Intake/Exhaust

Below are a couple of pictures from early June when the Cassinghams were visiting. Dominic is wearing his new get-up from Jo and J.D. in California. This is especially cool, because J.D. worked at the Ford plant in CA for many years, and Mike's still driving an old Ford truck!

Here's also a little video of Dominic and Elizabeth playing in our house this week. Still learning the "gentle!" and "you need to share!" lessons!

First Father's Day at Topsail Beach, NC

Last week we had some special visitors from California arrive (Troy, Audra, Liam, and Elizabeth) to spend some time with us in NC. We did tons of stuff, and it was great seeing Elizabeth and Dominic together. They both had the exact same due date, but were born about 2 weeks apart. That is, they're both going through a lot of the same developmental stages and it was cool to see them interact. Liam is 6 now, so he had more detailed questions and got to enjoy the area from a whole different perspective.
We rented a beachhouse for last weekend in Topsail Beach, NC. It's near Camp LeJeune, but is a quieter gem that North Carolinians really like. We had a great place right on the water, and got to swim each day. We also spent Mike's first Father's Day there, complete with balloons, streamers, and gifts! Mike (and Dommy) got a great old-school wooden logging truck toy to play with as well as some cool clothes and pictures. We ate popsicles at a local handmade place, toured the Sea Turtle rescue hospital, got Hawaiian shaved ice at the minigolf place, ate Andy's chargrilled burgers, watched the sunset, and just enjoyed the ocean over mint juleps.

Liberty, Sweet Liberty!

Playing on the bed with Mom

It's crazy how quickly time goes by with these updates! It's only been a little while since I put up a video, but Dominic's already changed so much I feel like I should only put up newer ones. Until I get there, here's one of him from May 18th, just before Colorado, playing with Mom on the bed. He still didn't have his new teeth in yet, and his hair has started coming in better now, too!

Countdown Clock

Crawling--now!

Here's a little peek at Dominic's crawling now. He's getting faster and faster!

Crawling (from 2 weeks ago)

Dominic has turned into an expert "crawler" in the past couple of weeks, but I'm just getting to post this video now. He's really scooting around like lightnin', and pulling himself up on everything. Looks like we finally have to babyproof the house now.

In an odd coincidence, just when he got the crawling down he also broke out his first tooth! It's growing a little everyday, but I haven't figured out the right camera angle to get a photo of it yet.

Memorial Day

Last night we got back from our Annual Peace Corps group trip, this time near Breckenridge, CO. This was the ninth year of our trip, but the first time with Dominic. He had a great time and really enjoyed all the attention from everyone (like Jemima at right). We also got to do some recreation during our short trip; Kirsten went horseback riding with the crew, Mike went flyfishing with some of the guys, we went hiking in the mountains, and we all (even Dominic) went bikeriding around Lake Dillon. Great trip, even though the weather was pretty overcast or raining most of the time.

The views were spectacular the whole time, with snowcapped peaks all around us. They were still skiing at some of the resorts, but on limited snow (and some natural flakes in the higher altitudes). The mountain pine beetle has killed off many of the pines in the area, but the aspens were leafing out and the streams were rolling high.

First Bike Ride

The weekend before Mother's Day (May 2nd) we finally got all the pieces together to take Dominic for his first bike ride. He loved it, and we got a little more used to driving carefully, too.

In The Zone with Aunt/Cousin Marsha

Aunt/Cousin Marsha uses the Dog Whisperer tactics on Dominic during Easter at the Cassinghams