Surprise!

What a crazy weekend! I knew my parents and my brother were coming to town to celebrate my birthday on Sunday, but my sister, Emily, decided to fly in and SURPRISE me on Saturday! It meant so much to me to hang out with my family at our house this weekend. We went to the zoo on Saturday afternoon and grilled out back at the house. Thanks to all of you for making my birthday very special!

Emily will kill me for posting this picture of her talking, but it is the only one I could get!

I've been trying to get this picture of Nate at the zoo for several weeks, but he never seems to want to look at me...he did on Saturday. He loves to sit on this giant bug.

Nate's new favorite thing at the zoo is the dinosaurs...a traveling exhibit that will be there until Labor Day. His precious Debbie joined us to view the gigantic T-Rex - Nate's absolute favorite!

Here is Hamil helping Nate with his shoes at lunch...funny how my mom and I decided to sit on one side of the table and left Hamil with Nate on the other side! They both handled it well!

And to finish up our weekend, Nate made it out of the house without an important article of clothing...here he is telling me how unecessary that piece of clothing is...

I Need A Vacation

When we got home this afternoon, I was doing some chores around the house and Nate was in his room playing. I went to check on him and found that he had retrieved his life jacket from the closet and put it on himself. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Mom, I need a vacation!" I thought to myself, who are you kidding, I'm the one that needs a vacation! I can only assume they talk about vacation a lot at school...wonder if it is the abundance of 2-year olds that causes that. :)

I asked him where he was going...he said "On a canoe!" I'm sure my mom is laughing at the fact that my child is telling me that he wants to canoe...because everyone knows how much I love to canoe.

Sunday in St. Louis

We visited Grant's Farm again today. This friendy tortoise stuck its' head through the bars to talk to us. Another visitor was brave enough to pet its' head, but we were not that brave!

As you can see, Nate spends alot of time on Scott's shoulders...much better vantage point. Deep in thought about the lemurs we were watching.

Nate and I got Scott a grill for Father's Day. They put it together this afternoon. What a pair.

To the Dad That Lives at 7406

Scott is the most wonderful Dad. There are no boundaries to his dedication to Nate and our household. I could not be a good mom without him by my side. Thank you Scott for everything you do for Nate and me. Happy Father's Day! We love you!

Ten Reasons I Love My Dad

So I'm a little late with Father's Day, but better late than never. I actually got to see my Dad this year on Father's Day because we were passing through Charleston on our way back to St. Louis. He is the best.

Top Ten (in no particular order):

1. He calls me by my full name, Abatha Naja Corse Boyle, or ANCB for short. Helps me remember that, yes, my parents did in fact name me after a snake.

2. He remembers memorable days...like when Billy Joe McAllister fell off the Tallahatchie Bridge (June 3rd) and The Day the Music Died (February 3rd) and sends me and my sister an email on those days to remind us.

3. He has great quotes like, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." It means when you are hot/cold/hungry/tired, do something about it instead of whining (for those of you that know me well can sense that I heard this ALOT!)

4. He taught me not to be a quitter (even though I'm sure it was hard when I wanted desperately to quit running track in 9th grade).

5. He exposed me to many places, people, and things while I was growing up and taught me to have an open mind (even when we were in Big Sur, California when I was in 7th grade and while looking up at this beautiful waterfall, I said "Why did you bring me to this dumb place for?")

6. He makes me think about stuff like turning off lights when you aren't in a room, closing doors to rooms you aren't using, and turning off the water when you go out of town so that your house doesn't get flooded.

7. He disciplined me to take a 7 minute shower (with 3 kids getting ready for school in the morning, hot water was a commodity), therefore it doesn't take me very long to get ready now.

8. He works very hard and plays hard and taught me the importance of having "recreational skills" to round out my life.

9. He enjoys life. He enjoys being with my mom. He enjoys being with his family.

10. He loves me very much.

Dad, I love you!

Sweet Noah...

Our sweet nephew Noah celebrated his 1st birthday on Sunday. His baseball themed party was held on Saturday at Mimi & Paka's. Nate and I were there for the cake smashing festivities. Noah is a cute, sweet, active 1-year old. He walks like crazy and has fun chasing Nate around...except when Nate gets too close to his beloved Mimi...then the pushing begins! They are very cute together and I'm so glad Nate has such a great cousin.

Amanda made a beautiful, yummy cake - she is so talented. I would have never had the patience to do it!

Happy 1st Birthday Noah! We are glad we could share it with you!

Happy 35th Anniversary!

My sister-in-law Amanda and I threw a surprise anniversary dinner for Mary & Kevin last Friday in Georgia. Family and dear friends were there to wish them well. Nate and Noah were perfect angels (I had been sweating it all week because we went to a nice restaurant!)

Happy Anniversary Mary & Kevin! We love you!

Small Pleasures

Nate spent the week at Mimi & Paka's house last week and I joined him on Wednesday. While sitting outside in the scorching Georgia heat, Paka came up with a great idea to let Nate slide down the hill on a piece of cardboard. He loved it! He even coaxed his Mimi into sliding down hill too...yes, I got photos, but I promised Mary I would NOT post them on my blog!

Here is a short video of the activity...beware of the loud shout of praise from me at the end...

The Little Fish

Up until now, Nate has not really liked to swim. For those of you that know how much I like the water, this has always stressed me a little...:) He finally decided to become a fish last weekend at a hotel pool. When I started talking about swimming lessons, my mom said, "Why don't you teach him how to swim?" No way - there is a reason I always sent parents away during swim lessons...

Zoo Treasure

Scott, Nate and I headed to the zoo last Friday night. We just had a big storm so we had the zoo to ourselves. Little did we know that there was an inside part to the giraffe exhibit. The giraffes were eating and we got to see them up close.