Emma at 4 months

She is so darn cute (and a carbon copy of her mommy). This is the daughter of Larry's cousin, Ellen, who lives in Riverside, CA. She is the first granddaughter for Larry's aunt Karen, so needless-to-say, they're only a tiny bit thrilled.

Family day

Didn't take a single photo of a terrific day. Larry was off, what a bonus. It rained all day, so we couldn't go to my office picnic, but we made good use of our time anyway. We had a nice breakfast (I made a fretta - meat eggs and potatoes, cooked together), and then Alana went grocery shopping with me (she was so freaking cute, with her mini shopping cart), while Larry and Caleb stayed and played the Wii. Then we had lunch and went swimming at the YMCA. The kids are getting so good, due to their lessons. Caleb swam the length of the pool three times. And Alana is fearless - 4 years old and she was doing "cannonballs" off the side. Larry made chicken enchiladas for dinner and then we made popcorn and watched Shrek the Third. A wonderful day.

Swimming at another pool

A picture perfect day. After taking the kids to Burger King for lunch (for new Pokemon toys!) we went to the Van Buren Community pool in nearby Baldwinsville. We haven't been there since last year. I thought it would be mobbed on such a gorgeous day, but it wasn't. Caleb worked on his "diving" (really jumping) - on the left is the "pencil dive" and on the right is the "twist."

Alana played in both the kiddie pool and the full size pool (which is shallower, in the shallow end, than our local YMCA pool, so she can touch the bottom). After swimming, she took a break and built a "palace" out of all the toys we had brought along.

Golf score card

Caleb's field trip this week at camp was to Putter's Paradise mini golf. He played all 3 courses, but only brought home 2 of the score cards. He said he got a total of 5 holes-in-one!

Beach fun

We headed back to Williams Beach this evening, because the weather was PERFECT and beause they have a weekly concert there on Thursdays in July. The concert was terrific and the water was FINE. After swimming for awhile, Caleb built a funky sand castle (yes, that's my foot) and then of course Alana had to make one too (the photos don't do these justice - both castles were very cool). They both played on the little playground too.

One more photo

I love this shot of Alana on the climbing structure.

Second cousin

This is a photo my Uncle Dan sent of his granddaughter, Raleigh, during her BD party. She turned 8 just a few weeks after Caleb (but she looks much more mature than he does!) They all (my uncle and his kids and grandkids) live in Texas.