Irving Farm

My baby is gaining some independence!

She went with my parents (aka Gran and Pop)

to the Irving Farm (in Low Moor, Virginia)

WITHOUT us.

It was only for about 24 hours...

but, still, it's a big deal for her to go on an adventure without us.

And this was definitely an adventure!

The Irving Farm is the farm that my grandfather (aka Great Pop)

grew up on and that the NoVA Gleasons visit every summer

around the 4th of July.

All of us Gleason kids have tons of fond memories

of being there and fishing with my grandfather.

I am so pleased that Kate had her initiation

and that she was happy as a clam at the farm.

(Although, when we went to pick her up,

she did ask if we could go "to a museum, the library, a store or something.")

Kate and Pop (my Dad) had fun skipping rocks

in the Jackson River.

And then Kate got to go fishing with Great Pop!

The whole fam got involved in the fun!

Matthew came with Tim and me to collect Kate.

He slept through his chance to visit the Jackson River...

but he'll have his initiation soon enough!

Look, Ma!

Look, Ma!

One hand!
Ta Da!

I Love My Baby Brother

Kate loves her baby brother...

at least as long as he isn't touching her stuff...

or looking at her stuff...

or thinking about touching her stuff.

They are starting to play together

more and more

and it's pretty darn cute.

They have fun wrestling in the Family Room

and hanging out in the backyard.

Kate loves to play "restaurant"

and "grocery store"

and Matthew is a willing pawn in these games,

moving seamlessly among roles as

diner, shopper or cashier.

He might even get an award for "Best Actor" one day...

but only after Kate is the "Best Director."

So big!

So strong!

Ok, what parent can resist

the obligatory sibling bathtub photos?

We promises ourselves we'd never do this...

but we've broken a lot of pre-Kate

promises about parenthood.

And this was actually Kate's idea.

I promise.

So, what they heck...

So clean!

So insistent on dumping water on her brother!

So over it!

But, so stinkin' cute!

Imagine My Surprise...

Imagine my surprise

when I went to collect Mr. Matthew from his nap

and found this:

That's right! He's standing!

And mighty proud of himself, too!

In the span of a week,

he learned to stand, cruise,

clap and wave "hello."

I'm not ready for my baby to grow up!

It seems like only yesterday that Miss Kate

was at this stage.

Summer Fun

The summer has just begun -

but we've already enjoyed many trips

to the playground and the pool.

Matthew enjoyed his first carousel ride
at Clemyjontri Park.

And I can't help but share this goofy picture

of Katie Bug

in her ballerina bathing suit

and typical bandaids -

with Miss Daisy in tow, of course!

Playing School

Kate is really "in" to imaginative play these days!

One of her favorite games is playing school -

and her Miss Daisies make the perfect students!

Today was "picture day" in Miss Kate's class.

So, she and her teaching assistant, Miss Meerkat,

rounded up the bunnies for the class picture.

Memorial Day in Williamsburg

We had a fun family weekend in Williamsburg over Memorial Day weekend!

It was really nice to have a change of scenery for a couple of days

and to spend so much time together.

Kate was really excited to go on vacation

and stay in a hotel!

As usual, Matthew was just happy to be along for the ride.

Here are some of the highlights:

Certainly one of the most exciting parts of our trip

was riding the tram

from the parking lot to the Busch Gardens.

Seriously worth the price of admission!

Matthew thought the wind whipping through his hair

was really funny!

Another favorite was riding the skybuckets!

I think Kate rode them 4 times!

Although we didn't spend as much time

hanging around Colonial Williamsburg

as we thought we would,

we definitely enjoyed walking around the historic sites!

We hope to go back to explore it more

when the weather is a little cooler.

My beautiful baby!

Dancin' as usual!

On Monday morning,

we went back to Busch Gardens.

Kate loved watching Daddy

on the log ride!

By far, the biggest highlight of our trip was

Lunch with Elmo!

I've never seen Kate so happy!

She gave Elmo a big hug and said,

"You're may favorite furry friend!"

Awwww...

Dancin' again

(this time with Cookie Monster!)