4th Day of July

After all the activity of the two days leading up to the 4th, we spent the actual holiday relaxing around town. We had a great little walk on this trail just a couple of minutes from our house that we recently discovered, then got out Trafton's pool that he got from Uncle Jason for his birthday, grilled a yummy dinner, and watched the fireworks in the town park.

There is a half mile or so trail that runs along Fishing Creek here.

We were recently given this backpack from some family members who used it with their son (who is now 10). It worked very well and Trafton seemed to enjoy it.

Prior to getting the backpack we were still using the front Moby wrap, but Trafton was getting too heavy for that.

The trail ends here with private property.

I tried Trafton on, but I think I'll stick to having Daniel carry the little 25 pounder!

Pool time!

Trafton seemed to really enjoy this. Later on in the day, after naptime, we were playing in the yard and Trafton crawled over to the pool and got in again.

Trafton didn't enjoy getting his head wet, but clearly his daddy thought it was amusing :)

Playing with the fun toys on the umbrella handle

Time to dry off and take a nap

Fireworks time!

Patriotic music from the bandshell at the Town Park - it was packed and we weren't interested in getting too deep in the crowd.

Trafton enjoyed the fireworks once he got used to how loud they were. The first couple startled him.

Cookout at Tara and Kenny's

On Sunday, Tara and Kenny had a 4th of July cookout at their farmhouse in Newville, PA. It was a bit of a road trip (I have never been in that area before), but definitely worth it to hang with good friends.

My 'American Baby' wearing Jessica's hat

Joe with a slightly cranky Trafton
(since the festival was the day before, Trafton was a bit worn out by this point)

Watching ladder golf with Jessica

Tom and Daniel were partnered with Katie and me.

Trafton with Tom and Reid

Katie, me, Tara, Jessica

Tom, Kenny's friend, Kenny, Matthew, Daniel and Trafton, Joe

Out Among the Stars Bluegrass Festival (OATS)

This year we took our annual trip out to Benton for the OATS Festival. We have been going for several years now and it is always a terrific time! Last year Trafton was only three weeks old, so this year was a little less stressful. :) We met up with Rich, Jim, and the Beishline family.

The classic OATS stage

We arrived around noon and there wasn't much shade. We hung out over here near the treeline until our spot closer to the stage was covered with shade a few hours later.

Blanket time with Ryan and Amelia

Part of our spot - Jim, Rich, Amelia, Daniel and Trafton

We kept thinking that Trafton would want to take a nap during the day, but he didn't. Instead he was incredibly happy just crawling all over the place and checking everyone and everything out. He also relaxed on our laps and danced a bunch by bopping up and down and clapping while sitting. He even crawled all the way up to the front of the stage during The Boxcars set and sat and smiled at the band.

This little girl that we met, Ella, was just so happy to play with Trafton. She kept telling her grandma who she was with that she wanted to keep playing with the baby.

Jim, Lorien, and Lana

Amelia going in for a hug

While I was getting into position for this picture, Trafton grabbed my beer and seemed to know exactly what to do with it. Fortunately it was empty.

The Hillbilly Gypsies, a festival favorite!

Watching the music

Dinner time - back to the parking lot

Rich and Jim's traveling dinner station

After dinner we moved our stuff over to the progressive bluegrass stage. This was a new thing that was added this year and started in the early evening. It was called the Roots and Branches Stage and featured bands that were a little less traditional.

There were three bands that played this stage on Saturday evening. We were most excited about Cabinet. They were playing last with a 9:45 set time.

Trafton enjoyed playing with Amelia.

Here we are just before I am about to try to get Trafton to fall asleep in his stroller before Cabinet starts playing.

Cabinet!

Trafton finally fell asleep after a long day of festival-ing.

Jessica's Party

Last weekend Jessica had a graduation party at her home in Duncannon, PA. She graduated with her doctorate degree. Daniel and I made it to the semi-finals in the ladder golf competition and Trafton had a great time playing in the grass.

Enjoying some lunch

Playing ladder golf while Trafton happily plays out the way of the flying balls

Keeping Tom company

Uncle Jason comes to visit

A couple of weeks ago, my brother, Jason, came to visit. We spent the evening at Knoebels Amusement Park and had a great time.

Jason getting ready to take Trafton on a car ride

Standing in line with Uncle Jason

Riding the car!

Trafton was definitely enjoying himself!

About to get nailed with a wall of water!

Morning playtime

Trip to the bagel shop

Trafton seemed pretty uninterested in his bagel stick on this day.

No More Milk

This past Saturday was Trafton's final sip of my milk. I wanted to wean once he turned a year old and I figured I would slowly back off and be done in late July. However, it went a lot quicker than I expected. He just lost interest, I cut back quicker, the supply diminished, etc. It was a touch sad, I suppose, because I really liked nursing him, but, it is also nice to drink caffeinated coffee, yummy summer beers, red wine, etc. In other words, I am happy to have my body back :)

Fox!

Today on my run through a wooded rail trail that I often take, I saw a fox! It was so exciting. The little guy came darting out of the woods about 20 feet in front of me, looked at me, and then ran ahead of me on the trail for about 10 seconds. I was afraid at first, but then I figured it was most likely afraid of me. I have never seen a fox before.