I had to include pictures of the cake. Megan, who did the volcano cake at my birthday, made this cute plane cake for Drew's party.

Drew got his own plane cake, of course, and we took beginning, middle and end pictures. I think he did a good job eating the cake, and he didn't get too messy doing it. It's probably because he gave up using his hands and went for it face first.

Friday, we celebrated Drew’s first birthday since we had his grandma and grandpa in town. Drew was a little cranky at first and was tired of us grown ups telling him what to do. But as soon as his friends Jack and Eden came, he was all smiles the rest of the evening. He got some cool new toys that he is learning to share with others, and before we ate cake, he did a little “birthday dance” for us (it was more like wobbly walking with his birthday hat on). It was a great evening. Thanks to everyone who made his first birthday a special one. I can’t believe my little boy is one year old!

The day after Rob finished his board exams, we flew to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with his family. The Club Med resort was so beautiful, and there was a ton of things to do each day. We each took turns windsurfing, sailing, archery, playing tennis and flying on the trapeze. Drew liked the pool the best and second to that was the beach. Rob and his siblings went on a wild safari excursion in the jungle and came back covered in mud and smiling. It was a great way to spend one week of Rob's vacation month.

Interesting sleeping position. Hanging on for dear life - from what, we will never know.

Drew finally decided that being able to reach things in a two foot circle around him was getting old, and has his legs now. Crawling makes him a very happy boy - but only until he wants to start walking with Mom and Dad holding his little hand. He's still working on the whole mechanics of crawling thing, and seems like he gets confused about whether he should be walking or crawling. Right now it's not pretty, but it gets the job done. Funny thing is, he's practically walking by himself now too.

Over the 4th of July weekend we visited my sister Ashley and her husband, Matt, in Philadelphia. We had a great time seeing the city and watching Drew experience many of his firsts like riding the subway, watching a softball game and playing on a life-size monopoly game piece. Rob even got to experience his first real Philly cheese steak sandwich, which sure was good. Other then getting the croup at the end of the trip, Drew had a great time. He especially loved having four people willing to walk with him wherever he wanted to go. When one of us would get tired, another would pick up where the previous one left off. On the fourth of July, we watched the downtown Philly parade in front of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Continental Congress met to create the Constitution. We sighted many former presidents like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and even Abe Lincoln. Then that evening we heard a concert by Sheryl Crow and saw the fireworks in front of the art museum where the Rocky statue and stairs are. Thanks for such a fun trip Matt and Ashley.

The weekend after Memorial Day we went to Lake of the Ozarks. It was the first time we ventured out to go camping in Missouri - humidity, ticks, crowded campgrounds, chiggers didn't keep us away this time. It turned out great; weather was nice the whole time, we got to swim, explore caves (Drew did awesome, what a brave little man), hike, roast brats and make wicked good smores. I found 2 ticks (my first ever). Suckers are hard to rip off. Eeeeech. But we saw a cool snapping turtle crossing the road as we were driving away from the caves- I had to stop and get a picture, and resisted the tempation to mess with him. He didn't look like he wanted to be messed with in any way shape or form. But I missed my "grapes of wrath" shot of him crossing the road, because there were other people out watching him too, and they were standing in the way. And the campground neighbors weren't too annoying. Probably 5/10 on the redneck scale for the following - bare belly making bonfires +2, loud drunken couple cussfest +2, and generator noise from sunset to 10PM +1. But we'll be back. We love camping!

We went out with the Squires to take thier family pictures. This was the result. Drew isn't a raging testosterone machine (yet), he just wanted to look like a detective in some 70's flick. He's feeling large and in charge like a commish. Respect the authority!
Really the reason behind the moustache was the Squires wanted to get some old time looking photos, and for fun wanted to get some with everyone wearing a food storage device such as this one. The pictures turned out great.

So I really did it. I turned the big 30! To celebrate we had a party in the park and the weather held out for us even though there was a tornado in another part of Kansas City. I'd have to say my greatest two accomplishments in my 20's are my honey Graham and my little buddy as featured below.

So most of the party was a surprise. Thanks to Rob and Megan. We had a Hawaiian luau with roasted hot dogs (instead of the roasted pig). There was fruit punch and plenty of sides. The decorations were complete with a blow up parrot and monkey, lists of the various things I've done in my 20's, and blown up pictures of me that Rob released (w/o my permission)!

oh yeah, and the party came with the active volcano cake, compliments of chef Megan.

Everyone had a great time and many of us were partied out by the end of the day. Drew was ready for his nap when we got home. Thanks to everyone who came and helped me celebrate this milestone.

We took Drew's 6 month-old pictures a few weeks ago. Again we just did them at our house with a white sheet and a few props. Rob does a great job catching the smiles. I can't believe how much older he looks now that he can sit up on his own. These were the three best that we got and will probably end up on our wall.

So I know it has been a long time since I've blogged. But I had to get this on there. Drew has turned 6 months. I can't believe it. We have started rice cereal this week with him. It took him a few days to get into it and a lot of encouraging and applauding from us. But hopefully he becomes our good little eater here on out. This was his first try at rice cereal. We got a lot on his face, a lot on his bib, but did manage to get some into his mouth.

Drew got to meet his younger cousin, Brennan, for the first time last week. While they were together, we decided to have a "photo shoot." After several takes and a lot of noise, we finally got both of them to look up.

Drew and I had a very good trip to Utah to visit family. Drew go a lot of attention from his aunts, uncle and cousins, especially when he was all full of smiles and giggles. Here is a video of Aunt Ashley making him laugh.