Fourth of July, part 2

It just wouldn't be fair for me to not share these with you.

Leah is in training. She's still got a ways to go.

Fourth of July!

Now that we live in Texas, we've just made our Independence Days oh-so-All-American! We started off the day by watching our neighbors lead the Liverpool parade on their horses. In the evening, we went over to the Fourth on Main celebration at the park in Danbury... it was pretty much the most quintessential, all-American, small town Fourth of July celebration. Our church, combined with a few others, put together some money and lots of planning to throw this shindig for the town, complete with eating contests, volleyball, a cake walk, a live bluegrass band and some fireworks to boot. Jared played a lot of volleyball, Leah wandered all over the place, and I won the watermelon eating contest! It was an awesome day, and was made even better by the breeze blowing through.... it made the ridiculous heat a wee bit more bearable.


Our next door neighbors, Camberon and Samantha, leading the parade.


This parade is great, Mom! (She's cheering her friends on from the sidelines.)


OK, now it's just really hot.

Right before the watermelon contest began. Notice how clean we all are! (Also note that Melissa and I are practically the only adults partaking.... if you can even call us that, that is.)

Now that Leah's become more skilled at walking, she just can't get enough of it. And so, she wandered ALL over the park, picking up everything she could find. Like this little flag, for example.

Fourth of July is the best!

A rare pause in what seemed to be her constant flurry of activity.

Despite all the excitement, Micah is nonplussed.

These feet were made for walking

Leah's walking! Did I forget to tell you that? Oops, my bad.

Just a few days before Leah hit the 10 month mark, she took her first two steps on her own. She upped it to 7 steps the next day, and has been working those wobbly legs ever since! (That's right-- I've been withholding this update for two whole weeks!) It's just been within the past week that she opts to walk almost equally as often as she opts to crawl. In fact, working on those walking skills is what kept her so entertained during our airport delay this past weekend. She even does a pretty good job of crouching down from the walk and popping back up again (I use the phrase "popping back up" pretty loosely).

Naturally I've included some videos. The first doesn't show too much of her walking skills, but more of her "talking" skills. I like to call this video, "Look outside, Ducky!"

This next video is cute because she's carrying around her little blankie. I particularly like how she slings it over her shoulder while she's walking. What would we do without that nasty blankie that so desperately needs to be washed (but that I can't sneak away long enough to wash it)? And yes, she's a thumb sucker to boot.

Leah's started doing some other pretty silly things too, which I suppose you could classify as advancements (some of them are a bit of a stretch)

• Clicking her tongue at you when you click to her (We're thinking she might have some African tribal descent and that it might just be easier to teach her the click language... thoughts? suggestions?)
• Pointing. At EVERYTHING.
• Crawling and walking with toys in her mouth, instead of her hands (she spends too much time with our dogs)
• Going from sitting to standing without using anything to pull herself up
• Going from standing to crouching to standing again without being TOO weeble-wobbly
• Putting inflection in her voice and her noises so that it actually sounds like she is telling you something, sometimes very emphatically and sometimes in a whisper
• My mom swears that Leah points at their dog and says dog. I admit, she says something that sounds similar, but I'm skeptical as to whether the noise has actual meaning behind it, especially when (as stated in bullet number 2) she points at EVERYTHING
• Pulling things off of shelves and tossing them aside (shoes, dvds, books, etc... we're not very fond of this one)
• And, our very favorite, being able to play with her books and toys on her own for even longer periods of time (about half hour or so)

Vacation, part 3

Unfortunately, there were very few good weather days on our trip. It rained almost every day, and the temperature barely went over 70. So when the rain stopped, we seized the opportunity to get outdoors and visit the neighboring state park. And this Boulder Field was one of the cool things we saw there...

The obligatory let-me-take-our-picture-portrait. My arms aren't long enough to get an appropriate shot.


You can get a better view of the Boulder Field in this one.


Leah just didn't know what to do with all those clothes on.

The trail we decided to hike happened to go to a swingset, so naturally we had to go for a little swing-skie. And naturally, she's way too small for it.

A few days later we went back to the park. It was much warmer, and we took a much longer hike (about 5 miles). Leah was awesome, and rode shoulders and hips the entire time without complaint. She's such an outdoorsy little girl already.

Here we are at the scenic overlook to Lehigh Gorge. Quite pretty.

A family photo. :)

Sadly, the trip ended on an unfortunate note for us-- many hours of airport delays that got us home at 2 am. Despite our travel troubles, we're looking forward to visiting everyone again! (Especially if it means getting away from this awful heat!)

Cousins!

Evan and Leah enjoying meal time together... notice how clean Evan's bib and tray are in comparison to sloppy Leah's.

Evan, do you want to see my ducky? It's my most favorite toy of all.

Kate and Leah took a bath together, so obviously we had to take some toddler/baby bath photos. I don't think Kate quite understood why Leah kept encroaching upon and splashing in her personal tub space. If you look close enough, you can see Kate has her arm around Leah's waist. So cute.

Look at these two little hams!

Vacation's all I ever wanted...

Last week, our family joined up with the rest of the Judy clan and rented a house for a week in the Poconos. We flew up a day early so we could hang out with my brother, my sister-in-law, and my sister and her boyfriend.

Leah in her pjs, hanging with Aunt Amanda.

A pre-bed time snuggle with Uncle Stef.

The thing I love about this picture is that Leah and Jess are making the same face and doing essentially the same thing.

I know the time with everyone is always short, but I am glad Leah gets to see her relatives as often as she has, considering how far away we live. Good to see you guys!

Foooooood

Check out some of our bountiful harvest from our garden. These are some of our tomatoes... And here are some banana peppers, bell peppers, jalapenos, zucchini, and cucumbers...

We've also got string beans and some eggplants coming up. It's been a successful year!

And below, you can see Leah enjoying some of Daddy's homegrown tomatoes, among other miscellaneous foods. Meal times can get a bit messy.

Leah and Rowdy cleaning up any scraps she might have dropped... such a cute little pair.