Walkway update

While I was in Marquette, Stephen made more progress on the walkway. Check it out! What a hubby I have :-)

Marquette

Graham and I flew out to my hometown of Marquette, Michigan last week to see Grandma and Grandpa. It was my first time flying alone with Graham since he was a newborn that slept all of the time, so I was a bit nervous. However, he was a champ and really charmed everyone on our flights! Graham had a fun time in Marquette--some activities included a tractor ride from Grandpa, a big walk with auntie Nikki Tweedie, hitting the beach with Carole and her family, more beach time with Grandma and Grandpa, a trip to the Lower Harbor park to play, and lots of crawling around the yard picking Grandma's flowers. Graham also had his first professional photo shoot at Christine Garceau's. I can't wait to see the proofs! The weather was typical U.P.--hot one day, and pretty chilly the next. All in all, we had a great time and were sad to leave--Graham loves getting spoiled by his grandparents!!!!

on Grandpa's riding mower

The Marquette Lighthouse

Braving Lake Superior with Grandpa

Playing on the swings with Grandma and Grandpa

Wow! The swing was sponsored by my high school class!

Mama and Graham at the park

Stopping to smell the flowers

A visit from Aunt Bonnie and Pete

Stephen's aunt Bonnie is in town for Pete's Navy reunion. They have a jam-packed schedule of sight seeing, lobster boils and the like, but managed to drop by for happy hour yesterday. It was wonderful to see them and catch up, as well as hear some funny stories from Steve's childhood. We were feeling merry with the news of my success on the NP boards, so a great time was had by all.

FNP-C

Well, this is my official new title! I took my certification exam yesterday, and it lets you know the results at the end (can't beat computerized testing)! I did pass, as did my pals Jen and Michelle, who also took the exam yesterday. YIPPPEEEEEEEEE--the last big hurdle. Oh wait, now I have to start working...
If anyone is wondering what exactly a Nurse Practitioner is...check out the faqs

Summer Fun

Our holiday weekend fun continued on Sunday with a trip to the beach with my fave born-and-bred Maine-iac, Vanessa, and her adorable stepson, 7-year-old Julian. The Fernandez-Greenes are in town for a little R&R and it is always great to have a chance to see them. I still laugh when I remember that Vanessa was the first person that I ever met from Maine--it sounded so exotic to a Midwesterner like myself back in our Kalamazoo College roommate days. And now here I am living in Maine, while she currently makes her home in Minnesota.
I digress...it was a foggy day at the beach, but we found this to be a welcome respite from the hot sun here at the house. As you will see in the pics, Graham begged Vanessa for her yogurt, and he is too cute to resist. Steve also ate Vanessa's sandwich, so I'm afraid we deprived her of her packed lunch! The boys all played together, digging in the sand, hunting for crabs, and checking out the ocean.

After the beach, Graham played a lot in the backyard--check out his big smile in his new "Fred Flinstone car" that Ohma and Pap Jr. got him for his first birthday.

Later that night, Vanessa, Juan, and Julian came over for a dinner of mussels with wine--made with big handfuls of fresh herbs from my garden. We had a great time. Check out Vanessa's blog for pics of the evening.

Summer Fun

Our holiday weekend fun continued on Sunday with a trip to the beach with my fave born-and-bred Maine-iac, Vanessa, and her adorable stepson, 7-year-old Julian. The Fernandez-Greenes are in town for a little R&R and it is always great to have a chance to see them. I still laugh when I remember that Vanessa was the first person that I ever met from Maine--it sounded so exotic to a Midwesterner like myself back in our Kalamazoo College roommate days. And now here I am living in Maine, while she currently makes her home in Minnesota.

I digress...it was a foggy day at the beach, but we found this to be a welcome respite from the hot sun here at the house. As you will see in the pics, Graham begged Vanessa for her yogurt, and he is too cute to resist. Steve also ate Vanessa's sandwich, so I'm afraid we deprived her of her packed lunch! The boys all played together, digging in the sand, hunting for crabs, and checking out the ocean.

After the beach, Graham played a lot in the backyard--check out his big smile in his new "Fred Flinstone car" that Ohma and Pap Jr. got him for his first birthday.

Later that night, Vanessa, Juan, and Julian came over for a dinner of mussels with wine--made with big handfuls of fresh herbs from my garden. We had a great time. Check out Vanessa's blog for pics of the evening.

Walkway progress

Steve's latest project is completing a new brick walkway. He dug up the nasty concrete one a few weeks ago, and has been hard at work laying layers of sand gravel, and now brick. The corners are especially challenging, requiring brick cutting and lots of precision! Check out his progress here. We are so excited about the walkway; it is really going to spruce up the place!!!

4th of July

A long weekend for the 4th of July--whoo hoo! We had a great day yesterday--jam packed with activities. First, Stephen and I got up early to drive up to Freeport for the LL Bean 4th of July 10k road race. A big thanks to Aunt Jenny for getting out of bed and coming over to babysit the G-man! The weather was perfect for running, although the hilly course was a little tough on those of us that train on the bike path! We did both finish strong and enjoyed the race.

Next, it was off to Crescent Beach! It was nice and sunny and Graham had a great time playing in the little stream and digging in the sand. Luckily, we have discovered swim diapers--they make things so much easier.

Finally, we hit a BBQ at our neighbors' house. Graham played in the kiddie pool with Andrew and had a ton of fun until his bedtime, when we turned into pumpkins and skedaddled home.

Beach Time

We have finally had some beach days here in Maine. Graham has long enjoyed walks on the beach in his backpack, but is now also learning to love playing in the sand. He is a little bit afraid of the ocean, but had fun playing in the little stream on Crescent Beach yesterday. He did eat some sand a couple of days ago...for you curious souls out there, yes, he did have a couple of sand poops!

Everything's in Bloom

After a bone-dry May and early June, we have had a few weeks of frequent rain. Coupled with some nice hot weather, the rain has really helped my garden. Well, I suppose I don't really have a garden, but I am terribly proud of my little tomato and herb patches as well as my flowers. Check out some pictures here.

After a 1-year Hiatus...

I'm back on Blogger! OK, OK, I'm sure no one looks at this page anymore--but if you'll give us another chance I promise to provide lots of fun posts. If anyone is interested in the year in a nutshell, here goes...Graham grew from adorable newborn (I became a little misty-eyed when looking at these posts from one year ago) to gorgeous, funny, extremely advanced, mischievious one-year-old. He learned to sleep through the night, crawl, say ma-ma, and has a mouthful of teeth. I finished my master's degree and am here blogging to avoid studying for my certification exam. I take said exam next week and will begin work at the end of July as a Family Nurse Practitioner for Mercy Hospital. Stephen is still with Altec and has been working hard both at his job and on the house. Stay tuned for pics of his latest projects.

Coming next--pictures of gardening, Graham, graduation, new walkway and more! Thanks for visiting us!