5 Years!

Last Friday Daniel and I celebrated our five year anniversary!  We took a walk at the Hoffman Recreation Area, relaxed around the house, and grilled up a delicious dinner of chicken satays with peanut sauce.  We were looking for a swimming hole at the rec area since the trail runs along Fishing Creek, but weren't able to find a good access point to the creek, so we just ended up on a nice walk.  We also planned to go out to dinner a few days later to celebrate, but on the day we made our reservations and asked Karen to watch Trafton, Trafton woke up with a fever that just intensified as the day wore on.  By midday, he was up to 102.9 and just miserable!  So, we stayed in.

"Aren't we going down to the water?"

Too tired to make the walk back out

Listening to one of the gifts that Daniel gave me - the new Steep Canyon Rangers album!

Enjoying the bluegrass music with Momma

Creating a masterpiece

Trafton really likes the green chalk, but sometimes will go for the purple.  He prefers to color the same spot everytime we go on the patio, but sometimes he smashes anthills and colors over them, too.

Delicious dinner!

38 Weeks

I saw my favorite midwife, Heather, for my 38 week appointment on Tuesday.  She said she thought that Baby Owl was about 6 pounds, 6 ounces and that she would be surprised if she was much over 7 pounds at the time of delivery.  I, of course, was delighted by this news, since Trafton was 8 pounds, 11 ounces (and they were estimating that he might be a ten-pounder!).  Heather also measured my belly and said that I continued to measure small, like a woman who was about 36 weeks instead of 38 weeks.  She said that this was not a problem, though.  My weight gain is very normal, about 25 pounds at this point.  I continue to feel great except for the occasional heartburn and jabs that Baby Owl likes to give my bladder.

Summer Solstice

The three of us hit up Fishing Creek on the Summer Solstice last Wednesday.  It was soooo hot that it felt great!  I got Trafton a life jacket swimmy thing since I wanted to try to take him further in the water this time and I know there are some deep parts as well as some stronger currents.  He enjoyed himself very much, although he got cold after a while and just wanted to play with one of his all-time favorite things - rocks, of course!

Ready to go!

He got right in!

a little deeper . . .

and over his head!

Giggling while getting tossed

Swimming on a 90+ degree day while 8 and a half months pregnant was wonderful!

Trafton found out that he could not only throw rocks in the water from here, which was great fun, but also dig down and get into some stinky creek mud.  This occupied him for quite some time after he was done swimming.  You can tell by his tongue that he is really concentrating!

After he would dig, he would show me that his hands were dirty.



Then  I would tell him to go wash them off, which he would do at the water's edge.



What a nice way to spend the solstice!

June Garden

Our garden is blossoming in mid-June!  We finally got a good layer of mulch down and all the plants are in that are going in at this point.  We have harvested a bunch of lettuce and herbs so far and everything else is thriving.  We'll stick some more broccoli plants and lettuce plants in later in the season once we start eating more of the things that are ready for harvest.

Father's Day

We started out Daniel's third Father's Day with a drive home back to Bloomsburg from Maryland in the later part of the morning.  Then we had a relaxing day around the house.

Bringing his daddy a present

Since his second birthday, Trafton has been more interested in presents and opening them.

Smelling the flowers

Not too interested in having his picture taken with Daddy, but since Daddy is sitting down, it must mean it's time to  . . .

WRESTLE!

Inspecting the landscaping

Still not interested in pictures, but our lillies have come in very nice this year :)

So tech savvy . . . Daniel found a new recipe that he wanted to try and pulled it up on the iPad for us to follow.

Arugula-topped strip steak with shaved fresh parmesean and grilled potatoes - what a yummy Father's Day meal!

Joe and Nicole Get Married!

Last weekend, my friend Joe got married to his beautiful bride, Nicole, in one of the prettiest weddings I have ever attended.  The wedding took place at the Union Mills Homestead in Westminster, Maryland, which is approximately an hour from where I grew up. 

Joe and I met at the beginning of the summer of 1993, when I had just finished eighth grade and he had just finished tenth grade.  We became friends quickly and spent the next several years hanging out.  Even though we haven't seen each other much in the time since I have lived in Bloomsburg, we have remained in touch periodically. 

The venue was charming, rustic, and very natural.  Joe and Nicole did a lot of work themselves, so the whole wedding had a very personal feel, rather than more of a cookie-cutter feel.  The place was so large and gorgeous that we walked around after dinner for a while just taking pictures of ourselves.

It started with an outdoor ceremony at 4:00, then moved to an outdoor cocktail hour, then continued with dinner in an open air barn.  The weather was perfect and the breeze coming through the barn was wonderful.  After dinner, there were lawn games and dancing into the night. 

We stayed in a Best Western about six miles away and brought Trafton to the hotel with us.  My parents met us at the hotel and stayed with Trafton while we attended the wedding.  He was great for them and, of course, loved all the undivided attention!  They went for walks, took a swim in the pool, and had dinner together. 

When we got back to the hotel, Trafton was excited and completely uninterested in going to sleep.  There were two double beds, and we thought that we could sleep in one and Trafton could sleep in the other.  Not a chance!  We had to turn off all the lights, lay down in one bed with him in between us and pretty much hold him down until he calmed down enough - he was doing this scared sort of cry - to fall asleep.  After about an hour, Trafton fell asleep on top of me (pretty uncomfortable at eight and half months pregnant!), so I slipped out and went to sleep in the other bed and let him and Daniel sleep together.  In the morning when we woke up, Trafton picked up his head, saw me, and said "Mama," then jumped out of bed, came into my bed, and started snuggling me.  Sooooo cute!




Bridge to the ceremony spot with a handpainted sign



The girls all had different dresses in the same color.

Joe's sister, Susan, and her daughter carrying a sign that says, "Here comes the bride."





The beautiful bride, Nicole!

They got married right in front of a pond that was just filled with lilypads and frogs.  So peaceful!

Lovely ladies

Handsome gentlemen - I love these tan suits with the blue accents! 
The three guys in the middle were also close high school friends of mine, Matt, Adam, and Ian.

Sand ceremony - both Nicole and Joe poured symbolic sand into a keepsake picture frame, representative of their intertwining lives.

Mr. and Mrs. Ostrowski!!

What a ride!

At our dinner table in the barn

Sweethearts!

Joe's cousin and best man, Ryan

First dance

A much better first dance picture that I stole from the photographer.

Outside dancing lawn - Nicole and her father

Joe and his mother, Margaret

The outside of the barn where dinner was served and the bar under the tent

More dancing and lawn games

Cake - they were nice to each other :)

Another picture I stole from the photographer - how great is this place?!

In front of the frog pond

There were so many frogs!  It was really cool!

The barn decor was magnificent!

Babysitters - Grandpop and Grandmom

Trafton's first hotel experience!