She's BAAAAAACCCCCKKKK...

Look what's in our driveway.

FINALLY!!!!!

Whoo hooooooo!!!!!!

I'm happy to report we're 'moving along' with the idiot's insurance company. It's been a little slow because the Murano took so long to fix, but hopefully now that issue is over things will progress faster. This really did a number on our car (you wouldn't believe the total), but her 'plastic surgery' went well and she's back and better than ever.

I'm still in physical therapy for my neck. The therapist who evaluated me was SHOCKED when she tried to touch my neck and I jumped because my muscles were so tight. I'm really sore and it is uncomfortable to carry McKinley (which seriously ticks me off), but I'm hopeful that this too shall pass.

I'm just so happy to at least have our own safe, sturdy car back at home. I think we all feel less out of sorts and can get back to normal.

In the meantime, we're all three nursing 'colds' again. Yuck, it's been a bad year for that. I attribute part of that to the weather and the early-June floods that wreaked havoc on Indiana.

McKinley has a busy week in store. Wednesday he will attend his very first Wee Read at our library. I can hardly wait! We're meeting some friends there too (Mommy Heather and Van - pictures to follow soon) and I'm sure all four of us will make many new baby and mommy friends. The class is structured for babies ages 0 to 2, so McKinley will have a ball interacting with these children, no doubt!

Updates and fun pics to come!

Lynn

A good way to end a great summer

In honor of the unofficial end to summer (Labor Day Weekend), I thought it would be a great time to do the long-standing tradition of the 'What I did over Summer Break' Report.

This is the Vernon Version:

Our summer was filled with lots of excitement, beginning with our first family vacation to Myrtle Beach and my birthday (30!) and ended with a great trip to B-town for Cary's birthday over the holiday weekend.

Myrtle Beach was beautiful and the perfect getaway for our first family vacay. We had so much fun visiting the Biltmore Estate on the way to M.B. and really soaked up the sun for a whole week. Yours truly got a little too much sun...painful. See slide show of vacay here.

My 'Big Three-Oh' was soon to follow, and was a total blast. Cary and my Mom threw me a wonderful surprise party - I was SHOCKED - and had a great time, even if they did make me wear goofy glasses and a GIANT party hat (think dunce cap). lol

We celebrated the fourth of July together and the following night Cary and I had a great date to see a long-time fave, John Mayer. Good times!

After that it was time to get everything ready for another birthday...McKinley's FIRST! We had a lot of fun with that day and were so honored to have so many wonderful friends and family members there to share such a special day with.

I guess the next 'big event' during our summer was my wreck...but I promised that this post would be happy and upbeat, so that's all I'm gonna say about that!

In the beginning of August, McKinley attended his very first wedding and reception. My old buddy from...gosh, can it be ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? Yep...we go back pretty far...Jim and his lovely bride Caitlin got married. It was such a beautiful day for them and we were honored to have been guests at such a special occasion. I think McKinley's favorite thing about the whole day was taking a carriage ride around the Circle in downtown Indy and the horse he met. He loved it!

After McKinley was fast asleep, thanks to my Mom, Cary and I headed back to reception for some alone time. It was great catching up with Jim and Mike and their families. We had a great time. After the reception ended, we strolled around downtown Indy, hand in hand for a while. It was a nice feeling to be out on our own and relaxed together. We stopped off at a restaurant/brewery and had a little snack and drink (I had the Godiva Martini...YUM!!!), then headed back to the hotel for the night. Though it wasn't a planned date, it was so nice to be together in such a beautiful area of the city. I love being impromtu with Cary!!!

So, the summer 'ended', unofficially this weekend with the Labor Day Holiday, and Cary's birthday. Sunday we picked up Mom and headed to B-town for some R&R, tacos and cake. We had so much fun playing around all day, but my favorite part was watching Logan and Mason 'chase' McKinley through Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was SO CUTE! Check out the video-listen to the screams of delight! Love it! Ever seen anything cuter? Didn't think so...

(You can turn the music down or off at the bottom of the page to better hear the silliness!!!)

Those were most of the big things, but we also had so much fun watching McKinley go from baby to boy (and trust me, he's all boy, folks! hahaha). He's made some big changes over the summer. His vocabulary has grown, he's become VERY opinionated (No, really???!!!), 'graduated' to one nap a day, table foods and whole milk (organic, of course) in a BPA-free sippy cup. We've also had so much fun making many trips to visit family in B-town, going to the park, finger painting, coloring with crayons and playing in our backyard 'waterpark'.

Our boy sure is a ball of energy and loads of fun. Everyday is new and exciting and full of a new word, sound or trick. He has made it an extra fun summer for us.

We are sad to see the summer go, but anxious for a gorgeous and event filled fall. We've already got some fun things to look forward to for McKinley (Wee Read, Kindermusik, The Pumpkin Train), and for ourselves (anniversary #4!!!!, Zumba for me, Golf tourneys for Cary, and a special getaway).

Hope everyone had as great of a summer as we did!

Lynn