Memorial Day Pontooning

For Memorial Day James' parents rented a boat at Lake Gaston.  His aunt Yetive and cousin Josh were down too and the whole family enjoyed the day on the water.  Charlie was pretty afraid at first and did not like having to wear a life jacket but after a few hours he warmed up to it and enjoyed "playing" with his cousin Isabella and a little pool they had on board.  I didn't bring my camera but we got a few cell phone pics:

James with Charlie and Isabella

Grandpa!

River Fun

It was hot, hot, hot this weekend so we headed out to the river (aka Marley-heaven) for the first time this year.  Charlie didn't seem to remember it from last summer so was a little shy about leaving my side or getting too close to the water.  I predict that in two visits he'll be right in the mix with Marley and James as they play.

James in the James.  Stick throw #1 or 5,000.

River dog

A little unsure of the whole thing

Drawing with a stick on the shore seemed a little safer

Thanks Grandpa!

Grandpa G. came this week to stay with Charlie the week following his surgery.  They had a good time fixing things around the house and playing with the doggie.  I unfortunately didn't take many pictures.  On Tuesday though we went to Maymont to check out the farm animals again where I snapped a few.  This time Charlie didn't cling on to me for dear life and even touched a goat!  He had fun running around and we all had a good time enjoying the beautiful day.

We are so lucky to have Grandpa!  Thanks!

Feeding a goat his water

There's Grandpa!

A big sheep

Checking out a school class that was visiting too

Cutie pie

A Good Sport

Today Charlie had his little surgery.  It went pretty well... he was not very happy to wake up feeling funny from the anestesia but all in all it was pretty quick and he was back home acting normal (though a little loopy) by lunchtime.  Here he is with his ankle bracelet and IV bandage watching some TV... a special treat for being such a good sport.

Williamsburg Weekend

James signed up for his second half marathon this weekend in Williamsburg.  Even though it is just an hour from the house, we decided to make a weekend of it since there are lots of things to do there!  We headed over when we woke up on Saturday and first hit up Colonial Williamsburg.  It is a great place to visit if you are patient and want to learn something... with an almost 2-year-old, you get about 25% of the experience that is intended.  But we've been before, knew that going in and were mainly persuaded to go by the free tickets that came with the race :).  Most interesting to Charlie were the drum and flute corps marching around and all the grass to run in.  It was a beautiful day so we had a great time!  Of course I took a bunch of pictures...

The original capital and House of Burgesses

The obligatory Williamsburg shot... we figured Charlie wouldn't like it so James was a good sport

He walked around like this for a good 5 minutes...

...That is better

Race day Sunday was a good time too!  James had his new personal best in the half marathon and his friend Jamie placed third in his age group!  Charlie and I had fun rooting them on at the finish in William and Mary's football stadium...

Waiting on Daddy

Here he comes!

Are they jealous of Jamie's award or his cool fake tatoo?

Amazingly after running 13.1 miles James was up for checking out Busch Gardens.  We had two free tickets from work so we thought it would be fun to see if there was anything for an almost-2-year-old there.  And there was!

The tamest of the kids rides.  He told us in no uncertain terms that he did not want to ride the others. So instead we found...

A train!

A merry-go-round!

(but the horses were too scary)

A boat!

A bridge above the boat!

The skylift

Then conked out hard 2 minutes into the way home.

A visit from Granny and Grandpa!

This weekend, James' parents came up to stay with Charlie while we went to friend's Cathy and George's wedding down in South Boston, VA.  Charlie had a big time and we were all sad Sunday to see them leave :(

Hopefully they'll come for another visit soon!

A Fun Little Saturday

After the big haircut, we had a busy day...

We saw the Picasso exhibit at the VMFA by our house (it was cool):

Then built and played on Charlie's new sand and water table (an early happy birthday present from Grandpa and Grandma Grover):

Another haircut shot

Oh my, it makes a mess

Then we cheered on some horses for the Kentucky Derby:

Holding his bet... Mucho Macho Man

Another haircut shot

Go Mucho Macho Man!!!

And ended the day routing for the Squirrels:

Flirting with the girls next to us