Family Vacations

The rain didn't stop us from enjoying Ogunquit beach with G Ma and Grandpa George- we just put on our rain boots and jumped in the puddles!

cocktails on the beach

steamrollers and bulldozers- beach necessities

Breakfast

Marginal Way Walk- Ethan walked (or ran) the whole thing

Acadia National Park- Jordon Pond hike

checking out the trail with Grandma and Papa

Popovers- yum!

We took pictures of Ethan in this same spot last year- he crawled around a bit but was mostly stationary.  This year, I was lucky if I didn't get blurred pictures as he was moving so fast!

Maddie and Ethan check out the menu before dinner

Hiking with Mama

Ethan was a great little hiker- he loved climbing over this rocky trail and only needed a little help from Mama

Celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary- Sand Beach, Acadia

Ethan has been lucky enough to spend lots of time with his extended family.  We met G Ma and Grandpa George at Ogunquit Beach for a few days and had a great time.  The weather was a bit rainy but we made the most of it.  Ethan had a great time splashing in puddles and basking in the attention he received from his grandparents.  We got in some beach time and Ethan was happy to drive his trucks all over the beach- one last beach day before summer officially ended.

Last weekend we all (my siblings and my parents) headed to Bar Harbor, ME to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Once again, Ethan loved being around his family.  He amazed us with his stamina on various hikes throughout the weekend.  He's definitely a great little hiker!

We've noticed that Ethan is enjoying music more than ever this week.  Whenever we get into the car, he immediately requests music, and sometimes even has particular song requests.  He loves bopping along to the music and is beginning to sing along with the music.  It's so adorable to listen to him picking out certain words and phrases to sing along to. 

Ethan has also begun to show signs that his imagination is in full swing.  If he is in a room by himself or goes near a dark room he comes running to us and saying, "The moo cow is coming to get me"  While it breaks my heart that he is experiencing fear, it's kind of amusing that of all things to be afraid of, he finds a cow to be scary!!  I think I have Stew Leonard's to thank for this one!

Fortunately, he is using his imagination in other ways as well.  We've overheard him playing trains and making the trains talk to each other.  He uses sound effects and everything.  Sometimes when I'm sitting on the couch with my knees up, he'll take a car and drive it over my knees and tell me he's driving it over the mountains.  It's amazing to see how a child's play transitions from being so concrete to so imaginative. 

And lastly, a bit of exciting news-

We're due April 3, 2012!

Ethan Turns Two!!

Future Picasso?

Checking out the rocks on Peaks' Island

The boys go out for a boat ride at Ken and Melissa's lake house

Birthday cake #1

Birthday cakes #2, and #3 (my mom made these!!)

Hanging out in a tree at his 2nd birthday party!

Juice box break

Ethan couldn't have been more pleased to have everyone singing Happy Birthday to him!

Yum!

Ethan got a "few" presents!

Mia and Ethan sharing some "coffee"

We spent the day at the zoo on Ethan's birthday

He got a real kick out of being a bee

And he loved checking out the prairie dogs

Birthday party #2!

Soaking up some attention!

Digging in!

Birthday party # 3 with our Maine family

The birthday boy

Dada and Ethan check out a plane at the airshow

Watching the Blue Angels

Papa and Ethan check out a digger at the Thomas Point Bluegrass Festival

As you can probably tell from the pictures, we've kept quite busy!  August flew by with lots of playing, family visits, and of course the big birthday bash to celebrate our little man turning 2!  Our celebrating began with a party thrown by Grandpa George and G Ma.  We were overwhelmed with all of our friends and family who traveled to celebrate with us.  Ethan had a blast!  My most favorite part of the day was watching the look on Ethan's face as everyone sang, "Happy Birthday" to him.  He had a look of wonder, amazement, and pure joy as he looked around the room and realized that everyone was singing to him!  It was incredibly adorable! 

Pete and I took Ethan to the Bronx Zoo on his birthday and he had a wonderful time running around, checking out the animals, and feeding the goats and sheep in the petting zoo.  We had celebration number 2 on the evening of Ethan's birthday with a pizza dinner with our parents, Grandma D, and Uncle Adam, and of course more cake.  Finally, we had party number 3 in Maine with our northern family.  Ethan is a really lucky guy to have so many generous and loving friends and family members to help him celebrate.

Watching Ethan turn two has been bittersweet.  He is such an amazingly happy, funny, curious, entertaining, and loveable guy.  And while I look forward to continuing to watch him grow and change, I can't help looking back at pictures from over the years and just wishing that we could slow things down, just a bit.  I love the person he is at two- he loves all things with wheels, and can even identify the various working vehicles- bulldozer, bucket truck, cement mixer, front loader, etc.  He loves puzzles, and Bob the Builder.  He loves to snuggle his mama, and will often ask for hugs and kisses.  When we are in different rooms, he will yell to us that he. "misses us."  He loves to run and play outside, though he is a cautious little one and will never choose the biggest slide to go down, or the highest tower to climb.  He loves to dance, especially when he can enlist dance partners.  He makes us laugh constantly when he talks in his funny, low, growly voice.  He is a joy and has brought more happiness into our lives than we could have ever imagined possible. 

Enjoy the pictures (I know there are so many!!) and now that things are calming down a bit, we'll get back to regularly blogging.