Bye-Bye Boat

Well, we finally lost our minds and sold our boat. Well, I guess it's more being responsible than losing our minds, but we are still going to miss her. Tim and I bought our boat in 2008 before our wedding and spent lots of fun summers learning the Charleston area rivers and Intracoastal Waterway like the back of our hands. We have so many great memories on the Amber Maria and hate to part with her. At the same time, we are excited to start saving some money to one day buy a house here in Wilmington (anyone want to buy our house in Moncks Corner?) and to maybe adopt an old 4x4 beach truck before that. Since you can drive on two parts of the beach down here, we think we'll be spending much more time on the sand with our little sea turtle than on the water in the boat. We also know we can't spend all day out on a boat with a toddler and just hate seeing her not being used. We lovingly spent all day Monday washing her - she's going to our old neighbors from SC, so we wanted to hand her off in ship-shape. Here are some pictures of Alex inspecting and washing the boat. (I'm sure he'll be glad for her to be out from under the house ... he'll have even more room to play!)

Splash Pad

The City of Wilmington has so many fun places for Alex to play. One of their seasonal places is the Splash Pad, located next to one of the city pools. My friend Amy, and her 2-year-old, Lydia, invited us to play in the "sprinklers" this morning. Here are a slide show and a video montage of the fun:

 

Fun With Grandma & Grandpa Murff

It's been another busy few weeks! My left hand carpal tunnel surgery was May 15th, so Grandma and Grandpa Murff came up for the week to help out. Alex was very spoiled and had tons of fun - and he definitely never went hungry! These guys made sure he always had something yummy to eat! :-) Here are some pictures of all the fun:

Using screws as kazoos.	Playing the water bottle drums.
Playing the bath tub drums.	Reading with Daddy.
Reading with Grandma.	Reading with Sammy J (the bear).
Just being silly.	Watching Cars with Grandpa and Kovu.
I’m ready to go outside.	Excited to be at the zoo.
Hanging out with Mommy and her bum hand.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the two ladies who've inspired me as a Mom:

Arlie Gardens with Grandma Lisa

We've been having lots of fun with grandparents lately! Grandpa Art visited us two weekends ago, Grandma Lisa visited last weekend, and Grandma & Grandpa Murff are coming tomorrow. Alex is definitely getting spoiled! While Grandma Lisa was here, we walked around Arlie Gardens and checked out their newly opened butterfly garden. Here are some great pictures:

Come on, guys!	Laughing with Mommy.
I can do it by myself.	Can anyone find Alex?
So many butterflies!	Two landed on Alex, but I couldn’t take the picture fast enough to capture them.

Bluegrass Festival

Daddy and I took Alex to a Bluegrass festival by the river in Kure Beach today. We've been there once before for another concert, but Alex was still crawling, so we were much busier this time! We spent a lot of time on the pier watching the pelicans and climbing trees. Pretty much the only time Alex sat still was to eat. :-) He practically pounced me when I sat down on our blanket with a plate of fries. The two big highlights from the concert? Alex's first time climbing a tree and his first ice cream cone!

Searching the sea grass for treasures.	What did Daddy just do to me?
Starting to like this whole tree thing.	Peeking at Daddy.
Alex loves wearing everyone’s glasses but his own.	Come on Mommy, we have more exploring to do!
This is yummy!	People watching while eating ice cream.

Sand Lover & Bird Chaser

When Alex and I took Grandma Lisa to the beach, Alex decided he was a bird lover, just like his grandma. We spent a lot of time chasing birds that day ... and still chase birds whenever we have the chance. Alex and I even went to the beach one afternoon this week for the sole purpose of chasing birds before a thunderstorm. Next to birds, I think Alex's other new love is sand. Thankfully, he doesn't eat it, but I've accepted the fact that we are going to be sandy every day!

Here are some random pictures of Alex on the beach, watching birds and turtles in the park, and playing in the sandbox.

Looking for geese.	A goose!
Getting a closer look.	Chasing the sea gulls.
Concentrating.	Look!
So thirsty after all this playing.	Daddy showing Alex a ghost crab.

 

New Experiences

Alex has experienced lots of new things this week!

1. If you turn the laundry basket upside down, you can use it as a step to climb onto the bed.
Alex and I worked to put my bedroom back together (we moved some of the owner's furniture out and ours in last weekend!) on Monday. At some point, he emptied the laundry basket and did his usual "driving" around the room. I walked out of the closet and saw him standing on the laundry basket with one knee up on the bed. When he finally made it up, he crawled to the pillows, held on to the head board, and started jumping. Where in the world did he learn that?

2. While playing in the sandbox with a hose and you are thirsty, just drink from the hose!
Yes, Alex figured this out himself. He was very cautious though, bringing the hose very slowly to his mouth and looking at me to make sure it was okay. I was quite impressed with his ingenuity! I didn't get a picture the first time around, so I asked him if he was thirsty and he did it again! Cutie!

3. You can kiss Mommy through the slats of the crib.
When I go in to get Alex in the morning or after his nap, I can't just swoop him up. I have to bring him a sippy cup with something to drink and let him throw stuffed animals out of the crib at me. If I don't, he squirms to the back of the crib and shakes his body no when I try to pick him up. Everyone has their little rituals, right? The other day, I was sitting on the floor and handing his stuffed animals back to him by stuffing them in between the slats of the crib. Apparently this was funny, so then I tried to kiss him ... apparently this was fantastic! I now get lots and lots of kisses from Alex while I'm waiting for him to finish waking up.

4. Holding hands isn't really that bad.
Until this week, Alex hasn't been very keen on holding my hand and walking next to me. He's too independent and ready to explore to bother with holding Mommy's hand. So, I took on a mission to teach him the importance of hand holding. While running errands yesterday and today, I got Alex out of the car, grabbed his hand, and started walking in to where ever we were going. At first, Alex would try to go the opposite way, but it really seemed to click with him when we went to the library to pick out more books. We've been going weekly for story time, so I guess he was used to seeing other kids walking into the building instead of being carried. He's now a pro at it - he even held Daddy's hand on the way in for lunch today.

5. Calamari is tasty!
We met Daddy at a seafood restaurant for lunch today. After flirting with all the women in the restaurant, Alex decided he wanted to taste my shrimp and Daddy's calamari. He actually ate two whole rings of calamari! I was quite impressed! He likes shrimp too, but Daddy's plate was closer. :-)

6. Playing in puddles in the sunshine is fascinating.
We were trying to go for a walk, but Alex kept getting sidetracked by a puddle on the other end of the cul-de-sac. He ended up sitting in the puddle and splashing the water, which made the other kids playing nearby crack up. Needless to say, we ended up in the sandbox with the hose afterwards ... and then got straight into the bathtub!