summer vacations

Unfortunately, we have gone on our family vacations. Now we have nothing to look forward to the rest of our summer. We went to a family "reunion" (not a true reunion. We all live on the same street minus my grandparents, the Donovans) with my mom's side of the family the week of July 4th. Then we went with Joe's family to a reunion with his mom's family for the first couple of days in August. Anyway, I wanted to post pictures so you could see what we've been up to.

Crowder family reunion:

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge out in Kansas City, MO from Aug 1-4. Paula (my mother-in-law) was in charge of coordinating the whole event and she really did a great job. If I had that responsibility, I would have been a basket case. Paula was cool as a cucumber, and although she said she was stressed I couldn't tell. An admirable quality :) We brought our camera and video camera, but with all the water the pics were coming out foggy. I think it was because the GWL has an indoor waterpark and all that moisture in the air prevented a lot of our pics from turning out. Boston, who has almost mastered walking, was loving the zero-depth baby pool. It was like a giant bathtub for him with lot of new toys. We had a fun time seeing family again and seeing family for the first time.

Boston liked crawling from one hole to another and trying to drink the water.

Here he is with Grandpa Holloway. He was pretty excited to see how much Boston loved the water. Jeff was a great swimmer and yet all his kids flunked out of the YMCA's tadpole swim courses. He's hoping Boston inherited that "fish" gene.

My makeup looks awesome. And Boston has a water drop earring.


Joe and his littlest brother Jackson (5). Look at his cute little smile :) He was very persistent on making us go down the slides with him. This was very unlike him.


Luke (22) is too cool for the pool. Thumbs up are awesome.


My nostrils look absolutely spectacular in this pic, but I had to put it in because Boston and his cousin Darek were staring at each other (which obviously made me laugh).


These were all the cool people in the room... haha. Me and two babies.

Deseret Clan:

We went to Nags Head, NC on the week of July 4th. Boston's birthday is July 6th so we celebrated that, although his mood was quite foul. The beach is a great place to go and relax, play some beach volleyball, and soak up the sun -- throw a baby in the mix and the relaxing is no longer a part of the equation. It was still fun to see him experience sand for the first time, as well as the ocean. Joe was freaking out because Boston was eating sand by the handfuls while me and my family just laughed. Joe realized his efforts at getting him to stop were useless and tiring, and so the next day Boston had a diaper full of sand -- full of sand. But that sandpapering experience didn't stop him from eating more. He actually would take his beach snacks (like his Fruit Loops), put them in his mouth, take them out, drop them in the sand, coat them with a light seasoning of sand, and then eat them. Very gross, but very funny to watch. We're looking forward to doing it all over again next year!

Boston and dad talking about something... probably about how much they both love me for getting Bos such a cool hat.

He didn't like getting buried in the sand so Joe had to dig him back out.

Grandma Donovan bought Boston and Dylan matching airplane backpacks -- how cute!!

Grandpa Welch copying Boston.

Grandpa hanging out with his buddy at the beach. He loved crawling around with him.

Joe trying to practice Boston's walking skills (at this point he was just taking a few steps at a time).

Uncle Dustin with matching hairdos -- definitely a good look. I think Dustin was ready for his nap :)

Boston posing with his bday hat and buttons that said "I'm 1 year old today" and "Aged to Perfection."

His beach cake from the Donovan's. It had cute little frosting crabs on it.

Still not happy after we sang.

Uncle Tyler tried cheering him up.

The cake did a better job than Tyler.

But not for long!!

All (most of) the boys in the hot tub. The water was nice and yellow... very clean. Michael was doing his Shamu impression.

Hanging out in the pool. This dolphin gave Michael a run for his money.

Steering his car. I got this at a yard sale only to discover a hole... it slowly deflated :(

Joe went to put Boston to bed and I found them like this. Every party has a pooper...

Sifting for gold. Actually, sifting for his Fruit Loops!

He tried to throw sand behind him and somehow it ended up on his hat. You can see all his sand drool all over his chest and chin.

He is sitting right next to Joe. Boston is trying to put this sand in his mouth before dad knocks his hand away. Dad clearly is hovering!! No sand for you!

Looking at Grandpa who is giving him instructions on how to build a sandcastle. I don't think it was sinking in. He was more interested in knocking down the creations.

Grandpa successfully buried him, and yet this time he didn't care. The hole was deep enough so that Boston could stand. It makes me laugh imagining his little legs under all that sand!