Ogunquit, ME

Since this is our last official summer in Boston we are packing in the activities around Bob's schedule. Last weekend we went to Ogunquit with some friends from our ward. It was only an hour and a half drive to a cute little fishing town. We went on an awesome lobster boat tour, had a picnic, played at the beach, hit up some outlets (but didn't buy anything), and had a nice seafood dinner. All in all it was a fun day, and the best part was none of us got sunburned! We forgot our camera, so all the pictures come courtesy of Jason and Jessica. Thanks guys!

We really liked the tour and had great tour guides.

They pulled up three traps and we really lucked out because one had this HUGE guy.

He was too big, and had to be thrown back!

Here is a big female that got brought up in another trap.

Those are eggs all over her tail. I told you we got lucky.

Ezra enjoyed his first boat ride.

She is explaining the only visible difference between a male and a female.

I couldn't tell at the time due to the angle, but she is holding two lobsters.

I was really confused as to how to tell the difference until we looked

at the pictures and I realized she was holding one of each.

There somehow ended up a little fish in the boat and they let the kids touch it.

Ezra enjoyed walking all around the boat. He had pretty good sea legs.

I'm glad they were really cool about it. Here our captain is offering Ezra some bait fish pieces.

Luckily Ezra never took it because I am sure it would have ended up in his mouth. Yuck!

Touching/holding a keeper.

Jason and Jessica with us. I highly recommend this little trip!

Progress Report

Ezra had his 18 month check up a couple of weeks ago and he is doing so well. He is officially off the charts for height at just under 35 inches, and is in the 10th percentile for weight at a whopping 22 pounds. He has over 50 words and over 20 signs.

If I set out my cutting mat he will play with his train set on it for a long time.

He is learning some colors but mostly only points out and says green and blue, but can match all his colors. Every time we come to a stop light he says "stop, go" and as soon as the light changes to green he yells "green, go". It is pretty funny! He knows most of his shapes but only really says star, heart, and circle.

Ezra loves to sing and is pretty good with The Wheels on the Bus. Often when music comes on he cannot contain himself and just has to dance. He is a pretty good eater, and has started liking a lot of green vegetables again. He loves cheese, and would eat enough for ten people if I let him.

I bought this really soft fabric to make some stuffed 

animals and Ezra has been obsessed with it.

Ezra spent pretty much the entire two hours of Nursery crying this week. He did better his first time, but we have church right during Ezra's nap time and I he was really tired this week. Hopefully next week will be better.

Ezra also had his re-eval for his physical therapy last week. He did great and no longer qualifies for physical therapy. He needed to have a three month delay in one of the areas to continue getting Early Intervention, but scored above his age in every area. His lowest score was 21 months, and his highest was 27 months, so I think he is doing incredibly well. We will get to see Chrissy two more times, and then no more physical therapy. Ezra really likes her. Every time the doorbell rings he says "cookie" (which is how he says her name) over and over and runs for the door.

He would make a pretty good little shepherd.

Although he would be more likely to scatter the flock than herd them.

Our one bit of bad news, was that our doctor told us she would be quitting her job at Boston Medical. She commutes two hours in, and has another practice closer to home. She said she was starting to fall asleep on the commute, and that it was just too hard on her. I totally understand her reasoning, but am devastated. We really do have the BEST doctor in the world. Bob and I were even plotting to get her to move to Gridley with us. I was already having a hard time knowing that we weren't going to have her when we moved, but now we only have a few months left with her. Bob said we should just commute to her other practice, and I think it would be worth it, she is that great. It has been so nice for Ezra and I to have the same doctor. I'm really going to miss her!

What a Week!

We got home from Maryland at 3am on Tuesday, thanks to our car not starting after we stopped for gas and we needed to be jumped, and Bob had to leave for school at 6:45am. I can only imagine how tired he was that day because I was a ZOMBIE all through Ezra's physical therapy. We made it through the day and went to bed early because we had an early day ahead of us.

Ezra and I had a doctors appointment in the morning and we went from there to the aquarium. Good thing we had the discount passes from the library because I don't think we were even there an hour. We had seen most everything and Ezra mostly just wanted to run around. We decided to head out to the fountains that were a block away and let Ezra go crazy.

They had a new Jellyfish Exhibit, it was pretty sweet!

These whale bones remind me of one of those creatures from Tremors.

Bob's favorite were the poison dart frogs.

Of course my favorite was again the sea horses.

And I would have to say Ezra loved the sea turtles

that had been rescued from the cape.

They apparently rescue a ton of turtles every year who have

hypothermia and are dehydrated.

They fix them up and send them back out (on the correct side of the cape).

Thursday we did some grocery shopping and Bob tried to refresh the battery to no avail. We replaced it after a week of praying that the car would start every time we got in.

Ezra enjoyed his time in the front seat during the whole process.

Friday I left for Lake Winnipesaukee with the young women. It was so nice of the Romney's to let us stay at their vacation home (yes, those Romneys!). All the girls had a great time, myself included. As nice as a night without the boys was, I found myself constantly thinking "I wish Bob and Ezra were here, they would love this." We went on a little mormon tour around the lake. We saw the "Marriott Complex", which was just a ton of homes owned by The Marriotts, and home of the CEO of Black & Decker (I can't remember his name), and the Pratt's (another rich mormon family, but I don't think they are famous). It was kind of funny to see the real tour boat swing by the place we were staying. Thanks again Romney's.

This picture was taken with my phone, but what a

lovely view off the back porch huh?

Sorry these pictures are tiny, but I got a pretty sweet rug burn from the tube.

This is most of us in the water. It was much colder out in the deeper parts of the lake.

When we couldn't be on the lake we partied.

I got home Saturday at about 4pm and we headed to the Greek Food Festival so Bob could get his fixing of lamb, and so I wouldn't have to make dinner. They had a little carnival going on, so we let Ezra do a couple of the rides with his friend Emily. Thanks Van Dusen's for inviting us along.

Ezra hates slides, so you can only imagine how he felt about this one.

I don't know that us making him go on them is helping.

He loved the carousel though! When I took him he kept saying "whee".

By Sunday we were very much ready for a day of rest. That was a week ago, and lets just say that we are still not all the way unpacked from Maryland.

Add another state to the list

We spent this Memorial Day weekend with EmmaLee's family in Ocean City Maryland.  To prepare to see his great grandma, Ezra was sure to bruise himself up.

Ezra took a pretty good dive down our stairs.  

This picture doesn't do the size of the goose-egg justice!

We actually hit up three new states for our list, though we only drove through New Jersey and Delaware.  Being from the West Coast, the idea of traveling in 6 or more different states in an 8 hour drive is still a little strange to us.  We went to Assateague National Park which apparently has wild ponies, flew kites, spent a day at the beach, went mini-golfing, ate at a Crab House, and of course played lots of card games!  Thanks to all of the Denos bunch for letting us tag along!

Ezra enjoyed splashing in the water of this submerged

dock more than seeing the ponies.

The ponies wander all over the place - in the ocean, in parking lots, the street, etc.

Click to enlarge.

EmmaLee warmed up to participate in this year's sand sculpture contest.