Time to get caught up!

Well the summer has come and it's now August! I see my last post was about swimming lessons - we have continued them for 4 months now, and Grady can put his face in the water, jump off the side, and actually doesn't hate floating on his back. He has NO FEAR in the water, which is in some ways good but also makes me nervous. We've taken him to the river a few times and he loves climbing over the rocks and looking at the "bubbles", aka whitewater ripples. We went swimming at the pool at John and Bonnie's housing development and they have a great little kids area that's about 18 inches deep. Grady would get himself going in the water and his legs would fall out from under him and he'd dunk under! He would probably have been able to get himself up, but I whisked him out of the water so fast he didn't have a chance to.

Alisa got married at Hilton Head in May, so that was a nice mini family vacation. We had a great time with the old crew, and even found out Carrie is going to have a baby in the fall!

Grady and Jessica

Grady and Justin

The day after the wedding with the girls

Big news from Carrie

Spent time with Claire

We had a nice Hunter Family Camping Trip over the 4th of July weekend with John, Bonnie, Anna, Jack, Chris, Sarah and Lucille at Cataloochee Campground. It was Grady's first ever camping trip, and it was a great success! Luckily our huge tent was big enough for a queen-sized air mattress AND his pack-&-play so we all slept comfortably. The sound of the river in the background was a big help too! We went on a long hike, and saw the wild elk too. Grady had a wonderful time bonding with his cousins and we also found out Sarah and Chris are going to have another baby in February!

Jack, Anna, Grady and Lulu at our campsite

Time to roast marshmallows!

Wild elk - they were beautiful

Hiking fun

Owen LOVES chocolate!

Bele Chere was a couple weeks ago -Amy, Andy and Owen came to visit and we had a great time! Two 1-1/2-2 year olds are not the best company for a hot downtown Asheville amongst 10,000 people, however we still got to check out some crafts, bands and even had a couple beers. Grady and Owen's favorite? Not the kids area, or the music or the art... it was the curb in front of the Grove Arcade. They had a BLAST trying to jump off it. Ahh to be young!

The 2012 Summer Olympics have been a big hit at our house. Justin and I have always loved watching them, and Grady is no different. He especially enjoys the diving - both individual and syncronized. He says "woah!" and claps after each dive. Michael Phelps just won his 19th medal (an Olympic record) and the USA women's gymnastic "Fab 5" won the team gold medal.

Fun with "jumping"

We definitely have a fully speaking child. For a while he would point and grunt when he wanted something, but he has gotten much better at voicing what he wants/needs lately. The most popular phrase is "I want more ____", usually crackers, banana, blueberries, grapes or milk. Yesterday we were driving home from swim lessons and we went over a speed bump and I heard "Woah mommy, be careful" from the back seat!

His favorite toys are "choo choo trains" - the set I got at Ikea for $10 - steal! Also is really into cars/trucks in general. One night he had all 3 of us crawling around the house with trucks saying "beep, beep coming through!" Favorite books are Goodnight Moon, a Truck book where you match up photos of trucks, and an animal book - he and Justin love to make animal sounds together.

We are still plagued with watching Yo Gabba Gabba quite often, however he also really likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street (mainly just the Elmo's World part - makes us fast forward to it) and Blue's Clues.

All in all, we are having a great summer and feel very fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends.