Summer Vacation 2012 - Linville, NC

We went back to the mountains of North Carolina at the end of June.  It was a wonderful trip, and the weather was beautiful!  Scotty, Ashley and Mary Linnley were there the first few days and it was fun to see the kiddos play together.  Welles arrived a couple of days after we did, and we went on several hikes and to the Tweetsie Railroad Amusement Park where there were rides just for Daniel and a petting zoo. Below are a slew of pictures!  I still have more to upload from my camera - these are all from the iPhone.

Resting after a hike to Linville Falls

Sitting with Pop

Dinner at the Italian Restaurant

Twilight walk in Pajamas

Rocking and Rolling!

Gigi and Mary Linnley

Daniel is interested in taking care of ML's baby

He decides to feed her

He told me he was taking the baby to the doctor...then he got distracted by something on TV.

A hike to the Linn Cove Viaduct

Hiding from GiGi

at the Tweetsie Railroad Amusement Park

On the train - watching the cowboys and indians

at the pre-school amusement park - flying!

driving the "blue race car"

Ferris Wheel

Feeding a baby goat

Feeding a miniature horse



Stopping for a photo op on the way to beacon heights



Hiking



View from Grandfather Mountain




At the top of Grandfather Mountain






Walking the Mile-high swinging bridge - Grandfather Mountain





teeter-totter at the playground





The End!

Funny things Daniel says

Daniel has been saying and doing some funny things lately.

A few nights ago, we took Welles' car to a mechanic. I was following him, and Daniel was in the car with me. We had to pull into a parking lot because the car started smoking. All the way there, Daniel had said, "Daddy's car is broken. We take it to the car doctor." When Daniel saw the smoke coming from under the hood, he said, "mommy, it's schbroken." I said, "you mean smoking?" he said, "No! Schbroken!" SCHBROKEN- a mixture of smoking and broken.

On the way home from getting ice cream the other night, Welles said, "how are you doing, Buddy?" Daniel said, "I am not Buddy, I am a punk!"

Yesterday morning I asked Daniel if his throat hurt.  He said, "No, my throat feels happy!"

Daniel loves to be tickled.  We were all watching TV in our room, and daniel would crawl to Welles and say, Dada - tickle me!" Then after laughing hysterically while Welles tickled him, he would crawl over to me and say, "Mama!  Rescue-er me!"

Giving his horse a kiss

The other day we went shopping at the Summit.  I found a cute baseball cap with a 4 leaf clover on it and "Lucky Dude" and the number 9.  I gave it to Daniel when we left the store, and he proceeded to put the hat on backwards, throw his arms back and run down the sidewalk towards the Movie Theatre.  Oh- I wish I had a picture of that!!!  Welles looked at me and turned his hat backwards and went running after Daniel - mimicking Daniel's run.  It was hilarious - people were driving by and laughing as were people walking by. 

Also, lately, out of the blue - Daniel will sing Christmas Carols - Jingle Bells in particular.  I have no idea where he is hearing them; could they be a memory from 6 months ago? 

Every time we pass a church he says, "Mommy!  It's a castle!  I go in that castle?"

More stories to come!

What's Happening?

Summer is in full swing, and we are enjoying the warm weather!  Daniel is talking so much more and cracks us up with the things that he says.  Just this morning, he piled all of his matchbox cars into his rolling car case and walked up and down the hall exclaiming, "I fly away!"

We love to go to the Homewood Pool.  This year, Daniel has no fear and jumped off the side within 5 minutes of arriving the first day.  He loves to be in the water, under water, and tries to swim to the side.  The first thing that we taught him was how to climb out of the pool - both using the ladder and the side of the pool.  He does really well blowing bubbles, kicking his feet, moving his arms, and we are so proud of his swimming abilities.  I used to teach swim lessons, and can remember how hard it was to get a group of 2-3 year olds to put their faces in the water.  We do not have that problem with Daniel!

Daniel's participated in a trike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Welles bought Daniel a lawnmower, and Daniel pulls it out every time that Welles mows our yard.  He insists on following his Daddy around and says, "I'm helpin, Mama!"

A few weeks ago, he got a scrape on his leg and it bled a little.  He ran up to Welles and said, "Dad!  I have red juice on my leg!  Clean it up!"

Daniel loves to sing and talk about Jesus.  He sings Jesus loves me.  The other day, I was singing "Jesus loves the little children..." to him.  I sang the song 3 times and then moved on to another song.  Then I asked him what he wanted to sing next.  He said, "ummmm..... Presents!"  I thought about it and didn't know a song we had sung recently about presents.  Then he gave me a clue - "you know....red, yellow, black, white, Mama!?"  He wanted me to sing, "Jesus loves the little children!"

more to come!

It's been a long time!

Sorry it's been a while.  We've been busy lately, and I haven't had a chance to post.  Daniel had surgery about 6 weeks ago to remove his tonsils, adenoids, place new ear tubes, and he also had a bronchoscopy to determine the cause of recurrent croup.  Although the recovery was not easy and at time extremely frustrating and exhausting, Daniel is finally "feeling betta" according to his own words!  He ended up with a sinus infection two days after surgery, the croup 2 weeks after surgery and then had a bad cold for two weeks following the croup.  Poor buddy!

Below are pictures from the last several weeks.

Checking Vitals before surgery

Daniel insisted that Welles wear this red sweater vest the morning of his surgery!

After surgery - snuggling with Daddy

Hanging out at Homewood Park

To the Zoo with the UAB CDC

Twins!

More pictures and stories to come!