Indiana Dunes 2010 Trip

We just got home from our second annual camping trip to Indiana Dunes. (Yes, Joshua was in utero last time.) We had fantastic weather: 85-95 and sunny, with a nice breeze. Joshua was pretty amazed at the sand and lake. He wasn't sure he liked them at first, but he realized how much fun the beach was pretty quickly. He embraced the sand as much as Mike & I, getting covered with sand from head to foot.

On the first day, the lake had much higher waves than we had seen there before, so the lifeguards were trying to keep people out of the water to avoid the undertow hazard. Every half hour or so, there was a funny announcement, "If you find yourself in the water, please exit immediately." How do people accidentally find themselves in the water? Whoops! I was watching Magnum PI, then I noticed that I was in the water...

Joshua ate some sand before learning to just play with it. He liked watching other children build sandcastles and knocking down the little sand towers Mike & I made for him. He thought sea gulls were fascinating, watching them fly by or trying to crawl to the ones on the ground. Joshua liked piling sand on our feet and standing over us as we lay on our beach towels. He's so rarely "taller" than us, he got such a big kick out of that. He loves to kiss noses or chins and touch people's teeth when they laugh.

On the first evening, we hiked the dreaded Mt. Thom to a secluded part of the beach. There, we sang and played guitar, then watched a spectacular sunset. It was a very romantic spot. Joshua liked trying to strum the guitar when he wasn't playing with the grass and driftwood he found in the sand.

Good Exercise

All the crawling and playing is such good exercise! Here is an adorable picture of Joshua taking an impromptu nap!

He looks so tall and grown up, doesn't he? He's wearing 12-month clothes now.

Creeping & Crawling

Joshua is so mobile now! He loves crawling around the house to explore and play with favorite "toys" in each room. In the kitchen, he likes to dump out Daisy's water dish and splash in the water. In the living room, he knows exactly the right spot to push on the DVD player to get that gratifying beep that occurs when it turns on. He likes to watch the bubbles form in the washing machine, too. He is so full of fun! He'll crawl to Mike & I if we call him, saying "Come along, Joshua!" It makes me smile every time.

Now, he's also pulling himself up beside chairs and window sills, too, not just the wall at the kiddie pool. He creeps along well, letting us know that walking without assistance isn't too far away. He will currently walk with you for a few step if you hold his hands.

Taking pictures of Joshua while he's playing with something has become a little more challenging. He loves getting his picture taken and rushes in for a close-up. So, I have lots of very close face shots and pictures of his bottom as he races toward me!

A Day at the County Fair

The County Fair started yesterday. Yeah! We live only two streets away from the County Fairgrounds, so Mike and I have been Fair aficionados for years. Farm Bureau makes the world's best chocolate milk shakes. I love petting the goats and playing the bowling ball game. You know, the one that you have to push the ball hard enough to go over the first hill and get stuck in the valley, but not so hard it goes over both hills and rebounds back? Yesterday, Mike and I had our first milkshakes of the season - so delicious! I won a stuffed banana with a cute face during my first annual bout with the bowling ball game. Joshua was adorable in his bonding to "BananaMan". All the way home, he talked to him and snuggled him, patting his back.

This morning, Joshua and I returned to the fairgrounds to watch the goat judging. It was really cute to watch the junior showmanship round. Those kids work really hard with their kids (so to speak) to have the animals cooperate during the designated walking routine. Plus, the children looked very spiffy in their white shirts and pants with brown braided belts. It must be the official uniform. I found one little girl with a pygmy goat that didn't mind taking a quick picture with Joshua, who was very interested in the goat.

Before heading home, I decided to take a few photos of Joshua in front of a patch of Black-Eyed Susans. They are very prolific in Indiana during this time of year. They are a nice, manly flower for little boy pictures, too, right? I am a photography junky.

Visit to the Swimming Pool

Last weekend at the pool, we enjoyed a couple of more firsts for Joshua. On Saturday, he crawled out of the pool and all around the water spout play area! Seeing the other children playing motivated him to take the adventure. He sure has grown-- the spouts used to make him nervous and now he crawls to them to play! Joshua showed his mettle, too. His first crawling technique dragged the tops of his feet, so they got a little bit scraped. The very next day (and each day since), he continued to crawl out of the pool to play with the water spouts. Now, though, he bends he feet and keeps his toes slightly elevated off the cement. His knees are covered with the swim trunks, so he is good to go, now. That's a good problem-solver.

On Sunday, Joshua creeped all the way down the pool wall to play with a little girl and her toys! It was so cute-- the little girl didn't know what to think of this very friendly little boy sharing her bucket, basket, rake, and bouyant sea horses. At home, he has done a little creeping along the couch, but this was the futhest he has gone. Walking without assistance sure isn't too far away...

New Boy's Bathroom

Over the course of the last week, We did a makeover of the peach and floral guest bathroom to remodel it for our little boy. So, what says little boy better than frogs?

Joshua was super curious about the painting process and he was quite watchful, from the safety of his walker. Mike was amazing: he removed the entire toilet so I could paint that whole wall without interruption. He also removed all the hardware and mirror from the walls and ceiling. In case that wasn't sweet enough, he also brought me a dozen deep red roses yesterday!

As you can see from the photos, we painted the walls aloe vera and the trim one shade darker. For decoration, I found a great dark copper sun with green streaks and several adorable frog pictures to place in a collage frame. The towels, bath mat, and soap dispenser were purchased as a set and inspired the paint color. By the way, the soap dispenser says, "Ribbit, ribbit" when you push on it to get soap. No detail left undone, huh?

Exploring

Joshua is doing a fantastic job crawling. He leaves his bedroom to come into the kitchen if I happen to be doing dishes or cooking. One of his favorite areas is Daisy's dog bed and dish area. This picture shows a glorious smile after Joshua played in Daisy's water dish...

While I painted his bathroom this week, Joshua walked up and down the hallway in his walker. Boy, is he fast.

I have a feeling he will be walking without the walker before too long.

Fourth of July Camping Trip

For the 4th, we went camping in one of our favorite places: Clifty Falls State Park. As usual, Joshua enjoyed watching Mike & I set up the campsite when we arrived. He's playing really well by himself, crawling to something interesting and sitting to play with whatever he finds appealing. In addition to his toys, magazines and water bottles are high on the list of interesting items.

The hiking was spectacular and we went after breakfast each day, so it wasn't as hot (the country is starting a heat wave this week). We were so fortunate with wildlife spotting this time! Not only did we see lots of bunnies, we saw deer several times -- including four fawns. We also went on a birding walk with a ranger and enjoyed learning which songs belonged to each songbird. Also, I saw my first Persimmon tree. Apparently, persimmon pudding is an old regional favorite.

Mike found a fantastic piece of gear this summer: a high chair that can mount to picnic tables! It's so nice that Joshua can feed himself a little and eat with Mike and I at a table. He's growing up so fast! We noticed that Joshua seems to always feed himself with his left hand, so we likely have a southpaw on our hands. You can see Mike and Joshua sharing an applesauce in this picture. His other new food this weekend was cantaloupe, which was a huge hit.

An unexpected treat after the fireworks was a musical performance. About three campsites away, a large group of Mexican people were having a sing-a-long around their campfire. Boy, did they harmonize well!