Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Kissing Cousins

Bethany and Jonas have been kissing cousins for some time now, but today was the first time Bethany was dishing out the hugs!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Montezuma

Kara and her family headed back to CT after we left the campground. The rest of us headed an hour west to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Despite not having binoculars, and being there at the totally wrong time of year, we really enjoyed the park. The "wildlife", however, seemed to only consist of butterflies and tons of geese. We'll have to go back when there's actually marsh in these marshes!

Roberts Getaway

Some background for this post: I hung out with the same 5 girls all through college. Four years later, we decided to have a reunion-type weekend. So, off on another camping adventure we went! We had hardly any rain, which was wonderful, and Bethany had fun with her friends.
She was a little uneasy around the "big" kids, so I didn't get a picture of her with Jaycelyn, and this is the only one I got of her with Brenin. Much different than last year when she didn't care at all.However, she loved Layla! Probably because she's not too unlike Jonas. Bethany helped us pack up Sunday morning for the ride home.

15 Month Checkup

Bethany is still weighing in under 20 lbs. She's 19lbs 13oz, and 31.5 inches. Tall and thin as usual. Besides the doctor appointment, she had a few other mile markers last week. She can WALK down the stairs - it was driving her crazy not doing it the way grown-ups do. She can also climb on and off the couch pretty easily. My baby's turning into a monkey!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Girls Day

Our weekend adventures continued with a girls day out. And Jonas... We went to Beaver Island State Park for a picnic lunch, swimming, and beach time.Then we headed up to Niagara Falls to walk around! Fun!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Wading

We've had a wonderful family day today! We were outside all day exploring the Niagara region. Bethany had lots of fun in the wading pool at Niagara-on-the-Lake. My, she's growing up!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Attention Family!

Check out this site! Matthew has created a blog where all family can post updates! What a cool idea. Try it out!

Brown Butt

Bethany was so tired after our long day of decorating yesterday. She was very thankful when Grandma came to pick her up so she didn't have to stay at church all evening. But, good news! It's all done!P.S. Notice her brown bottom in the second picture? Yeah, she sat down in brown paint before I could stop her...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

A Wild Ride...

Bethany has been such a trooper "helping" me decorate for Vacation Bible School all week. There's so much stuff to play with...

Monday, July 16, 2007

Summerfest


Bethany is trying to save her cousin...he was put to bed in the shower! For some reason that door just won't open!


Bethany had a blast hanging out with Aunt Sarah while Mommy worked in the food tent!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Oh, Look Who is Here

Ok, so we're driving back home from Mentor yesterday, and at some point I remember that my parents are sleeping over at Camp Pioneer, in Angola. So, because it would shorten our trip a bit, I called my mom inquiring about her room, etc. Turns out, Sarah and Jonas were already there sleeping over. Of course, that sealed it. We got off the Angola exit and spent the night at Pioneer. What a little party we had going. Bethany and Jonas had to sleep in the bathroom! But it worked out perfectly because we were already there for Summerfest this afternoon. Bethany went on a non-hay ride, and got to play with me in the bounce house. She didn't really understand the bounce house, but that's ok.

Mentor!

So much has happened this weekend, so I'll give you the short version and the long version. Save the long one for when you have time to do some reading!


Short version: Friday night we met Grandpa and Grandma Lafferty in Mentor, Ohio. We got a lot of good use out of the hotel, introduced G&G to letterboxing, and stopped by Mentor's Festival on the Lagoons, where Bethany went on her 2nd boat ride. (The first being the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls.)Long version: Friday night we met Grandpa and Grandma Lafferty in Mentor, Ohio for our first meet-in-the-middle of the season. OK, second if you count the Indians game. Staying in the hotel was a completely different experience with Bethany than last year. She was all over the place, and had Grandpa taking her all over the hotel exploring. She even took advantage of the outdoor pool and did some splashing around! (It was a tad too cold for actual swimming.)We took Grandma and Grandpa shunpiking around Mentor looking for letterboxes. The first was in Wildwood Park, which had a beautiful Manor House that was designed by Pres. Garfield's son. People were setting up for a wedding while we were there! The second box was in Veteran's Park, which has the largest inland pond in the country.


After letterboxing, we went to see the Festival on the Lagoons. We got some real kettle korn, and Bethany was very stealthy and got a few kernels. We also had Captain Max come and show us some cool magic tricks. And then the coolest thing of all! We were able to get a free sailboat ride on the Jambalaya. Bethany was not too fond of having to wear the life jacket, but loved the water.
Before heading home, we explored a nearby beach (where another wedding was being set up!), had a yummy dinner at Smokey Bones, and ice cream for dessert! Bethany snagged a tiny bit of ice cream on her spoon... what a lucky girl.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Summer Concert #2

Yesterday was a busy day! Bethany got to see lots of kids while I played The Woman at the Well for Trinity's VBS. Then we went clear across town to see Daddy on his lunch break. We visited Amherst Nature View Park for the first time and really enjoyed it, and it's minutes away from Matt's work, which is perfect!
In the evening, we headed over to the park to see the Doerfel Family, a bluegrass band. They have 10 kids and are soon to be living out of an RV! And you thought I was crazy wanting a bunch of kids!

Monday, July 9, 2007

Pinwheels

Grandma S. bought Bethany and Jonas these fun pinwheels. They entertained Bethany all afternoon!We're up to 4 found letterboxes! Bethany enjoys riding on her daddy's shoulders while we look for them. Lots of fun!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Creekside Adventures

The babies had fun at the park Friday. At one point, I decided it would be a lot of fun if we could get down by the water. So, in order to make it down the narrow, rather steep hill, I turned the double stroller backwards and eased the babies down. Bethany loved watching the other kids play in the creek, and did a tad bit of wading herself. Then it was time to head back to the car. Twenty minutes later, we were finally back up that narrow, rather steep hill. Not trying that again any time soon.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Story Time

It's been a bit since I put up a video, so check out Bethany reading "Hello Bee, Hello Me." Good stuff.




Piano Duet

It's not unusual for Bethany to give up on her piano to be closer to her daddy, as you can see!

Fiddlesticks and Letterboxing

We continued our 4th celebration Tuesday night with a walk to the park to see Fiddlesticks. Bethany entertained everyone behind us with her dancing and clapping! She loves music. When she started getting too antsy we officially began a new hobby by finding our first letterbox. I have always loved treasure hunts, and that's basically the whole concept of letterboxing. Fun!The holiday was spent with friends in Rochester. Although I was so excited about our new hobby that we planned another box hunt. We were completely unsuccessful in finding it, but we had fun plowing through overgrown trails and trying to avoid the rain. Wow, that really doesn't sound fun, but it was. After the failed hunt, we dried ourselves for an afternoon with Andy, Josh and the gang, and we were home just before the fog set in.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Funny Faces

Bethany and I took some more funny pictures for you to enjoy!

Squatter

I don't know what is up with this new squatting position, but Bethany loves it. She does it a lot now, especially when she's leaning in to look at Jonas. I actually think she's doing just that in this picture - Jonas is on the floor in front of her.We tried out the sprinkler from G&G Lafferty today. It completely bombed. This is Bethany's I'm-about-to-cry face. So... we resorted to just spraying her feet with the hose, which she found very amusing.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Premature 4th

We decided to go see West Seneca's fireworks last night, too. We got there early to get a good spot, which turned out to be a little too good since we got firework debris all over ourselves. It was worth it, and Bethany thought the show was amazing. Despite being super tired, she had a great time!

Parade!

Grandma Miriam is up for the weekend, and we spent the whole day outside with her yesterday. West Seneca had a parade, so we packed a picnic lunch and camped out along the street to watch it go by. Bethany loved all the marching bands!P.S. I can't believe how long I'm going without a taggie picture!