Beach Bums

Welcome back to my monthly posts. This month was a pretty busy one, filled with all sorts of activities and travels.


Our first worldy travel was sparked by some unfortunate news and our need to travel back to Kentucky for a funeral. We hopped in the car on a Thursday and drove the 14 hours to Louisville through the night and arrived at 6am on Friday morning. I was a super trooper and watched a couple of movies, then went to bed in my car seat about my regular time. Though we were going to Kentucky for sad reasons, our visit also happened to coincide with a visit from Gigi, Bubba, Samantha, Lauren, and Isaac. We stayed at Nana and Papa's house, and I remembered their tire swing in the backyard that was lots of fun.



Papaw pushed me, Daddy pushed me, and Bubba pushed me and it was so fun.




I even tried my hand at croquet.


It was also Derby weekend in the Derby city, so I headed to my first real Derby party.


And guess what?!? I drew the right horse in two jackpots in a row. I won thirteen dollars! I was so happy! We had to head back to Boston on Saturday evening before the Derby even started, but I enjoyed watching the other horses race and yelling for the ones I picked.


Before we made our trip back to Boston, we stopped in the Schulte house to meet baby Ben Schulte for the very first time. He's not quite three months in this picture. I enjoyed holding him and putting his pacifier back in his mouth. Oh the things to come at my house! We split the drive back to Boston into two days, and got home just in time for the main water break and had to boil all our water for a few days. What a pleasant surprise!


Soccer season hasn't been too exciting this year. Most every Saturday it has rained and the one Saturday it didn't, I was in Louisville. But, we did manage to have a game the following Saturday after we returned. I was pretty excited about soccer this time! Here I am stretching with the Green Beans.


Here we are practicing dribbling, then stopping by placing our foot on the ball.


Lining up to practice scoring goals... yes, I am really tall.


Huddle up before game time.


Me in action - don't I look like a pro? This game was a little different than the last game...


Meaning, it was more of a free-for-all. All the players who wanted to play at once could, no more of this 5 on 5 business.


The game got pretty rough - or as I said, "That team was really crazy." There was lots of knocking kids down. Most of the girls left the game at some point in time. Everyone was crying at some point. I did a really good job at being right in the middle of the action and going to where the ball was, but that meant I spent a large majority of the game being pushed down. I'd get knocked down, start crying, and get back up on my own - still crying- and run to where the ball was. I really tried hard, but it was out of control. And then there were the parents on the other team... Look at this picture closely. Behind me is supposed to be the goal, but you can't see it because the blue team's parents are all over the field. Yes, all over the field during the game. No wonder my team didn't score any goals.


Me in action again. We celebrated our soccer game with a trip to IHOP. Yummy pancakes make all my scrapes and boo-boo's better.


It was such a gorgeous day after the game, we decided to take some pictures outside. Here's mommy's belly at 26 weeks.


Here's me and dad.


Pretty soon, it was vacation time. I love to pack my suitcase. I beg to pack my suitcase all the time. I love pulling it around. I love flying on airplanes. I'm usually pretty excited to put my suitcase in the belly of the airplane, but this time I wanted to put it in the head part (aka the overhead compartment). I was pretty excited that my suitcase was there when we arrived in Charlotte, NC and even happier that I had mine when mommy and daddy had to wait over an hour for them to get there.


We continued the tradition of our May vacation with Gigi and Bubba and since the beach was such a hit last year, we decided to do it again. This time, however, we went to Myrtle Beach SC and this time, Lauren, Isaac, and cousin Samantha were able to join us. We all know how much I love the beach!


View from our hotel room.


Our hotel was perfect in that, not only could you enjoy the beach whenever you wanted, but it also had an indoor/outdoor water park when you were tired of sand. Last year, I wasn't a big fan of the swimming pool. This year, I loved swimming. There was an indoor lazy river that I could ride either an inflatable car or an inner tube along and I loved that. I loved jumping in the pool into Mommy's arms. I even rode a giant water slide in Daddy's lap, but I'm still not sure if I liked that.


I loved buidling sandcastles. This was the first one of the week.


I built them with Gigi...


I built them with Bubba (and Samantha helped).


And I played in the ocean.


And so did Samantha (although sometimes she wasn't too sure about it). I loved the big waves crashing on me.


Here's our growing family of four. Isn't Mommy's belly big? She's 27 weeks in this picture and letting it all hang out.




Watching the waves with Dad.






Like last year, I got to fly my kite. I got a little confused at first and thought I was supposed to catch the tail of the kite. Once I understood how to fly it, I thought that you had to be constantly running in order for the kite to fly, so I took of running at high speeds back and forth along the beach. Daddy had to follow behind me to keep me from killing other beach-goers with the kite strings. It was fun but exhausting!




On the way to the beach one day, I climbed in this tree and said, "Hey take my picture." So they did.


I also liked to drive my cars along tracks I made in the sand. I buried some of them too - maybe they're still there...


Collecting seashells to decorate more sandcastles...


Building more sandcastles with Mommy and Chocolate...


And building more sandcastles with Bubba...


Water guns with Bubba


Our wonderful family of three - plus Chocolate


Cousin Samantha and I with Gigi and Bubba Bolton down by the pier.


What a great vacation we had! It was so much fun going to the beach and the pool multiple times a day, getting suntans, and seeing family. While I was excited to ride an airplane and put my Lightning suitcase in the head part of the airplane, I was sad to go home. All is going well in Boston - we're having a giant heat wave with 80-90+ degree weather. I even went to the beach in Boston yesterday.

Mommy and Chocolate are doing well - though not loving this heat wave in our non-airconditioned house. She is a little over 28 weeks now and doing well, up a total of 19 pounds (ouch). I love Chocolate and love kissing Mommy's belly and feeling him move. We think we're a little closer to picking out his name (and yes I know what it is) and we're still working hard on his new bedroom. It now has new windows and is painted a lovely shade of Buttermilk Biscuit.

Stay tuned for future adventures!

Easter Bunnies and Soccer Balls

3 years and 3 months...man the time is going by quickly. Or as I say, "I'm just a little bit big." March and April brought a visit from Gigi and Bubba, Mimi and Papaw, the Easter Bunny, and some warm weather that was a big relief after a cold winter.


Mimi and Papaw were in town to help us celebrate Easter Day. They brought warm weather with them. In contrast to the barely above freezing temperatures of last Easter, this Easter saw 80+ degrees. It was beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, aren't I Rico Suave in my seersucker suit. I will often times rest with my hands in my pockets, so striking a pose in front of the camera is nothing new to me.






Me and Mommy on Easter Day before church. Notice baby Chocolate growing in her belly. He is about 20 weeks in this picture.




Me and Dad before church. We look just a little bit alike, don't you think?


The growing Bolton family. Not too shabby.




All the pictures of the Boltons were taken before church. This one was taken after church. I think I was finished having my picture taken because this was the best view I would give the camera.


Well, this one is a little better, but note Mimi and Papaw's hands on my shoulder holding me in place.


After church, we headed to the back yard at our house to see if the Easter Bunny left us any eggs. Sure enough he did! He wasn't a very sneaky hider though, as I found them all pretty fast.




We finished off our Easter morning with a cookout on the back porch. It was a really nice day.


Some other cute pictures during Mimi and Papaw's visit. We had such great weather, it was hard to stay indoors.






The 80+ degree weather continued the whole time Mimi and Papaw were in town, so knowing how much I LOVE the beach, they googled a beach in Boston, and we headed there to spend some quality time in the sand.


Making sandcastles with Papaw.


Playing bury the cars with Mimi.


Where are they? I had to donate a few cars to the beach since I couldn't remember where I buried them.


Since I'm such a big boy now, I'm ready for my first sports team. I am officially a soccer star. Okay, well really, I play 3 year old soccer for the YMCA. Our first two games were rained out, so this past Saturday was my first game. I was super excited before we got there. Once all the kids showed up, my face kind of looked like this and I needed a lot of encouragement. Once I let go of Mommy and Daddys hands, I participated, but frequently had this look on my face.




There were 11 kids on my team and we are the Green Team, also known as the Green Beans. My coach Matt is in the black pants. We spent the first 30 minutes doing drills - kicking goals, passing, dribbling. Then the next 30 minutes were spent in a scrimmage game.


I'm a really good dribbler. My kicks need a little work and a little strength, but not too bad for a starter.




Huddle up!




In deep discussion with coach Matt.


Watch out - I might be smiling!


Yes, this is an in game snapshot. I am the only player who actually has the ball and cares where it is. Most everyone just kind of moved to where the ball was, if they even did that, but I really tried to get in there and get the ball. And guess what?!? I even scored a goal!!! They didn't really keep score, but Mommy thinks it was about 4-3 Green Team. Wahoo!


This is another in game shot. Again, not too many people care where the ball was, but I look like I'm about ready to cry, not sure why. Maybe it's because I don't have the ball. So overall, not too bad of a first game. I need some encouragement to get out there and play, but when I play, I do a great job. I even cried when they took me out, which I'll just have to get used to since we have 11 on our team and they only play 5 at a time. Stay tuned for future soccer updates. We celebrated our first game with a trip to IHOP.


Baby Chocolate is doing well too. Mommy is about 18 weeks in this picture, but is about 24 weeks now. He's very wiggly, though I'm not sure if he's wigglier than me. Mommy's weight is up 14 pounds now and the morning sickness she had with me has been long gone for some time now. Things are right on track and nicely boring. They've started work on his room too, which used to be my playroom. Papaw took the wood panelling off the walls, so now Mommy and Daddy are trying to see if the holes every 6 inches where the panelling was nailed into the plaster walls can be repaired. We're also getting new windows in that room. Chocolate sure will love his sock monkey theme room.

Mommy also turned the big 3-0 this month. Since Mimi and Papaw were in town, she and Daddy took a date night to a fancy restaurant. On her actual birthday, she spent the morning at a spa followed by an afternoon shopping trip with Mimi and Papaw. It was a pretty good day!


We love spring. The tulips are in bloom and we've had some good weather. See you next month!