Things are going great here in Pennsylvania! We are loving the experiences we are having, the places we are going, and the people we continue to meet. Paul is doing well in school; he's just finished up his first main course- anatomy! He told me this week "I NEVER want to see another Anatomy note/textbook/flashcard ever again!" If you know Paul at all, you know that this is something I never thought I would hear! He's been studying so much, and spending a lot of time at school and in the cadaver lab, so I guess I can see how he'd be so sick of it!
Graham is growing by leaps and bounds, especially his vocabulary and shoe size (size 7!!) He loves trucks, trucks, and mostly trucks. "cuck!" is what he calls them, and can hear the UPS man from down the street.
I am doing great, and I love being home. There are some times that I wonder how I ever managed to work full time and do all of the things I wanted to do; and then I realize that I didn't! I am finding that I enjoy cooking/baking, I have a lot more time for crafting, and I can spend so much more quality time with Graham, not just on my lunch breaks anymore!
Some highlights of the month:
Our very first visit to Hershey Park! A sweet neighbor had two tickets that they weren't going to use before the park closed for the fall, so we were lucky enough to go! We've debated buying season passes, but I think we might hold off until Graham's a little bit older. Word on the street is that during the summertime there's a great water park inside that's great for little kids, and that it's usually not so crowded (we went on the last open day of normal operation, so it was PACKED!)
This was Graham's first ride, and it was deceivingly fast! He kept this same look throughout the whole ride. He didn't know what to think about the other rides either. I don't think he said three words the whole time we were there... just sat and soaked it all in.
Here we are on the carousel- he liked this ride the best. And me post-horrible hair cut; still having a hard time finding someone out here that can cut short hair. Yikes.
All in all, the park is incredibly clean. It's more like a Lagoon, but with fewer W.T. people (the tickets are super expensive, so I think that deters a lot of people.)
We have been "rained in" a couple of days, and that does not go over well with this boy. Thanks to Larissa and Davis, we had non-stop bubbles; enough to keep us busy for a good half hour!
Down the road is a cool farmer's market called Strites Orchard. They are open year round and have an indoor store that Graham loves; how could he not? There's even a working beehive inside! They have a pick your own apple program where you fill an entire half bushel bag for $11. We fit about 26 lbs of apple inside, which makes apple less than $.50 per lb. In the stores, the cheapest they get is about $2.50 per lb. Way cheaper, and the apples are amazing!
The best thing about the orchard is that Graham can run around without being told no. And the unlimited snacks don't hurt either!
These pictures serve two purposes; one, to show his great Phillies hat. I found it at Ross here, and it's just what Paul had been looking for! Paul has a matching one and is so happy that Graham will wear it! Two- to show the gross bruise on his face. Suddenly Graham has become super accident prone. As I write, he has a bruise above his lip from smacking his face into the toilet (gross, I know) and a cut in his head from face planting in the street. The bruise came from falling against the coffee table. He wasn't this clumsy when he first started walking, but now that his primary way of moving is running, look out. I see lots of stitches on our horizon.
A separate head smacking incident.
PLEASE let me go outside Mom!!!
One of Graham's favorite foods lately is cold cereal "cee-cee". He loves the idea of eating with silverware,
but it rarely lasts more than a few bites.
He loves his bike, and will put on his helmet by himself (backwards usually) He loves to ride it and to push it, but gets really annoyed when it goes into the grass or dirt.
New words this month:
Animal sounds; cow, horse, sheep, duck, kitty, puppy, monster, truck, monkey
"Cheet"- treat
"Ummm"
"Thank you"
"Please"
"cuck"- Truck
'App-ol"- apple
"Cracka"- cracker
Papa
Nana
"boo!"
Ummm, I need to be better at writing down what he says when he says it, because now I can't remember:)
Other fun things he does:
Kick a ball
Puts shoes on (tries to)
Drive his cars on the cement while we walk
YELLS "Cuck!" when he hears one coming down the street
Bangs on the door to go outside
Pull my pant leg and turns me around to either pick him up or go outside
Talks on the phone/ipod
Opens books and reads the out loud with funny tones
"Bounces" on the bed
Closes his eyes to play peek-a-boo & hide and seek
Loves to be chased down the hall
Still infatuated with softies. The more the better!
Started loving bathtime again
Eats rocks (?) (which is weird because he's never been one to put weird things in his mouth.)
SUPER picky eater all of a sudden. It totally shows, right?
umm, 30 lbs.
Wears 2t, size 6/7 shoes
Blows kisses
Pats our backs when we hold him
Love to be tickled and wrestled
LOVES the Truck book and the "Boom Boom Bap" book from Aunt Stacey (Sissy he calls her:)
Really well behaved in restaurants (not so much church)
Starting to enjoy playing with other kids. When other people would come over he would take a favorite toy and play in a corner. Can we say anti-social? His favorite friends right now are Kennedy and Luke, and our primary boys, especially Carter.
Eating a rotten apple.
Eating rocks.
Eating more rocks.
This is pretty much what we did during the tour...
This series of pictures makes me laugh... The sign above the chickens says that even though it feels weird to have them eat out of your hand, they can't hurt you. My dad tried to get Graham to feed them, and once they pecked his hand, he was NOT happy!
Also at Kitchen Kettle Village
