Taco's

Last night we were able to go with the extended family (total of 8 people) to the St. Louis Cardinals game. It was a good game, even though the Cards lost. (Pictures to post later.) The kids did great, even after the game went into 10 innings.

During the game, the crowd was cheering, "Lets go Cardinals, Lets Go!!"

At this point Sophia asked, why are they cheering for Tacos?
she heard, "Lets go Tacos, Lets go!"

Rude awakening

We are currently traveling. We have slept in 3 different places over the last 4 days. My guess is that I was tired. AND MILES WAS BEING VERY NINJA-LIKE.

This morning, I was nice and asleep only to be awakened by Miles hitting me with his pet monkey yelling, "wake up, wake up." He usually calls out for us when he is waking up, but I guess since he could see us (since we were sleeping in the same room) he decided he would try a different way to wake us up.

Nevertheless, this was a very rude awakening. At least it was at 6:50 in the morning.

You are not responsible

On the way to IN yesterday, we had just gotten back in the car after getting gas and a bathroom break. Justin asked if I had his phone.
The conversation went as follows:
R: "You left it right here."
J: " No, you left it here after you called my mom."
S: "Dad, mom is not responsible for your cell phone."

Conversation done.

Off again

and we are off again. On another vacation, this one will not be taking us to the beach. However, we will get to see old friends (from kindergarten) and family.

We are really excited to take the kids to see the St. Louis Cardinals next week at Busch Stadium. We have not actually been to the new Busch Stadium, but my last big memory from the new Busch Stadium is that the Cards won the world series in 2006. We were sitting in the hospital room, Miles still on the ventilator and Justin and Miles watched their 1st baseball games together. It was very bitter sweet for the Cards to win the world series and I will always remember where I was when that happened. Our great friends Kevin and Margie bought Justin a picture from that game and it hangs above Miles' bed. Each night I lay in that bed and read to Miles, looking up and the picture and being reminded of all that he (and we -including family and friends) went through.

I am so excited to make some new memories from Busch Stadium. 8 of us will be heading over together and the weather should be great-- only about 80 for the high. Very unusual for late July in St. Louis.

The Pirate and the Pirate Princess

Might Miles and Seadog Sophia were aboard the Sea Gypsy Pirate Adventure out of Annapolis, MD. If you are in the area, and you have kids, this is a great trip! The kids got their faces painted, and dressed in pirate attire. The kids got to shoot the 'bad' pirate, Pirate Pete with water guns. They LOVED shooting the pirate with the water guns.

Sophia the mermaid.

Last year, Sophia was afraid of the diving board. However, this year, she thinks it is great. She frequented the diving board multiple times each swim session. The weather was so good that we were able to swimming multiple times a day. It was GREAT!

After swimming for 4 hours, she fell asleep after dinner at only 6:30 p.m. She slept until 6:30 the next morning. That was great for mom, dad, G.G. and grandpa Herb.

So precious.

Miles and his boat license

On Monday night, we had rented a private boat to take us out into the bay. It was a beautiful night with calm water and lots of sun. The boat owners mentioned that "someone must have been smiling on us to give us that good of a day." They were right!

If you watch the horizon, you can see how much Miles is "driving" the boat. Yes, that is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that we are under. (I took the picture to the side and could not figure out how to turn it).

For the entire drive to Maryland, Miles continued to talk about driving a boat now that he had his boat license. The owner of the boat was great and allowed both kids to drive. He just wanted to have a great time, and we did.

Sophia even made up a paper and pencil test to show that she had passed her boat test. She is also licensed.

Miles enjoyed watching the water as we were getting ready to pass under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

We passed very close to the cargo ships. The kids and the big people were impressed about the size.

Miles continued to watch as we approached the bridge.

Here is the view as we pass under the bridge.

dipping

Last night, after being out on a boat, we returned home to have a quick dinner and a swim. Miles had decided he was cold, and got out. I pulled his suit off of him because it was hold so much water that it just continued to keep him even colder.

The only problem was when Miles decided he wanted to get back in the water. He ran over to the edge of the pool and wanted his dad to help him in. I threw Justin his swimsuit and Miles took it from Justin and threw it far, far from the pools edge. Justin let the boy take a quick skinny dip..... and Miles loved it.

He only stayed in for a minute, but after warming back up in the towel again, he wanted to try one more time.

I think that we will have to worry about his nude tendencies in the future. But for now, we will let 2 1/2 year old boy skinny dip.

Swimming and pool fun

Sophia is a fish in the water. She really loves the water and does NOT care if the water is too cold. She has even gone off the diving board, many, many times!


The water was not quite warm enough to be able to Miles to swim. He still chills easily, but his lips no longer turn blue. However, we had decided that he should not go swimming on Friday afternoon. We had to offer something, so he was able to put his feet into the water.


Miles and Justin placed their feet in the water, unfortunately, Miles decided to sit in the pool. Not so good, but he managed just fine with a new pair of underwear and shorts.

We slowly added more and more people to the steps, keeping our feet cool.

The sun was very bright, but we have a pretty good family picture.

a visitor in the pool.

On Thursday night, we had a visitor in the pool. In the neighborhood, a mother duck and 10 baby ducklings wondered across the yard, and into the bay. Unfortunately, the water was pretty rough and 5 little duckling were lost on the rocks, others were just lost. We found 1 swimming in our pool. We were able to locate another one just under the dock. The little duck could not get out of the pool. Roger, our host, fished out the little duck with the pool scoop and carried him down to the bay.

The Pirates have arrived.

Grandpa Herb had packed hankerchiefs for pirate headbands. The kids loved the pirate wear and they looked GREAT! The kids were SO excited. Grandpa Herb did a great job!

Here are the angry pirate faces.

And below is what pirates look like in the morning after a good breakfast!