Who needs a big pool to have fun?

Papaw was kind enough to send me these pictures to share. This is Gracie (1 year--first birthday party post coming soon), Drew (16 months) andAiden at Memaw and Papaw's house for fun in the sun/shade...and a nap! I have to brag on my mother-in-law a minute. Is she a miracle worker or what? How did she get all 3 of them to fall asleep at the same time??? They love their cousin-time!

Zimmerman Family Reunion

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Camden, South Carolina, home of Uncle Sonny and Aunt Tish, for a Zimmerman family reunion. They were kind enough to open up their lovely home and pool to a bunch of crazy relatives. We had a wonderful time. We were a little nervous crossing into South Carolina because of last year's fiasco, but we made it all the way there and home without a problem. (Last year when we left St. Simons we were supposed to be driving to Ohio for Andy's cousin's wedding and to see the other side of his family. However, the water pump in the truck only made it to Orangeburg, SC.)

The gathering Saturday included most of Papaw's siblings and a few of their kids and grandkids. I will try to at least say who everyone belongs to in the group picture. I'm trying to do better at learning all of Andy's cousins and their spouses and children, but I still get a little mixed up at times. Chrissy and her family had been in Myrtle Beach the week prior so they came on over on the way home so Aiden had Drew to play with. As the day grew to a close Aiden and Drew held court in the screened-in porch playing ball and chasing each other around.

Ok, here goes... on the steps L to R is Andy, Aiden and me, Andy's cousin Vicky and her husband David, their 2 kids and Vicky's sister, Jenny's 2 kids. Vicky and Jenny are 2 of Aunt Teresa and Uncle Jim's kids. In the back are Sonny and Tish's daughters Gretchen, with her husband Greg and Lauren with her boyfriend, Vicky with her boyfriend, Aunt Tish hiding behind Memaw, Uncle Jim and Aunt Teresa, Aunt Denise and Uncle Billy, Aunt Amy, Uncle Rich and their daughter Renee, Sonny and Tish's daughter Kristen, Papaw, Uncle Sonny, Andy's sister Chrissy and her husband David and their kids Drew, Zack, Donovan and Jeremy. Sorry to the ones whose names I forgot or misspelled! The ones in blue are Papaw's siblings.

Aiden and Memaw in the pool.

Aiden swimming with Memaw.

Papaw brought his keyboard to provide the "live entertainment."
Aiden loves to play with Papaw, so they had to perform a couple of duets.

Memaw and her youngest grandboys: Aiden and Drew.

Aiden and Drew playing in the water with Chrissy and Memaw.

Chrissy and Drew

Aiden entertained everyone by putting on Andy's size 13s and walking around the screened-in porch in them. He's gotten to where he likes having everyone watching him.

Show Me Your Muscles

Andy and Aiden have a new trick. I haven't said much about it on the blog, but Andy and I have been on Weight Watchers and working out since the first of the year. Andy has acquired quite a gym that now takes up 2 rooms in the basement, mostly from Craig's List. Andy has lost over 50 pounds and I've lost a little over 40 pounds. All this was trying to get us in shape for the newest weight loss/fitness extravaganza-- P90X. It is a really intense 90 day diet and exercise program that promises to get you in the best shape of your life. Today was day 2 and we are feeling it already!

I say all that to explain part of the reason Aiden has a new trick. Occasionally Andy will flex in the mirror to check his muscle building progress and Aiden has apparently been watching. Now whenever Andy says, "show me your muscles" Aiden will flex. He's working on the mean face and grunt that goes with it. A few mornings ago it took us quite a while to get through breakfast because Aiden had to stop every few bites to flex for me. I'll try to get a better pose for you, but this was my first effort at capturing it.

Evolution of a Kiss

I just had to jot this down really quick because I think it is so sweet. A couple months ago I started asking Aiden to give Mommy a sugar (that means kiss for all my Yankee readers). Well, he caught on really quickly. Then I started asking him to give other people a sugar. For instance, "Aiden, give Daddy a sugar." But he would always turn around and give me a sugar instead (which I secretly loved!). After a week or 2 though he got to where he would give his daddy and both sets of grandparents sugar. Last week at the beach he gave his Aunt Jessie and his Aunt Pat sugar when asked. Over the weekend he started freely giving me sugar without prompting, especially at bedtime.

Today he stayed with Memaw as is our normal Wednesday arrangement, but instead of having Drew to play with Aiden had his cousin Gracie who will turn one on the 26th. When I came to pick Aiden up Memaw noted that Aiden had been very loving-- running up and hugging her and kissing her. When we were ready to go I told him to give Memaw bye-bye sugar, then I asked if he wanted to give Gracie bye-bye sugar. Well, let me tell you...after he leaned in and gave her the first one she couldn't get enough. Gracie would lean back towards Aiden and Aiden would kiss her again. They must have kissed about 5 times. It was very sweet and very cute and of course there I stood without my camera. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Maybe I can sneak a shot of them. I know Papaw got some of them playing together so I will post them when he sends them to me.

Tonight when Aiden gave Daddy his night-night sugar Andy noted that he was even puckering up now. He is a very sweet little boy indeed!

Vacation Pictures

I apologize for the delay with this posting. I took over 350 pictures at St. Simons last week so I have been dreading the process of going through them and narrowing them down for the blog. I was also trying to get some printed out before I saw patients on Monday because I had promised to bring pictures when I came back from vacation. That process was a little more difficult than it should have been, but that's a story for another time. As I said in my last post, we had a fabulous time! The weather was great and Aiden loved every aspect of being at the beach. We played in the pool or at the beach during the day, went out to dinner every night, then played on the beach after dinner with bubbles and kites. Aiden thoroughly enjoyed having Alexander there to play with too. Hopefully I will have some video of them laughing and playing together uploaded soon. We had two 3 bedroom condos at the Beach Club this year. Mom, Dad, Andy, Aiden, me, my sister Jessie and her husband Matt were in one and Uncle Bob, Aunt Pat, my cousin Katherine, my cousin Chris and her husband Matt and her son Alexander were in the other. We were able to eat dinner with Memaw and Papaw (Andy's parents) Thursday night because they had just arrived on Jekyll for a weekend Elks convention so that was a nice surprise for Aiden. Aiden learned to say plane during the week because there were so many taking off and landing over the beach from that little airport and he had to point them all out. He also enjoyed seeing the Coast Guard helicopter.

Playing kick ball on the beach.

Aiden playing in the baby pool.

Aiden and Granpa in the big pool with a beach ball to throw.

Aiden and Granma (yes, he's calling her Granma now, actually its "my granma") ready for dinner.

Playing in the sand, waiting for the tide to come in.

This is most of the gang: front row: Jessie, Matt, Andy.
Second row: Katherine, Matt, Chris, Dad.

See, there is a picture of me....

My hunk of a husband, Granpa, and Aiden

Aiden and Alexander playing with Alexander's legos.

Aiden sitting in a live oak tree.

Alexander, Granma/Aunt Kay, Aiden, Granpa/Uncle Mike

Aiden and Alexander watering the ocean.
50+ sunscreen really works, because my lilly-white child didn't even get pink! He actually has a little tan.

Aiden playing with a seagull feather much to Chris's dismay.

Aiden and Aunt Jessie reading a book.

Flying a kite and blowing bubbles with Granma, Granpa, and Daddy.

"Me do it" blowing bubbles or spilling bubble blow all over Granma and Granpa-- same thing.

Playing in the sand.

Trying to figure out how he got sand on his leg.

Helping Aunt Jessie build a sand castle.

He actually got in the 50+ UPF pack-n-play-- once.

Flying the $1 Spiderman kite.

More bubble blowing. Notice Granma wised up and brought a towel this time.

Not sure about the baseball hat.

Helping Granma with the castle.

"Borrowing" Alexander's chair to let the incoming tide splash his feet.