Other June Happenings...

Wow, I can't believe how much of a blog delinquent Jason has been recently. Looks like it's up to me to pick up the slack! ;) Here are some of the events from our lives during June...

June 13
(This excerpt was actually written by Jason, just never posted....)
The weekend of June 13 we went to Durham to celebrate Andrea's 30th birthday, which was 6/27. We had a lot of fun. We saw the Bakers on our way to Durham and ate at Smithfields :-) We then had a party at the Eno, of course, and on Sunday went to the West Club Campus of the Summit and loved it, and then celebrated Laura H's birthday Sunday evening!

The cake says "Thirty, Flirty, & Thriving"...from the movie 13 Going On 30, for those of you not well versed in chick flicks.

We gathered at the Few's Ford shelter and had cake and ice cream, hung out and destroyed a pinata!! It was a lot of fun and good to see the friends from Durham! I teased Andrea with the pinata by pulling it up and down while she swung at it, I broke the beating stick...but not the pinata, and Jay destroyed the pinata with one swing! I had never done a pinata and it was a lot of fun.

Andrea's futile attempts....

Claire & Wyatt collecting some of the spoils!

Laura H., Emma, Andrea, Eli, and Hilary :)

Left: Shot of the family eating
Right: Andrea and Laura C.

As mentioned we also really liked the West Club Campus of the Summit. It had such a cozy and welcoming feel, and like the Summit, all of the people were great. We also got to see a bunch of friends. Then we were treated to an awesome cookout at the Hoyles for Laura's birthday.

June 13
Rub-a-dub-dub....3 babies in a tub! :)
After running around in the heat the cousins needed a bath!
How cute are they?


June 20
Eli's first bike ride! I got this awesome bike seat and helmet for Eli for my birthday (a little early) from Pops. We have enjoyed it many times since then and love being able to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air, the sights of the park, and some exercise!

Poor little guy got tired out from the ride!

June 21

Happy Father's Day!

We went to church in the morning, and arrived a little early, so Eli got to "drive" in the parking lot. He loved it!


Then we took da-da to the Carolina Raptor Center! Which he loved!

June 23
Eli started pulling up on things...first thing...Daddy! He's been very enthusiastic about pulling up on new objects and crawling to get what he wants. He is very proud of himself when he accomplishes something new! He's so fun to watch!

He also loves interacting with Doc. He's started to try to feed him from his high chair, which we try to limit. Doc usually does a good job of waiting patiently for the food to fall.


June 27
Andrea's 30th Birthday!!! I had a great day! We met Jon & Laura in Statesville at Cracker Barrel, they were headed west for a shower and came a little further to see us! Then Mutti & Vati came to hang out with me and Eli (Jason had to go to work) and took us out for ice cream.

Happy Birthday ma-ma!

Mmmm....Dairy Queen, thanks guys!

They stayed the night too since we were all leaving for Indiana the next morning...everyone except Jason...work again! :( Look for Indiana fun in the next post!

Teeth

These pics were taken on 6/10 and Eli has three teeth with the fourth about to break through. Now he has all four and they are in further than in these pics.

Here you can see his top right tooth coming in and a hint of his top left.

This is a good pic of all three teeth.

Eli just being silly.

He has such a great personality. He absolutely loves to smile and laugh. He is also very chill with new people and places!

Great Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mtns.

A month ago (6/2) Jill was in the NC mountains, in Maggie Valley, with some friends and we were able to meet up with them for the day. We went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and hiked one of the trails. We had a lot of fun and it was Eli's first out of womb trip to a National Park.

Aunt Jill

Eli preparing for hiking take 1.

When we got to the area we wanted to hike it was thundering and there were some pretty ominous clouds but we started out anyway, but within 10 minutes the lightening started and we turned back.

We didn't buy the sun/rain cover so we improvised.

We then took a very cool dirt road, Heintooga Round Bottom Rd, to a different area of the park and were able to hike a trail there minus lightening. We got to see a bunch of cool wild flowers in bloom like Pink Lady Slipper, False Solomon's Seal, Solomon's Seal, Rhotodendron, Flame Azalia, and Mountian Laurel.

Super fun road and beautiful too.

Jill's aim was almost off.

Eli loved the hike as usual and didn't fall asleep until the return trip. I carried him up the mountain and Andrea carried him down.

Mommy trying out the carrier.

Tired after a hard day of hiking.

Baby Emma Hoyle - May 16

Our good friends Jon & Laura had their baby girl, Emma, on May 16. She weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19.5 in long. She and mama are doing well and we were so blessed to get to meet her! I can't believe she is already 4 weeks old! Here are some pictures from when she was less than 24 hours old - 3 days old. She was so tiny compared to Eli! Once they get a little older though the distance in their ages will barely be noticeable! We are excited to have another friend with a baby close to Eli's age!

Emma and I at the hospital. She's gnawing on her covered hands, so cute!

Jon and his sweet baby girl.

Laura burping Emma, look at all that hair!!!

Ranger Gwinn and Emma.

Daddy and Emma, post diaper change. :)

Isn't her expression and hand so cute here?

The Gwinns with Emma. :)

Day Trips

We have taken a few day trips recently. One was to REI to get the backpack and on the way home we stopped at Latta Plantation to picnic and try it out. We have also taken two "day trips" to Lake Norman State Park. We hiked part of the Lake Shore Trail and then picnicked near the shore. We also went to the swim beach one day where Andrea laid out and I took out a kayak. All the trips have been a lot of fun and Eli enjoys being outdoors!!

Picnic at Latta Plantation.

Eli's first ride.

Picnicking at LANO with Dada.

Picnicking at LANO with mama.

We took Doc on the hike with us too.

Eli gnawing on an apple.

Playing in the sand.

He got a little dirty.

Eli loved the water and never flinched.
I hope he continues to like hiking and the water!!!