She may be a Sanders, but she's also a "Walker"

After months of stumbling, Olivia is officially walking. She keeps getting better every day. She has even got to the point now where she can bend down, pick up an object, and then walk around with it. With this break-through has come a whole new set of things that we have to watch out for (like her getting into the cabinets). But, we are excited that she has reached this milestone.

Fernandina Beach

We just returned from our annual vacation to Fernandina Beach. Many of my family members rent condos at Amelia-by-the-Sea every July. Ava and Olivia kept things lively this year. Both girls really liked the beach, and so we took them down there most days. Of course, we couldn't stay too long becasue the sun was so bright.

Although the ocean was interesting to Ava and Olivia, it could not compete with the beach sand. Ava liked to run down the beach and play in the sand. Olivia kept trying to eat the sand. We had to keep a close eye on her.

Since the babies weren't potty-trained, they were not allowed into the big pool. We put them in a little boat and let them float around in the pool, but they wanted to get in the water- not float on top of it. So, they were both really happy when we filled up Ava's baby pool and put them in it. They splashed, played, and had a big time. Brian wanted to get in on the baby pool fun too, but he was too big.

Brian's favorite thing to do at the beach is to fish off the pier. I believe that all of the fishermen in our group had good luck this week because they were out most nights fishing until all hours. Since no one really likes to clean the fish, I believe that most of the fishing they do is catch-and-release.

My favorite thing to do at the beach is nothing. It feels so good to just relax, read, or listen to music. There was a lot of nothing going on at the beach last week. Everyone was recharging their batteries so that they could be ready to go back to school or work.

I'll admit that I was sad to leave. There is just something special about waking up in the morning, stepping out onto the patio, and seeing the ocean. I would stay there all summer if I could. I have vowed that if I ever win the lottery, one of my first purchases will be a condo at the beach.

A Visit From the Qs

Last week the Q clan came to Blackshear. Here are some pictures from their trip. We were able to get together with them a couple of times and catch up on what they had been up to. Of course, all of the kids had grown a foot since last year, but I was especially surprised to see how tall Rachel had gotten! The last time that I saw her, she was the size that Olivia is now. It is amazing how much she has grown in just a year.

Zachary, MacKenzie, and Benjamin had a lot of fun playing MarioKart on the Nintendo. Zachary and MacKenzie were pretty good at it. I got tickled at Benjamin. He wanted to play so bad, so we gave him a controller and set the game up so that he could play. His player- Luigi- kept falling off the track, so I tried to show him how to hold his controller so that he could better steer his player's car. Even after this, his player ran off the track. It took me a little while to realize that Benjamin was running his player off the track on purpose. When Luigi ran off the track he would say "Ay ya ya" or "Mama mia", and Benjamin thought that it was funny. What a sport that Benjamin is!

Why is everyone in this picture smiling? Perhaps it is because they know that Pam is about to pass out the yummy chocolate that she brought with her from Germany.

Brandon, Brian's brother, was also able to stop by this week on his way to Miami. We are always very glad to see him. This was the first time that he had seen his niece. Olivia let him hold her, so I guess she thinks he'll do.

4th of July

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July fireworks show in Waycross. I kept Olivia up past her normal bedtime so that she could see them. Hannah did the same for Ava. The girls behaved well, though, even though they were tired. Both girls were really curious about the fireworks and actually watched most of the show. I thought that the sound might scare them, but it did not.

Unfortunately, most of the pictures that I took turned out blurry. That's a shame because we had a really good view from where we were parked. Quincy was there and helped watch the babies, and Daddy also showed up before the show started. The show lasted for about thirty minutes. Olivia was sound asleep by the time we got home, and she slept all night long. What a tired girl!

Six Flags

This past weekend, we met Brian's family in Atlanta to celebrate Brandon's (Brian's cousin) 40th birthday. It had been a while since we were able to meet up with Brian's family, so it was really good to see everyone. I could not get over how big Justin and Bailey had gotten! It seems like just yesterday Bailey was the flower girl in our wedding. She's so tall now!









On Saturday morning we all went to Six Flags. Olivia's Granny Mel volunteered to watch her while Brian and I rode the rollercoasters. Olivia and her Granny had a great time. They played all day long. Everyone else also had a good time at the park. Brian and I were happy because we were able to ride five coasters- including the new mega-coaster, Goliath. Five coasters isn't too bad for a Saturday in July!


Olivia was too small to ride most rides, but we did put her on the carousel. She rode it twice and seemed to like it. The only other ride at the park that she could ride was The Monster Plantation. This was a boat ride through a house with animated monsters in it. I had ridden this ride a few years ago and remembered that it was fairly tame. Since she had liked the carousel so much, I thought she might like this also. She did great for the first part of the ride. She would watch the "monsters" play ball and sing. Everything was going fine. Then came the part of the ride called the "Haunted Forest". Olivia did not like the Haunted Forest- it was too dark and scary. I felt bad for taking her on that ride afterwards. She seemed to forget about it pretty quickly, though.

I think that everyone had a good time in Atlanta. Hopefully, we'll all be able to do this again soon.

O's First Trip to the Beach

While we were in Delaware, we made a day trip to Bethany Beach. Olivia had never been to the beach before, so this was a special trip. The weather was perfect- sunny, but not hot. There was a pleasant breeze which kept us comfortable in the sun. We lathered Olivia down with sunscreen; we couldn't find a hat so we even put sunscreen in her hair (notice the faux-hawk). After she was adequately protected from the sun, we let her go to town-and go to town she did.

Olivia was crawling all over the beach in no time. Of course, she was always crawling away from the towels that we had layed out so we were having to go retrieve her every so often. She had a lot of people watching after her, so we let her do a little bit of exploring.

One thing that I noticed about the sand on this beach in Delaware is that it is a lot softer than the sand in the northeast part of Florida (where we usually go). There was not a lot of shell in the sand, and it was cool- even at noon. This made it perfect for Olivia to play in.

The water was still a little chilly, so we did not go swimming in the ocean. We did put our feet in a little- but not for too long (brrr....cold). We spent most of our time playing with Olivia on the beach. One of her favorite things was to have her daddy fly her around. It was a very fun day, of course. Is there even such a thing as a bad day at the beach? I don't think so.

A Trip to Grandpa's

At the beginning of June, we took a road trip up to Delaware to visit Olivia's Grandpa and Nana. We were very excited to see them. This was the first time that we had been able to go see them since Olivia was born, and we knew that we were going to have to make some modifications to the way we traveled. Instead of leaving Blackshear at 8 o'clock in the morning like we usually do, we left at around 2 a.m. Olivia slept most of the way up there (and back), so we were able to make the trip in about twelve hours.

As you can see, Olivia managed to keep herself occupied in the carseat (although I'm not sure if I approve of her sucking on her foot).

We had a very good visit with Brian's family. Olivia was definitley entertained the whole time. Gary and Katie were home for the summer, and it was really good to see them. Olivia did not spit up on her Uncle Gary this time- so we are making progress in that area.

We were also able to go visit my Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie and see their beautiful new house while we were in Delaware. The house was so... nice. I really liked a lot of things about it- especially Aunt Connie's research library!

Overall, it was a very good trip, and we were really fortunate to be able to go see family.