"At least my poop'll smell like da beach!"

I wasn't sure where to post this blog since it was Isaiah's first beach trip, but an entire family event with lots of fun for the adults too.

Our friends the Trotts (I babysat Weston and Cohen all semester 'til Kim was out for the summer) were using a family beach house on Anna Maria Island so we went to spend the afternoon and eat dinner - specifically the Mahi-Mahi that Kim, Julia, and I caught on Thursday during our excursion into the Atlantic.

Anna Maria Island is my absolute FAVORITE place to go to the beach. I have tons of memories there as a kid and it was way fun bringing my boys and adding to the memories. I like to imagine that DeSoto and the Spanish Conquistadors had just as much fun "discovering" Anna Maria centuries ago...fewer shops with kitchie magnets, but fun nonetheless.

So how did my baby handle the Gulf of Mexico?

Sunscreen... which, I know its the white-girl in me, but I still slather SPF50 on my half-Jamaican baby who's skin soaks up the sun faster than Cortez's ships went up in flames. At the end of our hour or so in the sun he had a kickin' farmer's tan. Oh how I wish he would have gotten that ability from me! HA!

He thought the waves, sand, and general beachness were great. He was definitely processing it seriously (note the eyebrow furrow) but really liked it.

I am going to be really sad if BP ruins this gorgeous place. Isaiah was anxious for me to walk deeper so he could splash in the water. Which he did.

He was NOT thrilled with sand-castle time. Of course him refusing to wear a hat didn't help. Shortly after this picture, we took him back in the water and he was fine again. So yay! My baby likes the beach!!

My first born. An experienced beach go-er. First beach in 2008- South China Sea, Second beach 2009- Bali Sea (no post reference because of crazy travel, hospital quarantine, and moving back to America)

He was pumped up on the way there...giving cheerio thumbs-up.

He was ready to get into the water as soon as he saw it.

He was down with sand castle building too with Daddy, Weston, and Weston's Daddy.

Yay for waves!

Cohen wasn't so thrilled with the whole "sand on my hands" thing. But he liked the water too!

Weston and Ian building their pyramid in the sand with it's lake...

If I were a shark, I wouldn't have been able to resist this one here! What a cutie!

And now for the adult portion of the blog post. Warning: Delicious seafood pictures ahead.

Shrimp kebabs

The Roberts Family joined us at dinner time and brought the dolphin from our fishing trip. Here's Paul using my new handy-dandy Pampered Chef Grill Basket for the oh-so delish mahi-mahi.

Summer, kids in bathing suits, the smell of a grill, a deck with an outdoor shower (which we used to de-sand the kiddos) , an umbrella, a gulf-west-facing-sunset dinner with great friends, good food... does summer get any better?!

Yum.

Nolan the strawberry head, reaching for another!

The spread (the key lime pie was in the fridge)

While the parents finished dinner and chatted, the kids picked flowers and handed them out generously.

Is there any better sleep in the world than when you're beach-tired?

Thanks Kim and Ian for having us out! Yay for the beach!

Tadpoles and Cows

In my parents' yard there is a small frog pond.It was made by (I'm guessing) the people who built the house originally at the very least 70 years ago (though I think the house is older than that) back in August of 1935.While Isaac and I were outside in the yard yesterday morning I noticed a gazillion tadpoles in the pond. So we of course got a bucket and a cup and scooped some out to look at them. Can you see them in there?
Was trying to get a picture of the tadpoles, instead got Isaac's reflection. Thought it was fun:)
Then later on that day, Granddaddy needed to get all the cows into one section of the pasture to make it easier to round them up for taking some of them to the market the next day. Which sounds like it could be the start of a fun cowboy rustling story, but really it just means we got in the truck, honked the horn, about 3 cows that were in a different section of pasture automatically walked through the gates into the correct pasture- how my dad gets them trained to do it is beyond me! So here's some cattle-rustling photos.And Zay demonstrating how we all learned to drive! In the pasture of course!

Isaiah @ 9 months!

Oh my. Just 3 more months of his first year left?
I wish his sweet squishy-ness would stay this size forever (then I think about how much fun it'll be when he walks, talks, etc and get over it:)
But if there were some way to rewind!!The koala is looking minuscule these days and Zay proved exactly how much bigger by picking him up while we were taking pictures (while showing off that he stands easily now)
This month's major highlights:
CRAWLING! As in, up on hands and knees, follows me down the hall crawling!
and
TWO FRONT TEETH! The first one broke through a couple weeks ago as the result of a crawling mishap where he hit his mouth on the tile floor...no gnawing involved, just came right through. The second took some work, but he got it out.

Double O Awesome

Epcot Center gets a bad rap when compared to the other Disney theme parks.

Remember the wedding rehearsal dinner scene in Ocean's 12?
Maybe it's my love for travel that makes me happy when I go there and meet people from all over the world. Maybe it's the incredible food prepared by all those people from various corners of the earth. Maybe it's the slightly more intellectual and PBS-esque attractions they feature. But I like it!

(Isaac rockin' his 3D glasses at a 4D storm-simulator attraction. My sweet little geek:)

A recent attraction we found out about is the "Kim Possible" secret agent detective team. You slide your ticket at the Kim Possible kiosk and get a rendezvous point at a field station at a country in the World Showcase around the lake at Epcot.(whoa at the prepositions!)
We found the "KP Field Station" at Norway and were given a cell phone where we received video transmissions from the characters from the Kim Possible cartoon (which we don't watch, but it was still cool nonetheless). The characters give you clues and hints to find in certain places in the various countries. At the end, you get instructions to take the phone to a drop location.

We went from Norway to China to help find the Jade Monkey statue.

(This photo is especially for my friend April:)

The fun part is, the clues take you to places that are out in the open and your phone activates secret clues in those places. There are never any lines, and if you aren't paying attention, you would never know that the various "decorations" in the different countries are actually part of a game park guests are playing all day.

(Anthony always makes fun of Isaac's and my "furrow" that we make with our eyebrows. I think they make for quite the secret agent face.)

We only did one mission because we had had a long day already, but I can't wait to go back and do another. Turns out too (after comparing notes to when my sister and her kids did a mission in China) that each time it's different, even if you go to the same country. We did things she didn't do. Too fun!
Here is a video of one of the clues that came to life in a very unassuming window display in the China pavilion. Very secret agent!

Isaiah @ 8 months!

Our littlest Miniman is getting so big. He can wave bye-bye now (of course, never on command when you want to video it) and crawl. Most of the time he does an army scoot, but if he's not in a hurry, he'll crawl up on all fours. Though, most of the time he tries crawling fast after anyone he feels shouldn't leave the room without taking him. Seriously. The kid has taken not being left into his own hands! As soon as he could go forward he started crawling after us if we left the room. Too cute.He was 8 months on May 7th (these were actually taken that day)... and of course I couldn't just post one...
I've realized, compared to my other American mom-friends (at least I think so, I may be wrong) I'm sort of crazy about my boys always having hats on when they go outside. Even Isaiah who only turns browner not pink. The only thing I can attribute this to is maybe because I started my mothering in Asia and most Asians are just as nuts about staying OUT of the sun and being as fair as possible as we Americans are about being tan. Their kids are always covered up. I do not care if Isaac (who bless his heart will never be tan) has any color. I'm covering him up! And Isaiah, who will forever make his Mama jealous of his Caribbean skin tone, gets a hat on his head too! Also, I love accessories. And since I have boys, hats are about all there is to jazz up an outfit.Not sure if you can see it...but this is what I was referring to above. This was after MAYBE 20 minutes in the sun with a rash-guard on and SPF 50 (or was it 75?) rubbed into his chunky little arm. There's no stopping his tan!

A Train!

A few steps away from our house is a Railroad track. The line actually ends about 100meters past the little crossing on our property, but sometimes shorter trains use it to turn around, or wait for other trains to pass where the tracks split a little before the crossing. On this day a train was waiting for another one to get a few miles down the track (some RR authority regulation). The boys loved it! (FYI- The other little boy, Weston, is one of the boys I watch everyday).

Isaiah @ 7 months

It really is a shame how unsnuggly and uncuddly that koala bear looks compared to Isaiah. Zay-dawg puts stuffed animals everywhere to shame. He's weighing in at 20.5 lbs these days and every ounce is squishy and sweet.
Our Mini-er Man hasn't learned to crawl yet, but we are in NO hurry. He love love loves his big brother and I think this month that's what he's really developed the most in... really watching all around him- and figuring out big brother is the coolest (and of course, that Mommy wins "best all around" every day;)

I like this one! He immediately clobbered the koala when I sat him down.

Potty Training...for real this time!

Ok, so I have to brag...Isaac took about 3 hours to potty train. Really! (well according to the "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" book) He can go to the potty, pull down his pants, get on the potty, go potty, get down, flush, and put his underwear back on. Sure he needs reminders and some supervision still, but overall he's doing great and I think he gets that he's accomplishing something major.

Here's how we went about it for those interested (if not you can skip to the picture):

1. We chose to teach him to sit on the potty to pee (for all those moms of boys out there that I asked their opinion of, thanks! you were all helpful!) just so when it was time to poop, he wouldn't have to remember extra steps. One mom (mother of 4 boys) told me, "Look, they'll get it when they see all the other boys standing up and daddy standing up that they can do it that way too. It's just easier in the beginning." We also just went ahead and went with the big toilet. Less things to learn to get to the final result..."Just start with what I want to end with" is a parenting phrase of mine. So anyway. That's what we went with and Isaac seems to do pretty well with it!

2. We also started with a "dolly" that goes pee-pee...aka- an old Cabbage Patch Splash'n kid that I got in the 2nd grade after my first dental surgery because I didn't cry, and a squirt toy that I artfully held behind the doll in order for Isaac to watch the doll go pee. Anyway, the book we kind of followed said to for the child to teach the doll to go pee, then it's understood better when he starts. The doll thing helped somewhat, even though I was skeptical. I think it helped him get that he was supposed to sit and wait on the potty to pee. The problem was we had 3 accidents before we could really get done training the doll (less than an hour) so I just ended up abandoning it and going with training Isaac.

3. Here's another thing we heard both sides on when asking parents. But we decided, no pull-ups. He's a big boy. He can learn. I realize it may take up to a year or more for him to REALLY get this, but I think being consistent is helpful for those little brains trying to figure out what Mommy and Daddy expect from them in potty training.

Anyway...not that any of you wanted to know all this. I just know there are different ways of approaching potty training and this is how we did it.

And I'm happy to report at the end of day #2 that he woke up dry from sleeping all night the first night and from his nap today and he pooped in the potty with only a little complaining/fussing. The next big task is to go on an outing and see how he does. Who knows what tomorrow will hold but that's a pretty good start and we're SUPER proud of him!

So I almost posted a bunch of the really funny and cute pics we got of him potty training...there are several! But then just didn't feel right about it...but the one below I HAD to share. Anthony managed to catch this moment on day #1 about 1 and a half hours into it. It so captures the essence of potty training! (oh, and I have a white tank top on for any of you out there thinking I shouldn't have bought a shirt so big) I think this moment was when I gave up on the doll...that you can see here being cast to the wayside.