Finger sucking/self soothing

I snapped this not-so-great picture because I wanted a visual reminder of the way Jacob tucks his lovey into the crook of his arm and then pops his middle and ring finger into his mouth and sucks away contently. I love it!

This is the last photo in the June folder of photos! On to July....

Summer time...family time

We're time traveling back to June tonight on this, my once-every-other-month blog post, to my annual family reunion. As has been the case lately, I didn't take any pictures...I should probably change the name of this blog if I'm no longer going to be obnoxiously photographing my kids. My cousin Kim shared a few of her pics with me. Only the younger kids are represented since both Hannah and Clay are eating in the pics I have of them and the adults don't look so hot either. So here are Jacob and Mason!

This year we rented a pavillion in Waynesburg and spent the day chowing down, running around the playground, swimming at the water park, and visiting with family.

On the way home the next day, we stopped at my dad's. Hannah remembered riding the tractor on her last visit there in the winter and went straight for it this time. She got to drive it herself this time!

Then she let Jacob in on the action.

 And of course Ginger was a huge hit as well.

They'll have their own tractor to ride soon since we'll be needing one to mow 2 of the 5 acres we just bought, and maybe they'll even end up with a dog sometime in the next year! Big changes are coming soon for this family!

Petting the Possum

In all my visits to Oregon Ridge, I never noticed the possum that lives just outside the Nature Center. One morning way back in June, we were coming out of the bathroom during the possum's breakfast, and we got to pet the possum! So cool.

And then we went for a hike around the quarry. It's our favorite trail there and is the perfect distance when when young children are trailing behind.

Pixie Grotto at Robert E Lee

This is the most catching up I think I've ever had to do. I wish I could say we've been partying it up over here in celebration of summer, but we spent most of June and July pretty busy. Eric was gone for 2 and 3 weeks every month from May to June, and I was slammed with work in addition to single mom status. But it's all over now, and we're squishing as much summer into the month of August as possible. When we're not summer-ing it up, I'll see if I can catch up, starting with this hike around Robert E Lee that we took back in June with our friends Liam, Jeanne, and Jim who showed us how to get to Pixie Grotto.

Jacob held his first worm on this hike. He threw it the first time we handed it to him, and then he held it a little too tightly the second time.

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Stafford

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Stafford

 

Since then we've followed that trail the whole way around to the other side of the lake a few times, but this little spot is definitely one of the best.

Zoo days

Of all the things kids learn to do, learning to hug has got to be the best. Jacob has been wrapping his little arms tight around my neck quite a bit the last few days, and the result is that he ends up getting to stay up far later than he should be up because I can't bear to pry him off me and lay him down in his bed. Hugs are awesome.

So is spring at the zoo, in the days before the sun and heat become oppressive. Jacob and I met Autumn, Greg, and Asa there back at the beginning of May. I put him in the backpack because I need to carry his lunch (which ruled out the Ergo carrier) and because the stroller is so low to the ground that I end up pulling him out of it to see the animals and inevitably, after the initial out, he stiffens up into the baby back bend, fully rejecting being put back in the stroller. This means I carry him and push the stroller. The backpack seemed like a good alternative, but sadly, I was wrong. It's set to Eric's height, and I don't know how to change that so when I stood up straight with it ou, it pulled me over backwards. I had to lean slightly forward the whole time to stay upright, and my shoulders and back were killing me within minutes. Next time we'll take the stroller, and he can just walk beside it if he doesn't want to ride. Sure it takes longer to get around, but it's not like we need an agenda at the zoo. That's the beauty of having a membership to these places; you can go and spend an hour hanging out with the goats and then come home and not stress out about getting your money's worth. Of course, these days, I've learned to not worry about getting my money's worth anywhere. Kids have limits. You do what you can, and when they've had enough, you leave, and if it really rocked and there was more you wanted to do, you just go back another day.

We paused for a photo op in front of the elephants.

Baby Asa's first visit to the Maryland Zoo! I'm sure he'll remember it for years to come.

We went back as a family a couple weeks later to celebrate Julia's 5th birthday. After the party we spent a fair amount of time with the goats.

The gift bag had these glasses with a fake nose which Hannah wore for 3 days straight. Best accessory ever.

Daddy love!