Tom's 41st Birthday

OK, I know I titled this Tom's 41st birthday. I had to add these two pictures here as well. I'm rather amazed at this picture as it looks like Jon is missing part of his thumb. Not sure how that happened, but very interesting to me, so I added the picture. For those who do not know Jon, he is the boyfriend of my little sister Kaarin.

This is Charlie really getting into wading. He loved to pick up rocks and throw them. He also kept scooping water and sand all over himself. He did take one complete dunk, which I rescued him from. Although it was freezing, that dunk did not stop him from wanting to keep wading.
Tom enjoyed a lunch out with 16 other family and friends at the Onion on his birthday. At the end, they brought him that huge chocolate brownie dessert and then got him up to sing a coyote version of Happy Birthday. He is in between howls to the moon in this shot.
Kaarin and Jon had fun with Charlie at lunch!

July 4th Trip to Newman Lake

For the Fourth of July weekend, we headed to Newman Lake with our friends the Yodelings. Although we wish the weekend would have been filled with clear skies like the picture below, the weather didn't turn to this until the last morning we were there. By then, it was just our small family of three who enjoyed this morning view of the lake from the Butterfly cabin.

Charlie has turned a corner and now really only likes eating finger food. Here he is posing for me. We took several pictures. When I took the shot, he wanted to see the camera and then let out a laugh. It was really cute and I got a few pictures of him smiling and showing off his teeth.

Here is Nonnie and Boppa posing with their three grandchildren. Everyone sure loves each other and enjoyed playing together. Charlie had a great time sharing his friends Rose and Auggie with Madeline and Ella. Those four played and played. Hotel and princess seemed to be a favorite. Charlie joined in on the big kids play whenever he could.

Here is a shot of a lake tradition. This is Charlie's first year of being measured at the Butterfly. He took it very seriously as you can see below.

One morning the sun attempted to peak through for a while, so the kids all got their suits on and jumped in the water. Rose seems to be missing from this picture.

June Des Moines Beach

This past Monday Charlie and I took another trip to Des Moines Beach. We spent tons of time on the bridge getting to the beach. Charlie loved looking over the rail and talking to everyone who walked by, especially people with dogs. Our trip was cut short when he fell on the rocks and scraped his hands on the barnacles. Poor guy.

Later that afternoon, he was back to smiles when daddy came home.

More fun June times

We love to watch this adorable sleeping boy. He is so precious to his parents.

The Wagner family posing for the camera. Charlie actually is very close to a smile!

Nonnie came to play with Charlie for a few days. They had tons of fun together. Thank you Nonnie for coming to see us!

While Nonnie was here, we met some of the Swanson family for dinner. Charlie had great fun with his cousin Kyle. I didn't get my camera out in time to catch him in his Aunt Wendy's arms. Charlie had such fun with these guys and keeping Kyle busy picking up food and utensils off the floor.
Emmett came to play with us while his parents worked on getting moved. Charlie was a bit of an aggressive child with Emmett this day. We enjoyed having Emmett come visit on his own and look forward to many more play dates between Charlie and Emmett! Emmett is welcome any time his parents want to drop him off!

Watering Can & Spaghetti Factory

The Spaghetti Factory has a long history in my family. Growing up we went for birthday celebrations or other celebratory moments. Recently, Tom and I took Charlie for his first meal of noodles. As you can see, he had lots of fun pushing those gluten free noodles around and he even managed to eat quite a few.

Charlie now has his own watering can. Now, he and daddy get watering done together. Pretty cute.

Few More Buffalo Pictures

Charlie was a lucky boy as his aunt decided to throw him a birthday party on our last day in Buffalo. This is the cake after he put his fingers in the frosting. The part that is smeared is because I pushed his fingers in as he really did not want to touch the cake!

Rachael helped Charlie unwrap his gifts. This box had some dreaded items in it from the perspective of this Seahawks fan: Buffalo Bills sheets & pillow case, a Bills outfit and bumper sticker! However, his dad was really, really excited.
I can envision many hours of fun hitting that ball off the stand.

Here Charlie is posing with almost all of the Buffalo Wagners. Grandma and Grandpa didn't get in this shot.
The Wagner cousins strike a pose.

More Buffalo Fun

We made a fun trip to the Buffalo Zoo. Charlie had fun exploring and attempting to get in the cages with the animals. Tom and Andy remembered times in their youth at the Zoo, so it was really great for them to introduce this to Charlie.

The whole gang at the Zoo - Debbie, Andy, Charlie, Tom and Anna.

This was the viewing tank for the sea lions - Andy's favorite stop. Charlie sure loved to watch them swim by. I wasn't very skilled at getting the sea lion in the shot.

Charlie and grandpa spent quite a bit of time playing blocks. Charlie was especially talented at knocking over Grandpa's creations. Much laughing took place with this activity.

We spent one afternoon in Andy and Debbie's backyard where Charlie was able to spend some time in a little pool and then be fed applesauce by Debbie. As you can see in these pictures, he loved the applesauce!