July!

July started off with a great big bang... literally! (I know- a super lame pun). We loved having the 4th of July off to hang out with friends and family. We started that morning at Eagle Island to enjoy the sunshine and HOT weather. Thatcher was less than enthused about the water this trip- he decided sleeping on mommy was a much better thing to do.  We spent most of the morning and early afternoon lounging in the sun and sand and enjoyed a fun picnic lunch.

Later that afternoon we met up with a family friend who was hosting their neighborhood block party (we were pretty jealous of their super fun neighbors!). We had a great pot luck dinner/BBQ with them.

To watch fireworks we found the best spot in the valley... Belly Acres (aka- Grandpa and Grandma Campbell lawn). We were a little worried about the noise level for Thatcher, so we decided to enjoy the fireworks all over the valley from the lawn. Grandpa's yard is south of the freeway almost to Nampa so we had a great view of all the big shows from downtown, Hawks stadium, the Meridian Speedway, and all the "private parties" as Grandpa called them. Thatcher fell asleep shortly after we settled into our lawn chair and hardly stirred when I buckled him into his car seat to head home.

(Avocado face- isn't he cute?)

(The "boys" playing on the floor before bed)

I saw these cool "mesh feeders" when one of my cousins was visiting a few summers ago and made a mental note to pick up a few one day.

Thatcher is getting rather interested in "regular" foods these days and pretty good with getting things into his mouth so I thought we would give it a try! I was cutting up some watermelon and he thought he needed to try some... At first he wasn't too sure about it (as evident from the picture), I think it was still pretty cold from being in the back of the fridge.

After a few more tries he decided it was yummy and loved that he could feed himself, as long as mommy kept putting more in :) He was a huge sticky mess when he was done, nothing that a bath wouldn't fix.

We made yet another trip out to Eagle Island with some friends from Aaron's work, we were trying to beat the heat. I am not a fan of the 100* weather we have been hosting lately. Our poor air conditioner at home can't even keep up most days!

This trip we borrowed one of our friend's little inflatable rafts to float around in. Thatcher thought it was pretty fun and liked looking around at all the people on the water. We tried to keep cool by dunking our hats in the water and splashing water into the raft.

(Lounging in the sun tent)

We have also made a few trips to a friends pool! (Thanks for inviting us Mark and Romy) The first time Thatcher wasn't too sure about the water, but he is starting to be more comfortable the more times we go. He was loving floating around, splashing, and kicking his little feet. Some times he would just lounge back with his little feet pulled up and crossed at the ankles (the camera wasn't waterproof enough to capture this but take my word for it- it was pretty darn cute).

(He was more interested in the dog instead of smiling for the camera)

(This is one of my favorite summer pictures! Isn't he so cute?)

Well, that's our summer so far... we still have a few adventures in the works and are looking forward to cooler temperatures, hopefully soon! Thatcher is growing so fast, it is amazing to look back at pictures from February, or even June and see how much he has changed and is quickly turning into such a sweet little boy! We are so blessed to be his parents.