Photo Posts, a Trip to the Beach, Mammoth Waves, and Wonderful Friends

I'm going to try a new way to share photos. Since our lives are infinitely busy, I end up posting albums to our online Picasa account with tons of pictures, of which I have no time to caption, explain, etc. It's all there for those that have the time to peruse. This is clearly evident in our trip to Oregon, in which I posted 744 pictures and virtually no information about our wonderful trip. I'm hoping to get to that soon.

So my goal is to share a few photos here with a little blurb about what the happenings were, and a link to the massive photo posting will follow.

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We were invited to spend the Labor Day weekend with friends at their house in Bethany Beach, DE. Yea! So off we went, with way more stuff than 3 adults and a toddler need for 3 days. An important thing to remember for this trip is that Hurricane Earl was currently making his way up the coast as we were making the trek across the Bay Bridge.

After we arrived, we ate some dinner then headed down to the boardwalk in Rehoboth. A carnival appeared, (ironically with ticket prices for at least the little rides WAY less than we pay at home). Evan loves to ride, so with tickets in hand, off we went. When it was over, he kept asking for a popsicle. Well, there are tons of ice cream stands, but none really looked like they had popsicles. Ah, finally, we settled on something called the 'rocket' I think. What a mess........

We ended up having to buy him a new shirt before we started the trek home. He put in a valiant effort, but I don't think he even got to the blue part.

The next day we packed up and hit the beach. Now, I'm a water fan, not a sand fan. This means I prefer to go, swim, walk up and down the beach maybe, and get the heck out. I am always amazed at those that want to just lay on the sand for hours and hours. But I knew Evan would have fun playing in the water and the sand, and it was a beautiful day.

Remember the hurricane? I love to swim in the ocean, and am not afraid of going out beyond the breakers. Except this day, I couldn't get past them. I was just always in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Check it out:

Walter and I waiting for the wave:

 Clearly I appeared to have judged the timing wrong.......

 Do you see us? I don't...........

As you can see here I have admitted defeat. Amazing that I have kept my hat. I attempt another shot later in the afternoon, and get wrung out to dry.

All in all a wonderful day though. Evan loved playing in the sand.

The next day we hit the Pirate themed goofy golf, went swimming in the pool (I survived much better there), and packed up and went home. It was a wonderful weekend, and we are grateful to our friends for bringing us along.


You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Additional Picture

Meant to post this picture of Evan actually dressed up as Bam Bam last Halloween to go along with the last post.

Notice his woman on his back. We weren't actually able to get him to haul her around by her hair though.

Evan Look a Like

A friend of mine at work said Happy Birthday to my boy yesterday and also mentioned did I know that there were pictures of him all over the internet. This is the pic he sent me:

That just cracked me up!

Happy Birthday to our boy

Today marks two years since our little boy was plucked from my belly. It has been two years of excitement, joy, tears, quiet times, many loud times, hugs, kisses, and love. It is so great when he throws out "I love you" s all the time. When he says "I fart". When he carries around a butternut squash like it's a baby. When he puts on Aunt Jessie's high heels and takes off for the kitchen because that's where they make the most noise. He can be so sweet and then so bad too.

So to our Evan, we can't wait to see you grow up and be the man you will be but at the same time we want to keep you little and small and snugglie like you are.

We love you.

Morning conversations with Evan

Evan: Gross.
Me: What's gross?
(Evan sticks his finger up his nose.)
Me: Is the booger gross?
Evan: Booger! *giggles* (I don't think he ever said this word before and he thought it was really funny.)
Me: Are you a booger?
Evan: I no booger. I Evan.

Ah, the smell of foolishness

Sunday morning, and I'm on the computer. Matt's asleep on the couch. And Evan is eerily quiet. So I get up. I look around. And I smell something powdery fresh. And then I realize. I have reached my first moment as a parent where I grab the camera instead of the dish towel.

Ah, who doesn't love the little feet prints?

p.s. Becky don't think I wasn't thinking of Holly this morning. I'm sure it's the not the last time this will happen. :)

1-800-WHATS-THE-NUMBER

For decades and decades, businesses have advertised their phone numbers with names.

1-800-CALL-ATT

1-877-KARS-4-KIDS 

(with the catchy little jingle I hear on the radio)

1-800-PET-MEDS 

1-800-CALL-ADT

and on the back of my check card

1-800-NASAFCU

Just the other day I was helping Peggy take care of some bills left over from her old house, and we needed to get a hold of Verizon. I picked up the house phone and started to dial. She laughed, 'What are you doing?' 'I'm dialing 1-800-Verizon of course'. She thought I was joking. Nope, ding ding, you have reach Verizon how can we direct your call (so that you will never actually talk to someone?). Sometimes the easiest solution is the solution.

The kicker is, if they don't also spell out the actual number, you can only dial it on a land line phone (I know, so 1990's right?). Because, unless you have a photographic memory, the letters don't correspond at all on your cell phone. I'm looking at two separate cell phones right now, and the letter 'G' is the #5 on one phone, and doesn't even match up with a number at all on the other. What I'm wondering is if anyone noticed besides me.

I know some will say it's a moot point, because if you are dialing from your cell phone you don't need to worry about long distance vs. local number, because it doesn't cost anymore. And I like talking on my land line phone to people for bills stuff, cause you know you are going to be on there forever so holding up the little phone isn't going to cut it really.

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On another phone note, my less than 2 year old son is a fan of iCarly. He tried to call her on his phone the other day. :-P

Let's go to the Carnival!

About a month ago we decided to take Evan to the local carnival. I figured he would like the music and lights and maybe some yummy carnival food too. I pretty much knew he was too small to actually ride anything but no matter. I did consider that I would like to go on the Ferris Wheel, but Matt is not much of a fan of heights (much less rickety heights) and the thought of being up in the air and having Evan decide he wants out scared me. I needed more than just me.

So we arrived, and saw the cutest baby in a cowboy hat ever (we live out in the country if you can't tell). Just adorable.

So I bought tickets to get on the carousel, at least I could go on with him. And then we saw the kid's train. And I wondered if he could do it by himself. We gave it a shot, and put him in the first car so that he would have a steering wheel, and there was another kid with him. To our surprise, he loved it!!

After that, all bets were off. Peggy ran off an bought a book of 20 tickets (should have gotten the bracelet in the first place I guess) and we were off to find rides he could get on. Note he doesn't look very happy in any of them, but he was concentrating on driving and did not want to get off of any.

Evan wanted to drive as many cars as possible

In the end it was a wonderful night. And we donated money to a local fire department that helps to keep our community safe. As we packed up in the car, complete with stuffed animals won and balloons received, there was just a little bit of crying. He did not want to leave for sure. :)

My son can sing........

My son now knows the entire song of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I sing this often when I just can't think of anything else (though sometimes I slip into the extra lines from Lisa Loeb's version (I could only find someone's dance recital with it)). We listen to that song on her "Catch the Moon" CD that Aunt Becca gave us, he loves it. Here's the title song video:



Anyways, here's how Evan sings it (I haven't been able to catch it on video yet)

twinkle star
i wonder wha da are
up above the word so high
wike a diamond in da sky

*this video post inspired by CityMouse*

Memorial Day 2010

My son on Memorial Day. Every bite of corn was followed by "Mmmmmm!".

Thank you to all of those who have sacrificed and lost (and won) so that Matt and I can raise our family in a safe haven. We are eternally grateful.