vacation at the beach

What should have been a 10 hour trip (from Mayfield, Kentucky) turned into a 15 hour trip, but it was sooooooo worth it! We drove down to Panama City Beach, Florida last Saturday and stayed the week in an ocean-front condo--what a treat! Looking back, both Corey and I agree that our favorite part was watching Ty "swim" in the pool. We bought him a life jacket and replaced the floaties (we borrowed the idea from another family down there), and after the first day he was swimming and jumping in by himself. (Literally!!! He'd say "move" if we tried to catch him!) He was free and lovin' every minute of it! It was so sweet to hear him saying proudly, "I swimming" or "I floating!" He is a little fish! And Drew loved the water too! (He's pretty happy no matter where he is.) Thanks Mimi and Peepa--we had a blast!!!

a promised trip to the zoo

We've been wanting to take Ty back to the zoo for a while, and since Corey is almost officially finished with his two summer classes and the temperature wasn't in the 90's before lunch (although the humidity was atrocious!), we decided to go this morning! It was a great morning to go to the zoo! All of the animals were out--and I mean really OUT! One leopard sat on the rock nearest the fence--I think he was enjoying his fame. Some animals were even walking around the zoo (with zookeepers--is that what you call people who work at the zoo?) We saw two random animals being walked from one place to another, and since we passed right by them, I asked what kind of animals they were. (They looked exotic!) The lady told me one was a zebu (I almost thought she was making that up...doesn't it sound like something from "The Lion King"?); the other was...a sheep. (I felt like such a dummy!) One other funny thing we learned is that all the animals have names. For example, three wild pigs were "Alice," Linus," and "Claire." I don't know why, but I thought that was really cute. Anyway, it was a really fun morning at the zoo, and Ty loved it (as always)! :)

sweet big brother

Everyone always asks how Ty is with Drew, and I'm happy to report that he is a great big brother! And Drew LOVES Ty! Loves him! Drew smiles and laughs whenever Ty is around. It's so sweet! Okay, so Ty does take Drew's toys away from him, but at this point, Drew doesn't mind, and Ty is in the process of learning to share!

What we've been up to (Part 2)

ready for the sungetting his toes wet with Nonna
in the pool for the first time
starting solids
chillaxin' (as Damein would say)

What we've been up to (Part 1)

jumping in...sometimes when we weren't even ready for him (my little fearless one!)laying out
playing with the hose (an absolute favorite thing!)
building towers (and knocking them over--that's the best part!)

4th of July

We celebrated Independence Day with some old friends of ours, the Lewis' (visiting from Indy), and our small group. We began the day in St. Charles for the annual parade down quaint Main Street and then grilled out for lunch. It was Ty's first parade, and he was in awe! He danced to the music (of course), waved at the people, picked up candy (and tried to throw it back--it won't be long before he'll want to keep it!), and clapped his hands at all of the entertainment. We saw lots of fun things--marching bands, little cheerleaders, miniature cars, tractors, etc. We had a great time with all of our friends especially watching our kids be so happy (it's the best feeling). Here are a few pictures from our day...

watching the parade go by
intently looking
little Lincoln cheering
one of Drew's favorite things...
I think this picture is so funny and it brings back memories of "the kiddie table"

First Sentences

This update is much overdue, but things have been a little hectic lately. Corey is taking two summer classes trying to stay on schedule for graduating in 3 and 1/2 years (total--only 1 and 1/2 to go!), and we are trying to enjoy this summer that seems to be flying by! I love STL summers...they're pretty great. There are plays in the park, Cardinal's games, the zoo, the Botanical Gardens, Grant's Farm, Purina Farms, and Forrest Park (just to name a few). If we don't end up staying in St. Louis, the summers here are one thing I will definitely miss!

My days have been filled with much more conversation with my 2 year old these days as Ty is learning to say more and more words and form sentences. As I was thinking about how it all began, I had to laugh. It seems like he began putting sentences together overnight, and one of his favorites was "I said no." (You would think he heard it a lot or something...). I think his very first sentence was "Mommy said I said no" (a combination of "Mommy said no" and "I said no" spoken really fast and with much excitement) which just became, "I said no."

Now, his three main sentences seem to have a theme: "I broken" which really means "it's broken" (like when he knocks the blocks over, for example), "I dropped it," and "I fixed it."

He also has a running monologue that begins with "at the zoo" (emphasizes the word "zoo" with a slightly higher pitch). Then he likes to list off all the animals that you would see at the zoo along with a distinguishing characteristic of each. He says, "bebra--stripes," "raffe--long...neck," "elephant--trunk." It's really sweet! He's learning so much! He also says, "sound" because he likes to talk about the sound that each animal makes.

A few other noteworthy expressions include:
* "oatmeal," which was first pronounced "email"
* "the end" (heard him saying this as he closed a book he was "reading" by himself)
* "wave" (giving Drew a command)
* "heine" (showing me where Mr. Potato Head's heinie was)

And my favorite to date is:

In response to, "Who made you?" he says, "God!" Then we ask, "What else did God make?" and he says very thoughtfully, "People!" And if we ask, "Why did God make all things?" he says, "for His codie" (but he really means "glory"--I think the "g-l" sound is a bit hard for a 2 year old...and he likes his Aunt Codie! :)