Fun in the Sun

Last week we went to Newport, and it was one of the best beach days we've ever had!

Parker was great, so content with his food, his sand, and his food+sand.

I even got to lay out, eyes closed, completely relaxed for a bit. It was heavenly.

 Steve was content with his truck and the normal crowd of little boys and grown men it draws.

 Parker and I got into the water, it was noticeably warmer than the last time we got in. Parker got excited as the first wave came and crashed, but after he felt the cold he just stared at each one intently. I noticed Steve was hanging around pretty close on the shore watching us (when he had been playing with his truck), and I called him out on being nervous about my stability with Parker in the waves...

sure enough, a wave came and crashed right on us and I just about lost my balance!

It's OK, little P doesn't remember a thing.

 After a couple hours, we packed up and drove over to Huntington for their street fair of food and music. A little greasy food, a little Beatles throwback with HB Pier in the background...

 He kept trying to pull of his hoodie from his head (he usually pulls his hat off), but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't come off! He kept pulling on it and squishing his face. Hilarious.

 Perfect day

 One of my new favorite sides!

Baked zucchini fries with red pepper sauce

Preheat oven to 425, slice zucchini, dip in flour/salt/garlic powder/onion powder, dip in beaten egg, coat in panko bread crumbs/garlic and onion powder, paprika, salt. 

Bake 10 min, flip, bake another 10 min. Divine.

 Parker's little girlfriend, Claire, had her first birthday party last week.

Julia and I had been talking and she was telling me she's been getting a little emotional with the milestone approaching, and I've also heard of several of my other friends feeling the same way! I'm definitely starting to feel the same pangs of heartache.

So of course we had to go celebrate sweet little Claire.

We were hanging out inside with Dryw and Steph's little guys, Maverick and Gavin...adorable.

 Claire telling us she's 1! We got to grill and swim in their new house's pool. 

Happy Birthday Claire!

 Does anybody else's child love to hang upside down?? If he's fussy, we'll hang him by his feet and he's instantly a gigglemonster! He thinks it's the greatest thing to flip over on his belly (when he's on the couch) and squirm his way to the edge and just dive for the carpet.

Seriously?

It's OK, he's pretty dang cute doing it.

We picked our pick numbers tonight for rotations, and we got pretty good numbers for what we want to do...we pick the first two rotations in two weeks, then the last two after that. Things are getting crazy! I can't believe we'll be leaving next year, I'm going to miss the beach soooo much ugh...

let's not think about it.