Tourists in our own town

We were so happy to have Dave's Aunt Bonne and cousin Bakura come to visit for a few days.  Since we rarely go into the city anymore, it was a good excuse to take the kids on a tourist adventure!

Calder became instant friends with Bakura.  She made him feel so special, and he totally loved her. 

 Testing out those newly acquired walking skills on the open road!

Calder LOVED looking at the map.  A boy after my own heart!!!

Passed out on the metro ride home. 

Body Parts

Body Parts from courtney on Vimeo.

Who, What, Where, Why and When?

Although we still get a thousand "Whys?" a day, Calder's line of questioning has really started to go into the realm of the Whos, Whats, Wheres and Whens.  (And don't forget the Hows.)  And it's getting pretty deep, folks... 

How does pee get made?

How does poop get made?

What does 'dead' mean?

What are vampires?

And little Miss T?  Her vocab is really expanding as well.  She's starting to repeat words after us, and seems to say something new every other day.   She recently said her first 2 word phrase ("Not nice!") followed by her first 3 word phrases: "Momma not nice!" and "Not nice, Lucky".   Not like it's a pattern or anything... 

I'm waaaay waaaay behind on blogging.  I have tons of beach photos to share as well as some pictures from back in April!  I'll catch up someday... 

Pen Pals in Baltimore

When I was young, I had tons of pen pals, but my favorite was always Amy.  Since she lived just outside of Chicago, we even had the opportunity to meet a few times.  I think we were probably about 12 or 13 when we first started writing to each other, and we continued to write even through college.  And although we don't write 'real' letters anymore, we still keep in touch with Christmas cards and the occasional email.  So, I was very excited when she emailed me to let me know that her family would be vacationing in the Hershey, PA area and she wanted to know if we could meet up with them in Baltimore!  I jumped at the chance, and packed up the kids one Tuesday and headed to the Baltimore Aquarium.  Amy's son, Aaron, is just a few months older than Calder, so it was a lot of fun to watch them together.  They hit it off right away, and enjoyed keeping their parents running after them through a crowded aquarium! 

Tessa really enjoyed watching this turtle eat his blueberry salad!

A few photo ops before we go!  Kevin, Amy & Aaron.  This was taken by Calder...luckily I was able to  crop his finger out of the frame. :)

The pen pals and their boys!  Someone was only in the mood to take the pictures....

Thanks for working us into your vacation, Amy!  It was so great to see you and finally meet your fam! :)

OBX 2010

I have a confession to make. As if there was ever any doubt...it has been confirmed that I am a pathological picture taker. I took over 900 photos on our 1 week beach vacation this year. (In fact...I couldn't have timed this proclamation any better!  As I was trying to upload pictures to this post, Google informed me that I had used up all of my alotted free photo storage space, and will now have to start paying for photo storage!)

Anyway, so it was obviously very difficult for me to narrow down my favorites to post here...but here goes.  900+ photos narrowed down to about 30...

Calder conquered his fear of the ocean!

 Hangin' at the beach with my lovies.

 Love my little beach babe!

 Definitely my favorite picture ever of my two favorite boys:

And a ton of pictures of my little swimmer.  Just look at that happy face!  How can I choose a favorite?  Sooo proud of him!

On that note, here's a quick video of my swimmin' little man.  This was at the beginning of the summer...prior to 6 weeks of swimming lessons.  He did so great! 

Swimming -- June 2010 from courtney on Vimeo.

Swimdate

Before my brother and his family ventured off to Africa, Calder and Sandhya had one last playdate...or "swimdate" at the hotel where they were temporarily staying.  We miss them so much already! 

And, just for fun, I managed to dig up a picture of what I believe was their very first swimdate.  Seriously...time flies.

Missing this already....

Cousins from courtney on Vimeo.