It's Fall!

Until I take the time to load our pictures on the computer, here's one Kyle took with his phone from our time at the pumpkin patch this past weekend. We had a family outing to Stoney's in Virginia Beach - a local farm. We fed the goats - Merriweather is the youngest, just Graham's size and super cute, we talked to the roosters and chickens, and we picked out pumpkins! I can't believe it's already this time of year.

Dreaming About Summer

While this week has been hot (the uncomfortable, very wet kind), I do know summer is about over. So, I'm already daydreaming about next summer! And, our first days in the new beach house. My parents' beach house is coming along - the road is done, and the groundwork is being laid to start building shortly. Kyle is even more eager than I for the house to be done! He goes to the Eastern Shore every other week to work, and he always takes time to walk the property. Here's a picture he took just yesterday...I already have visions of Graham and our dogs running on the beach. Our own beach!

A funny story about Kyle...

He was awarded a preceptorship through his company at Harvard Medical School. So off to Boston he went this week. While he's gone, I'm thinking about all he's going to learn from the doctors, how much he's going to enjoy it...

The first evening he's there, we only have about 5 minutes to talk on the phone. I'm eager to hear about his experience, what the medical school is like, what he's learning, etc. He was there with 5 other Novartis employees, and all of them were in the elevator at the same time, going to different places. Kyle was the first to get out - on the 6th floor of a 24 floor building. On his way out of the elevator, he hit every button. You know, so the elevator would stop on every floor for his co-workers.

I love my funny husband! I think he and Graham are going to have a lot of fun together!

We did move on the cool things he learned...

A little update on my ladies...Kona has a paw that's been giving her a hard time lately. So, I've finally made an appt (now that Kyle is home) to have it checked out. So, she's going to the doctor on Saturday morning. We concluded this morning that she may simply be a bit overweight...she has a tendency to eat Molly's food. (Molly - my crazy ADHD girl - starts a meal and is easily distracted. By a bug flying by, by a toy she's remembering from the night before, anything. And she will walk away from her food to go "hunt". In comes Kona, lickety-split.) So, whatever the doctor says on Saturday morning, we're going to combine that treatment with a diet...

Summer is drawing to a close

Summer is alsmost over, and we're sad. We LOVE summer. We think this was the last weekend to swim in the pool (without having to pay an arm and a leg to heat it), I just replaced my summer flowers with pansies and mums, and the weather is really starting to cool off. We went to get frozen yogurt at Skinny Dip last night, and I was actually chilled. Very sad.

This past weekend, Kyle's dad, step-mom, and one of his sisters came to visit! We had a great visit, and Kyle and Pop-Pop (we actually think Graham may end up calling him Paco....) built him a craft table. We have a bench that used to be mine - it's now painted red - and we bought two light blue chairs to go with the table. They also built a box to go underneath the table for storage. Graham is already enjoying it! Once the paint dries, I'll post more pictures...

Gardening

I've had a lot of fun (and learned a lot) gardening this summer. Below are some of the last veggies from my summer garden. (Although my peppers continue to grow...)

We've already planted for the fall - mesclun greens, turnips, bok choy, pumpkins, and spaghetti squash.

The peppers below are those we took to Topsail. We had more than we could eat, so we had to share!

Purple peppers are beautiful - they add such great color to the dish. However, they taste exactly like green peppers! They're green inside - they are exactly a green pepper, just with purple skin. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture)

Summer Vacations

I'm finally figuring out how to navigate this new Mac. I will say, the computer is much more intuitive than a Dell, but I'm still trying to figure out my "tricks".

So a long overdue post on our summer vacations! We took two trips this summer - one to Kiawah Island with my family and one to Topsail Island with Kyle's family - both were great. Graham loved the beach, the sand, being with family, loved playing with his cousins, and we were really able to relax. Vacation is so much more fun these days having Graham with us! One change - my SUV is PACKED TO THE BRIM! I honestly don't know what we would do if we didn't have such a large car. It's kinda crazy how much stuff we pack. But, having "conveniences" certainly made life easy.

Kyle and Graham with Graham's Buddy (grandpa), his two cousins, and his uncle Greg -

A cloudy day at the beach - and, yes, Graham is still in his pajamas!

Dinner on the deck - nothing like listening to the waves crashing!

Evie with the cutest pink fishing pole!

Graham LOVES his pool! (Kyle and I find it a bit relaxing, too...)

Evelyn, Graham's cousin (we call her Evie)

Graham and his cousin, Lila

Graham LOVES his Uncle Barrett, and Barrett is always so great to play with him!

We buried Graham's leg, and so enjoyed watching him try to find his feet!

Gigi and Papa brought GREAT books to vacation. Papa especially enjoyed reading about the Red Sox with Graham. One day we'll have to take him to Fenway...

My brother and sister in law - Uncle Zach and Aunt Robin - we miss them so much!!

There was MUCH paddle boarding and surfing on vacation!

I don't know what we'd do without this "backpack". It's amazing. Certainly makes me sore, but it's so easy to walk.

We loved going to the pool everyday at Kiawah

A storm rolling in one night...

On our way down to Kiawah, we stopped for a day in Charleston, SC. What a fantastic place! It's been years since I've been there. We had an amazing lunch at Magnolia - crabcakes, fried green tomatoes - we tried it all! then, Kyle, Graham and I walked around the waterfront (gorgeous!) and looked at houses (HUGE!)

We went on an alligator hunt every day on our bikes - here's a little guy

Wearing his dad out....

Graham Has a Passport!

This picture makes me MELT!!! We just had his picture taken for his passport. Tomorrow we all go in to apply for a passport for Graham. Most of you parents may already know - but both parents have to be present for children under the age of 16 - interesting! I guess that will keep Kyle from sneaking Graham off to Siberia without my knowledge...

Why Aren't There Updates?!

Quite a bit has happened since I last blogged! Graham went on his first family vacation, we've spent time at the beach (Virginia Beach), he's started army crawling, pulling himself up, he's getting 4 teeth at the same time, we're working on getting passport pictures for a December vacation, he now loves to pitch head-first off the size of our bed... we also had his 9 month check-up. He's gotten pretty long and skinny - I'm missing some of his fat rolls! He grew 7 inches between 6 and 9 months. He's 30 inches long and 22 pounds.

And where might the pictures be?!

Well, our faithful Dell lived a good long life - 8 years. It finally bit the dust this past Friday night. Kyle and I knew this was coming, and we knew we aspired to be one of those very cool, Mac families. Well, we've got the Mac part done - don't know how close we are to achieving the cool part! Saturday morning Kyle went to the Apple store and bought a Mac book - is that how you say it? I haven't even touched the computer, yet. New technology just makes me tired thinking about it. Kyle - the resident tech guy in my house - has been uploading all of our pictures, videos, music from our back-up hard drive onto the Mac. And, I'm going to start getting lessons from him soon. We plan to take it on vacation with us next week (it's so light! probably half the weight of my company laptop) Very soon - I'm going to acquaint myself with this new-fangled system.

I leave you with another jumping video. (You may ask yourself if Graham stays in this jumpy seat all day!) We actually just moved his jumpy seat to a doorway that's twice the size of a regular doorway. Graham jumps so vigorously, that his head was getting uncomfortably close to the molding...