Prayer Request

Our very dear friends Bill and Kim lost their son, Tim, last night. We had the pleasure of getting to know Tim over the last five years. He was a sweet kid who had a lot to be proud of. Please pray for their family. We are headed out to the funeral tomorrow.
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200907300500/NEWS01/907300338

Cape May

Our friends Philip and Allison invited us to join them at the beach this past weekend. We went to Cape May in New Jersey. People around here make fun of the "Jersey Shore." Philip and Allison told us that Cape May was the exception. As far as beaches go, I thought it was good, but pretty middle of the road. The town was what made it great! There were beautiful Victorian homes, Bed and Breakfasts, Ice Cream shops, and the cutest shops and restaurants.
We brought our tarp so that Jack could stay in the shade all day. It worked perfectly! We had a blast!!

Here we are at the Beach

Jack's first ocean experience

He didn't like the water, but he LOVED playing in the sand

Napping on the beach :)

9 Month Mark

I met a mom a few months ago who referred to the 4 - 8 month time frame as baby heaven. She said it was the time frame that they interact but are easy to take care of because they aren't as demanding as they are when they get mobile. I can't remember if I have said that in my blog already, but I'll mention it again because Jack hit the 9 month mark 12 days ago.
In the past week, Jack has started pulling himself up on furniture into a standing position. I like the development, but it does mean he hurts himself sometimes too. He gets into EVERYTHING now and then gets upset if I take it or him away. I do feel like that means I have to watch him more.
The last two weeks brought clapping too. He started doing it the night of Dave's birthday. My friend Riann got a picture of his very first clap (above). I love how interactive he is getting. I'll still call this baby heaven :).

Two weeks ago was the first time Jack played with a balloon. It was way too cute.

New York City

We went up to New York this past weekend. The idea was to run around and see as many sites as we could fit into two days. My brother's girlfriend, Laura, gave us some great recommendations on where to stay and eat. Dave wanted to get a new york strip in NYC, and we ended up at one of the best steak houses we have ever been to! The picture above is from our ride on the Staton Island Ferry. There was something really magical about a boat ride into this view.

Times Square

Riding the Subway was a cultural experience. Since the rest of the Subway was yucky, I can appreciate why they call this Grand Central Station.

We went running in Central Park

I had just run 4 miles and look horrible, but it's a nice shot of the park :)

Jack's first movie was Madagascar and so it was fitting that Central Park Zoo be his first zoo trip. It's funny that the Central Park Zoo was used in Madagascar because they didn't have any of those animals. Except the Pegiums and the Lemars. They liked to move it move it :)

You can bearly make out the coast line, but we look cute :)

There is something powerful about the Statue of Liberty and something sweet about a baby spending two days in an I heart NY shirt :)

Dave's Birthday!

Yesterday was Dave's 30th birthday. We had a nice bbq party in the park for him. There were 10 adults and 9 kids. We had dinner and then the guys played volley ball and tossed the football around while the kids ran around with the balloons. I could tell that Dave had a wonderful time which makes me happy.

Dave did a great job grilling. It's the first time we have used every cooking space on our grill. We grilled ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, corn on the cob, and zucchini. SO GOOD!

These kids devoured the cake. It was gone in ten minutes.


I think Dave liked it too ;)

4th of July

What better place to be on the 4th of July than the nation's capital! We ventured out to the National Mall with the Doyle family and their friends from Texas. It was an adventure to say the least. The day started at 9:00am when we headed over to metro with our wagon filled with a cooler, tarp, canopy, chairs, strollers, and six children. When we got there the girls and kids watched the parade while the guys found a camp site. Most of the day was spent people watching and listening to bands while sitting under out canopy. It was a fun family time with all the kids playing in the park. Of course the night was capped off with the big fireworks show over the Washington Monument. Although we didn't make it home until 1am, we all had a blast.

Jack liked the bands that went by in the Parade

This one made me smile

Jack had his first slice of watermelon. He LOVED it! This picture shows the amazing view we had from our camp

Happy 4th of July!

Dave's brother and family came at the end of the day for the fireworks. You can see our camp's view from the other direction.

It was an amazing 4th of July!