South Haven 2011

Jonathan's entire family has been spending a week in South Haven, MI for the last 18 years.  For the last few years we've decided join them (2010, 2009 & 2008).  South Haven is a wonderful little vacation town and we all look forward to heading there every year.  The day usually consists of waking up, picking up delicious homemade donuts, going to the playground, heading to the beach or pool for 4-5 hours, coming home, eating dinner, heading back to the beach to watch the sunset, and falling asleep very early.  It's absolutely perfect! 

 Eli and Riley found buried treasure courtesy of Gramma Michelle & Gramma Kathy.

 Eli spent 4 hours swimming in the pool.  This involves Eli jumping off the edge of the pool wearing water wings, sinking, and then paddling like crazy to get to the surface.  It's terrifying for me but he loves it.

 The three of us enjoying the beach.  Notice my ever growing belly.  We had amazing weather the whole week.  This morning was a little chilly but the colder wind also brought big waves.  You can't really see it but we're watching 3 kite surfers and about about 10 surfers in wetsuits out on Lake Michigan.

 Eli and the cousins right before sunset.  Technically they are Jonathan's cousins.

Now that Eli's a little older he's able to stay up late enough to watch the sunset.  Shortly after this picture was taken Eli ended up in just his underpants.  He loves the water.

Summer 2011 Recap

I've decided that we've neglected this blog long enough.  Here's what you've missed this summer...

Block Party! - June 2011

As you may remember (2010 & 2009) we live on a block that has longest running block party in the city.  The day starts early with pony rides, continues through the day with hot dogs, kiddie swimming pools and a visit from the fire department, and ends with a potluck pig roast and DJ.  Eli always has a blast.

Graduation Day! - June 2011

All of the kids in Eli's class at daycare that were heading to a new school in the Fall were asked to participate in a graduation ceremony.  I managed to score a suit from a local consignment store (only $15!).  Eli learned a new song along with a new poem for the momentous occasion.  Here he is receiving his diploma and smiling with Daddy.

Eli's First Camping Trip - July 2011

In July we headed to Shenandoah National Park for our first family camping trip.  Camping with a three year old is not as relaxing as we had hoped.  Eli enjoyed the Ranger Hikes and managed to pick up 4 ticks.  Unfortunately the massive late night thunderstorms caused us to head out early the next morning.

Father's Day 2011

Eli picked out the Green Lantern PJs for Daddy on a recent trip to Target.  "Those are awesome!  We should get them for Daddy because we love him."

And that's what we were up to during June & July 2011.

Another Lazy Blog Post

Apparently its too much work to actually describe the details of our lives with any frequency, so instead I'll just post a bunch of pictures. Here's Eli and I at a Nats game:



Here's Eli and I dying Easter Eggs:



Here's Eli and I at the Zoo:



Here are some pictures of Eli at Roosevelt Island:







And finally, here are my two favorite moms earlier today while we were celebrating Mother's Day:



Hmm ... Renee's looking suspiciously rotund around the midsection in this one. What's up with that?

Photo Dump

Finally downloaded about 400 pictures from our iPhones and camera going back to last fall or so, and posted them all to flickr. Here are some favorites.

Life Lessons For My Son

Recently I was able to teach Eli a valuable lesson about what it means to be a man. A man does not pay $50 for a Christmas tree from the hardware store a mile from our house, because that would be easy. A man forces his family to drive to a Christmas tree farm an hour away from home where he can pay $50 for the privilege of picking amongst the few sad looking trees left so that he can cut it down himself and drive home with it on the roof of his car. Why does a man do this? I'm not really sure actually. I'm kind of learning as I go along here.



Here we are picking amongst the extensive collection of sad trees.



Here Eli is telling me how to cut down a tree.



Success! I killed a tree and tied it to the roof of my car!

Meet Harry

Harry is the pumpkin we carved. Eli was pretty excited to pick out the pumpkin & get out the tools but not so excited about the actual carving. Mom and Dad ended up doing most of the work.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Gramma Michelle & Grampa Chris made the trip to help us celebrate Eli's birthday. Per Eli's request, the party was Super Hero themed with masks and capes for everyone. The menu consisted of a Batman themed ice cream cake from the Donut Room (aka Dunkin Donuts) and Jonathan's amazing pulled pork sandwiches.

Eli's actual birthday consisted of homemade cake and a shirtless Eli opening presents. The cake was a disaster due to a forgetful baker (me) who left out the sugar. The presents were a big success especially the Bat Cave.