zoo

We spent the past week getting Bryce hyped about going to the zoo today. He talked about seeing animals at the zoo on Friday all week! Here he is ready to go!

He didn't stay in the stroller long. There was so much to see and he needed a better angle that the stroller couldn't provide. Before we got to the giraffes, we saw ducks, flamingos, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), zebras and rhinos. Not much interaction for Bryce so I didn't include pictures.

Bryce did not want to have any part of feeding the giraffes. He kept saying "bye-bye giraffe", but we wouldn't leave because Jason was having so much fun!

Bryce was not fond of the giraffes and he was very startled when another giraffe snuck up on him and scared him!

This trip to the zoo was really more for Jason than for Bryce! Here are the boys feeding the birds.

Bryce gave it a try, but he dropped the stick as soon as the bird landed.

We were finally able to get him to pet a donkey.

Having a stare off.

This was the best picture we got after it took the lady 5 minutes to find the button to take the picture. I'm sure the other people on the ride were freaked out it had broken down and they were going to dangle over the wild animals all day!

Jason and Bryce got cleaned up in matching outfits for dinner tonight. Bryce enjoys the light (flashlight) on Jason's dresser and the balls (necklaces) on my dresser so we added them to the outfit. I couldn't stand it so we dropped the props for a real picture.

My boys!

new face

This is Bryce's new face he makes. Whenever he pushes a button on a toy and it makes noise, he looks up at me and makes this face. It's too cute. I'm not sure why the same noises on the same toys all of sudden get a different reaction, but none the less it makes for a cute expression and picture!

haircut

Bryce's hair has gotten out of control. Kelly cut it a long time ago and it looked great, but as it started to grow, I noticed his curls coming back so I wanted to give the longer length another try. It's a lot like my own hair and I just get too impatient with the in between stage. Bryce wakes up from his naps and his hair is standing straight up and I can't get it to lay down by brushing it or even wetting it sometimes. This is his before picture. He said "cheese" when I took the picture. I don't think I have ever told him to say that. Who knows where he picked that up!

And here he is after the haircut. Jason took this picture and as you can tell by the face he is making, he said "cheese" for Jason too!

4th of July re-cap

I don't have any pictures of our fourth of July. So sad because Bryce and Jason looked so cute in their festive attire on Sunday. We started our celebrations on Saturday down on the York River. Jason's uncle keeps his boat down there so we went for the day and had some fun on the beach, rode on the boat, and ate some delicious food! Sunday night our friends Justin and Beth had a cookout. It was a great time and we enjoyed catching up with friends. You can head over to her blog A Wedding Story and see all the fun we had. I even won a fun giveaway she had!

Jason's Post

I was specifically told that if I wanted this included on the blog, I would have to post it myself. I was happy to oblige, as this is something you do not see everyday. Last week Grace's Father's Day present arrived via UPS in a box that looked like it had survived Hiroshima. I am sure, at this point, you are asking yourself "Why did Grace get a Father's Day present?" This is a good question that I am not overly proud to answer, though the answer is quite simple. Bryce failed to buy his mother anything for Mother's Day, so I am trying to pick up his slack with a gift one month late. Unfortunately, Grace was not surprised when she opened the box. As some of you may know, the surprise is truly far more important than what the actual gift is to her. Either way, I collected accessories for her gift just like Johnny Cash would have, one piece at a time. She was gracious enough to humor me this evening after we put Bryce to bed by testing it out. I had to document this, as most of my friends will be extremely jealous that I have a wife who is both good-looking and willing to do the following:


I am sure she will be mad if I don't mention the fact that the stain on her shirt is a result of an unfortunate encounter with some bleach while attempting to detoxify our old house in an effort to get it back in shape to sell again. Also, in the below picture, please excuse the algae on the side on MY garage. I will get around to cleaning it up sooner or later.

The following pictures are an action sequence of the fun we had. Yes, that is a smile you see.

The smile fades to a look of supreme concentration.

The concentration has paid off. Excellent work for her first night.

I have no idea how often we will be able to get out there and shoot, but I plan to do it as much as she is willing. Hopefully she will get comfortable enough shooting that maybe she will pick up the bow while Bryce naps and I am at work. It is an excellent way to relieve some stress and blow off some steam, which we have plenty of both stress and steam these days due to our housing debacle. Peace out.

--Jason

jackets in july

Bryce and I had a little photo shoot on this unseasonably crisp and cool July morning. I was trying to get some good shots with my new lens Jason got me for Christmas.

Bryce's arms were freezing while we were outside so I got him a jacket. He was very excited about it and probably said jacket a million times before I got it. However, once we got it on, it was a different story. He was not loving the jacket and could not wait to get it off.

This was the last shot I got before the jacket came off.

colors

Bryce loves coloring and writing a B. He has finally given up trying to eat crayons and he actually wants to use them the correct way. I keep the crayons at the computer desk and whenever I'm at the computer he comes up to me and says "colors" (he means crayons). He was going through the computer paper and Jason's books (oops) very quickly so I bought him a coloring book. The only bad thing was when he colored on the floor, he was not good about staying on the paper (at least it was crayons and not markers) so I decided to buy him a table for coloring.

The table came today so I put him right to work. How many crayon marks do you think will be on the wall before I have to move the table?!?

I thought his little feet looked so cute dangling from the chair.

He didn't stay interested in coloring at the table for long. He was on the move with the furniture before long.

beach boy

I think maybe I will start all of my posts with "What a difference a year makes". This year's trip to Nags Head was SO much better than last year! Bryce had so much fun and so did we! We had a traffic free and happy baby ride down on Saturday. We got there about 10:30 and hit the beach right away. We brought an inflatable pool because Chase seemed to love his last year in Sandbridge. Bryce started off in the pool, but after about 5 minutes, he could have cared less. He may have spent a total of 10 minutes in the pool. He would have rather been in the ocean!

He loved playing in the waves with Jason. Look at the grin on his face!

I just think they look so cute holding hands looking out into the water.

Bryce was not afraid of the waves crashing. He liked standing and sitting in the surf and he would have walked right out into the waves if we had let him. He didn't have a fear at all. Of course this could all change next year!

Taking a break in the beach chair.

My camera battery died the first day and I wasn't brave enough to bring the good camera out onto the beach. This morning Bryce enjoyed watching the minnows that got washed up on the beach. He helped Jason put them in a bucket and then he carried it up and down the beach all day. Not only was he great on the beach, he was a great sleeper, too. We could not have asked for more. Especially since he fell asleep in the car before we even pulled out of the driveway and didn't wake up until we were about 30 minutes from home. Now we're just wondering when we're going back!!

16 months

What a difference a year makes. You may remember this post. It was a pictureless post of Bryce at 4 months. This picture was taken soon after that when we returned from our trip to OBX. We are actually leaving tomorrow for the same annual beach trip. I KNOW Bryce will be so much better and easier than he was last year at the beach. I can't wait.

Bryce definitely has his own personality. He is sweet, funny, and a little stubborn. He knows what he wants and he doesn't mind letting you know. Especially if it's something he doesn't want!

I am so excited I was able to get him to look at me and smile. I post so many pictures of Bryce looking at the floor or turned the other way so I was excited when he cooperated this morning!

Bryce continues to grow and change everyday. He has 6 teeth and 4 more coming in. He's starting to say 2-3 word phrases like "where da da go?", "more yogurt please", "hold you", "pee pee potty". Speaking of potty, we bought one the other day and we're going to start a little potty training. I'm sure he just heard Chase say it a million times, so he says it, but I really think he is ready to poop in the potty. Sorry if that was too much for you, but he knows when he has to go so I'm going to try and get him to go somewhere other than his diaper. He also says "change diaper" and it is too cute. There are a bunch of other phrases he uses, but I didn't want to bore you.

Bryce is still a picky eater. I've been trying to do better with vegetables this week, but it doesn't seem to be working. We tried carrots and lima beans this week and neither went over very well. He loves to eat fruit and he is starting to eat a little more meat now that he likes chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs (even though that doesn't really count as meat).

Bryce enjoys coloring on the driveway with chalk and anytime he sees a pen or a crayon he says "B". He loves to write a B for Bryce (which is just 3 straight lines, ha!). He can even tell you that M is for Macy and D is for da da. Sometimes he can even point out a B when he sees one. Bryce has been counting 1, 2, 5 for a while. He gave up on the five and stops at 2. I have really been working on 3. The other day he had an 8 in his hand from his foam mat and I said 8, and he said 9, 10. He's starting to grasp a concept of numbers. We couldn't be more thrilled with his development. It is so fun watching him change and grow everyday. I am loving that I get to experience it even more now that I am home for the summer.

a summer giveaway

My friend Beth is hosting a giveaway to celebrate her 500 followers! Head on over to her site for your chance to win a cute pair of flip flops from Vineyard Vines.

My personal favorites are the Seahorse Trinkets. They also come in a coconut (white) color and I think they are super cute.

Maybe I will have a giveaway one day if I could even get 25 followers, ha! I keep telling myself that this blog is for family and to document our memories of Bryce. I would do it for 500 followers or 0 followers.