Walking on Sunshine

Man, we are loving this summer!  The most exciting thing that's happened is that Emma is walking!  She took her first independent steps about a month ago, and was running everywhere within days. It's made life so fun for both her and us.  I'll have to write a separate post about her development, or else this will get way too long.

Dan's school year ended right before Memorial Day weekend, and he starts school again at the end of July.  So we packed as much fun as we could into the short summer months.  We visited my family in Texas as soon as school ended for Dan, and took a trip a few weeks later to Virginia and North Carolina to spend 10 days with Dan's family.  His parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, and they wanted the whole family to spend a week together at a beach house in Topsail Island, NC.  It was amazing!  We loved having everyone together at the same house, and our back yard was the Atlantic Ocean.  You can't beat that!  After driving from the beach back to the Jesters' home in Williamsburg, VA, we hosted a 50th anniversary reception for Dan's parents.  Family members and many old and new friends came to celebrate with them.

We've done some other special things this summer, like going to the San Diego County Fair and celebrating Father's Day and 4th of July.  Here are some picture of the highlights from this month.

We took Emma to the San Diego County Fair for the first time. She waves at everyone who looks twice at her, so we made lots of new friends that day.

Dan and I really enjoyed the demolition derby the last time we came, and we thought Emma would be interested in watching it, too.

Wrong. We didn't get to stay long, since she ignored the derby altogether and just wanted us to help her walk up and down the stadium steps again and again, which was distracting to other people.  We took this picture as soon as we got in the arena and all the cars revved up, so it was really noisy.  Emma looks mildly terrified.  Heh!  

We got to meet sheep, cows, goats, and llamas.  We also watched a few shows.  There was a dance performance by a local children's dance troop, and Emma was enthralled watching the kids dance!

She spotted this free-floating balloon on the ground. We cleaned it off with a wet wipe, and it was the best souvenir a one-year-old could ask for!

The day after the fair, I got to attend a tea party-themed baby shower for our friend Adessa (on the right) in Huntington Beach.  She, Ann (in the center), and I met through our husbands who worked together at Dan's school.  

For Father's Day, Emma and I cheered Dan on at a soccer game after church, then we biked to the beach and got New York style pizza for lunch. 

Our vacation week with the Jester family was spent at this beautiful beach house in North Topsail Island, NC.

Dan's parents, Roy and Audrey, will celebrate their 50th anniversary on July 11th! They are an amazing testimony of God's goodness!

Dan and Emma checking out the ocean view from the back porch

Dan and I love swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and were happy to share it with Emma for the first time.

We kept that fair skin covered up from the sun!  She had the best time running around on the beach, checking out the tide pools, picking up shells and rocks, and playing with her cousins.

Robin (Dan's sister) and her little cutie, Naomi, who is 6 months younger than Emma

Our sister-in-law, Dawn, and our nephews, Nathan, Benjamin, and Aaron searching for shells and crabs

Benjamin caught a few crabs throughout the week!

Emma and Grandpa soaking up the rays

Nathan, Abi, and Tim (Dan's brother) building sand castles

Tim and Dawn's family enjoying the hot tub

Tim helping Aaron reel in his fish

And Benjamin caught a sting ray! 

Dawn and Nathan having a boogie boarding competition. Nathan won.

Nathan created sand art

And then he became sand art!

Dan's uncle and aunt, Wes and Marge, drove from Wilmington to visit us almost every afternoon

Rob cooked a gourmet seafood dinner for everyone on his birthday. No one else knew how to do it for him.

Letting the blue crabs loose on the kitchen floor before boiling them in a big pot!

Emma and her cousin, Josiah, loved playing chase on the balcony

Left to right: Aaron, Josiah, Nathan, Benjamin, and Emma watching a video

We got bored one afternoon and harnessed a make-shift sleigh for the babies out of a large Costco box.  Emma and Josiah's faces say "get me out of here!" but they really enjoyed the ride!

Back in Williamsburg, Dad and Mom Jester loved seeing all their friends and family at their reception.

Cutting the beautiful cake a friend made them

Some close friends from their New York days

It was 4th of July weekend right after we returned home from vacation.  Our neighborhood is insanely crowded every year on the 4th because you can see most of the city fireworks from our local park. We dressed Emma in her red, white, and blue and went to the park for a couple of hours that afternoon to check out the crowds.

Emma could've stayed in the swing and people-watched all day long, I think! She was so entertained. We went home for naps and dinner, then came back to the park later for the fireworks shows.

Some of the fireworks that we could see going off near downtown.  They synchronize the fireworks in four different locations along the downtown bay and harbor, and we could see all four shows from a distance.  An hour later, we watched SeaWorld's firework show, which was closer to us.

Emma didn't get scared at all by the noise.  She had a blast staying up way past her bedtime and seeing so many people at night.  During the shows we'd direct her attention to the fireworks, but all she really cared about were the moon and the airplanes she could see flying around.

The Sunday after the 4th, we visited San Diego's downtown library for the first time since it's been remodeled.  We've taken Emma to the library a couple of times to get more books for her to read.  She loves books so much and spends hours each day looking through the ones we own, so it's nice to have new books for her every few weeks.  The downtown library was enormous and beautiful, and she was beside herself when she saw all the books! She literally ran through the aisles screaming with joy.  It was really funny and disruptive! 

Hopefully we'll manage to squeeze in more summertime fun, even after the school year starts!