Vacation recap

We survived our week vacation and were gone from the 23rd to the 30th. That is:

• 7 nights away from home with a 11 month old who doesn't like to sleep


• about 100 diapers or so


• 1420 miles on the Expedition


• 2 bags of puff-corn consumed during those miles by the small people!


• 2 new teeth popped by Cooper


• 8 million--not really but it seemed like it--the number of hours Paige logged in the pool


• 6 hours spent at the wonderful Minnesota Zoo


• 4 minutes--the estimated time of the roller coaster Paige and I went on--we both screamed and loved it


• 1 pair of newly pierced ears


• countless--giggles, smiles and hours of fun

Thanks to Crystal and Aunt Wanda for hosting us at the travel stops in Fargo and thanks to Aunt Mary and Steve for letting us invade them for 5 days--we had so much fun and can't wait to see you all again soon.

Pictures to follow; but need to have some time to go through the 300 I took to see which are worthy!

Cooper walking video

Tee ball and coconuts

Last tee ball game on the 11th--they split up and played against themselves and it was on the 'big' baseball field underneath the lights at 8pm. They thought they were big stuff. Paige couldn't keep her hands out of the line chalk!

Sunday the 17th, my hula girl ready for the parade and the bank's float. The parade theme was tropical paradise; complete with a tiki hut that Ryan worked hard on building the frame for and Sarah made look wonderful with the raffia.

Around the 4th pictures

Cooper & I on July 4th. Paige was too busy with sparklers for pictures!

Cooper modelling his swimwear. We went to the pool and his swim shirt did a great job of keepign him warm and not burnt.

Cooper watching Paige and Ryan set off fireworks from inside the house--where it was safe and bug free.

We have a walker. . .

This week Cooper has had showed off a few steps--primarily from me to Ryan or vice versa earlier in the week. There was a sequence of 2 or 3 steps. I called that first steps on the calendar. He's been getting braver all week and you'll see him hang on to something; then let go and stand there--you can see the thought bubble over his head wondering if he can make it! This morning he let go of his inhibitions and was going in stretches that were 5-6 feet at a time. There was 3 or 4 times he did this in an hour; so I am declaring him walking! This all happened from 6-8am this morning; and I told Ryan by the time he came home I was sure we'd be outside running circles around the house ;) We'll see how crazy my day is!

Tee-Ball

Paige had her 2nd tee ball game on Thursday night in Scranton. They did very well and this time she kept her fingers out of her mouth when she was on base! They have a few days of practice left and then they have one last game where they get to play on the big baseball field at night underneath the lights.

97 degrees

It hit about 97 degrees for one day last week so we took that opportunity to play in the water a bit. I am not sure how to handle the city pool with both kids by myself; so we opted for our baby pool and a sprinkler! Fun was had by all and the grass got a little watering as well. Cooper was in his clothes and sort of sat in the water; so we just stripped him down for a while and let him hang out. He is a water boy. He just though it was great to be partially naked, in water, and outside all at the same time! His diaper became soaked with 2 lbs of water; so the swim diapers came out after he crawled naked across the lawn from me. Boys. Paige had fun just running and jumping into the little pool; and she pulled Cooper through the sprinkler in the wagon.