So Take the Photographs

For my birthday last Sunday, David and Drake gave me a very fancy camera (Nikon D5100). I have so much to learn with this camera. I really have not had the time to play with it too much yet. I have taken some pictures in the automatic setting so far, but that's about it. I am going to have to spend some time to learn how to use this thing.

I do have a very easy subject to work with on a regular basis, so I should get a lot of practice taking photos.

Playing hide-n-seek with Luke

Doing his nightly "bathtime dance". This is typically done in the nude

You Say It's Your Birthday

Yesterday, July 10th, David celebrated his 38th birthday. Because it was a weekday, I do not think it was a very exciting or eventful day for David. I did prepare him a very delicious dinner and dessert. I also managed to recreate a picture that I took last year on the same day of David with Drake. Drake sure has grown in the last year and gotten a lot more hair!

**Notice that the dessert is the same in both pictures. I actually think the majority of the dinner was the same meal (at David's request). 

So Kiss Me

Drake celebrate Independence Day with giving his first kiss to a girl. He is quite an affectionate boy and planted one on our neighbor, Julia, who is 11 months old. Apparently this was quite a feat as Julia is known for making little boys cry. I'm not sure if Drake found his success because Julia is not very mobile yet or if he just has game. In the end, Drake and Julia provided us with quite a bit of entertainment. I should also mention that our other neighbor, Alex (7), was taking much of the credit for the "connection" as he was calling himself the Love Doctor. I believe he has decided that this is his new found chosen profession. Hopefully he will continue to find success in this endeavor.

Drake, prior to the big kiss

It's Getting Hot in Here

To escape the record breaking heat we had this weekend (it was 107, without the heat index, on Sunday), we took a little trip to Charlotte to visit David's sister and her family.

Our nephew was in a YMCA production of Beauty and the Beast Friday night, so we arrived just in time to see the big performance. Because of the number of kids involved, the same roles are given to multiple kids, split up by scenes. Tyler was Beauty's dad and di a great job with is lines. This was Drake's second performing arts experience and once again, it kept his attention for the majority of the time. It amazes me that the leader of this program can take a group of kids and in a week's time, perform a whole play.

David's sister just moved into a new house, with a pool. We spent the majority of the time in the pool, only leaving late Saturday evening to come home. We had a great time visiting everyone and Drake was especially fond of his cousins.

Drake and Tyler in the pirate ship

Tyler, Drake, and Logan

The pacifier is in his mouth in the pool to try and prevent the drinking of water.