Soaking up the Sun

We were out catching some rays today. Our friend, Jen, is having a little boy in August & John snapped a picture of both the sunbathing mamas-to-be on the beach. With just over 2 weeks to go, I'm not sure how many more relaxing beach days I'll have. John has to be in Charlotte from early tomorrow until Thursday night, so we just hope we can make it through this week without any baby action!

John was in a fishing tournament all day yesterday, so Filson & I took a little road trip to an outlet mall near Raleigh. I called Anna Leigh on the way up & she, Vada Rose & her sister-in-law who was in town visiting were all able to meet us at the mall. Vada hit 11 months yesterday & is as cute as ever. Filson loved being around Vada & wanted her to be in his sight at all times, which wasn't that easy being they were each strapped into their strollers & the sidewalks were hot & crowded! Even though they didn't bring in any winners, John had a great day on the water & we had a lot of fun hanging out with the Cunningham's!

The Haircut

John returned from VA this afternoon & decided to get a haircut before we headed to our weekly gathering at Hamburger Joe's. We thought it was finally time to throw Filson in the chair as well. Despite the scowl on his face, he did really well & was finished in no time at all. I think being able to sit on his Dad's lap & getting his very own sucker helped put him at ease. Now that the hot summer temps are here, I'm sure he is happy to have the long, sweaty curls off his neck!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice long weekend with great weather & spent both Saturday & today out on the water. Yesterday we drove about 30 min north to Topsail Beach to visit a guy John works with who had rented a beach house for the week. Filson & I walked out in the waves & he picked some seashells on the beach and we stopped for ice cream at a cute little diner/ice cream shop. The water temp is still too chilly for my liking, but the little ones didn't seem to mind. Filson was a little timid in the water at first, but he quickly warmed up to it when his dad started playing with him & swinging him around. As you can tell from his expressions & from his big giggle in the video, he was having a blast.

Cookie Monster

I'm not sure what we did last week to pass the time, but it must not have been exciting enough to have the camera out as I haven't had any pictures to post in over a week. It's been either rainy or overcast & chilly since Sunday, so when it warmed up today we headed to the Farmer's Market to enjoy some time outside. Filson played at the park there for quite awhile after we finished shopping at all the stands. I snapped the first shot of him when we were leaving, he was tired after all his trips up & down the slide & fell asleep just moments later. This afternoon he entertained himself while I baked cookies. You can tell from the picture that this means he dug out almost every single toy he could find and scattered it around the room. When he finally took a break to come see what I was doing, he discovered the cookies in the oven & parked himself in front of the window until they were ready to come out. I kept telling him they wouldn't bake any faster with him watching them, but I think that information fell on deaf ears!

By the way, we do realize this child needs a haircut. We have taken the scissors to him a couple of times now, but haven't been able to follow through & part with the curls yet. But from the looks of that last photo, he could probably be sporting a pretty nice ponytail by now!

Beautiful Weekend

We had great weather all weekend & were excited to get to spend both mornings out on the boat. Filson is really loving the beach this year. It is so much easier to keep an eye on him, as he is content to stay in one place for a long time digging & playing with toys. He caught some fish & a crab with his dad today & was very proud of himself. He was using all his muscles to carry his full buckets back to where I was sitting to show me his new friends. I most definitely think we have another fisherman in the house! He then "helped" his dad wash the truck when we got back to the house yesterday afternoon. I also had to show you all the picture of him kissing his friend, Ella, tonight after dinner. The expression on his face is hilarious, although Ella's dad informed him this would no longer be funny in about 10 years!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...oh my!

Filson got to hang out with all the cute, young ladies this morning. We went with some friends to the animal park at Carolina Beach. From the outside it doesn't look like much. In fact, I've driven by it multiple times & always thought it was a place that had been closed down for years. However, the variety of animals they had was pretty impressive. We saw a zebra, camel, lion, grizzly bear, giraffe, tiger & monkey, among many others. We moms felt the living arrangements left a lot to be desired & definitely not probably where these animals prefer to be spending their lives, but it did really entertain the kids and was fun for Filson to finally see many of the animals we read about in books. Even though it was very hot, Filson and the girls (who are all about 15 mths old) were all very well behaved!

Hanging with the Cousins

After a full weekend at Merlefest, we headed to Greensboro Sunday evening to spend some time with the Clarks. On Monday, Filson & I drove John to meet coworkers and he headed to Kentucky for work. Filson & I went back for a fun week with James, Jenn, Holden & Reece. We stayed busy & really enjoyed spending time with family. The big cousins were very good to Filson & he loved playing with all their big boy toys!

The week was even more special as we were able to attend Reece's 5th birthday party yesterday before heading home. The party was at Bounce U & all the kids (& a couple dads!) LOVED it!

We made it back to Wilmington last night & have spent the day trying to unpack & get settled back in. As far as I know, Filson & I will be staying put until the baby comes, but we still have 6 weeks to go, so I wouldn't be surprised if we hit the road again in that time!