New Ways to Celebrate Independence Day

Going to see fireworks was too daunting an idea for us this year. Not only would we be racing the clock re: Katie's bedtime, but we'd also have to deal with annoyances like heat, mosquitoes, and shuttles to and from fireworks displays. Instead, we spent the day with our best friends Dave and Sara and their son Daniel, who is 2 months older than Katie.

First our friends Jay and Karen had us two families over to their house for lunch and a pool party. Later in the evening, D, S, and D came over to our house. Between dinner and the time fireworks were shown on TV, Sara and I ended up giving our babies a bath together while our husbands caught up on some old lacrosse tapes. We figured it would make good use of our time, as well as give us an incriminating photo to pass around when Katie and Daniel are both teenagers:

The next morning my friend Jessie took advantage of the fact that the DC tourists were all still asleep after a late night of fireworks, and we went paddleboating in the Tidal Basin for her birthday. The other boat pictured is her parents'.

When I arrived home, John had finished installing the new toddler swing that Katie had received for her birthday from my brother Jason and his family. Katie's mother's helper, Anna, was pushing Katie and her two favorite stuffed animals, and Katie was thisclose from sleep.

Katie loves this new toy! And she loves Anna. Tomorrow we're going to the pool with Anna and her family. And earlier this month Anna came over and introduced Katie to the toy that John and I gave her for her birthday -- an inflated pool full of balls.

A Few More June Adventures

Here are a few more of our adventures from June!

Family Reunion: We attended John's family's annual get-together on June 28. Katie enjoyed meeting some of her distant cousins for the first time. (Last year's get-together was held while I was still in the hospital after delivering Katie!)

At the reunion, Katie tried to give her relative Maeve a hug, but Maeve simply fell backwards. Thankfully she didn't seem to be hurt!

My friend Jessie came over for girl time on June 29, and Katie had no problem cuddling up in her lap, especially when there were french fries to steal:

Katie and I took Bella on a walk on June 30, and halfway around the block, it started POURING rain! I ran as fast as I could in flip flops while pushing a stroller and holding a leash. Katie wailed as she got more and more soaked, but was willing to pose for a picture afterwards on her way up to a hot bath:

I'm especially thankful for the elderly neighbor lady on the next block who saw us in distress and tried to coax us all into her car for the last block of our walk -- er, run. But somehow I don't think squeezing a stroller, baby, mommy, and Saint Bernard mix into her car would have been faster than continuing to run the last block. :-)

Speaking of Bella, here are a few photos of her with Katie and Katie's "Jay-Pa" and me at the beach house earlier in June. And yes, I HAD just rolled out of bed.

Hannah's birthday party

Katie's playmate Hannah (daughter of my high school friend Heather) turned one just a few weeks after Katie did, and we enjoyed Hannah's birthday party on June 21!

The highlight for Katie was the kiddie pool set up in the backyard. Katie and Hannah got in together, and wore nothing but their diapers -- do you know how absorbent diapers are? I was so impressed by how much Katie's diaper weighed after it absorbed a good amount of the pool water! As you can see from the photos, Katie tried to hug Hannah and even feed her the pool toys, though Hannah wasn't as enthusiastic about either activity.

Great-Grandma, Kittens, and Eeyores -- Oh My!

A few weeks ago, while John was away on business, Katie and I drove 6 hours to go visit my grandma in the days leading up to her move into an assisted living facility. We enjoyed our visit with "Great-Grandma" as well as our time with some of my cousins and a great-aunt.

One fun aspect of this trip was the abundance of kittens everywhere. John's allergic to cats, so Katie has limited exposure to them. So she enjoyed meeting a 5-week old kitten belonging to my cousins:



In addition, when we stopped by my mom's cousin's house to see if she was in, we found no one home -- except for many more kittens! We enjoyed playing on the porch with the kittens, until Katie decided the kittens' food was much more interesting to play with than the kittens themselves.

Later that day, my cousin Jessica came over and noticed that Katie's favorite stuffed animal is her Eeyore. I ran a quick errand and returned to discover Katie in paradise -- sitting in a HUGE pile of Eeyores! It turns out that Jessica also loves Eeyore and collects versions of the character in all colors and sizes. Katie was having so much fun that Jessica gave her three of the Eeyores to take home with her. Thank you, Jessica!

Dancin' for Daddy's Day

The day after Katie's birthday BBQ was Fathers Day, and we headed up to visit John's parents and enjoy a delicious Fathers Day brunch with them. Here's a fun photo of Katie with her daddy and her grandpa "Jay-Pa".

After brunch, we headed back to Jay-Pa and Grammy's house for a bit, and were thoroughly entertained by Katie dancing for us. Both of these videos simply crack me up.

Then we went home, walked the dog, and left again to celebrate Fathers Day with my family. Finally, we were home again and Katie was able to give her daddy her own Fathers Day present (2 old John Cusack movies). She seemed much more interested in opening the card though.

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid (Just not as well as they could in the 80s)

Whatever happened to the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant that I grew up with? You know, the one with the giant mechanical mouse and dog who would sing songs every 15 minutes or so? Boy has it changed since I was a kid. When Katie and I went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time on June 14 (to visit with her cousins/aunt/uncle who were in town for her birthday BBQ), I was disappointed that the main entertainment focus is now a group of TV screens in one corner. How sad.

That being said, we had a fun (though short) visit with our family. Katie especially had fun playing with my mom and with her cousin Ali, who is three weeks older than her.

Celebrating Katie's First Birthday

On June 14, we had family and a few of Katie's playmates over for a birthday barbeque. It ended up raining, so festivities -- including a moon bounce -- moved inside. It was great having many of Katie's favorite people there -- including her Great-Grandma (pictured below) and her cousins/aunt/uncle who drove several hours to be there. You can see her personalized cake above.