Shawn and Laura at an outdoor movie that we went to. We saw The Princess and the Frog and during the (somewhat) scary parts, Laura covered her ears and looked at me and said "What's happening, momma?" It was really cute!
Laura has finally learned how to say "cheese!" and smile for pictures...but she will still only do it when she is good and ready. Whatever you do, don't try to force her or you won't see her smile for hours:)
As mentioned above, swimming was Laura's favorite thing to do. Every morning after we had been at the beach for a while, she would say, "Wawa go to pa-ul?: (Laura go to the pool?) She would have stayed in all day if we didn't make her get out for lunch and naptime! And the life jacket she is wearing was great -- it gave her lots of freedom of movement with the security to know she wasn't going to sink.
I'm not entirely sure what she is doing...but she sure is cute!
A family picture at the Kure Beach fishing pier. There were huge pelicans just hanging out on this pier and you could get close enough to almost touch them (though I'm not sure why anyone would!) Laura talked about the "pawlcins" she saw all week.
We went down to the boardwalk one night to enjoy some of the rides. Laura loved the carousel and every time we were anywhere near the boardwalk she told us, "My wanna wide da howses!"
Shawn took 2 private surf lessons while we were there. He had a great time and was able to catch a ton of waves. Laura didn't really watch him surf, but when asked what her daddy was doing, she would reply, "My dada wen ski!" (my daddy went skiing!...I could never get her to say surfing.) Photo taken by Julian Kehaya
We had a great time at the Fort Fisher Aquarium. Laura was really impressed by this large alligator. She also liked the jelly fish and the albino alligator. She talked about what she saw the rest of the week.
Much to our surprise, Laura loved playing mini-golf. She got her own little plastic club and a ball and just hit it around the green while Shawn and I played each hole for real. When she got close to the cup, she would sit down and try to roll the ball in...too cute! And just for the record -- I won by 1 point!
This was about our 45th attempt at a family picture. It still isn't perfect, but it will do! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back to the beach next year!!
Laura and Shawn giving a report from the news desk. Apparently, the topic was ice cream sundaes:)
Laura acting as our bank teller...she needs to work a little on her money-giving technique!
Mommy and Laura giving a puppet show to daddy...Laura didn't want the curtain closed. She wanted to be the star of the show!
Our own little produce truck driver. She had a lot of fun sorting the vegetables in the truck before she decided to get in and try to drive.
A quick slide out of the corn silo makes for a lot of fun!
Can't ever resist playing in the water...And if you look really closely you'll see that she has a little heart painted on her face. Too cute!
On Saturday evening, we took the boat over to watch some fireworks. The show was spectacular and Laura really enjoyed it. We weren't sure how she would do on the boat for so long waiting for the show to start, but we took her buckets, shovels, and a pile of rocks and she was as happy as a clam! I've never seen a kid have so much fun with rocks!
We came back home on Sunday morning so we could participate in our church's first baptism service held at the river. We had about 70 people come out to watch 4 members get baptized. I've never attended a river baptism, and I have to say it was one of the most moving experiences I've ever seen. After the service, we all stayed around to chat and eat lunch. Laura has a great time when we are with our new church -- there are 11 two-year olds at the church, so she has a large group of friends every time we are together!
And finally, Sunday night we went to the large fireworks display here in town with several other families. We forgot the camera this time around, but needless to say we all had a great time visiting, eating, listening to the band, and watching the fireworks.
Laura and Nana walking down to the beach area. Laura loves playing here and says to us "Wawa doe schwimming in da pool?" (Laura go swimming in the pool --she means lake!) She is pretty much fearless and even walked in over her head this weekend and used her floaties to try and swim. We were all very proud of her.
Laura playing at the 'beach'. She loves collecting shells and rocks and moving them from one bucket to another. She also loves to sit right at the water's edge and play in the sand. Usually with Nana, Mommy, Granddad, or Daddy sitting next to her having an endless conversation with the word "whyyyy?"
Learning to ride her new tricycle -- a birthday present from Nana and Granddad. She still can't really ride it, but she loves sitting on it and pushing her babies around on it!
Laura loves to stand at the front of the boat, look out at the water and houses and feel the air blowing her hair. It is always more fun when Nana joins her!
Laura, Mommy, and Granddad waiting for the restaurant to open. We took the boat here for lunch one day and Laura fell asleep on the way. I was trying to wake her up when we arrived and told her we were at the place for lunch. I asked her if she wanted chicken and french fries for lunch and she said, "No, I want tup (ketchup)!!" Fortunately, she decided to eat more than tup and even had her first shrimp and really liked it!
When we need to spend some time in the shade, Laura really likes to play in her baby pool and the sprinkler in the shade of the deck. We just have so much fun with her -- she is such a joy!