the hill and then the sprinkler was brought out for the few remaining guests. Luke had a blast running through the water with his best buddy! Happy 3rd Alec!







Sadly, Luke and Alec were separated in daycare classrooms over the summer and will be in different classes from now on since Luke has a fall birthday. He still calls Alec his best buddy and when they see each other at school they just light up! We try to get the boys together outside of school too. It is so neat to see him forming such special friendships so early. Luke also asks about all of his friends that we don't get to see as much in Florida and Birmingham, it is really cool to me that he remembers everyone. He loves to look at pictures of his friends on the computer :)

Memorial Day Weekend in North Carolina

Josh's great aunt Greta invited all the family to NC to celebrate her 3/4 of a century :) The white squirrel festival just happened to be going on at the same time. A few months before the trip, my sister-in-law Jayce invited us to run in the 5K or 10K white squirrel race. I thought about walking the 5K, but since I already knew baby bop was on his way I declined to run (let's face it, I didn't actually need any excuse to decline to run...). So, just Josh and Jayce decided to run the race and they both chose to do the 10K!

This is Josh coming down the home stretch (the close up picture I took was really blurry)



And here is Jayce finishing the race.



They both had really great times, Josh came in around 55 minutes I think and Jayce was just about 15 minutes or so behind him (Jayce feel free to correct me if I am off on remembering!) The course had a few big hills and ended on a uphill portion which neither Josh nor Jayce had really trained for, but they were still both pleased with the outcome. We were all impressed that they ran!



We had quite the weekend celebration for Greta's birthday, filled with good food, fun games, and lots of quality relaxing time with the family.
Grandpa (or G-G-pa as Luke calls him for great-grandpa) teaching us the ins and outs of black jack



Here is the birthday girl



There is a putting green where Josh's grandparents and Aunt Greta live. Luke loved hitting the golf ball around. Here he is making a putt.






We took a short drive to the local sliding rock attraction, but none of us wanted to brave the cold water. Aunt Jayce took Luke down near the water so he could put his feet in, but this is about as close as he got!



We had a great time getting away. Luke was a little fussy on the trip. It was hard to get him his full nap time each day and after a couple of days going to bed late with really short naps, his ability to pay attention and listen was pretty limited.
Sometimes being home and getting back on a routine is just what that little guy needs!