Summer Swimming

Here are a few pictures of Caleb swimming this summer in New Jersey. The first thing Caleb would do at the pool each time we went was to throw his diving sticks in, followed by any balls we might have brought. He played on the steps a lot, but preferred to have me get in the water with him and swim around. We played a lot of catch, and when I wasn't in the water with him, he loved to play catch with any other kids (or sometimes adults) that might be around. He also really enjoyed using his diving sticks as drumsticks (though I don't have any pictures of that).

May 25, 2009:




June 14, 2009:


June 28, 2009:






July 4, 2009:


August 21, 2009:

Doughnut Time

I had an interview to get my temple recommend renewed (8/19). Caleb had to come with me since Brandon was working. Caleb was such a good boy, that afterward I told him we could stop and get doughnuts. Caleb had never had a doughnut before and I had been wanting to take advantage of the fact that New Jersey had doughnut stores that sold cake doughnuts (since Provo doesn't).

We go inside the store and I order my doughnut while Caleb tries to decide what kind he wants. He soon decides that he wants the one I already ordered, the one already in the bag. So instead I get him two doughnut holes. The guy helping us put them in a different paper bag just for Caleb. But Caleb refused to take the bag. Instead, he kept holding on to the bag with my doughnut in it. The guy took pity on me and my cute kid and put another sprinkle doughnut, the same as I had ordered, in Caleb's bag, free of charge (since we'd already paid).

Caleb immediately switched bags.












Though in the end, that's about all the doughnut he ate.

Yertle

Caleb's love for Yertle extends far beyond his stuffed animal. He was so excited when I brought out this puzzle for us to do together. He even went and got Yertle to put it together with us (if you look real close, you can see Yertle on the floor behind Caleb). Caleb's favorite part of putting the puzzle together was definitely tearing it apart again. But his second favorite part is the baby turtle on the back of another turtle. He thinks it's him. Then again, all things little are either Caleb or belong to Caleb.

Snacks

Caleb loves his snacks. His snack of choice is Fruit by the Foot. Normally, I try not to let him have them unless we're out and about and I want to avoid tantrums or meltdowns. We always take a few to church to help Caleb stay quiet during sacrament meeting. However, he knows that they're in his backpack from church and will often go digging through his bag (or my purse) looking for uneaten snacks.

The funniest thing about his love of Fruit by the Foot is that he had his first one back in April at my sister's house. He wasn't a fan. In order to convince him to eat it, I had to tear off little pieces, ball them up so they looked more like fruit snacks, and then give them to him one ball at a time. Now he'll gobble the thing down so fast, I wonder how so much can fit in his mouth at one time.

Hello Sunshine

We spent the majority of our summer here in New Jersey living in the darkest dungeon of an apartment. I hated it. It was so depressing. For one, the window in the main living area was rather small. Our apartment faced North, backed up to the other apartment building so very little light even came near our window. But even worse, we faced the road into the garage, so everyone drove past at all hours of the day. So in order to get any light into our small window that had almost no exposure to the outside world, we'd have to open our blinds all the way up and then everyone could see everything in our apartment. Needless to say, we suffered in our dungeon.

Then, with only four weeks left in the summer, we finally switched apartments. We're on the top floor, facing east out over the courtyard, so we get lots of light. Plus, our window is huge now. It's been such a happier life living in our new apartment.

One day (8/8), after moving here, I opened the blinds all the way up, since no one can see in due to the glare of the sun off our window, and Caleb and I basked in the sunlight. Here are a bunch of random pictures of Caleb being cute in the window.

Hill Cumorah

Our last stop in Palmyra was Hill Cumorah. They have a visitor's center at the bottom of the hill with the typical visitor center things (lots of movies and buttons for little hands to push, as well as Book of Mormons in all the different languages -- which Caleb loved and did not want to leave without taking at least one obscure language home with us).

The Christus in Salt Lake City is in front of a mural of the universe. The one here is in front of a mural of the Sacred Grove. Caleb loved the statue, until it started talking. (Well, the statue doesn't talk, but the speakers in the room were too loud for his liking and freaked him out a little.)


You can either walk or drive to the top of the hill. There's a monument/statue of angel Moroni at the top. Some people were gathered around reading from the Book of Mormon the last battle that was fought there at Hill Cumorah.



Caleb held the pose below until I took his picture.

(Photo above taken by Caleb)