The Fourth

What a fantastic weekend! Started with a full day of Tyler-esque celebration...he turned three! We met at the park in the morning for the kids' party, and then we had a family party that evening at Brian and Janet's house. The boys had fun eating, playing and opening gifts together.

I feel like 40 years from now, I'll take a picture just like this, and it won't look that different. 

Noah loved so many of Parker and Tyler's toys.

Parker and Noah chilling together watching Veggie Tales.  Parker is an amazing big cousin. He's so sweet and nurturing with Noah. Such a good kid.

Noah and Tyler are playing the piano together. Tyler was singing "Jesus Loves Me."  Noah thinks Tyler is hilarious and wants to do all the things he does.  The two of them seem like they have similar personalities.  Risk-taking, strong willed, hilarious little boys! They're going to be so much trouble when they're teens. I just can't think about that yet.

Aunt J thinks Noah has musician potential. She said that most little kids just bang on the piano, but Noah was hitting keys individually.  That made me excited! I want him to love music, and so far it seems like he's on that path.  Aunt J was teaching Noah "Jesus Loves Me" on the piano.

On Sunday, the Fourth, we spent the morning in church and the afternoon on the lake. Noah loves to "drive boat," which he talks about ALL the time! That and "drive cart," (driving the golf cart).  He jumped off of the swim deck into the lake with little reservation, and then fell asleep on the way back to the dock. He had a blast! That is one lucky kid to have one set of grandparents who live on the lake and the other set who live at the beach.

A little Allstate boat insurance PR!

This is Noah's face of exuberance! It could be confused with a face of extreme unhappiness, but I assure you, he is having the time of his life!

Falling asleep with Nana.

We had taken a break from the water to let Noah rest and to make dinner, and then we headed back down to the lake to see the fireworks from the boat. Since I've know Matt, whenever we are in close proximity to his family on the Fourth, we go out on the boat to see the fireworks. We are surrounded by thousands of other boats, whose lights shine like little stars across the water. The twenty minute firework show goes off literally right over our heads, and once it's over all the boats share a celebratory honking of the horns! It's such a wonderful way to spend the night. Sadly, Noah fell asleep 5 seconds before the first firework went off. He was worn out from the day. I tried to wake him up, but he wasn't having it, and he slept on Nana for the rest of the evening.

Before falling asleep though, he enjoyed the boat ride out to the show.

The next day, Brian, Janet and the boys joined us at the lake. We swam, boated, and skied.  It was quite the exciting day, because Parker and Tyler skied with Brian for the first time, Janet got up on skies for the first time, and Noah jumped off the dock for the first time (which is a 2-3 foot jump) into the water (with either Matt or I waiting for him of course)! We were so proud of his progress! He can blow bubbles and kick his legs. Hopefully he'll be swimming by next summer. And, it was really fun to watch our nephews brave up to the idea of skiing, because since before we had Noah, we've talked about teaching him early, and seeing Parker and Tyler do it made me anxious for watching my own little guy out on the water!  Anyway, I don't have any pictures of this fun day because my camera was full. Such a bummer.  

Great weekend!