Happy First Birthday, Will!

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend we headed up to Rochester, NY to see my in-loves and to celebrate Will's first birthday!  To prepare for the trip, Claire and I went shopping for sunglasses.  "Hello, Summer!"

Claire tried on a few pairs before she found the perfect ones!

 And the winning pair...

Pretty in pink!

We arrived in Rochester around 4:30pm on Friday (Will's birthday). The kids were so excited to see their MiMi and Poppy.  They were also excited to see some toys!

Mom and Dad made a delicious supper and Mom served some of her famous carrot cake cupcakes to celebrate Will's special day.  They were a big hit with everyone, especially Will!

Will started with his hands...

...and then he decided they were just getting in the way. Time for the direct route!

I'm surprised the video I took isn't shaking all over the place. It really tickled me to watch him eat this cupcake!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Q7hIhlrEI

"Hi Mom! I could use a cup of water and a bath!"

"Thanks for that culinary delight, MiMi!"

Claire also snuggled with her "Sweet Mimi," to thank her for the yummy dinner and dessert.

On Saturday, Chris and Dad headed out to Webster for a round of golf while Mom, Claire, Will and I went to the Seneca Park Zoo, a mere 5 minutes from their house! The zoo was the perfect size for the kids. Claire loved the Elephants, so I said, "Claire, do you know the other name for an elephant?" Claire responded, "Yes, Dumbo!"

Will eagerly pointed to every animal he saw.  I was really impressed by his interest and his ability to focus in on even the monkeys hanging high up in the trees.

Chris and Dad returned from golf with smiles on their faces. They had a good round and even got to play a few extra holes because they thought they had gone to hole 18, but instead end up at 15 again.  Since they didn't have any other golfing groups around, they decided to just play on through.

Will enjoyed hearing his Dad's golf stories.

And then he told Dad about his day.

Claire and MiMi had fun playing with the flowers in the garden. (See Claire's pretty toes?!)

After dinner, we took an evening stroll down to Kathy and Chris Brown's house.  Kathy introduced the kids to their great dogs and showed them how to feed them food from their hands. Even Claire thought that was really fun!

Claire anxiously gathers some food to feed the dogs...

...and is thrilled that she still has a hand when they are done nibbling up the pieces!

Kerrie then gave both the kids an impromptu Lacrosse lesson. She was great at keeping Claire's interest. Claire tried to quit a few times when she had trouble holding the stick correctly or scooping the ball without using her hands, but Kerrie kept getting her to try again and this was the result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJlLiB_LXas

I can see why Kerrie is such a great coach! 

As I mentioned before, Kerrie even gave Will a lesson. 

"Good job, buddy!"

On Sunday, we celebrated Memorial Day with Mass, a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Supple's house, Claire's first parade (Will was napping), and dinner with the whole family. 

Grandma and Grandpa had us over to their house for a nice visit and because they wanted to give us one of their HUGE glacier rocks from their garden!  I absolutely love these rocks, so I was thrilled to receive it.  Grandma was worried that we may not be able to move the rock on account of it's size and weight.  She was telling me her concerns as we walked out to oversee Chris and Dad load it into the car.  When she looked up and realized that it was already at the car, she said, "Oh my gosh, you moved it!" Chris teased her and said, "Yeah, and Dad carried it all by himself!" Grandma briefly believed Chris and said, "He did?!?"  We all laughed.

The rock has found a happy home in our garden, right next to one of our hydrangeas.  Mom gave me some hen and chick plants from her yard to add to the rock's nook and crannies. 

We went home and put Will down for his afternoon nap, then headed out to Claire's first parade. Claire was really cute at the parade, waving and saying Thank you to all of the veterans and local Police and Fire Departments.  It was funny how they would just glance our way with a wave and then see Claire and smile REALLY big and wave back! Claire was also excited when she learned that candy was involved in parades. Since we didn't have any other kids sitting near us, she eagerly ran out and collected each piece on the pavement.

Grandma and Grandpa Supple and Grammie Brockdorff joined us for a dinner cookout and we had fun eating and playing outside.

Grandpa really had Will's attention!  He could play peek-a-boo with Will 10 feet away and Will would look for him and laugh!

MiMi's fingers were also fascinating.

Also on Sunday, MiMi taught Claire how to play, "Go Fish!" Claire was a big fan.

Grammie gave us a garden tour through her yard and even promised to send more day lilies our way! Yay!

Will and I smile into the sun by Mom and Dad's incredible garden. The Wisteria was gorgeous!

And Claire enjoyed playing some bocce!

Monday was a sad day, because it was time to head home.  Claire kept telling us that she was going to stay with Mimi and Poppy. Somehow we convinced her to get in the car. 

Thanks for the amazing visit home, Mom and Dad!  We love you!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  We sure are blessed to be able to celebrate weekends like this because of all that our amazing military and their families have sacrificed. Thanks to all of my family and friends who have served or who currently serve.  You all are heroes!

Love,

Bethie