Sam Talking

Sam has become quite the talker and works hard to pronounce things correctly. It's pretty cute. Except that he never, ever stops! :)

Let the Elk Take the Cup!

Fun in the Sun

August was all about swimming and soaking up as much fun as we could. The boys love nothing more than to be in the water, whether it's the lake, the pool, or the tiny baby pool in the front yard. We are holding onto the nice weather as long as we can and spending as much time outside as possible!

We took our first official family vacation last week. Thanks to some wonderful family friends, we were able to go to Lake Erie and stay in a little private community called Lakeside (near Sandusky). It's a gated Christian community reminiscent of days past, where most people walk or ride bikes. We stayed in an awesome old house. Within the community was everything we needed: shops, restaurants, putt-putt, shuffleboard, a sandy beach on the lake, a baby pool, a fab park with playset and huge sandbox, a huge pier for fishing... in other words, we were in heaven. All of this was literally a block away from our house, so we walked to everything.

We also went to a nearby drive-thru Safari where we fed animals such as a huge elk, deer, and even giraffes-all through our van windows and sunroof!! It was an incredible experience. We also took the ferry across to Kelley's Island and spend some time there. It was fun to see where Jeremy and my dad often come to fish and we had an impromptu swim on the beautiful beach there. (You'll see in the pics that we hadn't planned on swimming there-no swim suits, no towels, nothing. But it was deserted and gorgeous and we just couldn't resist the water. Ben swam in his undies, Sam in his outfit. It was an interesting ride home on the ferry with 2 wet, sandy kids, naked kids...) We can't wait to go back.

Jeremy had 10 days off, so after our 4 days there, we have enjoyed a wonderful 6-day "stay-cation" here at home. We've gone out on dad's boat on East Fork Lake, spent lots of time playing in the yard in this beautiful weather, flew kites and just enjoyed being together.

Sam had his yearly allergy testing done last week as well- results were the same as last year, mildly allergic to peanuts and very allergic to eggs. Dr. says he has a chance of outgrowing them both, especially the eggs. We are completely okay with where we are with that right now; we are used to accomodating his diet and just remain focused on keeping him safe. We believe his food allergies have actually been a blessing to us. We eat much healthier now and are more conscious of what we put in our mouths. It's also sweet to see Ben so protective over what Sam eats.

We got an update on the adoption as well. Our social worker believes we should get "matched" with a baby sometime late fall, definitely by the end of this year. We'll learn who she is, what she looks like, her background, etc. Typically babies come home 4-6 months after being matched. So according to our calculations, she's probably already born and should be home sometime between March to June next year. We are very excited and trying to wrap our brains around the fact that our daughter already exists on the other side of the world!

We have much to look forward to this fall. Ben is playing team soccer for the first time. Preschool starts for them both next week. Ben's excited to get back, and we are thinking Sam is going to love his first year, social butterfly that he is. Hope all is well with you, and check back soon!