A Walk in the Park

There's a super fun nature walk at a local forrest preserve in Illinois (thanks for the tip Aunt Krista).  While we were there we visited with Will's aunts and cousin.  Fun fun!

Will was pumping the waterfall that you see flowing.

Life-size bird house.  :)

Cousin Johnny thought he'd like to give the water a try too...

But then again, maybe not.

Well, okay mom, I'll try again.

Then he discovers this water thing isn't so bad and even starts to enjoy it!  :)

Stopping for a snack before we leave for home.  :)

River Swim

While in Arizona visiting family we were able to go for a swim in a local river.  Fun stuff and a bit different than the pool.  :)

 Sitting on the rocks watching the rapids.  Later Will would brave the rapids. :)

Update and Other Fun Stuff

Okay, okay, I am embarrassingly behind on these postings...I apologize.  With traveling all summer and settling into a new home now, life has been a bit hectic lately.  :)  I have a lot of catching up to do, so bear with me, please.  We have had many events since the last post and now, so I think I'll just try to start back in the summer and work my way into the present.  :)

Over the summer we traveled from our last home in Massachusetts to California, with a few stops along the way.  Many miles, many visits, and many wonderful memories later, we are back in the northeast, stationed in Maine, settling in to our new home and routine.

So I think we'll just begin at the beginning, way back when we were still in MA, right before Carl graduated MIT.  Oh yes, Carl graduated with his double Masters from MIT...Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture!  Impressive, huh?  :)  He did an amazing job!  He's very glad to be done studying hard, but ever grateful for the opportunity.  Now it's back to the regular navy and putting that education to use!  Back to my current task...Carl's parents and sister and her family came out to visit us and see Carl graduate.  We had a fun time in a near-empty house with many little children.  It was wonderful to have them out to share in the successful conclusion of a mentally rigorous 3 years.  So here's a few pictures from that time...

The adults were able to get away one night for a harbor cruise while the grandparents watched the children.  Here's Uncle Kris and Aunt Krista (Carl's sister) looking adorable, though they were soaked by rain just minutes earlier.  :)

One night we went out onto the hill behind our house to watch the sunset and have a little fun just playing.

Uncle Kris and Caleb being "chased" by Will.  

The look on Caleb's face as he glances at his daddy is absolutely priceless and precious in this picture.  

Here's Will just being goofy.

Another "parents day out" at Fenway Park, going to see the Red Sox.

I thought it was fun that we were close to this dug-out area where we could see them doing their secret handshake/fist bump ritual.

That's all for now, but more will follow shortly!  :)

Swim Lessons!

While we were in CA, Will was able to take swim lessons and he learned A LOT!  He was scared to put his head under at first, but just a couple days in, I had to tell him to STOP putting his head under all the time during class, and listen to the teacher.  :)  He learned some swim strokes and can now "swim" on his own (when he is feeling brave enough).

Will got really good at using the kick board.

Will worked up his bravery and was able to jump in the deep end by himself!  Here he is holding hands with the teacher, but the next jump (which I was not able to get on video) he jumped completely unassisted!  Sorry about the sideways frame.

Sea World

Since we were already in California for Carl's schooling, we decided to go to Sea World for a fun day (which has an amazing discount for military families---thank you Sea World!).  It was a wonderful day.  To top it off, we got to visit some military friends who now live in CA afterward ) unfortunately we don't have any pictures of that .  

Will LOVED watching the whale show.  This show alone was well worth the trip.  Pretty amazing creatures!

This was a slow elevator-like ride that let us see all around the park.

There was a fun obstacle course thing for children that Will did multiple times.  Nets, tubes, and bridges...

Bouncy floor.

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives Restaurants

For anyone that doesn't know, there is a show on The Food Network called Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  The host travels around the country and samples featured entrees from "diners, drive-ins, and dives" across the country.  There are two restaurants that were featured on the show located near us here in California, so we decided to sample them both and we were glad we did!  :)

Pops and Deedee were able to go with us to "The Kitchen".  

Daddy had the same thing that Guy Fieri had on the show.  A lamb burger.  Yum!

There was even live music!  Will loved listening to this man sing and play guitar.

Our second restaurant was "Pete's Breakfast House".  It was delicious!

A monkey in my monkey's pancake.  :)