Baby Cate Turned 2!!

Happy Father's Day!!

We celebrated in style with grilled pizza
Lots of snow cones with Dad's new snow cone machine (every dad needs one--obviously)


And his favorite gift of all-- Super Mario Galaxy 2!

Go USA!!

Cate wearing Argentina, Brooks wearing Boca Jr., Adi wearing Cero Porteno from Paraguay and Lewis wearing Paraguay

In spite of what it looks like here, we are cheering for the good ol' US of A!! We are loving the World Cup and aren't giving up even though certain refs, ahem, need to learn how off sides works. We're calling today's tie a win.

In other news, Brooks aka Buh--beee passed the swim test at the YMCA yesterday after 2 weeks of swim lessons. He now can wear a green bracelet at the pool and swim in the deep end and be more than an arms distance from me. Although he has had the ability for about a year now, he has finally developed the confidence!
He even went off the diving board today. Major accomplishment for this kid who hates anything new. Go Bubby, Go Bubby Go! Superman!!!
See why I never do her hair?
She just pulls it out. Does the word poofy mean anything to you?

And speaking of pulling it out, I don't see why Lewis has to go to school for 10 years after college to pull teeth. I pulled my second one today and it was easy peasy :)
I think she looks so cute with that top tooth missing. Let's hope the tooth fairy comes before she wakes up this time....

Girls Camp...

...was so fun! (for the one night I was there, but I heard the rest was great too!!) It wasn't even too blazing hot. The girls had such a terrific time thanks to Courtney and all the other people who worked so hard.

First Swim Meet

instant swimmer, just add water

One of the greatest things my parents ever did for me was sign me up for swim team the summer after first grade. I love water and I love to swim but the greatest part had to be the friends I made and the fun we had together. So, this summer I decided it was time for Aiden to join the swim team. Here are some pictures from her first race ever, the 25 free.
Waiting at the clerk of course. This is where you go and they get you in the right place for your race. Can you tell she was a nervous wreck?!?!
Handing her card to someone... Don't know why she had it, the timers are at the other end of the pool!
Take your mark and GO!!
We need to work on the start. Majorly need to work on the start.
And she's off! She started out strong, but hit a wall around 20 yards...
Big arms!!
Cate was not a huge fan of the swim meet situation. I have gained a new respect for my mom dragging my little brothers to every race, meet, game, etc. because it's not easy to keep little kids entertained and out of the pool for hours on end. Cate did, however, love the swim cap. She can even put it on by herself. She also loved the ring pop we bought her but Lewis wouldn't touch her since she was covered in sticky ring pop leftovers.

that snowman is the closest thing to a real snowman she'll probably ever see in Alabama!

Bonus

At the last minute we found out that Lewis was going to get a week off. So, what did we decide to do? Head out the the gorgeous beaches 4 or 5 hours away? NO!! Drive 17 hours to Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island? YES!! Of course! Who doesn't love a road trip?

We got to see lots of friends and visit lots of places we love so it was worth it. And I am exhausted but I promised myself I would do this today, so here are some pictures from our wonderful and too short trip:

Thank you Jenn for getting this together even though you were so sick! It was sooooo much fun to see all these friends we adore.
Barb's Queen Marguerite pizza is not to be missed. My mouth is watering right now.
I just had to have the kids pose at Elizabeth Park. Don't worry, in less than 5 minutes they were fighting on the ground.
Breakfast with the girls. I was having some trouble with the self timer.
Lunch with Martha and Carol. Brooks warmed right up to Carol again which was so sweet because she was the only one he liked in the nursery when he was a baby.
The Bushnell Park carousel.

This is just before the carousel closed for the day and right before I opened my mouth about the big huge southern storms and then the skies opened up and showed me a big huge New England rain storm. We were soaked.
Dinner at Harry's. You must have the shrimp pizza, it's amazing. Silly face:
Silly bandz trading at Wolcott Park splash pad

best bookstore ever. in Old Lyme (I think)
The beach was cold the first evening when we got there. It was 60 degrees!!
The kids loved driving the Duck boat in Boston.

Best thing I did all day was have this guy give us a lift to Fenway after the Duck boat tour. Lewis had gone early to the game and called to tell me to do this. Thank you Lewis, saved my aching back.
Fenway!!
We didn't take the T, but we did have a great time.
Matt and Anna have the most gorgeous purple Victorian home that has been beautifully restored. The kids loved it, especially the turret and the piano.
We also loved the beach in Westerly.



See, I was there too!
The kids wanted to pose on the purple stairs.
Aiden tried her first oyster, or quahog. It was almost as memorable as the gnats that were so bad we ate for a minute and then had our food wrapped up to go.
Saying goodbye and Happy Birthday Matt!!!
Tag-- you're it!! Now you all have to come visit us! Mwaa ha ha haaaa!! (my evil laughter)

Oh, and I just noticed that I haven't updated my blog list on the side, so if you have a blog I can link to will you leave me a comment? Peace.