The Olympic Spirit

In honor of the Beijing Olympics:

Ok, so not REALLY, but the timing just happened to be perfect! On Friday, the day of the Olympic's Opening Ceremony, we received this cute outfit in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa S. They had just returned from a trip to San Francisco and bought him this little get-up in Chinatown. Thanks, G & G! :) He was ready to show his Olympic spirit!

Speaking of the Olympics -- we are hooked, as usual! We watched only part of the Opening Ceremony (wish we could have seen it all) and WOW was it amazing! When I see another country, such as China, which truly looks beautiful, it makes me want to see more of the world. Something as big as the Olympics makes me realize that we live in such a tiny piece of the world and that there is SO much more out there. I want Bear Cub to know about these "faraway" places, because as I learned from traveling to Russia, the world really isn't such a huge place after all. You just have to make the commitment to explore and be willing to travel. Amazing cultures, people, and scenery, ALL over this great world of ours...I want to dust off my passport and GO!

Two two-year-old tots (say that 5 times fast!)

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. We had a busy and fun-filled one with our trip to see my best friend and her family in Jacksonville. She and I have been friends since third grade, believe it or not! We practically had every class together in high school, which led people to believe that we were attached at the hip, or that we were even the same person. Then we even went on to live together for FOUR years during college --- and yes, we are still best friends. Now how's that for a true friendship?

She and her husband also have a two-year-old (and another bouncing boy on the way in October!) so Bear Cub and B had such fun. It was great to see them actually interacting some on this trip - wanting to do the same things and following each other around the house. B is 4 months older than Bear Cub, so he likes to try engage him in some real conversation...well, Bear Cub just hasn't figured out how to respond when another CHILD talks to him. But, just the fact that the boys played SO well together and like being with one another was awesome. Bear Cub will pick up his end of the conversation soon enough, I'm sure. :)

Here are some pictures from our quick trip. We had fun just playing inside the house and also at their great community pool. Bear Cub is officially a fish now and scares us with his fearlessness of the water. He will jump in from any point on his own now - so you REALLY have to be ready for him! We are trying to decide if another few weeks of some kind of swim lessons would be beneficial for him this summer. B also did really well - he even did some jumps and did some great kicks! Both boys will be cruisin' the pool on their own in no time! Enjoy! :)

B says, "Come on in, the water is nice and warm!"

Here they are...investigating the highly-fascinating drain. Only boys would think this was so cool!

Two proud Mamas - isn't she just adorable pregnant??

"Let's destroy the bookshelf! Ok! That sounds like FUN!!"

Cutie-pie B...check out that gorgeous smile and THOSE CURLS!

Chowing down at breakfast -- oh yes, Zoe came with us, so she also had a great time with their dog, Roscoe. I think they wore each other out with all their chasing! :)

Random pics from around our house

He had just woken up from his nap when he discovered that I'd been sucking on this lollipop. Actually, it was HIS lollipop that I snuck from a goody bag of his (hey, I wanted something sweet!) so it only serves me right that I lost it back to him. He took very small and careful licks, making me really wonder, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop??" A lot for this guy!
Ahhhh...what a serious look this is. I'd love to know what he thinks about when he has this expression. Check out those wispy curls!
He needs a red cape on in this this picture...Bear Cub will save the day!
Say "Cheese!"
His new fave book -- we discovered it in his closet the other day. Fergus is a Westie...just like our Zoe, which makes us appreciate it all the more!

Here he is...cracking up at the picture of Fergus chewing on his monkey toy. Bear Cub finds this picture particularly funny each time we read the book!

Go, Dora, Go!

Just a quick note...something that I found really cool...

This morning, I decided to turn on Nick Jr. for Bear Cub to watch a little of Dora the Explorer. Well, as soon as I turned it on, Dora and Swiper (for those who watch this show, I have NO idea why she was with Swiper...that's usually not the case!) were landing in a hot air balloon in no other than RUSSIA!!! Dora even taught the kids how to say hello in Russian, "Privyet!" Bear Cub really tuned into it because I acted so excited and interested, too. Turns out Dora was on some adventure to get magical bracelets to different countries around the world.

Just wanted to give a little "Kudos!" to Nickelodeon for depicting Russia in a positive light for kids. How awesome! :)

Thank heaven for vacuums....

Ok...so for those of you who have ridden in my vehicle as of late, you will appreciate this! I finally vacuumed it this morning! Woo-hoo! I swear, I have been saying for at least 2 months, "This weekend...I'm vacuuming!" But lo and behold, I would never do it. But today was the day! And I will admit that there were enough Cheerios, fruit snacks, crushed crackers, and Lord only knows what else mixed in, to feed a small country.

Today's little bit of satisfaction for me: The wondrous sounds of crunchy things being sucked into a vacuum. :) What a sweet, and yet disgusting sound, it is!

The latest...

My little Slim Jim running towards the sprinkler this morning.

Hi everyone! Hope your week is off to a good start. It's been busy for us the past few days. Over the weekend we had a great time playing at our neighborhood pool. We are so proud of how well BC is doing with his swimming. He will now jump in to us (without holding our hands!) and even do about 5 kicks or so to swim back and forth between us. It's awesome to see him swimming like this! We still have a long way to go, but just the fact that he loves the water so much makes us happy. We've really been having fun at the pool these days.

Yesterday, we went to Sea World and met up with Little Miss, Aunt J, and another toddler and her mama. It was a scorcher out and it seemed like everyone around here is trying to get in one last trip to a theme park before school gets going. It was very crowded. But the great thing about Sea World is that you don't have to wait in any lines and a lot of the exhibits are indoors, so you do have a chance to cool off. My free pass that I got for being a Florida teacher is about to expire at the end of the month, so I hope to get us back there at least one more time. Bear Cub absolutley loves it and is so interested in all of the animals there. It's a really good learning experience and he has so much to talk about after we've been. Unfortunately...I FORGOT my camera at home! GASP!!! I couldn't believe it, but by the time I realized it was at home, we were too far on the road. Oh well. You can believe that he had a great time and slept like a rock last night from all the fun. :) Me too.


This morning we had two of his friends come over for a little play date and that also went really well. I was proud to see him share his toys without any fuss and the kids had fun playing in the frog pool and the sprinkler. He's sleeping now --- ready for a nap after being on the go so much.


As for the rest of the week, no real plans until Saturday morning when we are going up to Jacksonville to visit my best friend from WAY back and her family. Her little boy is just 4 months older than BC and the last time they were together they had a blast. We're excited about that and I'll be SURE to bring my camera and get lots of pics of our boys together.


Have a great week!

This is it...

Well, everyone, this will officially be the last "anniversary" date that I think I'll be blogging about from the past year with Bear Cub. August 2, 2007, we happily landed in Tampa, after a long journey home. It was about 6:00 a.m., so we had had a long couple of days worth of travel. Boy, was I glad to step off that plane and know that our travels were complete! Here are a few pictures from our arrival home. What a great feeling it was to be back in Florida with our new son!

I may not talk about all of these important dates in the future, but you can be assured that these dates will be etched into my mind forever. I have a feeling that in 30 years from now, I will remember August 2, 2007, and it will put a big smile on my face. Precious days, precious memories. Thank goodness the human brain is an effective storage container. I want to hang on to these FOREVER.

Meeting his Mimi for the very first time as we stepped off the tram in the airport.

A big smile from our little man! The day we arrived home, he also got to meet his Aunt A and Aunt S...unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that. I think I was beyond exhausted at that point and wasn't thinking about getting the camera out. You can see that he was happy to finally be free and have some space to scoot around!