BEACH WEEKEND

It's the end of summer and it's about time for a beach trip with Jack. To make it more fun though, we decided to do a full weekend getaway with friends in the ROCKAWAYS! (Oh, and it also happened to be my birthday on Friday.) We already knew we had the best friends, but this weekend only reaffirmed this. The Rockaways gave us lots of entertainment...it's not quite the beach town most people vacation at, but we made the most of it. We may not vacay in the Rockaways again, but I do think we've started a summer tradition with friends.

Day 1...waking up with friends.

One of the highlights of the location had to be the walk up coffee stand (Jack's coffee) and taco stand.

Jack's first day at the beach!!

We were fine with the waves and the water, until it touched us...just a little too cold.

Aunt Katie lives up to her name...Aunt Awesome:) Truly, one of my favorite pictures.

Picnic dinner on the beach? Yes, please.

Happy Birthday to Jenny!

Day 2 waking up with friends!

True story...there were sharks in the water. So, of course we had to go look.

Jack loved the beach so much!

THE END

Jack goes to the beach

YEAH!! The day I have been waiting for all summer...Jack's first trip to the beach! In truth, I can't believe it's the end of summer and this is our first trip to the beach (I will always be a Florida girl at heart...especially in the summer). The thought of taking a baby to the beach without a car but with far more stuff than I've ever had at the beach before intimidated me a bit this year, so we waited until now. Next summer will be a different story....we will be bronzed, sandy, and beautiful all summer long. To make Jack's first trip extra special, we decided to make a weekend of it and invite a lot of friends to come too. Well, we didn't make a whole weekend just for Jack, but for the moment of this post we'll just pretend. So, here it is...Jack's first time experience the ocean.

Jack's new ride

Finally Jack has a new ride in the city...the fabulous BOB! I love it so much already. Since he is in it everyday (literally everyday), I need something that makes my life easier and more maneuverable. I can now go up and down subway stairs BY MYSELF (before I could only go down alone and couldn't come up without help). I can push his stroller with one hand or one finger if I feel like showing off. And I can now start a "mommy and son" exercise routine. I am not a runner and do not think I'll ever really love running, but I'm planning to learn to tolerate it and make it part of my life as a mom. I haven't started said exercise routine yet (maybe next week), but it doesn't make the BOB any less special. The only slightly difficult adjustment is that Jack now faces away from me. For the last 5 1/2 months I've been able to see his face and what he's doing at all times since he was either in a stroller that faced me or attached to me in the ergo carrier. The first time I put him in it, I felt a little like Maggie Gyllehyaal's character in the movie "Away We Go" (if you haven't seen it...rent it now) when she opposes strollers because you are "pushing your child away from you". I'm sure I'll get over this quickly. For now, I just peek around the front every 2 blocks to see what Jack's up to:)

dumpster pools

Where do you go swimming in NYC? Dumpster pools of course. While this might sound a little crazy, I think it was actually a genius idea. 3 dumpsters of varying size= the perfect summer weekend stay-cation activity in the city. It was part of NYC Summer Street Festivals this summer. They blocked off some 7 miles of the city on the weekend and 2 blocks of that were set up for dumpster swimming. You got a wristband and were assigned a time to go swimming. Then, when it was your turn, you got 20 minute to lounge, 20 minutes to swim, then another 20 minutes to hang out. It was completely organized and really fun! It was just Jack and I who enjoyed this stay-cation (along with Leighanne, Shonnie, Tiffany, Dan, and Hudson). While Jack didn't enjoy the really cold water inside the pools, he did love lounging around the pool:) I'm already looking forward to next summers dumpster pool day.

the circle is complete

The Dover's are some of Jack's nearest and dearest extended family and Jack has now officially met them all. Emily is NYC (along with her boyfriend Stuart) and we took in as much time as we could with them. And, as Emily predicted, Jack loved her the best.

sleeping baby

There is something so sweet about watching a baby sleep. Jack moves a lot while he's sleeping, so sometimes it's just fun to walk in and see what position he's in. He generally rolls over the minute you lay him down in his crib and sleeps on his stomach. And many times he'll work his way into a corner before he falls asleep (although I don't think he's really looking for the corner, it just stops him from moving is all). And I promise he does wear clothes to bed, but these 2 nap times found him in just his diaper...

See what I mean...he found/got stopped by the corner.

The feet are my favorite.

Happy Birthday Alan...the video

As a little surprise to Alan on his 30th birthday, some friends and family sent in video clips wishing him a happy 30th. We played it at the party (on the big screen). My good friend Adam pieced it together for me. He said his goal was to make Alan cry...if you watch it until the end (it's kind of long I know), you can probably guess where Alan teared up:) Since I can't figure out how to load it online, you can watch it by clicking on this link from Adam.

http://gallery.me.com/adamscheuermann#100288

first sign of defiance?

It happened. Jack showed his first sign of defiance/opinionatedness. It was bath time he was happily kicking the water and chewing on one of his foam letter bath toys. It was time to get out, I unplugged the drain, got his towel ready, took the toy from his hands and he threw a fit! I gave him the toy back thinking surely he's not really mad about me taking this from him...he immediately stopped crying. I laughed out loud, mostly in amazement that we could actually be approaching this stage already. He's had opinions about food before, but that seems to make more sense since it's related to hunger. This was pure defiance. I still think it's pretty funny, especially because he looked so content with himself when I handed him back the toy. We'll see how long I laugh I suppose.

Doesn't he look quite happy with himself?

Just keep swinging!

Alan, Jack and I ventured into a new part of the city today...Astoria Park. It's a pretty park right on the East River looking back into Manhattan. Yes, we have parks in Manhattan that are much closer, but we were location scouting for a photo shoot I have tomorrow. The park was great, but the best part of today was that it was Jack's first time swinging and he loved it! Playtime with Jack is becoming ever more interactive, which is a lot of fun. Today got me really excited for the fall when he'll be a little bigger and ready to really enjoy the playgrounds in the city.

(Please notice his adorable shoes.)

the loudest day

Jack is finding his voice in a new way everyday. Today was his loudest day for sure. I realize we are only at the beginning of his "loudness", so we still think it's pretty adorable:)

Just some dinner conversation. Be sure to notice how the camera can calm him down when he starts to get mad.

It's the squeals at the beginning of this video that are new as of today.

Jack has a new friend!

This week at Clue Camp brought a group from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. Lots of connections there put Jack and me in touch with some new friends Cristy and Abi. Not to leave out the husbands/fathers here, but it really was more of a "mom set up" and I loved it! I loved getting to know Cristy this week and Jack loved having a friend his very own size. Abi is 11 days older than Jack and his perfect match at this stage. Besides being a lot of fun to hang out with, I really loved seeing a baby on a mission trip. If Alan and I had had children during our time of youth ministry, I always thought we would venture out on a trip or two with them. Seeing Cristy do it so cooly made me think we could have done it too:)

Jack and Abi's first playdate of the week.

Holding hands, hitting each other, eating each others hands...this is how we play.

You can completely stereotype these two by their voices right now...Jack definitely sounds more like a boy and Abi definitely like a girl.

They're so cute, I'm just going to show you all of the videos we took this week...

Last one, I promise.

Sherouse Band?

ok...just kidding about the band, but this is pretty cute...(this is early morning, so everyone's in pj's and Jack's aren't even buttoned...sorry about that)

the Prince's are in NY

Sarah and Casey are great friends from college and are here in NY this weekend! They are missionaries in South Africa and back in the states for just a couple months this summer. We know their time is limited in the states, so we were so excited when they decided to come to NY for the weekend! They got in town Saturday (in time for Alan's party) and spent their Sunday with us too. It was great catching up (as much as you can do in just 2 days) and great spending time with their beautiful little girl Kieren too. Check out their blog to find out more about their ministry in SA (http://www.caseyandsarahafrica.blogspot.com/)

Jack and Kieren's first kiss...will it be their last? Who knows.