Weekend on the Shenandoah

In June we went to a "cabin" on the Shenandoah river with our friends, the Hamiltons.  The cabin actually turned out to be a really nice house with huge bedrooms and a great kitchen and living area.  It was very nicely decorated by a lover of Pottery Barn.

There was a set of kayaks and great fishing in the river, so fun was had by all. Jordan and Brett caught a fish on almost every cast they made their first time out.  Sara was so happy to be in a kayak and visiting with her friends. 

AJ had the best time of all.  He loved playing with "Abbeee," running around outdoors, throwing rocks in the river, and helping mom and dad paddle the boats.

We went on a few strolls and tried our hiking backback for AJ.  Last year he wasn't a fan, but this year he had a great time in it.

 Getting sleepy.....

 He just couldn't take it anymore.

We'd love to go back to this cabin every year.  It's only an hour and a half's drive from our house, and was so relaxing and comfortable.  We had a great time with the Hamiltons and are so glad they could join us.

Best Part of the Rockies Game

Watch AJ work the crowd with his superb dancing at the Rockies game.  You can hear people cheering.  There was nothing happening on the field, so all the cheering you hear was from the people watching AJ.

 

We'll sign him up for SYTYCD next.

Washington State

In June we took a trip way out west to see my little sister Betsy get married in Washington.  Since Jordan and I have wanted to visit WA for a long time together, we took advantage of the opportunity and spent a little extra time in Seattle, and we took the long route to Yakima through Mount Ranier National Park.

After a very long day of traveling, we checked into our Seattle hotel and walked down to Pikes Place Market.  We took a look around and bought some delicious cherries, then we went out to a little park overlooking the harbor.  AJ was really happy to finally have some outdoors freedom.  He took in the view a little, but mostly he chased pigeons and made friends with anyone who would pay any attention to his friendly advances.

 

 

That night we all went to bed at 7:30 pm Pacific time.  It was a good thing Jordan and I did, because at 4:30 am AJ was ready to rock and roll.  We ate a really expensive breakfast full of salmon and crab, then headed over to the Space Needle to see the view.  I would say we all drank the view in, but that wouldn't really be accurate.  Jordan (very patiently) chased AJ around the circle while I visited with an old high school friend.  Then we went to the nearby Children's Museum and continued to visit while the boys played.  AJ loved playing in a hands on water section of the museum. He looked adorable in the little rain jacket (too bad we found them after he was already soaked.)

After the museum Jordan and I toured expensive neighborhoods in Bellevue while AJ passed out in the car seat.  Then we picked up Betsy's friend, Felicia, at the airport and took a very scenic route to Yakima.  Just as we were teasing Jordan taking us to see the mythical Mt. Ranier, we got a great sighting of it.  The whole park was amazing and we were sad we only had time to drive through it.  
  

The big event was my little sister's wedding.  It was a great ceremony in the Columbia River Temple.  This is my favorite photo that I took.  I can't wait to see the official photos.

AJ had a great time getting to know his uncles, aunts and cousins.  We are so excited to see them all again in a week at the family reunion.  AJ misses his Uncle Sam and Uncle Steve.  He spent the whole day with them while Jordan and I went to the temple for the ceremony.

 

Congratulations, Betsy and Joe!!

Daily Walk

 
Every afternoon (almost) AJ and I go on a little walk outside.  AJ likes to run up and down the sidewalk.

We check out cars and stomp in puddles.

He meets all the neighbors.  He'll give a high five to anyone around. He supervises anyone doing housework outside.  We often go down the street to visit a water fountain in a neighbor's yard.  The people who live there always come out to say hi.  Sometimes we cross the bridge and follow the path through the woods to the fields behind the middle school.  Sometimes we just walk over to get the mail.  But whatever we do, there is one place that we must go: to visit AJ's best friend, our neighbor, Bob.

 AJ thinks if he stands around on Bob's sidewalk long enough, Bob will eventually come out.  AJ thinks this way because he is usually right. Sometimes I try to get AJ to knock on the door, but we are still working on that one.  Bob always come out and shouts, "Hey AJ!" They give each other high fives, and sit for a minute and talk.  Bob predicts a "Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson situation" over the next few years.  But Bob loves their friendship as much as AJ does.

We are grateful to have a little boy who loves to go outside, and for good neighbors who love to have AJ around.

Aquariums and Big Stuff

Hello neglected blog.  Hello neglected blog readers.

AJ went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore last Saturday.  We learned that, while it was a lot of fun, there are only so many fish you can see before they all look the same.  Besides the moving walkways and escalators, AJ's favorite things were the jellyfish.

AJ thinks he is a big kid now.  Here are couple of big people things he likes to use:

 Mom's water jug is just like a really big sippy cup.

 

Daddy's shoes.

He is fascinated by the (sanitized) plunger.  I think he thinks of it like a walking stick.

I only have pics of him using the very favorite oven mitts on my cell phone.  I'll work on that one.

Four Generations!

Not many people can say they have had FOUR generations of family in one room before, but my little boy (less a baby and more a boy everyday) and my husband can show off cool four generations photos like this one:

We took this while we were in Colorado a couple of weeks ago.  This is Janelle (Jordan's mom), Jordan (handsome), AJ (adorable), and Marie (Jordan's grandmother).  For someone (me) who doesn't have any living grandparents and never even got to meet her grandfathers, this makes one cool photo.  I'm so glad AJ gets to visit his great-grandmother every few months.

I can't forget to mention that Uncle Randy was there also, because he seems to be one of AJ's biggest fans.  Every time we see him, I witness true love developing between Randy and AJ.  I wish we lived closer so Uncle Randy could take AJ to cool places like movies and ball games.  Jordan says he loved doing those kinds of things with his Uncle Randy when he was a kid.

Video of AJ's First Day Walking

The long awaited video footage!



Isn't he the cutest thing ever?  He is so much faster now!  You wouldn't even see him run by if I taped him today.