Anderson Cooper

A good friend of mine (Karalee) had a son last August (pictured on the right) his name is Cooper.

When Anderson was born I got a phone call from Karalee congratulating me on the birth and she commented how funny it was that our 2 boys make "Anderson Cooper".

This past weekend we got them together for the first time, so pictured below is -

Anderson Cooper

Wrapped

Before we became parents we heard a lot of those comments:
"Your life is about to change so much."
"You will understand when you are a parent."
etc, etc.

I know that everyone who does not have children passes some (maybe a lot) of judgement on those friends with kids.

I know we have at least once said - "Well we will do it differently." or "I will never let me kids do that...."

But what I think no one can prepare yourself for is just how hard it is to follow through on everything - also, I have learned to pick my battles. Does it really matter if Jackie wears the same sleeper to bed every single night, or should we instead fight the brushing the teeth battle.

If you spend a lot of time with Adam and I, you will know that Jackie is a Daddy's girl, and Anderson is quickly becoming a Mamma's boy (he really does not have a choice - Jackie is so attached to Adam there is really no room right now - and poor me - I need someone too...)

But in this we have discovered one thing....

If you look closely at the picture below - you will see wrapped right around that little pinky finger is Adam - you have to look close - he is wrapped so tight it is hard to see.



And if you look closely at this picture of Anderson's hand you will be able to see me - not quite as tightly wrapped yet - but I am sure I will be in a short time.



But really, how could you not be?

I love his little hand - the knuckle dimples and all.

We are the meanest parents ever...

....but we laughed so much.

Jackie's shirt fit Brutis so well and he looked so cute.

Okay - this is Adam who did this - I might have laughed, but I don't think I would have done it in the first place.

Sikome Lake

We headed to Sikome Lake Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day and a great day for the beach.. Thankfully we arrived early to beat the crowds.







These next 2 pictures made me laugh. I had no idea that Adam "sucked it in" on the second picture - he had been working hard to lose weight, and doing quite well - but I know he wants to lose even more.

Anderson did not like the water too much - and since all our baby water stuff is out at the lake, we choose to hang out on the beach towel together.

Getting buried....

We had a great time - it is nice that it is not too far from our house so we did not stay too long (helpful when we are currently working with 2 different nap schedules). It is a great beach for young families - the water is shallow and the sand is plentiful.

The Zebak Family

Here are some photos of our camping trip together.

Bubbles!! (Luke and Mary)

Jorja eating cherries - I have never seen anyone eat a cherrie like an apple - but this is what happens if you do....

The Fire Truck

One of the great things about our campground resort is the long weekend. Every long weekend durring the camping 'season' (May long to September long) they put on activities for adutls and kids.



One of the kids activities is fire truck rides - the campground has 2 firetrucks - one that is there incase it is needed, the other is a vintage fire truck used for rides - it might work - but hopefully we will never find out.


This was the first time we took Jackie - she was a bit nervous but had a great time with Dad.

Luke and Dave got to ride up front with the driver - he loved the siren especially.

Mary, Jorja, Adam and Jackie in the back.

Birthday Celebrations

Even though it was 2 weeks early we celebrated Adam's birthday out at the lake. I made a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. (Both are Ina Garten's recipes.)

We gave him a chain saw - he needed one for getting all our firewood out there.

Camping, again...

We headed out to the trailer again - this time Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kristi and Uncle Marko joined us (I am sorry - no pictures - I was busy with Anderson).



We had a great time enjoying the sun, water and chatting around the camp fire.

This little pool has come in very handy out at the trailer - sometimes it is just too much work to haul everyone down to the beach - and much easier to control both kids this way.

I love that he can find any little bit of shade....

Could he get a better life?

The boys (Adam, Eric and Marko) all went home Sunday evening - that left the girls and the kids. We had a good time, heading in to Creston to buy cherries and had no problem starting a fire ourselves each night.

Tuesday, the Zebak family joined us (we know them through Jackie's day home, both Jorja and Luke go there).

Here are Jackie, Luke and Jorja all hanging out in her bunk reading a story.