Happy Birthday, Lucy Lu!

Our baby girl turned 3 on Tuesday. We celebrated indoors this Saturday since Irene put a damper on the pool party. Miss Lucy Lu requested a Hello Kitty cake, so I obliged. Unfortunately, it broke in half upon transfer from the pan to the plate, but nothing a little icing glue couldn’t fix. And my newly-3-yr-old baby girl didn’t know the difference.

As per our standard Party-at-the-Paul-house itinerary, we served Q Shack and lots o’ alcohol. And as my father-in-law figured out early on, the birthday celebration was just an excuse to have a ton of our friends over for a party. Guess what we're doing on Labor Day?!

Bella and Lucy had a belly full of cake and were lazily digesting.

There's always room for mac-n-cheese. Even after birthday cake and 4 glasses of milk.

The kids mistook Lucy’s b-day present opening as Christmas morning. Everyone was opening Lucy’s gifts. Initially, there was enough distraction that this wasn’t a problem, but once Lucy realized those were her gifts, she made sure everyone else knew it too!

 Since Grandad and Grandma Holly arrrived in a giant RV, Lucy was overjoyed to receive her very own, albeit a minature version, of the original Coach.

 And what's better than a Dora dress up costume? A fairy dress up costume over a Dora costume. So much crinoline! Lucy was ready to party or dance or fly away. (Fairy wings not shown, but on.)

Awe-some!

Grandad and Grandma Holly arrived Friday in style. They were the hit of the street. They have a 39 foot Coach (or RV for us non-traveling folk) and it is rocking!

 Everyone watched the parking maneuvers and the opening of the sides. You would have thought the circus arrived in town with so much excitement.

While all the neighbors enjoyed a beer inside the cabin of the Cool Coach, only Cameron spent the night 'camping out'. He didn't mind that his sisters gave up at 8:30p. It was totally awesome!

 Would you believe the only time this street has seen an RV in 6 years has two RV's arriving within 5 minutes of ea other? Thankfully, Jeff Gordon was a master driver and was able to maneuver his 5th-wheel around the cul-du-sac w/o having to move the Mother Load.

 We're so happy Grandad and Grandma are here to visit for at least a month! Perhaps, one day, the Cool Coach will reside permenantly in Colvard Farms...

Another day, another barth

CamO calls barfing barthing. Seriously. It’s so hard not to laugh.

One day, birthday cake from Mad Hatter is fine. The next, it’s not. Same with cupcakes. There’s barthing and then benadryl. Strawberry PopTarts are fine. S’Mores PopTarts are not. More barthing. Is it ever going to get easier for Jackie?

And the earthquake! The kids and Deane sure felt it. Dave and I were in the car and felt nothing. Let’s hope Hurricane Irene is equally as mild.

First day of school pictures! It was fun. Damn, this feels good!
 

#7!

Soon she'll be toothless! Have her say that 5 times- Jackie has a hard time saying s's with so many missing teeth.

 This one she pulled out this morning and she's saving it. This one is not for The Tooth Fairy. Only one more super wiggly tooth left. For now. For this kid.

BIG SHOW

While browsing Capital City BMX website last night guess who?

He's not big but there's a BIG SHOW inside. GO CAM-O!

Love,

Daddy

#6 Baby!

That reminds me...The Tooth Fairy is coming tonight!

 It's just CRAZY!

I know. Her eyes give me the willies too.

Oh, right. My blog.

So we’ve been on the road lately. Here’s a few pics from the most recent travels to the Henning family reunion at the Wye River in MD. Wow, we've spent the summer traveling.

Patrick took the whole clan out on his boat for a tour along the river. They celebrated the 50^th anniv of his boat last month and got engaged at the party. We’re looking forward to a wedding in NC at The Outer Banks next fall!

Deane was in her element on the water, reminding us all that she’s truly a kid at heart.

 

Patrick was brave enough to let CamO Captain the ship.

It was great to finally meet Rion's girlfriend, Jenny. She made a quick appearance before returning to her starrring role as Elphaba on the Broadway production of Wicked. Yes, Broadway baby!

 There's always a reason, and a willing audience for face painting.

Before and After

Upon seeing the new TV, Cameron said "Wow! This is so cool! It's HUGE!" Jackie said "We don't need a new TV, Dad. The other one works just fine."

And yes, Cameron is watching Brady Bunch.

Baby, it's hot outside!

I like the heat, but WOWZAS!

So the kids all have indoor swim lessons for the next 2 weeks. Since Lucy has a paralyzing fear of the water, I didn't have high expectations for her. Bird and CamO could learn to breathe correctly, dive, etc. Day 1 was pretty much as expected: Lucy screamed until she gave herself a bloody nose and didn't get close to the water. C and J did fine. Day 2, I plopped Lu down next to the kids in her class and walked away. She did great! Of course she screamed bloody murder when the teacher put her in the water, but she wasn't the loudest screamer, thankfully. CamO wouldn't get in the water, WTH?! And Jackie wouldn't get out of the water. She LOVES swimming class. Dare I say we found her sport? (If she's still swimming in 2 wks, the odds are good.) I don't have a clue what is up w CMan, but that boy was adamant about NOT swimming in swimming lessons. Of course, as soon as class was over, he hopped right in and swam until it was time to leave. Hard-earned money spent wisely!

Photography Session

Here's the rest of the photos from our photography session.

Drummond Island, MI

We visited my parents in MI this past week. And since 11 ½ hrs of driving wasn’t enough, we thought we’d hop in the car for another 5 ½ and make it an even 17 hrs driving North with 3 kids.

We drove to Drummond Island, which is in the Upper Penninsula near Canada. Or, for the Michigan natives, we went Up North. Growing up, my family would go to DI every summer for extended periods of time. My sister and her boys have been hiding out on DI for the past 6 weeks while their house is on the market. The only thing worse than their 11 hr trip, is trying to show a house with 4 napping boys. So we gathered our ‘cold weather clothes’ and joined them for fun.


It was kid paradise. My parents have their cabin rigged up with every outdoor toy a kid could dream of. In Cameron’s words it was “totally, totally, totally awesome!”


 Tubing with Aunt Stephie was Jackie's favorite part of the trip! She kept signalling to Grandpa to speed up while Steph wanted Grandpa to slow down. I think they both laughed the whole time they were tubing. Steph even convinced Jackie to try to water ski!


A typical day on DI: oatmeal prepared by Grandpa, riding up and down the hill in the tractor and/or golf cart, berry picking along the road (w or w/o multiple bee stings), swimming in Lake Huron and playing in the sand for a few hrs, lunch, naps, jet skiing, tubing, swinging, riding 4-wheelers, dinner, frog & turtle hunting, campfire and s’mores, fall into bed. Somedays, we added in fishing.

 As many of you know, Lucy is not a fan of the water. Grandpa and Grandma were able to coax her in after a few days and she did great!

  Lucy was initially petrified of the boat and water and did an amazing job overcoming her fear!

 Lucy and Cameron loved fishing! Cameron caught a little fish, but it got away before he could reel it in.

 Jackie's version of fishing is very similiar to mine!

 Jackie thought it was the coolest thing to be able to drive Gma and Gpa's golf cart. She wanted to give everyone rides.

 When it was time to travel back to NC, the kids were so wiped out they napped a huge part of the drive. And I was thankful! It was a great time visiting my family and wonderful to see all the cousins having so much fun together!