Taking the Wheel

Both Emma and Will got a sailing lesson from Grandpa and a chance to drive the sailboat! Of course, Will thought it was a great toy... 

Go Will, Go!

Emma was all business.

She was very excited to turn the wheel, but obviously, took the responsibility seriously!

There's that smile!

A beautiful day and a great time!

New Skills

Will's crawling morphed to hands and knees about 2 weeks ago...he can really motor! He and Emma and playing together so much now. It is really sweet to see how they love each other and love to interact. They have had a lot of fun with this box lately too. Sometimes the best toys are the simplest!

Sailing, Sailing

We enjoyed going out on the sailboat several times while we were in Vermont. Even though it was hot, there was a nice breeze out on Lake Champlain. We didn't do a day sail since we were not sure how well the kids would do, but they enjoyed our times out on the water.

 Emma loved climbing up and down the ladder inside the boat. And Will is chilling with Grandpa.

And playing peek-a-boo!

Emma and Daddy having fun.

Wait...a picture of me? 

Will, enjoying himself...

Emma and Mommy!

Emma and Will got to take the wheel too....but those pictures will have to wait until tomorrow!

(No) Bridge to Vermont

Our route to Vermont takes us across a bridge that connects New York and Vermont. Sometime last year, the bridge was checked for safety and failed....so miserably in fact that they blew it up. What!?! So while construction is ongoing, a free ferry takes you from New York to Vermont and back.

It only takes 5 minutes or so to cross to Vermont, but since you are supposed to turn the car off (and it was really hot), we took a quick trip up to the observation area.

You can see the bridge progress behind us!

And in the background here you can see the dock for the ferries (to the right of my head)

The new bridge...

Up close!

We had about an hour left in our trip at this point....poor Will protested going back in the car seat. But it was a nice short break with quite a view!

Verrrrrmont

We got home last night from a week in Vermont. The whole drive up in the car, Emma kept talking about Verrrrrmont....it was too cute! We picked the hottest week of the summer to travel; it was in the 90s going up and the 100s coming back.

It took us between 9.5 and 10 hours to make the trip each time, which is not too shabby with little kids, especially since Emma stayed dry and used the bathrooms at our stops the whole time! Emma and Will are interacting more and more every day...sometimes they hold hands in the backseat:

As we drove through New Jersey (which I'm sure has its beautiful spots...just not the road we take north!) Martin quipped, "If there's a bright center of the US, we're in the state that its farthest from". (Jersey, don't be insulted, its just a clever Star Wars parody)

Emma enjoying her invisible ink book...

And having fun with pretzels!

We enjoyed ourselves, but it is always good to get home. We are doing our best to stay cool today!

Nine Months Old

Will is nine months old today! (Which incidentally means that Emma is 30 months old....officially two and a half!) We'll find out all of his 9-month stats on Friday when we go for his check-up.

Will loves to eat! Actually loves might be an understatement. He also eats a ton. And ton is definitely an understatement! Some nights he eats more table food for dinner than Emma! His favorite foods include avocado (below), beans, chicken, banana, peach, yogurt, egg yolk, watermelon...well, basically anything. He has never rejected a food. In fact, his least favorite things to eat are cheerioes and kix. If they are on his tray with any other table food, he will leave them until last and even let them sit and beg for more "regular" food!

We think that Will is left handed! I am particularly excited, as I think of having a lefty pitcher in the family... He always feeds himself with his left hand, and while I'm sure the doctor would tell me that its too early to tell, Emma always used her right and he has always used his left. Perhaps it has something to do with his lefty Great Pap-Pap and his lefty Great Uncle Bill??

Will's newest skills are pulling up on everything. He is happiest when he is standing. He recently started doing this too:

Maybe he'll go from an army crawl to all fours??

Bath time has become quite a challenge because of Will's desire to stand. At least in the little bin of water he's not going to hit his head on anything!

Standing!

And sometimes Will thinks he can walk. He lets go with one hand and lunges forward....

His cruising skills are still pretty slow. He mostly stands and reaches for something, but is starting to shuffle his hands and feet to walk along.

He is a truly happy kid! 

Emma and Will have begun to really play with each other. They will sit on the floor and make each other laugh, playing on their own. Here Emma is spraying water in Will's mouth...he could not get enough of it, and they both thought it was too funny!

 Will recently enjoyed his time at the Children's Museum. They have a great play area for crawlers!

We love you so much, Will! Its been fun to see all of the amazing changes in your life over the last several months. We can't wait to see how you continue to grow and pray that God will help us to continue to faithfully love and parent you.

Love, Daddy

and Mommy

Summer Fun

We've been enjoying time in the backyard in our pool in the mornings while it is still in the shade. Both Emma and Will love playing in the water and it is so nice to be cooled off in this heat!

Kellen came over and enjoyed the pool to a few weeks ago

Will looks a bit like a drowned rat.

Ever the big sister, Emma loves to "help". Don't know anyone else who was ever like that ;-)

 And another cute one of Will!

A First

Wednesday night right before bed I banged my foot into the bathroom scale. It hurt like crazy but it was late so I just fell asleep with a cold pack on it. In the morning it was really stiff and when I tried to walk I could not put any weight on my foot at all....problem! The third and fourth toes hurt the worst, and are probably broken. The joints in my toe and ankle are really stiff and sore and were probably jammed by the collision.

Forty-eight hours later, I am feeling MUCH better. Still icing, elevating, and trying to rest, but thanks to some early morning calls on Thursday, I've had help around the house from a friend and my mom. Since there isn't much a doctor can do for a broken toe, I didn't have it checked out, but its probably safe to say that I've gotten my first broken bone(s). Somehow I made it through 15+ years of softball and never broke anything!

Emma keeps telling me that her foot hurts "wrilly wrilly bad Mommy"...sympathy pains I guess!

Jesus Loves Me

This morning when I went to get Emma from her room for breakfast I heard her singing (the small bright spot in the middle of the picture is light coming in through the crack under her door)



Reminds me of an early video of her Aunt Becca singing the same song!