Grandpa's Birthday, Carrot Man, Becky's Pool, and Picnic in the Park

Grandpa Ricci's birthday is April Fool's Day and, since we were out of town and things were nuts on his end, we just got together to celebrate Friday. I'd say, based on the smile on J-man's face in both the above pics, Grandma and Grandpa Arthur are two of his favorites!

And on to the topic of my carrot-loving son. You'd think they're lolly pops, the way he stuffs them in his mouth one right after the other. I'm afraid he's gonna turn orange (apparently that's a real possibility)! I just thought these couple photos of meal time were fun.

Becky and Dick Smith own a house in Sunbury with a BEAUTIFUL lot. Dick decided several years back to build on a maginificent indoor pool room looking out to nothing but nature off the back of their home. Jackson, Scott, and I gladly accepted an invitation to join the Smiths Saturday for a little swim/snack time at their home. Jackson pulled a "I'm a baby and need to be introduced to splashes and loud reverberating sounds gradually... get a hint, Mom, I can't be adventurous ALL the time" stunt again. I'm learning more and more about his personality. He's more of a test-the-waters (literally, in this case) baby than a "full-throttle-I'll-take-anything-you-give-me kind of kid. Which is hard for a "full-throttle-I'll-take-anything-you-give-me kind of woman/Mom to be patient with. Maybe he gets this tenderness (aka scare-cat-edness, as I call it) from his Daddy. Oh yeah. That's probably an accurate comparison. Scott was the one who sat out rollercoasters during his earlier theme park days, and called his Mom to pick him up from summer camp. Oh geez. Is this in my future???

Scott in the pool, Becky chatting on the lounge chair, Jackson playing SAFELY and DRYLY on the carpet, and Dick working on a Sudoku. A PERFECT Sat!FGM Becky and J-man hanging

Lastly, take a look at the fun Sophia, Jackson and I had in the park today! I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't spend at least a LITTLE time out of doors today. It is brilliantly beautiful out there. Sophia showed up this morning in a pink, frilly tutu. Those pudgy legs extanding from that skirt just had me in stitches all day today!!!

Not the most lady-like position for Sophia... good thing for that divide in the stroller!!!

The image I see from my pushing position. Sophia is notorious for pulling off her socks.

Bibs on, ready to eat! This miracle lasted for about 1 minute, before they proceeded to pull each others' bibs off. Lunch was VERY interesting, let's put it that way!

Major concentration over that stick. Jackson's first encounter with nature since last summer, when he really didn't give two flips. My attempt at a multi-tasking self portrait. Sophia prefers to DRINK her lunch, so I had a bottle going while feeding Jackson and myself. I broke from the me-Jackson feeding to take this shot. We had a blast!!!