Vacation

Payton just loved sitting in the sand and having the Lake Michigan waves lap up toward her. She sat in the sand and played with it between her fingers and toes forever. The paci in her mouth was only there to prevent her from trying to eat the sand and she never did.




This is during our boat ride back from Mackinaw Island. We spent the day going over to the island, strolling around with the kids and having lunch. I think the island is ridiculously expensive, overrated and too crowded, but at least we can say we did it.



Payton looking outside the camper at her Daddy. She sat in her Bumbo seat to eat and could peak out the window at the activities out there. She's very social and can't miss a thing.




Payton slept in bed with Mommy & Daddy, while Brody Deloof slept in the pack-n-play in the kitchen area. In the morning they would play in the big bed for a while. We called Payton the "Happy Camper" and this is pretty much how she usually wakes.



One of my favorites from vacation. Payton is learning to crawl as she gets up on all fours and rocks back & forth. This is just a cute moment of her playing on the beach blanket in the summer sun!

Rearview

These were taken while sitting in the car during a stop (not while driving) as we headed up north for vacation. More on that soon.

I hope Payton will someday look back at these pictures and think that her childhood was fun. I want her to have memories of her Mommy & Daddy as being fun-loving, layed-back and adventerous among the other things she'll probably think of us. I want her to recall us singing, dancing and laughing. We have a good time (or at least try) no matter where we are.

I think it goes "objects in mirror are larger than they appear," but I don't think that smile could get much bigger!

Golf

We just wrapped a very busy, and crazy, couple days. Scott played in the Riverside Invitational. We are not members this year, but he played as Corey's partner. They didn't do so well, although Scott played really well. Anyway, Payton and I went up to the club on Friday evening when they had the "horse race" and cookout. We took a golf cart out and watched Scott play against 9 other guys. He lost on the first hole, but we still had fun and Payton was so good. She loved riding in the golf cart and being outdoors. She doesn't, however, that the gallery is supposed to be quite when the golfers are preparing to take their shots. Oops!

Sunshine

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

Independence

We had a great 4-day weekend (yes, 4,) since we took Thursday off to work on our house. However, that resulted in jinxing ourselves. A huge storm blew in Wednesday night and we found ourselves cleaning up the water damage in the basement that night and the next day. But Scott was able to get our new tub/shower surround in on his day "off." We're trying to get our house on the market in hopes of buying a new one. I know, wishful thinking in this economy.

We spent our Fourth of July making stops at various parties. We went on the lake for a bit on Corey's boat to watch some of the airshow. Payton mostly just slept on me the minute the boat started moving and almost the whole time we were out there. She did dip her toes in the water though with her Daddy.


Then we visited my boss and his wife - Team Bisson - for a while. They have two girls, just one year and 2 days a part, and then their friends were in town with their 2-year-old son and a 7-month old daughter. Molly made a rocking good dinner and the best ice cream cake that I can't wait to get the recipe for. Payton enjoyed watching the big kids play and laugh and she even got to play in Isabelle's super pimped out exer-saucer. Team Bisson even sent us home with some baby stuff - a nice highchair and a bath seat. They are such nice people and it was fun to have a few beers, kick back and relax.

We then made our way over to the Deloofs where the boys, err husbands, sat outside and lit off some fireworks. Not a bad show, but Missy Payton and I watched it from inside because we were getting tired. She was so good all day long and such a trooper. I'm always worried when we push ourselves and extend her beyond her routine or schedule. But she partied like a rock star with the best of us. She was about the cutest damn thing you've ever seen her patriotic bikini and bonnet.

Pivot

Payton has this new thing where she likes to get up on one side, put her weight on that elbow and move around in circles. She's really starting to get around the living room now. She's doing this "army" crawl thing where she pulls herself along by her arms and she inch-worms around too. It won't be long before she's really crawling. She's also eating cereal now by the spoon and we're slowing introducing other solids. Her firsts are carrots and bananas. We think her teeth might be bothering her as well, as she is drooling a lot, sleepy and fussier lately.

Here's a series of photos from the other night when she was doing 360-turns around, all while pivoting on that one elbow.

Fatherhood

In honor of Scott's first Father's Day, Payton and I went shopping to get him a gift and decided upon new golf shoes. It's been kind of a joke in our family, considering how much I love shoes, that I bought him just that. Kind of like the husband who buys his wife a bowling ball. He always gets me something electronic and gadgety (this laptop, an mp3 player, a jump drive, digital photo frame) because that's him and that's what he knows.

So in my attempt to not just "get" him something, but to make a lasting memory, I worked some technical magic and produced this video. It's not perfect, in fact I don't know why but when I uploaded it here the music ends before the slides and that's not the case on the video I made for him. Disappointing, but let it play out.

His computer geekness is contagious. Turn up your voumn and break out the Kleenex...

Amigas

Misha and Alexandra made a visit on the weekend while traveling through the Midwest to see friends and family. First we met at Target, because, well who doesn't love Target. Then they came over to the house to hang out and stayed for dinner. Alexandra was really digging Payton and enjoyed holding her. She even helped out quite a bit by feeding Payton a bottle and assisting (observing) a poopy diaper change. It was great to see Misha and Alexandra. It's been awhile, but the nice thing was that it was just like old times. I guess that's the definition of good friends. No matter how long it's been since you last saw each other, it doesn't seem like that much time has passed. Of course, time seems to fly these days and seeing how quickly kids grow and change makes that even more apparent.

Here are a few pictures I took of Alexandra (6.5 years) and Payton (4.5 months):

Rolling

Since there is no better way to describe Payton's ability to now roll over, both from tummy to back and back to tummy, I am attempting to display her newfound skills with a video. This video was taken about a week ago, so she since has mastered the manuever and is making it look even more effortless now. In fact, just about every time you lay her down for diaper changing or bed, she rolls right over to her tummy.

It took forever to upload so it might take awhile for you to view it as well. Be patient (that includes you, Dad).

Enjoy!

Uncles

We visited my family in Illinois two weekends ago for my brother's graduation. This was Matt's first time meeting his niece. I think she's pretty cute, but you should've seen them with her. All the boys better watch out, as these Uncles are going to be quite protective.