Gigi & Jeremy's Visit

Daniel's mom and youngest brother came for a visit a few weeks ago. We had fun having a birthday cookout, playing volleyball, going to the beach, and just relaxing. Joshua had a fever while they were here, so he wasn't quite his usual active self, but still gave some smiles and was actually a little more cuddly than usual, so that was nice for Gigi!

We went to the beach one afternoon. Daniel and Jeremy went out surfing while Joshua and Gigi built a sand castle.

Josh's Latest Activities

Joshua is 9 months old already and growing up fast! Here's some recent videos of him. The first is of him eating finger food - fresh sea trout and broccoli. After a long search on Craig's List, Daniel bought a 12 ft Carolina Skiff and caught his first fish with it this week. Yea! The next video is Joshua's "homemade walker"...he's not walking yet, but he gets behind anything he can (end tables, car seat, laundry basket, bar stool) and pushes it around the floor until he runs into something and can't figure out why he can't go anymore. The last two videos are just cute ones of him laughing. He has such an easy-going, joyful personality - what a blessing!

Eating Daddy's fish!

Walker

Just having a good time

Haven't had enough yet? Here's some more pictures from May and June!

5th Anniversary

Daniel and I left Joshua with my parents for three days and went up to Northern Minnesota to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We had a great time just being together and relished being on our own schedule and eating our food while it was hot! The weather wasn't what we'd hoped for (the first day was a high of 45 and rain), but we made the most of it.

We were in the Two Harbors area about 25 miles north of Duluth and 3 hours north of St. Paul and stayed in a little cabin on Lake Superior. The first day we stopped at Grandma's Saloon in Duluth for lunch because I'd won a bet with Daniel a few months ago (can't remember what it even was) and he owed me onion rings! I read in the AAA book that Grandma's specialty was onion rings, and they did not disappoint. That day was really nasty weather, so we opted to stay inside as much as possible and took a tour of Split Rock Lighthouse. It was interesting to see the inside of the keeper's house, the lighthouse, and the foghorn house. Daniel was excited that he got to wind the weights that drop and spin the light (which weighs several tons). It works sort of like a grandfather clock, I think.

Curling - a sport of fitness and finesse! Never seen a curling club before, although I've always regreted not doing the curling intramurals offered at Iowa State!

We only wish we saw the sun that day - picture from http://www.harnoislaw.com/assets/iStock_000001147235Small.jpg

Daniel on the lookout!

The weather was better the second day, so we hiked around Gooseberry Falls State Park for a while. The falls were roaring from all the rain the Midwest had been getting. Locals said it was the biggest the falls had been in 20 years. In the afternoon, it looked like more rain, so we went to a coffee shop to read John Grisham's The King of Torts which we were reading aloud together. That night we went to The Lemon Wolf Cafe for dinner, which was a quaint little place. I had Swedish Meatballs and Daniel had Lake Trout. Very good.

Our last day up there we wanted to kayak on Lake Superior, but were told it was too dangerous. The outfitters did rent us a kayak to take to an inland lake in the Boundary Waters. So, after much deliberation about whether we wanted to strap a kayak on my dad's fairly new Lexus, we went for it and drove about 40 miles inland to Brule Lake. It ended up being pretty windy out there, so our trip back to the boat landing was quite strenuous...and wet. There were whitecaps on the lake and waves crashing over the front of the kayak in my face!


We made a few stops at scenic overlooks on our way back, stopped at Grandma's in Duluth for dinner and more onion rings (not as good the second time...perhaps due to high expectations), then got back to Minnesota and our little boy about 9pm that night.



Joshua did great while we were gone. I'm sure he didn't have much time to miss us since Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Renee, and Uncle Marc were all there to devote their attention to him. He just took it all in stride. We did great with leaving him too and only called to check in one time!

Trip to Minnesota

We went to visit my family in Minnesota and Iowa in June. We had a great time showing off our good boy and all the relatives did their best to spoil Joshua.

At a sculpture garden in Minneapolis

Minnehaha Falls - right in the center of the city

You never know what might be lurking in Grandma's corn crib...

Why not a giant sombrero and a violin?

Josh really got into driving the tractor

Other pictures - May and June

The little athlete in his Badger gear!

Asher and Josh in matching froggy outfits

Sweet

Joshua's other mamas - Kaylee and Paige

They love to play with Baby Josh and even play "Baby Josh" at home with their baby dolls!

Joshua got to swim in a pool for the first time on the 4th of July. He enjoyed himself!

Some videos

Here's a few recent videos. The first is of a new clicking noise that Joshua likes to make. Dan makes it back to him and they just go back and forth having a "clicking" conversation.

I found out that I can't edit videos taken on my digital camera on our PC, so unfortunately this video is long. Most of the cute part happens in the beginning when Josh was so excited that I was coming to get him up from his nap.