A little break-away...

We spent a week in Delaware last month, visiting family, friends, our annual trip to the Delaware State Fair, the Salisbury Zoo, the Rehoboth Outlets, and several beaches. For Dad-Dad's birthday, we spent the day at Uncle Tim's pool where Kate gave Daddy the typical workout of keeping her afloat and catching her after each. and every. slide!

Bring it on Ry-guy!

Big sis was a big help to Mom-Mom. This was our payment for staying with them for a week!

Cuddles and peanuts with Dad-Dad!

Delaware State Fair...

Ick...

So, a few months ago, a nasty snapping turtle decided to call our garden home. She and Jesse had a brutal duel, and, well, no more snapping turtle...so we thought. Unfortunately, or luckily, we recently found a "nest" of her eggs DEEP in our garden bed - yuck! That would have been an interesting surprise had we not just happened to do some re-planting and digging around that time!

And naked is the appropriate attire for gardening, no?

Playtime!

I can sit all by myself!!

[please remember I'm posting these weeks later...we are fully into almost-crawling/scooting mode already - at the time, this was a big deal!]

H-O-T in Aberdeen!

It's actually pretty hard to recall how HOT it was at the end of July as I sit by an open window with an awesome breeze coming through my living room. But...it was HOT just a few weeks ago. And we chose to attend our first Aberdeen Ironbirds game on one of those scorching weekends as part of a UD alumni picnic event. It wasn't unbearable, but it was a long sweaty night with the two kids! We hung long enough to enjoy the fireworks show, which Kate liked in theory, then hated as they began, and came full circle to talking about it nonstop for days afterwards!

A day at the mall...

To beat the heat back in July, we spent a fun Saturday morning at the mall, where they had a family fun day. They had face painting, a magician, arts and crafts, singing and dancing...pretty much EVERYTHING Kate loves! This face painting became something much more elaborate, and she also got some nice ink on her arm!

Kate was so excited she was finally selected as a volunteer for one of the juggling acts this guy was doing. She basically handed him this bowling pin while he was juggling on top of a unicycle, but it made her day...

And let's all take a moment to acknowledge the fact that Kate is HUGGING the Chick-Fil-A cow! This would not have happened even a few months ago, but now they're best buds!

Jack also enjoyed the day!

Jack's 6 months old!

The lil' man is half a year old, and boy is he moving right along on the growing-up scale. Seems to me he feels he's got some catchin' up to do with Big Sis! Here are the stats:

17 lbs 9 oz (54th %) / 26.5 inches (44th %)

• Sitting unsupported
• Rolling EVERYWHERE
• Rocking on hands and knees
• Sleeping through most nights (not without intervention, but... hooray!)
• Eating 3 "meals" a day
• Two bottom teeth
• Started daycare this week