When I picked Owen up from daycare today I received some heartbreaking news about one of his classmates.  I'll start by saying that last Wednesday night there was a car crash involving a driver under the influence and a family crossing the street on bikes.  Tragically the eight year old boy was killed.  His dad was riding behind him with the boy's two year old  sister, and they were also hit. As you can inagine this story has been all over the news and has come up in many other contexts since then.  Until today, however, I did not know that the little girl is in owen's class.  She is still in critical condition.  I do not know the family well and only met the mom on a few occasions,  but my heart breaks for the family.  I can't even imagine what could possibly get you through something like this.  I pray that having to be strong for their other children will give these parents the strength to keep going.

july

i know i've said it before, but owen loves a messy meal.

on this occasion, he was being quite a ham, as you might be able to tell from these pictures.

  

happy 4th of july! 

because the 4th was on a wednesday we didn't go anywhere or make any plans.

instead we decided to build a retaining wall around the planter area near the shed.

it may not look like much, but it took us all day!  we're happy with the result :)

half way done...



July 6

i LOVE this picture.

owen loves dogs, and apparently even stone ones count!

he spotted this on his own at homegoods

and later that day...

getting ready for the lake (buena vista) with grandpa david.  o is not too thrilled to be trying on his life jacket.

(and i don't blame him!  that thing looks so cumbersome and uncomfortable!)

July 7

happy 15-month o!

he didn't like it much better once we were on the water,

but at least he was happy when the boat was moving.

  



July 11

 "tuck"

we got a cat!

this was so not planned.

when our music teacher sent out an email looking for a home for this kitten she'd found, i responded saying we may be able to foster it until she could find a permanent home.

well, when she called that day asking if she could drop the kitten in a couple of hours as she was headed out of town for two weeks i couldn't refused.

as of about 24 hours after he was dropped off, "Tuck" officially became part of the household.  o loves him (and his tail :))

(i was told he's a "tuxedo kitten" and immediately thought of "tuck" and the name's stuck)

  

 

July 13

getting dirty on friday the 13th

July 14

eating crackers with seb

(we were supposed to go to carmel this weekend with the spanos but had to cancel because owen got an ear infection earlier in the week and was on antibiotics for the first time. boo hiss!)

  

July 15

hanging out with dad



myrtle beach!

June 23-30

we wanted an easy beach vacation somewhere we'd never been, so we chose myrtle beach, south carolina.

grick and tutu, grandma carla and owen's cousin michael joined us for the whole week. 

even gary's sister tara (michael's mom) was able to join us for a couple of days.

it was exactly what we wanted.

watching the planes as we wait for our connecting flight in denver.

 on the balcony at the condo

eating breakfast

at the beach in front of the hotel

  

  

at the pool.

it was perfect for the kids... it was a zero entry pool, meaning you could walk right into the the shallow end like you would the ocean.  of course it got deeper, but there was a large area that owen could walk around in without our help.  there were also water park-like features with spraying water that made it even more for for him.

at "broadway at the beach" 

owen loved the mini carousel...i think he could have ridden it all day.

  

 putt putt golf is literally EVERYWHERE in myrtle beach...so we had to give it a go.

(wish i could figure out how to rotate this one :P)

theeeen, right in the middle of the trip, owen got sick.

poor baby had a fever and was so lethargic for two days.  it was a huge bummer.

gary and i did get to go out one night, but because owen had been sick we decided to stay on the hotel property for dinner.  even with other more "exciting" options, i opted for the grilled cheese...

i don't think there is much that can beat a good one and man was it tasty :)

we sat on the balcony of the restaurant that overlooked the pool and who did we see?

my parents and owen taking an evening stroll... that's them lounging over on the hammock in the distance :)

at bovine's restaurant in murrells inlet, SC

murrells inlet is right on the water.

after dinner we took a walk. 

it was so hot and sticky that we finally felt like we were in the south

 heading home.

(owen loved the people movers)

he slept almost the whole way home...