Fun Weekend

It's the last weekend before school starts back and I can't believe summer is over. I had a haircut appointment Friday afternoon, but ending up having to cancel it and working late. YaYa picked Cooper up, so once I got him, we met Jeff at home and settled in for the night. Saturday morning, Jeff ran out and got us breakfast and we hung out at home- it was way too hot to be outside for long!

Because we had been on vacation the past 2 weekends, Nana and Bob-O (yes, there has been a name change!) were anxious to have Cooper spend the night. Jeff dropped him off at their house, then picked me up for Mass. Afterwards, we ran a few errands, had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, then saw Friends with Benefits. It was cute and funny. If you're thinking it sounds a lot like last summer's No Strings Attached, you'd be correct, but I have to say I enjoyed Friends with Benefits much more (Justin Timberlake, maybe?).

I picked Cooper up this morning, then headed to my parents' house while Jeff worked. Unfortunately, we've taken another step towards Cooper being less baby and more kid with his first haircut this morning. No pictures, as it took 3 of us to keep Cooper somewhat still for YaYa to cut his hair, but rest assured, I did tear up and locks of hair were saved. Yes, I am THAT mother.

And if Pops ends up having to have a hip replacement in the near future, you'll know why:

He and Cooper were going down each step on their backsides. Over and over and over again. I prayed the entire time that nothing would pop out of socket.

One of the things Cooper loves to do is play in the sink at my parents' house. YaYa was helping him and all over a sudden, I heard her laughing. I ran in to find this:

Cooper thought it was hilarious!

We spent the afternoon at home, then went to Nana and Bob-O's for dinner. Cooper loves these chocolate covered ice cream bars and Bob-O was nice enough to be the one who helped Cooper...it gets messy!



Bob-O helping Cooper feed the fish.

And anytime we go to Nana and Bob-O's, we have to feed the fish and ducks in their neighborhood's pond:

Three generations of Radford boys.

Hope you and yours had a great weekend!

Vacation 2011

We made it! We survived our annual vacation with a 21 month old! It wasn't the easiest trip, but we had a ton of fun.

We made the trip down in 1 day. 16 hours, in a car, with a 21 month old is a lot different than 16 hours, in a car, with a 9 month old. Sleep is one difference. Screaming is another. Yikes...the last 5 hours of the trip, Cooper screamed the whole time. It was rough, but thankfully, Pops, YaYa, Tada, and all of our friends were ready to greet us when we arrived.

Doesn't this face look thrilled to be at the beach?


Actually, Cooper wasn't a huge fan of the beach. He couldn't stand to have sand of his feet and did okay in the gulf:

This was about as far as Pops got in the water with Cooper and they were right back on the shore in a few minutes.

What Cooper did love was wearing his swimmies and being thrown around in the pool. While he sometimes didn't want to stay in the pool for long (he would rather be running around or looking for lizards), he loved being underwater and would willingly put his own face in the water:


Pops and YaYa gave us passes to the Florida Aquarium for Christmas, so on Sunday, we made the trip over. It was very interesting, but I will say that taking a 21 month old whose attention span is short makes you speed through the tour as fast as you can! Cooper loved the otter playing with a fish and the '70s area that included jellyfish and boxfish, but HATED the alligator and eels. The aquarium had a touch tank and I actually touched a sea urchin and starfish (can you believe it?!?!). Because I was the photographer on the trip, we don't have any pictures of such a momentous occasion, but did get a good one of Pops petting a sting ray:


They would come right up to the tank, flip part of their fin up on the side of the tank- they were so close!


Pops, Cooper, and YaYa checking out the marine life.


Shark tank!


Cooper loved seeing his skin turn green from the lights.

Back at the hotel, all of our friends helped us keep Cooper entertained. Here, you'll see Cooper's "Mamy" (our friends' daughter, Amy), Pops, and Mr. Kent about to help Cooper check out the beach. From afar, you will notice:


Cooper loved looking for the lizards all over the hotel grounds:


And you know what's fun after a heavy rain? Playing in the gutters!


Me with my little sweetheart:


Gorgeous sunset on the last night:


Even Cooper looks sad about vacation ending:


Last year, we stayed with my godfather Mike and his wife Dixie in Atlanta on our way home, but were able to visit with Dixie's daughter Jenni and her son Tilden, who is a few months older than Cooper. It was so cute to see Tilden and Cooper interact with each other. Since then, Mike and Dixie have officially retired to Fairhope, Alabama, so Jenni graciously offered to let us stay with her and Tilden this year. Lucky us, Dixie's other daughter Katie and her son Colin were in town from Denver visiting Katie's husband Mike who is in Atlanta for training. It was just like all the summers we stayed with Mike, Dixie, Jenni, and Katie on our way to and from vacation, but add in a 2.5 year old (Tilden), 21 month old (Cooper), and 6 month old (Colin)!


Cooper and Tilden enjoying a yummy breakfast!


Jenni and Jeff doing a great job of wrangling 3 kiddos under 3!


Jenni, Katie, and me with sweet Baby Colin!

After a quick stop at Einstein Bros. Bagels (my favorite!), we were on the road and made it home around 6pm. I had enough time to get a few loads of laundry done before getting an okay night's sleep and being ready for in-service to start the next day. It's hard to believe the summer is already over and another school year is starting!

So, I leave you with the annual family picture in front of my parents' room:
Our annual family picture in front of my parents' room:

Book Reviews

Usually I read a ton over the summer, but it seems like the past few months have flown by and I haven't gotten much done. I have spent a lot of time with Cooper and have also worked quite a bit, so vacation was the perfect time to get caught up.

Before we left, I finished up Steven Tyler's autobiography. Don't bother. It took me longer to read his book than it took me to read Keith Richards's book and it was much less entertaining and believable and much more graphic, crude, and out-of-control. Not that I had the utmost respect for Steven Tyler to begin with, but I definite have very little for him now.

On to Tina Fey's book Bossypants. Two thumbs up! If you like anything Tina Fey does- 30 Rock, SNL, talk shows- you'll like to book. To me, she's so funny, down-to-Earth and, as a working mother, her hilarious viewpoint of having a career with children is dead-on. Love her and love the book!

While on vacation, I read Jonathan Tropper's How to Talk to a Widower. I have loved everything Jonathan Tropper has written- The Book of Joe, This is Where I Leave You, and now How to Talk to a Widower. He writes about topics that normally aren't funny- death, divorce, extra-marital affairs- but his take on them and the situations he puts his characters in are great. He also incorporates lots of touching moments into his books, so the balance is great.

I am about halfway through with J. Courtney Sullivan's new book, Maine. Her last book Commencement was great and so far, Maine has not disappointed. It is about 3 generations of an Irish-Catholic family who struggle with their relationships with each other as it comes time to visit the grandmother at the family's summer house in Maine.

And in other book news, I am seriously considering a Kindle/Nook. I love holding a book in my hands and I've perfected the treadmill workout while reading, but it may be time to bite the bullet. Maybe a birthday present?

Once things settle down, I will post pictures and a rundown of our vacation. Craziness and stressful, but we had a great time!

Manners Much?

I try, and sometimes fail, to be mannerly and polite wherever I go. I have a basic grasp and understanding of social graces and, as a good Southerner, I do my best to put these graces to good use.

Apparently someone missed a chapter in charm school.

I went for a manicure and pedicure today, hoping for a relaxing start to my afternoon. The place I went is in the middle of an upscale neighborhood downtown (this subdivision is its own little town- nail salon, coffee shops, grocery stores, dry cleaners, and a few restaurants) and one of the people who lives in the neighborhood was getting a pedicure in the chair next to mine. You could tell this lady had some "work" done, but she was very well put together and from the way she was talking to everyone who worked at the salon, I can only guess she's a regular customer. Her mannerisms and overall behavior made you believe (and I'm sure was her goal) that money was no object. I'm reading my book and hear a clicking noise. I ignored it at first, but it continued. I start to look around and then I see it. It's the woman next to me. She's biting her nails. Well, biting may be an understatement. She resembled a dog gnawing on a rawhide bone.

Click. Click. Pop. Click. Pop. Pop.

This woman, who at first glance might have fit into the "epitome of class" category, is beginning to have a little pile of nail clippings on the table next to her, none the wiser that I am about to not only lose it because of the clicking and popping, but also the pure disgustingness (yes, I made up a word; I think this calls for it) of her grooming habits. I keep my cool. See? Using those social graces.

The really unbelievable part is that she got a manicure after all this. Could she not have waited 30 minutes and just asked to have her nails cut down like a normal, mannerly human who goes in for a manicure?

Cooper is 21 Months Old!

Yep, hard to believe that in 3 months, Cooper will be 2 years old. It's such a cliche, but time really does fly when you have a baby. My heart jumps a little when I see pictures of Cooper as a baby compared to today. He's grown up so fast and these days, he's more little boy than baby.

So, what's our kiddo up to these days? "Daredevil" is probably the best way to describe Cooper. He will climb on anything, fling himself off everything, and isn't afraid of trying stuff that makes us very nervous. Saturday, I put Cooper down for a nap, but a few minutes later, Jeff and I heard a weird noise, then jiggling on the doorknob. We opened the door and there stood Cooper, all smiles, saying "Hiiiii!" like it was completely normal that he be meeting us at the door. We put him back in the crib, just to see if he would climb out with us standing there and sure enough, without any effort whatsoever, he had one leg over the rail, hoisted himself up, and flung the other leg over. He hasn't tried it again and the mattress is on the lowest setting, so I'm not sure what our next move is going to be.

His vocabulary has really taken off. My worries about him not being on track in this area have dissipated. New favorites include "turtle", "bus", "monkey", and "Pete" (short for St. Pete- where we go on vacation). We're working on "I love you" and he will at least attempt to repeat a word if you ask him to. Yesterday in the car, I sneezed, and he told me "Bless you!" even though it came out more like "Bess eww!" I didn't even know he had been paying attention when we said it to him, so imagine my surprise when he used in the correct context!

Cooper is into some weird eating habits these days. He doesn't eat much at any meal, but every once in a while will chow down like he's never had a meal in his life. Hmm...I think we wore him out on hot dogs and grilled cheese because he turns his nose up at those most days. He'll eat peanut butter and jelly at Lala's house, but not ours. He was more concerned about squishing his watermelon than eating it last night, but still eats apples and bananas rather well. Honey Smacks cereal seems to be the new favorite food and he'll dive into anything that needs dipping (think chips and dip, chicken nuggets and BBQ sauce). We just keep trying stuff, hoping the new and healthy foods stick.

He still loves to be read to and will bring us books, allowing us to read 2-3 pages, then takes the book away from us. My mom said when she was keeping him the other day, he did stop to watch "Elmo's World" for a few minutes, but I can't say that we've noticed any TV watching (not that we're encouraging it). He is VERY into golf. Every open field we pass just has to be a golf course and he loves hitting golf balls with his putter around the house. He still loves being outside and playing in water- water table, pool, sprinkler, sink, bathtub- doesn't matter to Cooper! Every silver car we pass is "Mama" (I drive a silver Camry) and every dark colored car we pass is "Dada" (Jeff drives a charcoal gray Tahoe). He points out every single drop of water, cat, bird, and dog when we walk, so we figure his eyesight is pretty good, too!

We're so excited to see how Cooper does on our vacation. We figure he'll love the gulf and pool, but are concerned about traveling. Last year, he slept almost the whole way. I'm not sure our luck is going to be so great this year, but we're hoping!

4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

Friday, Cooper and I spent some time in the backyard. Of course, Cooper loves his water table, but we also bought him the Fisher-Price sprinkler ball.


He's not the biggest fan. The sprinkler sprays very far, so I don't know if Cooper gets frustrated when he can't get away from the water, but he actually went over the ball and tried to unhooked the water hose from it. Oh well...

Saturday we went downtown for a walk and a quick trip through the farmer's market. Jeff and his dad played golf in the afternoon and later on, Jeff's mom picked Cooper up. They headed out to visit Frannie and Papaw, then Cooper spent the night.

On Sunday, I met Cooper and Nana at Amy's sister Susan's house to swim. Susan's daughter Lily also made it home from a workout in time to spend some time in the sun with us. As you can tell, Cooper loved playing on the steps of the pool:



After Sunday night dinner with Pops, YaYa, and Uncle Tada, we turned in for the night so that we could get up in time to make it to the Dyer Station Celebration! We were so excited to be able to go back to Tori's hometown to celebrate the 4th and met up with her, Jeff, and Tori's parents- affectionately named Scooter and Patti.


About the best picture you can manage of me and Cooper.


Best seat in the house to watch the parade!


Firetrucks in the parade. Cooper loved them until they got up close and turned on the siren. Then, not so much.

I don't have a ton of parade pictures because Cooper decided he needed to play photographer for most of it. Anyone want to see random pictures of half a tree and the sky?

Cooper and Jeff had some bonding time after the parade. Jeff took him for a little walk along the route before we decided to go to the park for more 4th of July festivities.


After meeting up with Tori and Jeff's friends Allison and Justin Little and their little girl Sam, we headed back to Scooter and Patti's house to play and have homemade ice cream. Oh. My. Gosh. The ice cream! A little backstory: when we went to Jackson in June for the Jeffs to play in the Jackson Country Club Member/Guest, Tori, Cooper, and I took a little trip to Dyer and ended up at the China Grove store the local Mennonites have. Tori told me how fresh their milk was and how good their chocolate and strawberry milks were, as well. I'm not a milk drinker, but as the holiday rolls around and Tori tells me her mom has made homemade ice cream using the chocolate and strawberry milk from the Mennonites, I was sold! Add to that, she included fresh strawberries into the strawberry ice cream and even Jeff, who isn't a strawberry fan, loved it. We are still talking about how good the ice cream was! We all ended up outside, with the guys playing bocce ball before a small storm rolled in.


Tori helping Cooper play bocce ball.


Playing bocce.


Hanging out with Scooter and Patti. Cooper loved Patti's rolling garden seat and you can see it by the swing. Patti had been pushing Cooper all along the porch!

We made it home a little before 3pm and rested before heading out to the fireworks. We met Pops, YaYa, Uncle Tada, Aunt Leigh, Uncle Mark, Regina, and Uncle Mark's parents and everyone took turns keeping Cooper occupied.


Coop and YaYa


Pops and Cooper


Aunt Leigh and Regina entertaining Cooper


Watching the finale with Uncle Mark

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Hanging Out with Uncle Tada

Yes, Uncle Tada. We're not sure how Cooper gets "Tada" out of "Uncle Kyle", but it's funny and it's on the road to sticking as a name.

I've blogged before about getting Avery's pet stuff where Uncle Tada works and because Uncle Tada and his boss, Shannon, are awesome, Cooper gets free reign of the store to run and play as long as they aren't busy.

So what does one do for fun at the pet supply store? Well...


Uncle Tada can be your personal loading cart driver...


Or you can make every attempt to move the baskets around, narrowly missing your feet each time...


Or you can play with Shannon's sweet dog, Tyson.


And then you can be a smiling, happy boy on the way home!

Thanks Uncle Tada and Shannon for putting up with us!