Bradley Family: June 2007

Trip to Michigan

We had a nice weekend in MI. Sam and Katie's wedding is what brought us there but we were able to stay and spend time with Jon's mom's family as well. Adelyn has been fascinated by planes lately so it was fun to see her reaction to actually being on one. Its hard to say if she realized the planes in the sky were the same as what we were on, but she at least enjoyed watching them take off while we waited to board. She slept most of the time but managed to play a little 'beep, beep' (she was beeping my nose) that got her laughing pretty good. The wedding was gorgeous.

Adelyn stayed with Grandma during the ceremony and dinner, giving us time to chat with everyone and her quality time with g-ma. Adelyn arrived just in time to dance the night away, and she did! Her and her buddy Marna, 9 months old, have good rhythm I must say. They smiled in awe of the lights, music, and silly people jumping around. She partied until midnight, closing down the place, and then snoozed all the way back to where we were staying.

Sunday we got to spend at a boat harbor in Muskeegon where Jon's cousin has a sailboat they spend the summer on. Family met us there, splashed with Adelyn in the pool and enjoyed the warm sunshine. I'm glad we made the trip! It was fun visiting with friends at the wedding as well as Jon's family, both of whom we don't see often enough.

Having fun in the playroom at the airport Friday am

Luckiest passengers in the world to have this pilot combo

Jon and some of his college roomies

The lovely Bride and handsome Groom

Please don't make me leave the party!

Now this is vacation!

Stacy's Birthday!

HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY STACY!

Enjoying the great outdoors in Palm Springs

Have a great time camping in SD. Its not CA but a close second. I'm sure Nick can make a great fire for you to sit around and share scary stories all night. Wish we could be celebrating with you. Make sure you take advantage of only needing to use one box of candles on your cake this year. Next year we will have to splurge for 2 boxes. Have an awesome day! We love you!

1 Yr Check up

Adelyn, you had a great check up. The Dr. was impressed that you were walking already and have a handful of words. You even appeased us and showed off your tricks for her. At one year, your vocabulary includes: mama, dada, up, uh oh, ouch, baby, bye bye (accompanied by a wave). Although not really vocab words, you also say nana, baba, papa, Ma for Murphy - you pat your leg when calling him, and mmmm, usually while pointing at something. You shake your head yes and no and wave us off when you don't want something. It is clear you understand what we are saying and try your best to communicate back.

We love the way you walk. Especially noticable when just in your diaper, you walk like a weight lifter. Your shoulders are back, belly out and waddle your way around. The bandaids on your arms after the 3 shots added humor to your strut, making you look like a little bully. You already love to talk on the phone and look like you know how to dial someone up. Actually, you did call your dad somehow one day. His phone started ringing and it was you on the other phone! Hopefully you can hold off a few more years before needed a phone of your own. We bought you your own Oral B toothbrush this weekend because you enjoy ours so much. You even like when its turned on. It is a great distraction when we need to dry you off after your bath and get you all lotioned up - things you are usually too busy to sit still for. You love to eat cheese and love to play outside.

Here are your stats from the check up. You are growing perfectly!
Height: 30" - 75th percentile
Weight: 21 lbs - 30th percentile

using your bandaid covered muscles to push your car

calling family to give the 1yr check up update

Dang you are cute!

To a Special Dad...

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day Adelyn and I took Jon to the horse races at Cantabury Park. Unfortunately we didn't win big but had a great time. I blew our main chance at the jackpot by telling Jon not to waste the $$ boxing our bet (allowing the two horses to place in 1st and 2nd but not designating which would be which) since we were confident who would be 1 and 2. Of course they finished flipped of what we expected and cost us the big bucks. Sorry honey. You really should listen to me less. What am I saying? Nevermind!

There was a mom and baby horse that you could get up close and look at, which was entertaining to Adelyn. Apparently they were close relatives of Barbaro even--wow! She was a good sport, staying in her stroller most of the time as long as we had graham crackers and raisins on hand at all times. I think I heard her tell Jon she wants a pony of her own some day. Better hit that jackpot next time!

We hope you felt spoiled on your special day honey. You deserve it! Adelyn is VERY lucky to have such a wonderful dad. You play fun games (tackle!), give sweet kisses, and even have some special magic to lul her to sleep (no, I'm not talking about your hockey stats conversations either). Thank you for being so awesome.

Dad and Daughter strategizing

Mom, why did you say not to box them?

Watching the horses before each race

#1 Jockey

Zoo-rific

I think he smells her Goldfish snacks

Not too long ago I thought the zoo was a boring place to spend an afternoon. Growing up, my mom loved to take Stacy and I to the zoo. Of course we thought it was a blast for a while but then we got to the point of being too cool for the zoo. Jon and I gave the zoo a chance a few summers ago, before Adelyn was born but left saying "well, that was OK." However, now that Adelyn is here its exciting all over again. We got a membership at the MN Zoo, since its so close to our house, making it the perfect place to spend a sunny afternoon outside walking. Its fun for Adelyn to see all of the other kids running around and of course the animals are cool too. I now find myself thinking, what would be a fun thing to do today...let's go to the zoo! We're going in 2 weeks with our playdate group so I'll try to get some good photos then.

I know I still owe you a good trip to the MN Zoo Stace, so stay tuned for that. Maybe next time you and Nick visit...

Happy Birthday!

A Happy Birthday wish to Rebecca, my sister in law. The big 24 today! We hope you are enjoying your BBQ--sorry we can't be there to celebrate with you!

And another special b-day--little Murphy turned 3 today. And in response to my prior post he was an angel this weekend. I'm sure he was trying to make me feel guilty. I really do love the little dude.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Doggy Dilemma

Adelyn and Murphy playing tug of war

Adelyn loves her puppy Murphy. She squeals with delight when she sees him and loves to play tug of war. Recently she has started throwing a ball for Murphy to chase after, granted she can't throw very far yet and I have to help her get the ball back from Murph. Either way, it is really fun to see how much she enjoys him. I really like Murphy too. The dilemma comes from the fact that his barking has been driving me crazy lately. He suffers from small dog syndrome and feels the need to let us know if there is a bird, person, plane etc within a mile of our house. We own a bark collar but I just can't bring myself to put it on him. He turns into a timid sad dog when its on, so I'm not happy then either. In my mind I argue, if the barking is frustrating me so much isn't it worth it to use the collar? If that's his main 'fault,' wouldn't it be worth fixing? But he's still not wearing that collar and still barking. I guess I'm a wimp. Dog Whisper, if you're reading this, can you please come to my house for a week and make my puppy perfect? I don't have what it takes but would love the end result!

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy 1st Birthday Adelyn! We had a fun time celebrating your b-day with family yesterday. You were your tyipcal show-off self. You didn't care for the cake like we thought you would until it was on mom's plate. Then it was the best :) Thanks for wiping your ice cream fingers on me. I wasn't expecting to be the one to have a wardrobe change, but I guess I should have know better! It was a great day--lots of good company, playing in the back yard, and we even got to use the new bean bag game Uncle Nick spent hours (i.e. days!) making. It has been a wonderful year. You are a true blessing.

Today we took you to the zoo, had lunch at Costco, and went on a walk. Grandma and Grandpa Bradley are still visiting and will be watching you tomorrow while we go to work.