End of July/ 1st Day of School

A few pictures from the end of July:

 This is the only use the potty is getting:

 Gavin's 1st day of 3rd grade. Amelia refused to smile, and then Gavin got scared by a bee:

 How Amelia spent her day without Gavin:

Amelia at 2 1/2

Amelia is now 2 1/2 (specifically 2 and 7 months). She speaks in almost-full sentences, and I can understand most of what she says. Gavin interprets sometimes. For some time now she has been able to sing the alphabet and can count to at least 10. She is working on colors. She likes to color, play with little people, do puzzles, and carry around stuff in her dress up purses and backpacks. She is into Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! She likes books, her favorite reading activity is to point to different items in books and say "what's that?," even when she knows the answer. Sometimes she eats well, other times gets picky. She is not much of a breakfast eater, preferring to drink milk and snack throughout the morning. She will usually eat at least some of whatever we have for lunch. She really likes noodles, cheese, yogurt, goldfish, popcorn, most fruit, pizza, and chicken. If she doesn't want a food she says "no! icky!" She loves to brush her teeth. She is energetic and enjoys playing outside when it's not too hot. On our last Monkey Joe's trip she managed to climb on all the the big blowups. She likes to walk Gavin to the bus stop in the morning, the other day our neighbor Darius (5 yrs old) gave her a hug before he got on the bus. She loves to swim, but insists on having her life jacket off most of the time. She swims underwater as far as one breath takes her. Gavin is still her favorite, she likes playing catch and chase games with him. Any time we get in the car she asks "Meemaw's house?" and she often says "I wanna go Meemaws house." 

"Like dis Mommy:"

 The one day I risk taking the camera in the pool she would not smile:

 hands ready to dive:

 snack after swimming:

4th of July

We had another great 4th of July. Started with the pancake breakfast and flag raising at church and ended with a night of fun with friends. We swam, ate, and shot fireworks. At first Amelia was terrified of the fireworks and insisted on going back inside. I bribed her with a glow stick and cookie, then she was able to sit on my lap and watch. After a while she started enjoying the fireworks and was asking for more at the end of the night.

May/June

In May after we got back from our Florida vacation is was time to open up the pool. We needed to install a new liner this year and decided to do it ourselves to save money. Long story short - we have a new pool. It's a little bigger than our old one, 27ft vs 24ft. We are getting our use out of it. At the end of May Gavin graduated 2nd grade, Uncle Tom visited over Memorial Day weekend, and Amelia caught a cold. Then I caught the cold which turned into a sinus infection. I was sick for 3-4 wks, putting a damper on our summer plans. We still managed to have some fun. I took the kids swimming as often as I could bare, Amelia and I did mommy and me swim lessons, and we made it to the library and park to play with friends. Other than that the kids spent a lot of time at my parent's house, for which I am thankful.  

 Harmonicas from Tom:

 snack after swimming:

 Peaches! 5 years after planting it our peach tree produced lots of fruit. Much of it was ruined by bugs or squirrels, but there was still plenty left to eat:

Saturday - Jacksonville

Another day, another gorgeous sunrise:

 "cheese!"

Saturday we headed over to Jacksonville, just a half hour or so away, to visit the science museum. Gavin was excited when we told him where we were going, he said, "Yay! Museums are my favorite!"

River walk area outside the museum:

 Museum:

 Afterward we went to Whataburger (yay!) for lunch:

 And then a park on base to play. Amelia played and wandered around...

 while Gavin went on a lizard hunt:

 got it!

 Then back to the beach:

 Nothing happier than a baby in a tide pool:

 That evening there was a free concert in the park next door. We had a good view from the hotel, and might have stayed for more than a few songs if it hadn't been country. The next act was more rockin' but they started right as the kids fell asleep (9pm). I could still hear them in the hotel room though.

 covering my ears because it was loud:

Sunday morning we headed home. As Amelia came in from the balcony the last time she said "beautiful view." We took the scenic route home through Amelia island and stopped to look at one of it's beaches - pretty similar to where we stayed, but more built up with condos and such. Still a neat area and I would like to return when Amelia is old enough to appreciate her name on an island and half the streets and businesses in town. All in all a fun trip, and cheap too. The whole trip was under $600 including gas. Thank you military discounts. I was happy to learn that Amelia is old enough to take on vacation and sleep well in a hotel bed, and look forward to many future family adventures.