Ok, so I know this is so terribly long ago but such is life. Ian started walking in the Outer Banks of North Carolina while on vacation with my family and now he is fully mobile. We celebrated his first birthday while we were there and spent the many days playing with cousins Will and Cate, and spending quality time with Mom Mom, Pop Pop, and wonderful Aunts and Uncles. Ian got his first taste of the beach and more or less loved it. The sun however does not agree with his fair Anglo skin. He prefers to be playing inside, in the shade, away from the UVAs.

Top Ten Highlights from the Rotzell Outer Banks Vacation 2009:

10: Loved cooking dinner with Sally (we started at 9am in the morning and cooked all day!)
9: Every meal was deliciouso!
8: Ian and I had the best porch off of our room- two adirondacks and a swing. It was the place to be before 9am in the morning.
7: Walks, oh walks! Ian and Will made it about a block before crying.
6. Sorry Dad for cracking the glass table :)
5. 7 days, 2 puzzzles, dog eating puzzle pieces, priceless!
4. Becky takes the best pictures!
3. I actually finished a book, not bad.
2. Loved spending time with family- so needed!
1. Emily's homemade ice cream sandwiches rolled in mini chocolate chips, need I say more.

Hi, Bye...In and Out!

Early mornings with Poppy

Evenings on the beach

Ian learns to walk!

Cousins!!!

Gregs and Will..two peas in a pod.

Early mornings with Mom Mom on the porch!

Lovely ladies

This was right before they lost it at 7am.

Kitchen Update

We are off to vacation on the Vineyard but we left our house in pretty good shape. The kitchen looks amazing and we are so happy with how everything came together. When we return we just have some touch up painting to do and then we can move in and start cooking again!

Progress

We have made a ton of progress on our kitchen in the last few days and I wanted to share some photos. Tonight we lay the floor and put in the door. Tomorrow the appliances get hooked up and the countertops come in. Hopefully this weekend we will finish up painting the ceiling and walls. We are getting very excited and can see an end in sight. I must admit though that I am getting a little sad. This has been a crazy fun adventure despite the dust!

We are renovating our kitchen. I have to go outside, down two flights of stairs, through another door and then through our basement apartment to the back of the apartment where our temporary kitchen is located to make coffee, pour milk into Ian's bottle and then walk through the apartment out the basement front door up two more flights of stairs to sit down and feed Ian his bottle while sipping what little bit of my coffee is left after walking up two flights of stairs with a one year old sticking his hand into my coffee while trying not to trip over my corgi that insists on following me everywhere even at 5:30am in the morning which is when Ian feels it is necessary to wake up. How is that for a run-on? But seriously...this is my life at moment.

So it is understandable that Ian and I took off for the week to be with my family in the Outer Banks. It should also be understandable why I never really blogged about Ian's birthday or the fact that we are searching for a new nanny for Ian (anyone looking for a job?) or that our pomegranates are almost ready to be picked but our tomatoes haven't turned yet. Also, I read a great book a few weeks back- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I meant to blog about that too but the kitchen renovation has taken over my life.

Below are a few pictures of our kitchen renovations. Sorry, they go in reverse order and I don't really have the time to change them all. Our trip to the Outer Banks really deserves its own space so I will be posting on that soon!

Birthday morning

Ahh traditions! Well, I really want to start some traditions in the Chapman household. One of them will be birthday breakfast of choice. Unfortunately, Ian cannot speak yet so he was unable to tell me that he doesn't like french toast and blueberries. Well scratch that, Ian LOVES blueberries and Pippin now LOVES french toast.

Why does everyone keep singing to me? What's the big deal?

I love toothpicks and straws...my birthday present from Mommy and Daddy.

Really Mom, you expect me to eat this?

Splish Splash

Ian loves water! He sprints toward Pippins water bowl every time we leave it down. He relishes bath time. And now he loves the pool and the ocean. The first time we took him to the pool he wanted to stand on the side and jump in. We kept forgetting that he couldn't swim- or breathe under water. We definitely have a water baby on our hands. The pictures make it seem like we are in Miami, but don't be fooled. A Miami couple recently renovated an old local hotel and the pool is open to everyone. They are super kid friendly and have a ton of beach balls and floats for everyone to play with. $10 gets you access to the pool and a burger flipped by Spike (Top Chef). After going two Sundays in a row Ian is now on a first name basis with Spike and friends with all the ladies.

Chillin' poolside

Playing in the water with Awesome Nate

Exhausted after an afternoon in the pool

No Shame

We just returned from a trip to Cape May to celebrate Cynda's 30th. We had gorgeous weather, didn't even have to turn on the air conditioner once. We had the quintessential Fourth of July complete with American ballads, a lobster dinner, and fireworks over the ocean. Ian loved playing in the sand. We were a little apprehensive about bringing him to the beach. I feared I would have to be watching him non-stop in case he tried to shovel sand into his mouth. Instead Ian just sat on the beach and played allowing the sand to sprinkle between his fingers and toes. It never does get old does it?

It was also on this trip that we decided amongst our friends that we needed to distinguish between Ian's real Aunts/Uncles and our best friends that Ian sees every day. As mentioned above, the guys will go by "Awesome" ie, Awesome Rob, Awesome Nate, Awesome Jesse, Awesome James, Awesome Cody. This may or may not have occurred under the influence of some cold Corona's on the beach. We are still pondering what the girls should be called...Princess and Lovely are currently in contention.

On the ferry to Cape May

Ian loves being buried in the sand

Napping with Owen

Playing all alone on the beach

Our Lobster dinner- yum!

Ian sleeping through dinner- the best!

Ian with his Godmother, the birthday girl

The girls...

Watching fireworks with Dad

Departure photos

Watching the sunset from the ferry

Saying Goodbye to Cape May