This had to be the best fourth of July I have ever had. We spent the weekend at my parents house in Alexandria, which for those of you who have never been to, is just beautiful. We brought the boat with us, and Adam was able to find a few opportunities to go fishing while I enjoyed having some helping hands from my parents and sister with some pretty happy children. The weekend as a whole was wonderful, but the fourth of July was similar to the fireworks show AJ saw with my family - it just kept getting more and more wonderful and exciting.
We spent the morning at a festival in Starbuck. AJ had fun doing many of the games and activities they had set up for children to do. We did miss the parade, but with the heat and sun, that was probably a good thing. I didn't get pictures of one activity, but one of AJ's most favorite events was the big blow-up slide that you climb up and go down. He was afraid of going up alone, so I ended up doing it with him a few times. I was beat, but it was actually fun!
Abby spent most of the time at the festival in her stroller. She was nice and cool in the shade of the stroller - I think I see a little smile on her!
After AJ's nap we went to the airport. My parents had bought a half hour flight at a fundraising event. I didn't tell AJ that he could go up in the airplane until after he woke up from his nap, and he was soooo excited when we got there. It was a complete bummer when we found out that there was an error with the person who scheduled us, and the pilot didn't know about our time, and we weren't able to go flying. I asked if the guy at the desk could let AJ touch the airplane, and he did let him go sit in the airplane and touch some of the controller buttons. AJ was a wonderful sport, and he kept saying "No fly airplane - airplane stay on ground". He was visibly disappointed, but handled it really well, and i know he did enjoy seeing all the airplanes. We were told that when we do go flying in a few weeks, they will actually let us go up for closer to an hour. I can't wait to see AJ go in the air! He LOVES airplanes - just like his daddy!
At the festival AJ got not one, not two, but three ice creams! The first one did fall on the ground, so he only ate two. He enjoyed every lick!
Both of these ladies are smiling! The black cord around my mom's neck is for the camera. Betweenthe two of us we looked like the paparazzi around AJ and Abby! 
AJ got his first "tattoo". He was a little upset when he realized it wouldn't come off and kept trying to pull at his arm on the truck ride home. He enjoyed it once he realized it wasn't coming off, and today when Abby was crying, and he was trying to cheer her up by saying "It's okay Abby" - I told him to say something funny, and AJ kept saying "see, Elmo Abby. Tattoo". It was really sweet and cute.
I think this is considered cheating :) 
The duck pond was, as always, a hit!
Here is AJ riding on the train :) He was so excited, until he realized that no adults were going with him. My hip was still hurting me, so my mom ran a few blocks with the train to help him stay smiling the whole time!
That is one satisfied customer!
Abby enjoyed being held almost the whole weekend. Here is my dad admiring her :)
Here are my two handsome men sharing a piece of chocolate over my daughter :) We had fun making smores that night with a bonfire pit on my parents deck, and this was one of the pieces of chocolate for the smores. AJ didn't like to eat the marshmallows, but we all laughed so hard for about twenty minutes when my dad and I started throwing marshmallows at one another. When I ripped one in half and gave it to AJ to throw at my dad, it kept sticking to his finger. I think it is one of those situations where "you had to be there" to see how funny it was, but trust me, it was a good laugh!
I didn't get any pictures of the fireworks, but my parents and sister took AJ out to a look-out point to see the fireworks. AJ LOVED the fireworks, and he talked about them for about two hours of our two and a half hour drive home. He kept asking for more fireworks, and didn't really understand that there are not fireworks shows every night of the week. On our drive he kept saying "Fireworks...Asheyy...Gandpa....Gandma....pretty....truck...." etc. He was just listing everything that he did and who he did it with.
We spent the morning at a festival in Starbuck. AJ had fun doing many of the games and activities they had set up for children to do. We did miss the parade, but with the heat and sun, that was probably a good thing. I didn't get pictures of one activity, but one of AJ's most favorite events was the big blow-up slide that you climb up and go down. He was afraid of going up alone, so I ended up doing it with him a few times. I was beat, but it was actually fun!
Abby spent most of the time at the festival in her stroller. She was nice and cool in the shade of the stroller - I think I see a little smile on her!
After AJ's nap we went to the airport. My parents had bought a half hour flight at a fundraising event. I didn't tell AJ that he could go up in the airplane until after he woke up from his nap, and he was soooo excited when we got there. It was a complete bummer when we found out that there was an error with the person who scheduled us, and the pilot didn't know about our time, and we weren't able to go flying. I asked if the guy at the desk could let AJ touch the airplane, and he did let him go sit in the airplane and touch some of the controller buttons. AJ was a wonderful sport, and he kept saying "No fly airplane - airplane stay on ground". He was visibly disappointed, but handled it really well, and i know he did enjoy seeing all the airplanes. We were told that when we do go flying in a few weeks, they will actually let us go up for closer to an hour. I can't wait to see AJ go in the air! He LOVES airplanes - just like his daddy!
At the festival AJ got not one, not two, but three ice creams! The first one did fall on the ground, so he only ate two. He enjoyed every lick!
Both of these ladies are smiling! The black cord around my mom's neck is for the camera. Betweenthe two of us we looked like the paparazzi around AJ and Abby! 
AJ got his first "tattoo". He was a little upset when he realized it wouldn't come off and kept trying to pull at his arm on the truck ride home. He enjoyed it once he realized it wasn't coming off, and today when Abby was crying, and he was trying to cheer her up by saying "It's okay Abby" - I told him to say something funny, and AJ kept saying "see, Elmo Abby. Tattoo". It was really sweet and cute.
I think this is considered cheating :) 
The duck pond was, as always, a hit!
Here is AJ riding on the train :) He was so excited, until he realized that no adults were going with him. My hip was still hurting me, so my mom ran a few blocks with the train to help him stay smiling the whole time!
That is one satisfied customer!
Abby enjoyed being held almost the whole weekend. Here is my dad admiring her :)
Here are my two handsome men sharing a piece of chocolate over my daughter :) We had fun making smores that night with a bonfire pit on my parents deck, and this was one of the pieces of chocolate for the smores. AJ didn't like to eat the marshmallows, but we all laughed so hard for about twenty minutes when my dad and I started throwing marshmallows at one another. When I ripped one in half and gave it to AJ to throw at my dad, it kept sticking to his finger. I think it is one of those situations where "you had to be there" to see how funny it was, but trust me, it was a good laugh!
I didn't get any pictures of the fireworks, but my parents and sister took AJ out to a look-out point to see the fireworks. AJ LOVED the fireworks, and he talked about them for about two hours of our two and a half hour drive home. He kept asking for more fireworks, and didn't really understand that there are not fireworks shows every night of the week. On our drive he kept saying "Fireworks...Asheyy...Gandpa....Gandma....pretty....truck...." etc. He was just listing everything that he did and who he did it with. Twice this weekend we spent time at a small beach by my parents home. AJ had SO much fun here and kept asking to come back once we left. He had fun playing in the sand, getting wet in the water, and most importantly "fishing" with his little fishing pole that has a toy fish tied to the end of it (this happened the time Adam and my mom took him fishing because he kept throwing the fish in the water. My mom put two and two together that he thought that the fish was like the lure Adam was using, so they tied it to the pole). If you go "fishing" with AJ, stay at least ten feet away, because I can almost gaurentee you that he will wack you either with the pole or the fish tied to the end of it :)).
It just melted my heart to see how happy AJ was this past week. I really feel like in general things are back to normal as far as him feeling secure in our family and his place in our hearts, and now we have the wonderful bonus of a beautiful and healthy little girl who already is deeply loved. AJ has had no timeouts since my last posting, and today was a flawless day. We played outside for two hours, and he was back to playing more independently and wasn't trying to climb up on my lap when I nursed Abby in the backyard.
Abby is making great progress developmentally this past week. When laying on her tummy yesterday and today she has been able to lift her head and look to the other direction. She is tracking objects all the way from one side to the other, and is able to hold her head up for a while (as in a few seconds). She is making great eye contact and is smiling more and more. She is nursing less often this week, which has been nice. She nurses about every two hours, so I am feeling much better rested and am able to better balance my time with AJ.
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