Alaina's Saturday

The weather was beautiful today in Charlotte so we headed outside to enjoy the cooler temperatures. Alaina and I went for a run and to the park while Harry was on a bike ride and then we all went to the pool together this afternoon. 

While at the park, Alaina went through the tunnels and down the tunnel slide by herself for the first time (in the past, the tunnels have scared her). I can't believe how big she is getting and this video reminds me of that. 

This second video is her in an airplane. Madison, Luke, Alex, and Weston... Alaina has a message for you at the end. :-)

Insulindependence

Many of you may know, a few may not, that Harry is a diabetic. He has always wanted to become involved in the diabetic community but never really found his niche... until now. He is starting up the Charlotte chapter of Insulindependence. The mission of Insulindependence is to inspire people with diabetes to set personal fitness goals, educate them on adaptive management strategies though hands-on experience, and equip them to explore their individual capacities. He wrote a guest post on his friend Kerri's blog "Six Until Me". Check out what he wrote by clicking here! Alaina and I are so proud of him and we hope that the Charlotte chapter of Insulindependence is very successful!

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Today is my last day of summer vacation. I have really loved spending the summer with Alaina and I am going to miss her SO much when I return to work tomorrow. That being said, we decided to have an enjoyable day together doing something special.

First, we visited a friend and her new little baby. Alaina loved seeing such a tiny little guy. Then, we headed up to Jetton Park for a picnic and some play time. We used to live only a few miles from Jetton Park and this is where we spent the last day of summer vacation last year.

Alaina and I at the picnic.

Alaina swinging; I told her to say, "cheese" and this is what I got. I think it is very much an Alaina face.

Fun Around the House

Alaina and I hung out around the house today and had a TON of fun. 

We had a tea party and danced to the song the teapot plays. Alaina also learned to shadow dance.

We played outside in the sprinkler, too! Alaina had a blast!

A Night With the Panthers

On Friday, Harry came home from work and announced that he won Panthers tickets for the first preseason game of the 2012 season against the Houston Texans. The seats were great and we were excited to get out for some adult time. Harry's parents came to watch little A and we were off for a night on the town. 

The game wasn't that great (Panthers lost) but we had a really nice time. We got to sit near people Harry knew from work and we were on the 6th row!

We left after the 3rd quarter and headed to the car. We got in and as we started to pull away we heard a deafening explosion in the rear of the car. We turned around to see most of our back window missing. I went to talk to the traffic police who told me to call 911 to get an officer to write a police report (I felt weird calling 911 for a broken window but I was following directions). We waited for over an hour for the police to show up which gave us plenty of time to inspect what happened. As it turns out, somebody wrapped a parking cable around our rear window wiper (which is attached to the window) and when we pulled away it pulled the window out. Harry finally chased down a wonderful police officer and he told us that we could file a police report over the phone. After he very kindly knocked out the rest of our window so it wouldn't explode on the highway, we were off for home.  

 Harry's dad had been kind enough to clean out 1/2 of our garage so we could park inside (it had been raining last night, too). We already have 1 quote to get it fixed and have another call in for a quote tomorrow. Hopefully with help from our insurance it won't be too much. 

Thanks to Harry's parents for staying late with Alaina and for their help tidying up our garage!

Story Time: Monkey Edition

Today's story time was probably Alaina's favorite because it was all about monkeys! She also got a surprise visit from Daddy at the library. Talk about a great day.

Alaina listening to a story about monkeys in a tree getting snapped up by a crocodile.

Oops... Wrong Video

Yesterday I posted an "Alaina running" video to show how she bolts in public places when not strapped in, but it was the wrong video. Here is the correct video. Whoopsie!

A Week of Alaina Videos

Don't worry, I'm not posting a whole week of Alaina videoed (is that word?); however, here are a few videos I've taken of Alaina that I've meant to share. 

The first video was taken outside of church. Alaina has become a runner. If she isn't in a stroller when she is in a public space, she bolts. This is a good example of that. 

The next video is Alaina playing peek-a-boo with Harry. Her laugh is awesome and always makes me smile.

This last video is one that my family will appreciate, especially my sister Martha. Here Alaina is organizing her crayons in her crayon box. It reminds me so much of my niece, Madison, who would line up her little people in a similar organization... perfect. It's a little crazy that a 23 month old is doing this!

And finally, no... this isn't Alaina, this was our dinner tonight (my parents are visiting so we were trying something new). We cooked beer can chicken and grilled some veggies; it was delicious! I love this picture because it looks like the chicken (if it still had a head) is checking how the veggies are cooking.