the beach!

With the pool in our backyard we only made it to the beach a couple of times for a full beach day, but we took a couple of evenings for dinner or after to go play on the beach in the cool night air. It was a great time for flying kites and for going to the ‘resident only’ beach that we hadn’t bothered to get passes to. These photos are from South Cape Beach, which wasn’t a favorite as it had a lot of sea-weed at the time, but the guards implied that it was an infrequent event.

This is the photo I got after asking Josie to finally take her fingers out of her mouth (she’s been teething a lot on those two year molars, out out damn teeth!)

Josie loved to be bounced around and dipped into the water, to the detriment of her grandparents backs.

Flying the kite, we need to get one that won’t cause rug burn on Josie’s hands for next year if we were to just give it to her. This one the wind would have taken away and spun in her hands.

Now I’m just having fun with my camera and trying to be artsy.

Swimming! Our house in Cape Cod had a pool and we went in it most every day. The water was warm and felt good compared to the heat wave. It’s sooo convenient to be able to get wet without also getting sandy and having to drive somewhere.

Josie somewhat liked the water, but also liked to torture us by walking around the outside of the pool while we were in it and refusing to get it. This pool also had a really steep dropoff past the 8 ft wide shallow end. She got more familiar with it as time went by but her favorite activities remained throwing the beach ball animals into the pool and washing the lizard inflatable with a sponge. She also liked the outdoor shower where we’d hose her down afterwords with some warm water.

One day our friends and neighbors Christina and her two boys came down to visit us from home and spent the morning in the pool with us. Ethan (age 4.5) had a blast, Zach was a bit more cautious but got into it by the end.

Jordi somehow didn’t hear the ‘no pictures while I’m wearing a swimsuit rule’ and did take a few. I think they are determined to make only two kinds of maternity swim suits, ugly, and uglier. I went with ugly, although some people seem to like it, it just gets the job done so I can enjoy some time in the pool. I can still wear my regular tankini but it’s getting less comfortable now at 30 weeks along.

Baseball! We spent a great week on Cape Cod last week renting a house in Mashpee. The second day we were there we caught a game of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Josie spent most of the game eating and then running back and forth — later she went out and ran the bases, 3 times.

Earlier this month we celebrated my dad’s birthday. We went to my parents house bright and early and brought them Quebrada almond croissants. We made an apple tart which Josie enjoyed cutting and measuring for. My dad has a nifty device to peel, cut, and core apples all at the same time. She used it that day for the first time. Just had to keep her fingers away from the blades.

Every time we go to my parents house Josie feeds the cats wet food. To the point of where Molly starts yelling at us right when we get there. She’s ready for her meal and she expects it to be brought to her on a plate no matter where she is lounging at the time. Josie happily complies. Ginny on the other hand tends to run away from the loud toddler footsteps and often doesn’t eat her food, we give more to Molly who needs it anyway.

A few weekends ago we had Josie’s ‘big’ birthday party with all her (and our) friends. We crashed my parents house and turned the backyard into a kids playground with various slides, climbing structures, food and of course the bounce house. It was very popular with most all the kids from age 4.5 to 1.

Josie had a good time. She was a little intimidated by all the people to start with though. She spent a bit of time in the house watching before she was ready to come out and join the party. She bounced, she rolled, she climbed, she swung and she said hi to her friends as she ran by. Here’s some photos and videos of the chaos.

We also got these big huge beach balls (42″) which were a big hit with kids and adults alike. They were a blast to throw around and catch because they moved so slowly.

The beach balls combined with the bounce house were another big hit.

Some of the kids had to be dragged away from the bouncing practically kicking and screaming, but thankfully it’s our bounce house so we’ll be able to bounce again another day. Also with much thanks, everyone kept their food down while bouncing!

We had a few peaceful moments but otherwise just food and fun for an afternoon. Josie liked her (second) caterpillar cake, this one courtesy of costco. She was able to blow out her candles this year, one at a time!

Sorry if we haven’t gotten to share the news in person with you yet, but we’re having kid #2 this fall, sometime in the first half of October. So at this point I’m about 21 weeks along (just past halfway). All is well, and we don’t know the gender, we’re going to wait to find out. Time for us to start rearranging and preparing!

For mothers day this year we got up nice and early and went to Sound Bites Cafe for breakfast in Ball Sq with my parents. That place is hoping early in the morning, we unfortunately managed to be just the beginning of the line, but we made it through with a tasty and filling start to the day. Met up by chance with several other moms I know which was fun and then headed off to the Franklin Park Zoo.

Combining mom’s getting in for free with our membership, we all got in for a free day at the zoo! Yeah for being cheap. The day was sunny but breezy and chilly. We had fun running…

Despite pushing the stroller around the entire place, Josie just bounced from person to person being carried when she wasn’t walking. At least the stroller carried our stuff, but perhaps we’ll leave it at home next time.

The peacocks were out and about walking the grounds and making a lot of noise. Josie’s favorites were as usual the playground and the gorillas were a big hit this time. Pretty much because one of them was smearing on the window and then dining on his poop. This had the preschool set watching just howling with laughter. I did not take a picture.

Josie also begged multiple times to ride the carousel and she actually had a good time for once, rather than being quietly reserved.

Just before lunch, we made a trip back to the petting zoo and Josie pet and kissed a goat. We can see who was in charge when this kiss happened, I was behind the fence for it.

This year we made our first venture into homemade mothers day gifts from Josie. I read a blog that has a lot of crafts in it and I really liked this idea she had and it seemed doable! We set Josie up outside in the sun, Zach even came by and made one for his mom too. She did a great job painting the trivets, using three different colors. We did the detail lines and she did the rest of it. I really liked how they came out and I hope the grandma’s enjoy them!

I’m behind again, my bad. A few weeks ago Jordi’s sister Vanessa came to visit us after finishing her internship in DC. She got to learn the fun of toddler schedules (up at 6am, weekend or not!) and generally gave us a big hand throughout the weekend as I was a little under the weather. She never tired of fun Josie games and activities like play-doh and peekaboo. Josie still talks about how she went to the bakery and the park with Tia Vani. Josie really ate up the constant attention and I think Vanessa had a decently good time too.