Wedding, Babysitting, Park, Reading, Lake

D: Gordon's wedding was fantastic. The boys managed to behave themselves through the ceremony and had a fun time running around afterwards. Everett has learned the word "Fish", and there was a Koi pond. He kept wandering over there, pointing at them, and saying "Fish!" 

Sharing water bottles, staring longingly at the 107 degree yard at the Beagley's. They didn't get to go outside too much. Just too hot. They did get to go swimming. Axel was jumping in and having a great time. Everett was clutching on to whoever was holding him for dear life.  

A: If you want to see more pictures from the wedding, you'll have to check out Jeff and Shannon's blog.

One of Everett's favorite activities of late is building with dominoes and Jenga blocks. By some miracle, I don't think we have lost any blocks yet. He often builds little Stonehenge towers. 

A: For 15 hours a week, we get to watch our friends' baby girl. She's about 9 months old now. This is giving Everett a chance to get used to the idea of a baby sister. He imitates her sometimes and it gets pretty comical. He thinks he needs to crawl around or kick his feet when she does. He tries to help us with her, which is great for the most part. He likes to hold her bottle in her mouth, which doesn't work out so well. They entertain each other, which makes our jobs easier. He has learned a lot thus far: like how babies don't know how to play catch with hard plastic balls, and would prefer if you didn't yank toys away from them.

This is also giving us a chance to figure out parenting two kids. Timing naps, feeding two mouths, changing a diaper with a curious child around, how well "sharing" works at this age, etc. It has forced us to baby proof beyond what Everett needs.
Here are some videos of them playing together. The first is from about a week ago and the second is from about a month ago.

A: Manito Park is still a favorite place for us to go take a nice little walk and stop at the playground. These pics are from a couple of trips there in the last month. And a couple from the park by the Perry district.

A: I took this picture to show the variety of rose names in the rose garden: "Ingrid", "X-rated", "Happy Thoughts", "Liberty Bell", and "Ricky Hendrick" (NASCAR driver who died at 24) all in one section.

D: It's taken him a while to warm up to swings, but Everett likes them now. What we figured out is that he likes it when we act like he's either kicking us or almost kicking us. Then he giggles uncontrollably.

D: Water!!!! Alicia's coworker invited us out to her cabin at Loon Lake this last Saturday. I have had a stomach bug and wasn't up for going. 

A: Everett liked the water this time and almost looked like he was going to jump off the dock at one point. He warmed right up to anyone nearby and would reach for them to hold his hand and walk him into the water. After eating a delicious barbecue, Everett wanted to head right back down the stairs to the private beach and dock outside the cabin. 

The whole thing was relaxing and fun with good company and yummy food. We came home with about a cup of sand in our clothes and shoes, but it was worth it.