The Need for Speed

It was a surprise to me, but we discovered on our most recent trip to Home Depot that Evan is now big enough to ride in the "car". And of course Kaitlyn was happy to give him driving lessons. Yep, life is good.

Beach Babes

Though Kaitlyn is now a 3-year veteran, Evan got to experience his first trip to the beach when my parents took all their kids and our families to Orange Beach, AL for four days in June. This is the first time our extended family has ever made a trip like this. As we expected, Evan gained a little weight from all the sand he ingested, but after the first day he fortunately didn't have as much of a taste for it and doesn't seem to be any worse for wear. The weather was great, and our condos were nice as well. Everybody left ready to do it again.

"Okay Dad, I think I have this sand castle stuff down. What's next?" Just in case you are getting an inferiority complex about your kids or yourself, Kaitlyn did not actually build this.

Evan finally had enough of the bossy big sister.

Condo, beach, pool, condo was our normal rotation.

"Just one more Mom. It has been a tough day."

Kaitlyn also did her part in helping walk Nana's dog, which was a good bit of exercise considering we were on the seventh floor.

Here we have Kaitlyn teaching her cousin Hayley some master builder skills.

Evan decides to build his own condo.

My big girl. Almost 3!

In Training

In preparation for our upcoming vacation, Amanda has been taking Kaitlyn to the pool a good bit to work on her swimming skills and just get her generally more comfortable with the water. I'm happy to report that it is working. She'll probably be training for the Olympics by next summer. Evan has been going too, but he doesn't need much encouragement. Fear is not in his emotional repertoire. It should be. He weighs as much as a sack of bricks and I'm sure would sink like one.

stylin' flotation gear...check

inconspicuous bodyguard... check

Mickels

Evan had another follow-up appointment with the pulmonary specialist in Memphis yesterday. He was pretty stressed out about it as you can tell from this photo I took while we waited on the doctor. He is such a happy baby right now. All we have to do is keep him fed and rested. It is hard to believe he will have his first birthday in just over two months. Anyway, we decided to wait and see if his congestion cleared up with the warmer weather we're finally getting before we let them run anymore tests.


Kaitlyn really gets her feelings hurt when she can't get Evan to smile at her and complains to us in a pitiful voice that "He won't smile at me." It sounds unrelated, but she has also been learning Spanish. Well, the other day, in that same pitiful tone she says, "Mama, he won't say adios."

Another discovery Kaitlyn made recently is that everybody has nipples. She just doesn't quite have the pronunciation down yet. So while I'm bathing her and Evan tonight, she announces, "Dad, Evan has really tiny mickels."