Summer Vacation Moments

The month of July was all about family. We started the month at my Grandma Carol's (Grammi) lake house on Lake Emily in St. Peter. There we got to spend time with Grammi, Grandpa Dick, my mom and dad, Summer, Kirstin and Irene. Nolan swam for the first time and we had some fun times out in the boat fishing with Dad (G-papi). Then, my dad (Grandpa Garth) and girlfriend (aka spiritual practice partner) Hiromi came for a visit. That was also a wonderful week filled with family gatherings and laughs. Finally, to top it all off, we went with Ryan's parents and siblings to Hayward, Wisconsin to relax and enjoy each other's company on the Chippewa Flowage. Tonight Ryan told me that those 9 days on the Flowage were some of the best he's ever had. I agree, and I'll go so far as to say the whole month has been amazing. Thanks to all of our family for being so loving and so much fun!

Here's a list of some of my favorite moments from the month (in no particular order):

1. Yahtzee with the girls at Grammi's
2. Walking in the rain with Jayne and Kristen...fun conversations despite the LONG distance!
3. Reliving Dinkytown and U of M memories with Dad
4. Nolan...need I say more?!
5. Bocce ball at Grandma Sara and Grandpa Mario's
6. Summer burying Nolan on the beach and seeing how much fun he had playing in the sand
7. Talking around the campfire with all of Ryan's siblings...what a great group!
8. All of the great times spent fishing, even when we didn't catch anything.
9. Celebrating Diedrich and Grandma Sara's birthdays at the Spanish restaurant with the Flamenco dancer
10. The Anderson Olympics...Grand Champions two years running!
11. Walking with the bigger group for our 10 miler in Hayward (funny moment...washing Jake's hands off after that dog peed on them, heehee!)
12. Boating over to R&R Bayview for breakfast
13. All of the great food that Grammi and Grandpa made for us...cookies, blueberry pancakes, steak and banana pudding pecan rolls :)
14. Nolan, Ryan and I going to the drive-in movie theater to see Harry Potter. Nolan was such a cutie, looking all around and playing with the drinking straw.
15. Watching Nolan crawl for the first time. Oh yeah, I already said Nolan. But can you blame me?
16. Chasing after Chayton as he threw the football, tennis ball and bocce balls around the yard at the Landing...what a fun young boy he's turning out to be..."move back" and "No, Aunt Greta" and "put back nose!"
17. Going to the dog park with Dad, Nolie and Hiromi
18. Grandpa Ken putting Nolan in the hammock and watching his reaction

Ah, what a fun month to relive. What are your favorite moments of the summer? I'd love to read your top memories! Feel free to comment :)

Moving and Shaking

Does this face spell trouble??

Target: Football

On the move!

After a week in Hayward, Wisconsin and plenty of floor time, our little guy is now crawling! Watch out world, here comes Nolan :) He picked up a couple of other skills this week too...waving "hi" in response to other people, going from laying down to sitting up and shaking his head "no." Today he also pulled himself up to standing using the couch, the TV stand and the bookshelf. He then started pulling down anything within his reach. You can tell he's so proud of himself when he does these new things. He gets the biggest grin on his face and his eyes just light up.

Ryan and I have now started the baby-proofing process by covering our electrical outlets. We moved his crib down so that he won't fall out when he pulls himself to standing. We'll also have to rearrange our DVD player and Nintendo Wii so that he can't pull those off the TV stand. Although the basement and upstairs doors are usually closed, I'm now very aware of them and am pretty paranoid that I'll leave them open. I think this might mean a lot of extra door-checking in the next month or so!