OBX June 2017

Our big family vacation this summer was to the Outer Banks.  I was nervous about the drive but Bran did great.  We left around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, and pulled Bran out of bed thinking he'd go right back to sleep in the car.  He spent the next two hours talking to us in the dark before finally deciding to nap.  We only stopped a couple times and when we did we just let Bran run around while we got food, then we all ate in the car.  When Bran wasn't napping I had to spend a decent amount of time in the backseat feeding him and just hanging out to keep him entertained.  We had downloaded a few movies on Joe's Kindle but Bran just wasn't that interested in watching anything for very long. But overall he was a great traveler.

We shared a house with Grandma and Grandpa Roelle, Aunt Renee, Uncle Aaron, Jaden, Grandma Lude, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Nikki, Greer, and Chris. Although Greer and Bran seemed to be on opposite sleep schedules, they did have a lot of fun playing all week.  Bran loved sharing a house with so many of his favorite people.  He took full advantage of making sure he got all the extra "duck" (milk) and snacks he could.

Our first trip down to the beach Bran was a little unsure of the sand.  He kept saying "eww" when he would get sand on his hands. He was also a little intimidated by the water.

Monday we celebrated my 31st birthday.  I forgot to take any pictures but it was the perfect day.  I enjoyed sunshine, the beach, and good company all day.  My Mom made a big spaghetti dinner and ice cream cake for everyone (which Bran devoured both).  We topped off the day with a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity after the kids went to spend.

Speaking of sleeping, Bran sure was an early bird on vacation.  We didn't have any curtains in our room so as soon as the sun was shining Bran was up and ready to go.  He was sleeping in a pack n play in our room, so he'd pop right up and say "hi!!!" to wake us up.  Grandma and Grandpa Roelle started taking him to the park bright and early every morning so he could play.

Our second visit to the beach was much more successful.  We started with water shoes on Bran to see if that would help the "eww sand" situation.  But he quickly warmed up to it and wanted the shoes off.  Bran ended up absolutely loving the beach the rest of the week.  His favorite thing to do was run up and down the beach saying hi to everyone that would listen (and even those who wouldn't).

Bran also stole his cousin Greer's Minnie Mouse chair.  Had I known how much he would love sitting there I would have packed his OSU one.  Oh well, next year! Bran really enjoyed people watching while enjoying a few snacks.

 We took Bran to our favorite seafood restaurant in the OBX, I've Got Your Crabs.  Bran loved everything he let him try, especially the crab and crab dip.  He ended up stealing some of our crab cracking utensils to eat his crab dip.  He thought it was way better than using an actual spoon.

 We also took Bran to the Outer Banks Children's Museum.  He loved running around and playing with all of the different exhibits.  He especially loved all of the workout equipment.

Bran loved having Daddy take him out to splash in the waves.  He is so brave.  He also liked splashing around in the little beach pool to keep cool.  Playing with the sand wasn't his favorite thing to do this year.

Aunt Renee taught Bran how to say turtle.

Mommy and Daddy had a night out! 

We had a pool at our house.  Bran was not very excited about it at the beginning of the week.  He mostly disliked that I couldn't just let him run around as freely as he did at the beach, We tried all different kinds of floats and he wasn't loving any of them. He finally ended up (briefly) liking one of Greer's. He did warm up to the pool as the week went on and he started to enjoy splashing and playing with everyone.

Jaden was Bran's absolute favorite person on vacation.  He learned how to say "Jaden" and was constantly looking for him and yelling his name.  He knew to look for him over on the couch. Bran got so excited when Jaden came with us down to the beach one afternoon and crawled right up into his lap.

Stealing Grandma's sweet tea.

 Swimming with Grandpa, snack time, and dancing by the pool.

Bran's little foot prints in the sand.

This is the best picture we managed to get with this crazy gang.

The week in the Outer Banks was very relaxing and fun.  What a big difference a year makes!  A year ago Bran was just learning to roll over on our beach vacation.  It was so much more fun this year to watch Bran play and explore.  He is getting so big. We are already looking forward to our next visit!

Bran...Summer Part 1

Summer Days

I can't believe summer is already halfway over.  The days are just flying by.  We have been spending a lot of time outside playing. The water table, splash pad, and sprinkler have been big hits.

There are a bunch of different splash pads around the area.  We went to the one in Hilliard with Callie and Lily.  They had a great time.  Lily especially enjoyed pouring cups of water on Bran's head.  The Powell splash pad wasn't as big of a hit.  It is set up for bigger kids, so Bran ran around for a little while but just wasn't that into it.

We enrolled Bran in a 8 week swim lesson at the Dubin Rec Center.  He loved the first class, but had quite a few rough ones afterwards.  He really enjoyed "swimming" around on his belly, being thrown in the air, and splashing.  He would only jump in from a seated position at the edge of the pool.  Being dunked and floating on his back were his least favorite activities.  Mommy and Daddy learned quite a bit from the experience, including not to schedule swim lessons an hour before bedtime on a weeknight, haha!

Joe was on call for Father's Day.  He was able to spend the morning at home so we could all enjoy breakfast together.  Later that day Bran and I went to the hospital to visit Daddy at work. We picked up some Panera, but Bran spent the whole time just wanting to run around the courtyard.  He also got a naked ride home after he decided to splash in the fountains.  He was he supposed to know it wasn't meant to be like the splash pad?! 

We went on a beach vacation to the OBX in June, but that is going to need a separate post!

Fourth of July was spent at the Mayhills.  Bran was much bigger this year and able to enjoy the bounce house with the big kids.  Bran also got excited hearing the fireworks and started saying "boom boom".  So he ended up staying up way past his bedtime to watch the fireworks show, we couldn't believe it.

Joe's Birthday was very low key.  We spent the weekend before his birthday having an adult weekend in Nashville with Luke, Katie, Nate, and Callie. So we just ate German Chocolate Cake (which Grandma Lude made while watching Bran for the weekend) and sang "Happy Birthday" which Bran LOVED.

One of our favorite things to do this summer has been enjoying the free concerts at Scioto Park.  We even took some friends to enjoy us one weekend after a little cookout.  The kids especially enjoyed the picnic strawberry shortcake we brought along.

Going out to eat has become very challenging.  Bran is lucky he is cute!

We made a visit to the Columbus Zoo with Nicole and Henry.  We had a great time walking around checking out all of the animals.  Bran was "roaring" at all of them this time instead of "woofing".  He also knew so many animal names this time! (Monkey, Giraffe, Elephant). He liked the dinosaur exhibit, as long as we stayed about 10 feet away.

I can't even keep up with all of the new things Bran is saying these days.  He has such a huge vocabulary I can't keep up.  He is starting to put together more and more small phrases too.  He knows all of his body parts and especially loves to show off his BELLY!! He is so animated, playful, and full of personality.  His sweet side comes out too sometimes, he has started to give us kisses and big hugs. He loves to kiss the puppies and his animals (ducky and sneetch) when he is going to bed.

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