Life lately

It’s July and we are already in the second half of 2019. Is time flying or what?

Since summer kicked off, we’ve been doing lots of “hikes” around home and the lake. L can do about a mile which is pretty impressive. He’s very observant and curious.

We’ve spent a fair amount of time at the pool. He’s much more into it this year than he was last but he still likes the splash pad at times. He’s brave and will jump into the water now and loves to be tossed up in the air.

We saw a deer on the way home from dinner with friends so we stopped to watch it eat before it hopped away. Then we saw a huge toad bounce across the water. We stayed up way past bed time but adventures in nature are worth it!

We got donuts for Father’s Day and someone really liked the Boston cream pie version.

We found a great spot at the lake for throwing rocks and watching the boats go by. Landon saw lots of bald eagles on his kayaking excursion that morning but none when we were there.

We got good news about Tuck, and bad news about Bud. We had been preparing to say goodbye to Tuck this year and took him for a check-up at NC State. They did lots of tests and then gave us the news that he is a miracle dog and his heart looks better. He had no fluid on his lungs, his heart rate was normal and also a normal size, and they couldn’t detect a murmur. He still has an arrhythmia but the other issues have cleared up somehow and they said without sudden death from the arrhythmia, we can expect to have him much longer than the 6-12 months we were told in February.

Bud on the other hand, has limited time. He’s 15 and has slowed down quite a bit. We took him in because he was having some accidents and exhibiting symptoms of dementia. I also found a lump on him we wanted to have looked at. The vet (a wonderful family friend!) agreed he had some signs of dementia but when they looked at the lump via ultrasound, they saw he has Hemangiosarcoma and it is rather large. He has spots on his liver, as well as his spleen has been taken over. She told us to bring him home and love on him so that’s what we’ve been doing.

We’ve gotten into tumbling and gymnastics though we haven’t started official classes. Our little dare devil is quite the acrobat.

We spend lots of time outside with our trucks, sidewalk chalk and sand table. Most days he’ll even pick this over going to the park, but that’s definitely still on our favorites list.

Grilling and eating dinner outside has been a favorite too. Our child loves hot dogs 🌭 but also loved sitting outside at our fave pizza place and watching the trucks go by — before ending with tiramisu.

We’ve got a garden full of tomatoes and peppers and lots of herbs surrounding it. I’m sad we didn’t do cucumbers this year but we’ll find a spot for them next year.

We discovered gelato and have decided it should be a frequent occurrence. Dad even went with us once and finished his before anyone else!

L did a 5 week running program. We are SO PROUD of him because he got better each week (the first one Landon had to carry him!). He finished in 7th place out of 19 over the course of 5 weeks in the 2-3 age group. And by the end he really loved it!

I visited friends in Colorado for a baby shower. We met at Jacksonville University 15 years ago and have stayed in touch despite living in very different places (Boston, Chapel Hill and Fort Collins). It was my first weekend away from L — ever — but I survived and had fun with the girls.

We took L to his first movie in the theaters. Toy Story 4 did not disappoint. He was confused by the lights being off but overall did a really good job. He said his favorite part was the camper. He’s also a big fan of Woody.

We had a special date at the park after dinner last night so the backhoe and dump truck could get their job done in the sand. 😂 It was hot but so much fun to watch this boy do what he loves so much.

And my Mother’s Day wish came true and we had gorgeous family photos taken by Kate Higgins Photography on a cool 95 degree morning at Fearrington. 😂 I was sweaty and my hair was in humidity hell but I sure do love these boys and our family and I’ll treasure these shots forever.