Father's Day Blast

Hi Everyone,

The heat has finally relented here in lil Rhody to some milder, more usual temps.

Just in case anyone is wondering-- this is what a hot baby looks like.

I am going to show some pictures from Father's Day weekend and then post some random photos from earlier in the week.

We had a nice Father's Day weekend. Since the weather wasn't looking great for Sunday, Wim decided he wanted to go to the beach on Saturday.

Gabrielle helped Josie Dong Dong concur her fear of the sand. Look at them go!

We also took Josie into the water. She walked down to the water holding my hand and then in the water, mine and Wim's hand. She kept walking out into the surf (we are at Wheeler/Wheelen(?) Beach). Her teeth started chattering from the cold, but she kept wanting to walk into the surf and she laughed and giggled when the small waves crested into her. Sorry, no pictures of this-- we were all in the water.

Wim and the kids began digging a deep hole while Josie looked on from her sun tent.

Xavier likes to dig a deep hole and then hang out in it.

After a quick inspection, Xavier decided that the hole wasn't deep enough. He dug and dug in the sand . . . Josie kept a careful eye on him.

"Xavier, you need to dig some more over here."

"Xavier is trapped!"

"Xavier! Are you OK?"

"Josie Dong Dong to the rescue!"

On Sunday Wim opened his presents surrounded by all his kids.

"Daddy! Don't be so SILLY!"

Earlier in the week . . .

Gabrielle finally got to pick up Josie Dong Dong and really hold her.

On my Birthday, Josie and I enjoyed playing outside on her slide fort and shared some tasty snacks while we played.

"Do I see cookies!"

"Mommy, I'm out of cookies. My snack cup is empty."

Action Shot: I showed Josie that I had a few more cookies and she shot down the slide head first like there was no tomorrow!

"Watch out! It's cookie time!"

Keeping cool on a hot summer day! This is the first time that Josie Dong Dong was in the pool with Gabrielle and Xavier. They really showed her how it is done!

Josie was a little nervous about being in the pool with her older siblings , but she quickly figured out how great it is to have her siblings around to play with in the water.

On a typical late afternoon, any given day-- Joise enjoys playing in her sun tent and on her slide fort. She always has some gimmick to crack herself up and she is pretty good at getting others to join in on her ham bone ways.

Josie is mostly walking now. She does still crawl some, but it is about 85% walking and 15% crawling. Not only is she walking, she is climbing like crazy! We've gone from one extreme to another. While she walks, she likes to talk. Not that we can really understand much of what she is saying. But she chatters away and . . .

She likes to talk with her hands-- while she is walking-- or climbing . . .

It is a lot of fun to hang out with Josie and play in her sun tent and her slide forte-- Phoebe especially likes it when Josie shares her cookies and her toys.

Even the cat likes to hang out for a little while and check on the happenings in Dong Dong Land.

Josie is always happy to have us all around-- full of smiles and laughter.