Our Summer Vacation

On our travels to Waynesville, we stopped in Hampton for the weekend and enjoyed some time with Heather, Clint and Lily. On Saturday we played in the yard in the pool and the dads enjoyed the slip and slide. After the pool they took a bath, got their PJs on and watched Space Buddies.

Cole enjoying Lily's playground

Cole found an alternative game for a golf club and solo cup
Lily and Cole playing in the pool

A series of photos of Brian on Bonzai Falls

The kids watching their daddy's going down the slip and slide

Cutie pie Lily

After a day in the sun, bath time!

Enjoying a movie and popcorn

Sunday we got up and headed to Stephen and Susan’s for a visit before heading on to Waynesville. It was great to see them. Stephen burned us a CD of the Black Eyed Peas song Cole enjoys so much so needless to say Brian and I are now tired of that song. Cole clearly isn’t; he continues to rub his belly (the sign for please) and say please to hear it over and over. We headed out from Stephen and Susan’s around 10:30 and headed the remainder of the drive to the mountains. Along the way we stopped at a BBQ joint for lunch and unfortunately Cole got sick as we pulled in. Carsick? So we got Cole, Brian and the car all cleaned up and grabbed a bite to eat. Finally we arrived at the house. Cole took a late afternoon nap while I grocery shopped. We had dinner and called it an early night.

Susan, Cole and Stephen

Watching Dora at Stephen's and getting a little sleepy!

We have arrived at the house! This was in the afternoon

This was at sunset!

Monday we got up, had breakfast and headed to Lake Junaluska. We found a little park area with the water overspill from the lake and a creek area that we played in for a bit before we took a walk around the lake and looked at all the ducks. After lunch and nap we went for a walk around the mountain. It is crucial to keep Cole outside and moving to get his energy out.

The dam at Lake Junaluska

Creekside

Cole throwing rocks into the creek

Checking out the falls

Finding the perfect rock to skip

Brian and Cole

Cole and I looking at the baby ducks

Pointing to one of many ducks

Here is a sequence of photos of Cole running towards me off the back deck

Finally we got some food in him, can you guess what he ate?

Cole’s new thing is to wake up at 5:00 screaming and we are still trying to figure out what his deal is. Monday morning he did eventually get himself back to sleep after screaming “Momma” “Dadda” (and he has even screamed out for his grandparents hoping for anyone to save him) over and over for about 30 minutes. This morning was the same routine but it did not appear he was going back to sleep so we went ahead and got him up. He colored for a bit and watched Dora as we waited for the Cable guy to fix the internet service. We are going to find a park my mom told us about and once again get some energy out of this little one.

Here he is this morning fading before nap time.

That is it for now. More pictures and blogs to come. Stay posted this week as I plan to update daily.

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great week and weekend. My mom (Emmy) came to town to visit and attend a conference so she got a nice long week with Cole.

Saturday Cole got his official 2nd haircut. He looks so old and handsome, even with his silly face.

Father's day was a success. We had everyone over to swim and the had an early BBQ dinner that was delicious! Cole was doing great in the pool and has been talking about Melissa his swim instructor but we shall see how things go Monday afternoon.

Here is Cole with his great-grandfather, Pops, blowing bubbles.

Cody saying "Are you talkin to me?"

Practicing Cole's swimming moves

Cole found my mom's curlers and thought he'd add a little body to his newly cut hair.

It was really nice to have everyone together as always.

Cole is becoming, well I suppose he has been, quite the character. He now will say, "OH NO" anytime anything happens where you might say "Ut Oh." Also, he has a new favorite song where he sings, "Boom, Boom, Boom." These are the lyric to the new Black Eyed Peas song. He is still saying, "Hi there Mama, Hi there Dada, Hi there Ruby (from Max and Ruby), Hi there pool, Hi there milk." He is very polite and makes sure nothing goes unnoticed. He also continues to do this in public places to those who pass by.

We are heading out of town Friday for a week to North Carolina and are hoping for some cooler weather. It should be a wonderful vacation and we are looking so forward to it. The first stop on our way is Hamptom, GA to visit with Heather, Clint and Lily, then by my brother's house in Atlanta and then we will arrive in Waynesville sometime on Sunday.

If we don't talk to you, Happy 4th of July!

Playing Catch-up

Here is a new thing Cole is doing while watching his favorites shows; lean on the ottoman with his foot up. Real Cute!

Last Wednesday Olivia and my dad (Granny and PePaw) came to town for a visit and we had a wonderful time. Cole was his usual charming self once his new facial expression wore off. I will have to capture it on film because it is a good one. Thursday I went in late so we could hang out a little longer with Granny and PePaw (which he says Papa, but it is adorable anyway he says something).

Showing his monkey impression
Saturday morning Cole and I went on a walk over to Bill and Michele's for their neighborhood garage sale and I did a little shopping as the kids played in the yard. Cole is on some antibiotics that advise him to avoid periods of exposure to sunlight so coming up with ideas of how to entertain him indoors was on my mind. Luckily Gram and Granddaddy came over to help entertain for a bit before nap and then we were able to enjoy the sun while Cole napped.

Sunday morning we had planned to hit the Junior Museum (as it used to be called) but unfortunately it didn't open until 12:30 so we, along with Bill/Michele/Syd/Cody (BMSC) went to Tom Brown Park to play for a bit. It is amazing how hot it already is here. At 8:45 I was already sweating so I hung out in the mister along with all the kids to cool off. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the park.


Syd showing off her monkey bar skillsCole watching Syd cross the monkey bars
Cody looking stylish in his "hat hat"

A little blurry but really cute

The kids were enjoying pushing all the buttons on this "game" and even the dads joined in the fun.

This was such a neat water fountain

Look at that smile

Cooling off with the mister

Carefully attempting to turn on the mister

After the park I thought I would try a movie with Cole since we were limiting the amount of time out in the sun, so I invited Sydney over. She and Cole watched Space Buddies and ate popcorn. Talk about cute, as seen below.

After nap, I decided to take my chances and allow Cole the opportunity to go swimming and BMSC, the Sumner's and the Mitchells stopped by for a dip. Cole had a great time with all the kids and thoroughly enjoyed jumping in the pool to me over and over and over. Then I would toss him in the air and catch him, but let him go under the water a bit. I was prepping him for his lessons that begin Monday.

After a fun day in the sun, a lovely quick thunderstorm came through and knocked our power out around 6:30 and it didn't come back on until 12:30. We certainly didn't expect it to be out that long but it was. Poor Cole was sweating so bad in his crib that I periodically would go in to fan him. He was so cute though only sleeping in a diaper. Brian and I determined after dinner (pizza delivery) by candlelight and a little heat, we had our camping experience and it would be a long time before we would need to do it again.

Monday we went to the doctor and had his 18 month checkup where he received a shot and then had to go and have some blood work done. Although he was a champ, it was rough on all of us. I asked Brian to hold him while they took his blood as I stood outside the room crying. But like I said he was such a big boy! However, afterwards he held his arm, would look at the bandage and cry. Here are the funniest photos I took of him "pouting".

Finally, we started swim lessons Monday night and considering how his day had gone, he did great. More to come with how those lessons are going later in the week.