Back to the Motherland

It is so ridiculously hard for me to keep up with this! 

We made our second Colorado pilgrimage as a family of three for the 4th of July. The first one was last Christmas when Joey was just a little squirt. I'll admit, I was pretty nervous about the traveling, mostly since our high-maintenance little cutie refuses to nurse or sleep unless he's being bounced on a yoga ball. Not kidding: he hasn't done it since he was about 8 weeks old. You'd think that all that bouncing would tone my middle section...

Here we are with Justin and Shannon's family. Their kids are getting so big! I seriously can't believe how grown up Ben and Ella are. Karsten is faster and more capable than anyone with a 3 year-old brain should be. If he survives to adulthood, he's going to be a successful man; nothing can stop that kid. Ezra was staying with them for awhile while he healed up his 3 broken ribs. Ugh. (I mean ugh, the broken ribs, not ugh, Ezra. Love you!)

Here's James's sister Keri and her son Seth. Last time Seth and Joey got together Seth tried to pull off Joey's pinkie toe. I think they've patched things up nicely.

Joey loved playing with Grandma. He was very patient while she built him towers, and very thorough in knocking them down.

Here's our little fishy in a great big tub. The blue bit of rubber is his toothbrush. He hates having his teeth brushed (and bites really hard), but he loves brushing them himself.

We went to James's Uncle Dee and Aunt Marlene's house for the day on the 4th. It was fun to get together with everyone. James enjoyed waterskiing: his third love after me and Joey.  

Here they are ready to go for a dip in the lake. By dip, I mean only the feet. That was the end of Joey's first swimming experience. Next time we'll try for a warmer lake.

On July 2nd I my grandma passed away, so Joey and I ended up staying in Colorado for another week after James went home. My parents came and picked us up and we went down to Canon City.  It was really nice to go back for the first time in two years. 

The funeral wasn't very good, I'll be honest. The pastor did everything very generically and last minute. He kept calling her "young lady" (she died at 86) and went on off on quite a depressing sermon about how death is as final as a door closing, and if you don't shape up in this life, you have an eternity of fire and brimstone ahead of you. The family's only request was that he play "How Great Thou Art", her favorite hymn, and he didn't. No one was too tickled with him. It did make me grateful to  know about the Plan of Salvation!

After the funeral, it was wonderful, though. Pretty much the whole family turned out for the occasion. It was much more like a happy family reunion than a funeral. Grandpa seemed genuinely happy to see everyone and handled the whole thing so well. I'm sure Grandma loved it too.

During our stay in Canon City we went to see Theresa and Matt's awesome new house. They've fixed it up with a spiffy new coat of paint and it looks great! They topped it off with a garden and a swing with a really long rope. Matt pushed me on there so high that I seriously thought I was going to crash into the roof. It was exhilarating, and a little nauseating. Melissa and her kids came over  for lunch too. It was so fun to see them again--I wish they lived closer!

Susan Levy let us stay at her house for the whole week. Bless her! Melissa lent us her Pack 'n' Play so Joey could have a place to sleep, and it all worked out pretty well. Here's the little guy enjoying his first cracker, and his daily watermelon dose. If you look closely, you can see why the floor had to be mopped when he finished.

Joey had been very frustrated in learning to crawl for about two months at this point. Susan gave him a couple of chiropractic adjustments in his heels, hips and tailbone the day before we left. The next day he didn't get a chance to practice, since we were driving all day (another long story). The day after that, he was crawling all over the house. He's so much happier now that he can move around on his own. Mama's happier too, because he doesn't insist on being held all the time--he prefers to pull cords out of the wall, empty trash cans, and lick the floor. 

The August update is coming...