Happy Birthday to Nate!

Our little munchkin turned two today!

Nate's day started pretty well - Blueberry waffles on his Birthday Plate. I tried to get him to wear his hat, but that didn't turn out so well.

Then, his mean ol' mommy decided to schedule his 2 yr check up on his actual birthday...I figured, there were no shots due, could it really be that bad? Well, he did not enjoy it...he had to have his finger pricked to check his Iron (which is - not suprisingly - low, considering he has decided to become a vegetarian), the purple band-aid they put on afterwards made it even worse, and then they had the nerve to check his hearing and vision...he was not happy about any of it. But, he survived it all and we treated him to a smoothie afterwards to make it up to him. His birthday party is on Saturday, but we still felt like we wanted to do something fun since today was his actual his bday (yes, we know he wouldn't have known the difference) so we decided to take him to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. This was his first time so it was like toddler heaven to him - lights, music, games, kids, pizza, prizes - he ran from one thing to the next the whole time we were there. He liked riding the little rides, and he even tried skeeball (that was a little dangerous) but his favorite was hitting the moles - he thought that was hysterical. Somehow we managed to not bring the camera along, so all I have are some shots taken with the phone...here is Nate and Barney:

Happy Birthday to our little Nate the Great!

Beach Week 2009

Here are some shots from our Beach Trip to Seacrest - I also put an album to the right with more pics.

What Nate did on his Summer Vacation:

Read books and hung out with Grandpa Dale

Walked on the Beach before dinner

Had one good beach day to play in the sand and water and collect "she-shells"

Learned how to drive

Met his cousin Keagan (and Aunt Julie and cousin Rayne) for lunch and played on the playground

Tried Swimmies (Water Wings, whatever you call them) for the first time (not a big fan)

Did some more beach walking and "she-shell" hunting

Even though the weather was unpredictable, we had a really nice and relaxing week. Nate loves the water, and actually really loves playing in the sand too, so he had a great time. The two weeks since we have been back have been pretty stressful so I am really wishing we were back there already!

Still here...

I just realized that it has been a really long time since I have posted...mainly because we were out of town last week and the week before was spent prepping and packing. We returned on Saturday from a nice week long vacation at the beach...weather was a little crummy but it was still nice to have a family vacation. Pics will be uploaded shortly.

It was also great to come home to holiday festivities (and an extra day off of work)...it felt like the vacation was extended. Sunday evening we went to a cookout at the Hutchinson's - which would have been great had Nate not decided to meltdown on us. Guess the vacation wore him out. It was very ironic that just two nights before we took him to Chops in Destin - an outing that had been planned all week and had me anxious the entire time leading up to it - and he was PERFECT...even the waiter and our kid-less dinner companions commented on how well-behaved he was. I was so proud of him! And then here we were at a casual cookout and Nate loses his mind bc I won't let him ride a big wheel down a 45 degree sloped driveway (with cars parked on it). It was so bad, we had to put him in "time out" in the car (don't worry, we sat with him...just needed him away from the other guests!) while he screamed "bi-cee-cul!" through his tears. Toddlers are truly amazing and unpredictable.

On Monday, we attended our first gathering in our new neighborhood...there was a round-robin tennis tournament and cookout at the clubhouse, which was a great way to meet a bunch of our new neighbors.

So, this post is to let you all know that we are still around...the pics and details from our trip will follow soon!