4th of July

We had a pretty traditional 4th of July yesterday. We joined my parents at their country club where they had a bounce house, music and dinner. Ethan had a great time in the bounce house and even got to golf a hole, which he absolutely loved.

Morgan decked out in her stars and stripes. She loved exploring everything outside and thought she was pretty cool when she climbed on the chair and then later climbed up by Papa and Nana's golf cart. She could have spent hours out there. It was nice and cool under the oak trees.

Papa and Nana and the kids. No picture is complete these days without Ethan's super cheesy smile. He was itching to golf with Daddy so he wasn't real cooperative with the picture.

This year our town did not do fireworks because of budget cuts, so we decided to have a show of our own. We invited a few families over for ice cream and fireworks. Everyone brought a few so we had about an hour and a half worth of sparklers, poppers and fireworks. The last 45 minutes Ethan kept asking to go to bed because he didn't like the fireworks. He liked the nice quiet ones, but hated the noisy ones, which stays true to his personality. The week leading up to the 4th he was just so excited for fireworks, but he had no idea what they were about. Hopefully next year he will relax a little more and enjoy them.

Before we started our fireworks our neighbors started lighting off theirs. We had 7 little boys (one was in the bathroom for this pic) over and they all ran down the street to watch the neighbors. They had a blast together.

Here is one of the fireworks Kevin lit and another little boy watching. I don't have any of Ethan near any fireworks, because he never got close enough:)

Summertime!

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos trying to stay cool this summer. While June has been unseasonably "cool", the last week more than makes up for it. Last weekend started a heatwave of 100+ for 5 days. We've been spending lots of time in the air conditioned house and a little bit of time at my parent's pool.

The kids love to play on this little slide. Ethan jumps off the slide and Morgan just laughs and laughs at him.

Just a sweet picture of Mommy and Morgan.

Our little dude...almost 3 years old!

Morgan LOVES the pool. As soon as we get her suit on and get her close to the pool she starts to kick her legs! She is wearing a little string bikini in this picture. You can't really see it, but it's pretty cute:)

This was how Morgan was taking her nap the other day. Her legs crossed and up on the edge of the crib.

Zucchini

We had our neighbors water our garden while we were in Monterey and I told them they could pick what they wanted, but they didn't. Below are some pictures of what we found when we got home.

Ethan was quite enamored with the zucchini. When I first spotted it in the garden I told him, "Wow Ethan I found a huge zucchini." He spread his arms really far apart and said, "Is it this big?" He thought he was exaggerating, but he wasn't too far off! I haven't decided exactly what to do with this zucchini. I have had several suggestions so we'll see how we cook it. We've been having a lot of zucchini dishes lately and the summer has only started!

On Sunday we finally headed over to a county park that is near our house. They have some walking trails and swimming access to the river. We had a great time enjoying God's creation and time as a family. When we went hiking before we had kids we would often talk about taking our kids on hikes and teaching them to love the outdoors. I think we're off to a great start. Ethan loved running ahead of us on the trails and Morgan was as content as could be in the backpack.

What we've been up to

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to lately. Kevin has officially been on summer break for a week now. It is fabulous having him home. I will be getting busier as I will be tutoring 3 mornings a week for 3 hours this summer. It will be good to get out of the house for a few hours each day(I'll be using Kevin's classroom this summer).

My mom took Ethan golfing last weekend. The plan was for them to golf 3 holes, but after the first hole Ethan decided chasing squirrels was more fun. But he made it through the first hole and shot a 13! Pretty good I'd say. I still remember shooting a 13 on that hole and I didn't start golfing when I was 2 1/2!

Here's Mo snugly warm after her bath.

This is a picture Ethan took all by himself so I thought I'd include it despite its odd angle.

We are now at the stage that getting Morgan to take a picture with her bear and her card is pretty tricky. I was happy with this one because at least you can see the words on the card:)

Since it was Kevin's first week off school and a week I didn't have to tutor we decided to head to the coast for a few days. We had fabulous weather and such a fun time with the kids. Here are some pictures.

I wanted to include this picture for Auntie Kara so she could see that the boots she bought Morgan finally fit her.

We went to the aquarium on Wednesday. I'm including this picture, not because it's such a great picture, but because of the story that goes along with it. After the picture was taken Ethan tried to walk away and realized his left arm was stuck. We were pretty close to trying to find an aquarium person, when Kevin was able to get it loose. It was pretty traumatic and Ethan even has a war wound to show for it:)

Ethan, Daddy and Morgan checking out the big fish. The kids were so great while we were there. Ethan is loving more and more of the aquarium every time we go and Morgan just liked to watch everything going on around her.

I realized after I asked a kind stranger to take this picture that he didn't speak English...I guess he understood what we wanted though!

At the aquarium they have a little glass alcove that has a wave simulator that crashes water over the glass every several seconds. The first two trips to the aquarium Ethan wanted nothing to do with the wave room. This time he couldn't get enough.

Ethan and daddy running on the beach, right before Ethan wiped out in the water. That ended any desire of his to go near the water. But we had fun digging and running on the sand.

Mommy and Morgan at the beach.

Where are Ethan's feet? Endless fun in the sand.

While Ethan and I were walking on the beach Kevin had a little photo shoot with Morgan. Here are a couple.

This captures our little Mo right now. Hand trying to grab something, drool on the chin and a little grin. She is one curious, happy little girl.

Morgan loved the glass french doors at the beach house.

I was trying to get the kids to pose for a picture before we went out for dinner on Thursday night. Here's a classic big brother annoying little sister. The first of many pictures like this I'm sure.

Family pic outside a restaurant in Carmel that we went to. The kids did so great during dinner. It was a lot of fun.

A sweet sibling picture at the house after dinner.

9 month check up, pools and swings

Morgan had her 9 month check-up the other day. She weighed in at 20 lbs. 13 oz and she is 29 1/2 inches long. She is confidently crawling everywhere in the house now and she pulls up on everything she can. She babbles a lot and is starting to say dadada and mamama. She doesn't know what she is saying, but it is fun to hear her using consonant sounds in all her noise. Here are a few pictures from our last week.

I think Morgan looks a little to grown up in this picture. She's wearing a skirt her cousin Annika let her borrow until she is is big enough to wear it. Thanks Annika!

We tried out the pool for the first time last weekend. Both kids were a little apprehensive. I think it was too cold for Morgan, she lasted for about 15 minutes. Ethan has forgotten how much fun he had last summer and how daring he got. I know by the end of the summer he'll be jumping in again.

Here's Ethan sporting his tattoo he got at a birthday party. He thought he was pretty cool!

Mommy and the kiddos taking a break. Morgan somehow managed to keep her hat on for quite awhile I need to get her used to wearing something on her head and leaving it there!

Sweet baby girl.

Morgan has been loving the swings at the park. I had some fun with the special effects on my new picture program. She is definitely our smiler!

When we get to the park Ethan first has to ride in the baby swing and go "really, really high" and then he lets Morgan have a turn in the baby swing and he goes in the big boy swing.

Ethan was pushing Morgan around on his fire truck the other day. She actually held on and stayed balanced pretty good. Ethan has quite the mischievous big brother look in his eyes, but he was actually really gentle. Morgan loved it!