Sad, sad… the Coles left for home today. Last night we celebrated with a yummy steak dinner and s’mores by the fire until we were all falling asleep and had to crawl into bed. Everyone spent the night at our house and they left for the airport after a strawberry shortcake breakfast (one last splurge from Grandma Cole).

Today when JT woke up from his nap, he said, “Ali Madi Preston go?” and I said, “Oh, remember? They had to go home.” He asked, “Grandpa Cole’s house?” and I said, “No, they had to go home to North Carolina and see Uncle Jeff.” So JT thought about that, and then said, “Airplane. Fly home.” 🙂

My friend Sarah hosted a lovely baby shower for me and Haley this weekend. It happened to be on the 15th, which is exactly one month until her scheduled arrival! We had a great time, and Haley got some adorable clothes chosen by people who clearly know my style, Harley hospital hats (JT had one, too), her beautiful bedding, and some staples, like binkies and a wipe warmer. Thank you, Sarah!

We took advantage of the gorgeous, hot weather on Saturday and went out on Puget Sound. Grandpa Cole drove us in his boat up to Poulsbo (which happens to be where Jim proposed ten years ago…).

Madi and JT enjoying the ride – check out that hair!

Ali was in charge of the map

My mom and Gena enjoying the bow

Climbing the rock – JT wanted to join in

The kids at the top – JT got a boost up 🙂

Enjoying my ice cream with my “pregnant glow” (aka 95 degrees outside)

JT’s first ice cream cone – Grandpa Cole insisted he get his own, and he even picked out his own flavor: cherry chip. He managed to eat quite a bit on his own before Madi finished it off!

Back in Port Orchard on the dock

Last week Jim and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. We went to dinner and a movie (Inception – go see it!) while the Cole kids babysat JT for us. They had quite a wonderful time while we were gone!

A wagon ride to the park

Practicing his throws with Grandpa’s wiffle balls

Playing telephone with Preston

Family singalong!

JT passed his two-year-old checkup today with flying colors. He weighs 28 pounds (55th %), is 35 inches tall (70th %) and his head size has settled into large (98th %), instead of off the charts. 🙂 He got his shot and took it like a champion, only proclaiming “Hurts!” and then moving on to better things, like his Garfield Band-Aid.

We were happy to report to his doctor that he is all caught up in language skills and even ahead in colors and numbers… so we were given a new assignment: letters. Good thing he got letter cards for his birthday! Here he is on the way home, enjoying his first ever sucker that he got on the way out. I was eating apple slices and he pointed out that his sucker was “like Mom’s apple” and he was right, it was apple flavored!

We took JT to his very first Mariner’s game this week (and they won!). Aunt Gena, Preston, Madi, Ali, and Grandpa Cole came too. It was great!

Jim and JT watching the game

Meeting the Moose – awful lighting!

Watching for trains

Enjoying the view

Ten days of camping at Steamboat Rock state park is our favorite way to spend time during the summer. This year the weather was pretty good (except a giant thunderstorm the first night that sent two boats smashing into ours at 4 AM… no damage, amazingly enough). We did our traditions like movie-in-the-boat, hiking the rock, rock jumping, the Laser Light show, mid-week Mexican in town, and general lounging around. We added some new things that we just might have keep, like breakfast in the boat and Mojito ice cream. It is always the highlight of our summer… maybe even the whole year!

Out of the 350 pictures that I took and kept (seriously), I have narrowed it down to a mere 47 to post online. That is still too many to upload to the blog so I put them in an album here. A few top pics are below, plus a highlight reel of JT.

The group

Preston’s last morning ski run

TRUST

Ali and JT in the water

More photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73557&id=1386286955&l=6ab4d44b25

We had our 34-week baby checkup yesterday and all is well. Five weeks to go! I spent the entire time at Banks Lake in a bikini because it was too hot for modesty. 🙂 My sister-in-law took this picture to document Haley’s “first trip” to Banks Lake.

A few weeks ago I took one afternoon to do a canvas painting for Haley’s room to match her cute Pottery Barn valance and bedding. In the picture, the valance is above and my painting is below. I can’t wait to hang it up in her room! I ordered the crib yesterday and it should arrive next week.

Since the Coles were due to arrive just a week after JT’s birthday, we waited to have a family birthday party. It was so fun to have almost everyone here, including JT’s cousins!

After dinner JT opened his presents. He did a great job keeping up with the demands of being two and opening your own gifts. The funniest part was when I would say, “What do you want to open next?” and he would point to an opened present that he wanted to play with. So I started rewording it to, “Pick a present to find the surprise inside!” and that worked a little better.

The lucky guy got lots of cool stuff: a train set, Lego set, kitchen supplies and a latch board, books, alphabet cards, and his own beach chair (pictured above). He has been sharing his room with Preston this week, so he knew just what to do with his own new sleeping bag!

Enjoying his cake

We were so excited to have my brother’s family (without my brother) from North Carolina come visit us again this summer – three whole weeks! We spent the first few days relaxing and just hanging out…