Little Bit of Everything

I thought I would do a quick little update with mostly just random pictures. I have had some requests from the grandparents for more updated pictures, so here they are!

We haven't really done anything too exciting lately since Cameron has picked up a bajillion overtime hours at work, plus he is studying to take his CCRN test that will significantly help him get into an anesthesia school. Grant and I just try to hide from the heat as much as possible, which has resulted in many unnecessary trips to Costco and Target(Grant seriously LOVES Costco-I think it's all the samples (: ) The past week has been especially hot with severe heat advisories almost everyday. The worst part was the first REALLY hot day the power went out for almost 12 hours!!! We were dying. Poor Grant was up all night just sweating like crazy and couldn't fall asleep and we slept just as bad. We have gone to the pool a couple times, but even that seems really too warm. We are mostly just hanging out and preparing for our next trip home for Sean's wedding and Scott's farewell. We are so excited to get to go home again and will be sad for the long break until Christmas.

Alright, so that is our uneventful life right now. Here are a few pictures since last time I posted.

Just a random and kinda blurry one from Cameron's phone. I was telling him how I don't take as many pictures of Grant on my phone anymore because he is constantly moving and I only get blurry ones or he isn't looking, so Cameron tried to see what kind of a picture he could get on his phone and this is the result... blurry.

In other news... Grant had his first official haircut yesterday! I have to admit that I shed a tear... or several. Here is the lock of hair for his baby book. Cameron cut it with the razor on the longest setting and it turned out perfect. Not too short, but it got rid of his but it got rid of his longer hair around his ears and the rat tail he was developing in the back. His hair looks dark in this picture, but it really is blonde.

Here are the best "after" pics I could get of his hair.

The flash made his face a little washed out, but he loves crawling under the table. Most of the time he gets to the middle where I can't really reach him and then gets upset that he can't stand up without hitting his head and wants out asap.

This was this past Tuesday when the power went out for most of the day and night. It was SO hot. Grant had a really hard time sleeping, so this picture was after we let him come out and be with us at about 10pm because really non of us were sleeping anyway. We just went out to our porch and hung out for a little while until we decided we just had to lay down and try to sleep.

Cameron has taught Grant to throw his hands in the air when he hears the word "TOUCHDOWN!!!" It is so funny and Grant thinks he is funny too. Here he is doing his touchdown arms while we were out to dinner the other night.

This is that same night. It was a fun little family date. We had a giftcard to Texas Roadhouse from Christmas(thanks Cole and Erin!). It was delicious and we all enjoyed getting out and doing something different. Grant and Cameron both devoured the rolls. (:

I just thought these were funny pictures. I had the vacuum out from when I had been vacuuming during Grant's nap and he couldn't take his eyes off it. He would move to a new place in the room, but had to keep an eye on it wherever he went. He used to cry when I vacuumed, but now I mostly do it after he is in bed. I think he was just afraid it was going to turn on and get hime or something.

4th of July!

We had a good fourth of July this year. I felt like it was our first 4th in Cleveland because last year Cameron worked all day and I just hung out at home trying to hideout from the heat.

We started out the day doing separate activities... Shay and I started the day with a 5 mile race in Bay Village... and we totally rocked I might add (:

This is us after the race. We didn't take a before picture, but I think you can tell by our faces how happy we are to be on the other side of the finish line! It was a fun race and we are definitely looking forward to our next (and longer) one!

After the race was over we booked it over to Lakewood to meet up with our families who were already enjoying breakfast and a parade. We got there in time for most of the parade so that was nice.

Here we are in front of the parade. Grant was a little zoned out because it was already past his naptime... little did he know we were going to make him stay up till midnight to watch fireworks, poor guy...

Grant on dad's shoulders

After the parade we went home to get Grant down for a nap. While we were there, I realized that I forgot my phone at Shay's house after the race. We told them that we would just drop by and pick it up as soon as Grant woke up from his nap.

Well we stopped to just grab the phone and go, but we made a big mistake and let Grant down to play in the grass and "watch" the Coil kids play on their slip n' slide. In about two seconds flat Grant had sprint-crawled to the slip n' slide and jumped right into the water with the older kids. He was immediately soaked from head to toe. We tried to get him out, but he just screamed and we figured that he was already wet so we might as well let him play for a while longer. We stripped him down to his diaper and threw his clothes in the dryer while he kept splashing and playing. He loved it and was not happy to leave when it was really time to go.

Here he is crawling up and down the slide with the kids.

He loved getting sprayed with the water.

Drying off a not-so-happy boy. He did not want to leave...

After we left the Coils, we decided to head to target and see if we could find a cheap little kiddie pool since Grant had so much fun in the water. We were surprised to find this little gem on sale and had to get it. It is perfect. It is specifically for babies and just fills up with water about 5 inches deep. It has lots of squirty things and animals to play with. I am excited to have something to do outside besides going on endlessly long walks this summer. By the time we got some lunch, and headed home it was pretty shady in our yard, so we didn't play in it for very long, but Grant still loved it.

Sitting on the whale.

He loved playing with all the water that was squirting up

We hadn't planned on going to fireworks or doing anything at night because Cameron was supposed to work an overtime shift, but around 7pm he got a call saying that they already had too many people for the night and they wouldn't need him to come in at all. Yay! So we decided to meet back up with everyone that was at the breakfast/parade that morning and go to the potluck/fireworks. It was a total zoo trying to get there and back(even though we only live about 3 miles from where the fireworks were at).

I forgot to get any good pictures from the evening, but here are a couple of the adults lighting and handing out tons of sparklers to the kids at the party. They loved it and it and Grant was enjoying watching all the cool lights.

Technically this is Grant's second fireworks show in his short 10 months of life. When he was just about a week old, our old neighborhood had a little community celebration and had a big fireworks show. We lived literally across the street from the park that they were lit off from and watched them from our big front room window. Cameron's mom was in town still and we both could not believe how long they went on, but also how loud and close they were. They literally shook the house and knocked off one of our wedding pictures off the wall and shattered the frame. It was crazy. Anyway, Grant has done well at both shows that he has been to. He slept right through the first one(although i'm still not sure how since they were SO loud). This show he wasn't scared, but wasn't really interested very much either. He would look up at them every now and then when there was a really bright or loud once, but mostly just crawled around on the grass. He did pay attention to the finale though. And I don't blame him. It was hands down the best finale I have ever seen. Good job Lakewood! It was a fun 4th and we were all glad that we were able to spend the whole day as a family!

More Spokane fun and Outdoor Adventures

We have been so lucky since Grant was born to be able to go home to Spokane several times. Cameron's cousin Stephanie was getting married in June and we were able to go home for that as well. We feel so blessed that we have been able to go back and visit so often, and I know the grandparents love it too!

Here is Grant on the first flight and the start to a long day of traveling. We totally lucked out on ALL the flights and were able to have Grant in his own seat. We didn't pay for a seat for him, but I have a theory and it has worked every time since Grant was born... (thats about 16 flights total. Yes he is a seasoned traveler at the age of 10 months). My theory is to board with the family boarding no matter what number/letter you have for boarding. Oh, side note: I guess this would only work for Southwest since you can choose your seats. We have taken mostly Southwest flights, but im not sure how we have lucked out on the other airlines. Anyway, go with the family boarding which is after the A's and before the B's. Go straight to the back of the plane... like the back back row, sit down and buckle yourself and your baby(if he's old enough). Then make best friends with the flight attendants in the back(this will be easy if you have an exceptionally cute baby for them to gush over, lucky for me, I have one!). After you have done all of this, then just wait and keep talking to the flight attendants as people board the plane. This works for three reasons: a. most people wont want to sit by a baby(which is fine by me!) b. if the baby looks a little older they might think he isn't a lap child and that you bought that seat for him. and c. the flight attendants will help direct people away from you because they know you would like to have that extra seat. Let me know if this works for anyone else!

As I mentioned before though, the most important piece to the equation is the adorable child to lure in the flight attendants(and apparently a chubby one helps since people can't resist squishing his "little" legs). Good luck!

On the way to Spokane we had a 5 hour layover in Las Vegas so we decided to get out of the airport for a bit. we got a cab and headed to the strip. Grant was amazed by all the happenings and all the shiny lights! We mostly stayed at the Mandalay Bay since it was the closest to the airport(cheapest to get to) and it was SO hot out. We walked around the hotel, ate some dinner at a restaurant there and then just walked a tiny bit outside till I was sure that I had been cooked from the inside out!

Cameron and Grant outside the hotel on our short walk

Grant looks like he is saying "YES!!!", like he just hit the jackpot!

cousins chillin at Grammy and Papa's house

Grant got to meet Great Grandma Carole!

Not sure what uncle Scott is doing here, but Grant likes it.

Grammy playing with Grant outside

Grandpa met us for lunch on his lunch break from work

Cameron and Grant enjoying the nice Sunday afternoon.

My sister Paige surprised us and came home for the weekend from school. She is an art major and loves photography. In her spare time she took some GREAT pictures of Grant and our little family. We LOVE them, thanks Paige!

By far our favorite family picture to date!

While we were home, these two got ENGAGED!!! We are SO excited for Melissa to join the family. Nicole and I are excited to have someone so great to join the sister-in-law club (:

At the reception... love this picture

Grant and Great Grandma Margaret

a little out of order, but here are Stephanie and Brent just after they were married

We bought this suit at a children's resale thing before Grant was even born(the lady said she paid 90 bucks for her son to wear it to a wedding once... we paid 15!) and I just remembered it right before we left and decided to try it on. Good thing I did too, because it fit perfectly! So cute!

Had to get a cute little yellow tie to match the wedding colors

Grammy and Katelyn out to dinner to celebrate uncle Scott's birthday

Papa and Grant at the Brazilian restaurant, it was SO good!

Although it was a quick trip, we were able to pack a ton of fun into the week. We are so excited to be able to come back AGAIN in August for Sean and Melissa's wedding.

Here are just a few other random happenings around here...

We have been spending a lot of time outside since our house is HOT and it's summer so why not enjoy it while you can?

Here is Grant on one of our many trips to the park(this day was a little cooler, thus the pants. But believe me, it has been shorts weather everyday since then.)

Grant and I on one of our frequent walks around the neighborhood. In this picture we had just stopped at Walgreens to cool off before heading on the rest of our walk.

Grant must be decently comfortable in the backpack carrier because he falls asleep in it almost daily. This was on a Sunday afternoon walk on dad's back.

I just took this picture yesterday when we had gotten home from the gym. Cameron was feeding Grant a bottle before we put him down for his nap. I look over to see both Cameron and Grant sound asleep.

One of our friends gave us a kid tent and Grant loves it, but yesterday he was playing in it and we heard him crying. We came in to find that it had tipped over, door side down. He was resourceful however, and squeezed his way through the tiny hole in the top!

Cameron and I have been on the search for a bike trailer of our own, but have super nice friends who have let us use theirs in the meantime(thanks Jake and Jill!). We have taken Grant on several fun bike rides lately and this is what we spent the afternoon doing yesterday as well. We have huge and awesome parks called the metro parks here in Cleveland... I think I mentioned them last summer too, but we live so close to many of them and they are so nice! They have a million different trails and things to do and are so pretty. You don't even feel like you are in the middle of a city! Here is Cameron pulling Grant along in the trailer.

checking out the leaves

we stopped half way through the ride to drink some water and just hang out in the shade for a bit. Grant was excited to get out and crawl around in the grass too.

back in the trailer with his toys and snacks and ready to go