James Family Get-Together

On Monday we left the river and traveled to Williamsburg for a James family reunion at the Gold Course Grill at the Golden Horseshoe, a restaurant situated on the 18th hole of the Golden Horseshoe Golf Course in Colonial Williamsburg. There Jack met with a bunch of family for the first time and Clara got to reaquaint herself with her cousins. The kids had a great time feeding the ducks and giant fish (apparently carp) that occupied the pond behind the restaurant. And after the ducks were fed, the kids enjoyed some ice cream!

Feeding the ducks


Clara with Su-su


Our branch of the James tree


Clara investigating the groundhog hole


Clara and cousin Hannah enjoying the ice cream


The gang


Next up: A Few Days in SOBO

Jack is 3 months old!

A brief respite from our vacationing to celebrate Jack's 3 month birthday...

Big boy!


If this doesn't look like Uncle Jack's baby pictures, I don't know what does...


Three month tummy time comparison shots:




Proud big sister

A Weekend at the River

On Friday Nay-nay and I packed up the car and headed north to the Zimmerman's river house Whitestone, VA. The car ride was a bit hellacious as it was longer than the already 3 1/2 hour trip due to torrential downpours from South Hill, VA on and the fact that during the 4+ hours, Clara did not nap at all. We managed to arrive unscathed and ready for fun.

Clara had a great time playing in the water both on the river beach and in the baby pool. Pop-pop was quintessential to both of these activities.

Clara and Pop-pop


Armed with the hose to fill up the baby pool


Clara riding down the Pop-pop slide


Clara "spinning on her back"


Jack enjoyed chilling on the porch and lots of cuddle time.

Jack "hanging loose"


Bathtime!


On Saturday while Pop-pop and Clara played outside, Nay-nay and I took Jack into town. I wanted to check out the doll shop. Sure enough Nay-nay found an adorable doll and a few other accessories for Clara's Christmas present. They also had newly arrived dolls on special for $10. Nay-nay felt like she'd bought enough already and talked me into buying one. We picked out a blue doll so Clara's dolls would have a baby brother. ;) Anyway Clara was so excited to have this new doll from Mommy that she called it her very, special, special, very favorite doll much to the bane of Nay-nay! Then came the task of naming him... we suggested some old favorites : Kevin, John, Baylis, Aubrey, Joe, Jack but none would suit Clara. Then Pop-pop recalled Clara's favorite movie, "Sound of Music", and proposed Captain Von Trapp's first name, Georg (pronounced Gay-org). That was the one for Clara.

Jack and Baby Georg


Something else Clara has gleamed from Sound of Music is Maria's wedding dress and the vague notion of getting married. Here she is dressed up like Maria...


Clara reading and counting


Hard to believe that 2 years ago over July 4th weekend it was Clara who was at the river 2 1/2 months old. We wanted to recreate this hat picture of Clara with Jack to compare them.

Next up: James Family Get-Together

A Week in Raleigh with Nay-nay

Over the past week and a half the blog has been quiet because we have been off adventuring. Now that we're back at home I'll try to recap all the fun things that have been going on while we were away...

First up: A Week in Raleigh with Nay-nay!

Pop-pop had to go back to work on Monday (7/13), but he graciously agreed to part with Nay-nay for the week so she could visit with us and cook lots of tasty meals. ;) Here are some snap shots from the week.

Monday we went shopping. One of the purchases was a new set of sheets for Clara. Here she is lounging in a pile of linens while I changed the sheets of her big-girl bed.


Tuesday we went to the library, and Clara wore her v. cute sailboat dress.


Jack had a fun time playing Pat-a-Cake with Nay-nay.


This image cracked me up, so I had to take a photo.


Wednesday we went to the pool. Our very own Lady Godiva ran off before I could get her changed into her swimsuit and decided to trike-ride through the living room.


Playing in the baby pool


Swimming with Mommy in the big pool! She'll be ready for swim team in no time.


Jack is getting stronger by the day thanks to some boppy tummy time.


Thursday we went into Chapel Hill and then out to lunch at the Med Deli. I think the dining experience scared Nay-nay off from dining out with the kids. It was a bit of a trainwreck. Meanwhile back at home and in a better mood, Jack speaks his mind.


After all our fun in Raleigh, Friday we packed our bags to head to the River!

Next up: A Weekend at the River

Bath time with Pop-pop

Clara had a special treat Sunday night. Bath time with Pop-pop! Check out all the cool hair styles.

High pigtails,


Low pigtails,


and one big spike!

Last but not least Clara getting dried off with Pop-pop's patented "Zima-zima" method. This goes way back to the early 80's and has stood the test of time. If you can make it out, Clara is asking about Michael Jackson's laugh at the end of the song "Thriller".

Sunday with Nay-nay and Pop-pop

Nay-nay and Pop-pop arrived late last night to spend all day Sunday with us. They came bearing many gifts from Hawaii one of which, a super-cute suit for Clara from her Uncle Jack. The weather cooperated, and we spent most of the day outside.



Pop-pop cooled off in the pool with Clara after working hard in the yard all morning.


After not seeing Jack for a whole month, they couldn't believe how big he'd gotten.






Clara took time out from the pool to read to Jack,


break into Nay-nay's make-up kit,


and enjoy some Michael Jackson on the patio.


There's always time to snuggle.

The Girl Loves Her Shoes

Clara loves shoes... her own or anyone elses. Last week we got a package from Clara and Jack's great uncle Mike and great aunt Linda that couldn't have been more perfect.

Here is Clara showing off the new "cowberry" boots (aka rain boots that she thinks are cowboy boots).


And here are the super-cute ballet shoes that are her "princess shoes".


Here are some instances over the last month of Clara walking, at least a few steps, in other peoples shoes.

Daddy's tennis shoes.


Mommy's "cowberry" boots


She also likes to maximize by wearing 2 differents shoes. Here we are with one New Balance and one Dansko.


And after raiding Nay-nay's closet she found one dressy shoe and one slightly more casual.

And finally as I was typing this post I remembered that we had this video of her trying out Aubrey's shoes this past Christmas and decided it had to be included. I can't believe how much she's grown up in the past 6 months!

Like I said, the girl loves her shoes. This could spell trouble in the upcoming years. :)

Lazy Sunday

We did not, however, wake up in the late afternoon.

After a fabulous Fourth of July, complete with a neighborhood parade and cookout at our house, from which I have zero pictures, we enjoyed a morning of tennis while Jack napped and Clara played around the house.

This afternoon we were invited to Eva's birthday party. It was a princess themed affair so Clara put on her cutest dress, fit for a princess, and Jack went as a frog.

Clara was out of sorts at the party because she hadn't napped despite the fact that she needed to. This was further confirmed when she fell asleep at the birthday party! She woke up in time to snag a piece of cake before we headed home.

As you can see once we got home, she had plenty of energy.

A Trip to Kierstin's

Friday we went over to Alison and Craig's house for some fun backyard playtime. The girls had a blast playing in the pool and with the water table. We ordered BBQ from a Durham institution, Dillard's and had a grand feast for lunch. The girls after playing all morning gobbled up the mac n' cheese. Clara really seemed to bond with Craig as you can see from the first video. The second shows the all-out splash fest.

Return of the Einstein

She loved it then and she loves it now...

Clara, June 2007

We decided to break out the Baby Einstein gym for Jack, thinking it was about time he had some stimulation (heh). Little did we know that Clara would rediscover her love for it. Not a minute goes by that Jack is on it before Clara crawls under there to join him. Who knew it was that easy to entertain two kids? :)

Jack has it made in some ways because when the music stops, Clara reaches up with her foot and kicks the star to restart it. However he does have to worry about being squashed which I think leads to some of his discontent at times. ;)