4th of July

As is our tradition, we went to America's Heartland for 4th of July. We stopped off in Columbus first, for a visit with Ben & Kirsten, and of course, a stop at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.

Black-eyed Susans at a Virginia rest-stop


Helping Kirsten water the herb garden


Playing piano with Ben




From there, we went on to Willoughby to see the Miracle clan at Uncle Tim & Aunt Colleen's annual picnic. Charlie got to hang out with his cousin Ryan, who is 18 months older and therefore much worldlier with much cooler toys.

Checking the temperature of Uncle Tim's pool (verdict: freezing)


Scarfing down Tim's jambalaya


Feeding Aunt Lauren a blueberry


Who needs fireworks when Grandpa wears this shirt?


The Emperor Charles feasts on grapes


We weren't entirely sure how the fireworks would go over - but he loved them. So much so, that we had a running color commentary for the entire 30 minutes: "Mommy, look at that colorful one! Daddy, did you see the colorful one? The colorful ones are my favorite. Which ones do you like, Mommy? Mommy, you like the sparkly ones. They look like glitter! Ooh, look, another colorful one!" Evan shot some video of this, and in 10 minutes, I think he said "colorful" 23 times.

Bike Day

Charlie's preschool had planned a bike day, but he needed a helmet in order to bring in his trike. Since we hadn't really been too concerned about tricycle-induced head injuries, we needed to make a "safety first" run to Target. The helmet came with knee and shin guards, which Charlie insisted on wearing as well.



The boy was all ready to try out his gear, with a little steering help from Daddy.

Lucy's Wedding

Our friends Lucy and Donald got married this weekend on her parents' farm. Since this coincided with my birthday, we decided to take a mini-vacation to Tennessee.

On the way there:
C: Is Donald a girl?
A: No, honey, he's a man, like daddy.
C: Then he has a penis!

Thankfully, this was not repeated once we reached our destination.

He was, however, overcome by how "beautiful" our hotel room was (which I should add, was standard-issue burgundy floral): "Mommy, look at this big colorful bed! And these curtains are so pretty with flowers!" This went on for quite some time. Apparently, we should get him out more often.

The morning of the wedding, we went out to the Natural Bridge in Sewanee for a little exploring.





Charlie was obsessed with this "cave"




At the playground on Sewanee's campus


After some pizza and a romp at the pool, it was time to get gussied up for the weddin'.





Charlie plays with his shadow in the barn


Showing Lucy's niece his dinos


Cranking up the ice cream


The happy couple


Charlie and Brian check out the cows before dinner


Charlie peeing in the thistles (which he then unfortunately fell into)


First dance


The C man gets down


A very, very sweaty pic of me & Lucy

Rainy Day

Charlie usually takes a stuffed animal with him to school for nap time. It was pouring rain today, so he wanted to zip duckie into his raincoat, "to keep her protect."

Bradley Birthday Party

The birth class "babies" had a 3-year birthday reunion today at Pullen Park. Kind of wild to see all of them looking so grown up!

We were only missing 2 of the 8 kiddos - pretty good haul for 3 years later


Tanisha had all the kids' names printed on the cake, so they all got to eat their names - YUM


Gift exchange


On a boat ride with Zayveon

Predation

Charlie's love of dinosaurs had evolved in such away that we often hear:

"I am a fearless hunter."
"Mama, you are a carnivore."
"That T-rex is a big predator."

Or, my favorite:

"That T-rex is going to kill you and then eat the meat out."

Unfortunately, even Obama has come under attack:

Poop Stickers

The potty training continues . . . Charlie is convinced that "big boys stand up to go potty." Which is all fine and well until it's time to poop. So we've tried to incentivize the sitting down with homemade poop stickers. These were originally a big hit, but they've lost a little of their original magic.





But that aside, things are going well. Most mornings, he heads straight for the bathroom to pee without being asked. A few nights ago he woke Evan up at 1 am because he needed to go potty. So I'm trying to be patient with the pooping, as I know it will just sort of click one day, the same way the peeing did.