First Day of Summer

We spent the evening at the Walbruns today celebrating the first day of summer with a BBQ. The boys had a blast playing in the sand/water and getting pulled in the wagon. Evan and Ryan (who is just three weeks younger than he is) entertained themselves (and us Ryan's Mom, Krista, and I were laughing hysterically) for at least 15 minutes rolling a tent over repeatedly. I think we even had more fun than they did just watching them. It is such an amazing feeling to witness your child happy and laughing, I don't think there is anything in the world I enjoy more.

If Only I Could Get the Food Actually In His Mouth!

The battle continues between Evan and Aaron and I at mealtimes. You can see from this picture that he won this one...

Father's Weekend Extravaganza!

We had an awesome Father's Weekend (we turned Father's Day into a weekend celebration) with friends and family. You can see that Evan wore his "I've got the world's greatest Dad" shirt proudly. It was a beautiful weekend (it hit 70 both days - woo hoo!) and we made sure to enjoy every minute of sunshine that we could. Saturday we attended the Washington Brewers Festival with the Bachrachs. (You can tell from Aaron's forehead in the pictures from Sunday that we were there a long time!) On Sunday we enjoyed a delicious brunch at Palisades with the Devereuxs, hung out at the marina and then had Dad and Mona over for our first BBQ of the year on Aaron's gorgeous new deck. And after Evan went to bed the adults had a blast playing Wii Tennis, Golf and Bowling!

Zoo

We got all bundled up on Friday (the nice weather from the day before was long gone) and went to the Zoo (Evan's first time). We met up with my friend Kim and her son Garrett. I think I probably enjoyed the zoo more than Evan did but he did seem to get excited upon seeing the cows (he yelled out 'dawh' repeatedly - which is his word for dog). He also seemed to like the zebras and giraffes although he may just have been having fun banging on the glass...who knows either way he was having fun!

Finally...

Finally, the weather in Seattle yesterday seemed seasonally-appropriate! It has been pretty depressing here for the last few weeks. To celebrate the fact that the temperature hit 70 degrees, Gwen, Joy and I took the kids out to lunch. The restaurant we went to had this old bat-mobile that rocked like a boat that the kids loved. Later that afternoon Gwen and I hit Coulon Park with the boys and as you can see Jack enjoyed himself! Evan enjoys the swings but is not so sure about the slide.

My Little Biker Dude

Joy took this great shot of Evan at Clara's 2 year birthday party. I love it! He looks so tough...my little man.

More of Thorndale

Aaron's Dad, David, gave me a tour of downtown Thorndale and some of the surrounding areas while I was there. I had never visited such a small town before, it was really neat. The downtown area consisted of about 8-10
store fronts, most of which were vacant. These first two pictures are of Steve's Place (the town's only bar) and a cool old abandoned building. Both buildings were very cool structures. These last pictures are of catfish caught by this home's resident. It is apparently tradition in the south to hang the carcass of your catch on your fence post. Those are some big
damn fish...

Visit to Thorndale

Over the Memorial Day weekend Aaron, Evan and I went to visit Aaron's family in Texas. His Dad and Grandmother and her boyfriend Bill (all pictured here) live in a neat little one traffic light town, called Thorndale (about 50 miles northeast of Austin and 150 miles northwest of Houston). Coming from the 50's in Seattle, I was not prepared for the heat. It was mid 90's every day.

Evan got to meet his Great Grandmother (Shirley) who is 93 and in better shape than a lot of people I know! She is outside every day feeding her chicken and watering her many plants in her yard.

My baby will only be a 'Baby' for one more month

Evan turned 11 months old today so I documented the day with the following pictures. Although he will always be my baby, he is technically only a baby/infant for one more month and then he's considered a toddler. A toddler! Where did the last year go? Ah, I suppose I will say that every year.


What he's up to at 11 Months:

His first words besides the standard Mama and Dada are: Dog (pronounced 'Dawh'), Bye Bye, Light (pronounced 'ight') and as of today Ball (pronounced 'Baw'). He loves playing peek-a-boo, especially behind the curtains as you can see below. About 10 days ago he took his first wobbly steps and every day this week he has practiced taking just one step at a time. The look on his face when he does it is so sweet, he is so proud and determined. He loves the dogs and lights up when they come into a room (which is probably why it was his first word) and he loves rolling and throwing balls.