Nothing could be finer

We are back from the beach, and it was fantastic. We spent a week in Litchfield, SC, about 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach. We went with both sets of grandparents, GG, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Stanley, Uncle Dave and his fiancee, Great Aunt Vic, John and their friend Cheryl. There was also a special guest appearance by Uncle Adams. So basically at any given time, there was David plus about 14 adults who think everything he does is the best, funniest, most brilliant thing they've ever seen. We currently have him under very careful supervision as he detoxes from all that attention.
We started our vacation with a weigh in. Dave's fiancee challenged Kevin and Uncle Dave to a fat off. Whoever lost the least weight would have to buy Illinois football and basketball tickets for his thinner brother. David was nervous at the weigh in, but Kevin's 12 pounds was enough to seal the victory.
David knew beating Uncle Dave in the fat off would be tough.

We flew in to Myrtle Beach Saturday evening. After what may be the longest wait for bags and a rental car in the history of our travels, we finally made it to the beach house. We took David out to see the ocean. He splashed in the ocean some but wasn't so sure about it. (It took him until Wednesday to really get in to the water.) He fell in love with sand and his wagon full of shovels immediately.

David's first time on the beach. Sunset over the marsh.

Sunday was all beach all the time. Here is David in Nahnee's old navy hat and playing catch with GG and Uncle Dave.

Action shot. Flying a kite with Grandpa.

Monday Kevin and I celebrated our 7th anniversary (and Grandma and Grandpa's 34th) with a delicious breakfast prepared by Dave and his fiancee, a round of mini golf, a little beach time with David and a nice dinner at Oliver's Lodge while the 12 other adults in the house babysat. We returned home a little after 10:00 to find that David had refused bath and bed and was happily playing with the choo choo set from Nahnee's house.

David refused the plastic kiddie club and even the shortest regular club and spent most of his golf time using Kevin's. Kevin, David and GG. Me and Kevin all cleaned up for dinner.

Tuesday was more beach and a little pool time. David spent more time examining the fresh water trickling in to the pool than he did actually swimming. The Maas contingent went dancing Tuesday night, so the LaBorde side (pictured in front of the inlet) made a return trip to Oliver's Lodge.

Wednesday the Maases took a day trip to Charleston. We enjoyed a harbor cruise, where we got beautiful views of the city as well as a pod of dolphins. We also had some good food at A.W. Shucks and checked out the Market. David was a trooper and managed to stay awake and pleasant way past nap time, but he eventually crashed and burned and was sound asleep before we got to our final stop--Kilwin's for some ice cream. We came back to more good food at the house, a dinner that included Uncle Stanley's famous stuffed shrimp.

Kevin and David on the boat. Playing with Grandma at the restaurant. Unconscious at 3pm.

Thursday we tried to spend as much time on the beach as possible. We had a group dinner that night followed by my family's beach tradition, a game of Trivial Pursuit. (We're nerds.) Unfortunately, our strongest player, Nahnee, had to leave that afternoon to go back to work. The LaBordes were allowed to phone-a-friend him, and though there was some grumbling from the other side when we won, I maintain it was completely legit.

Friday was more beach time, another round of mini golf and a game of Apples to Apples during which GG kept us all very entertained.
Sunrise. David playing his ball from the rough. Going for a walk with GG.

David sent Nahnee an email to keep him up to speed on what we were up to and kicked back in the jacuzzi tub that night. Uncle Dave with GG.

Kevin, David and I hit the beach at sunrise yesterday morning. Kevin and David played catch and checked out crab holes. Then we had to pack it up until next time.

On our way to the airport, we stopped at the Island Shops where David picked out a new South Carolina hat. He was a hit at both airports with his hat and suitcase.

We are back at home. Unfortunately our efforts to get David back on some sort of sleep schedule are being thwarted by a crabby boy with a fever that started about half an hour after bedtime last night. Hopefully he'll be fully recovered soon so that we can all get some sleep and recover from our vacation.

For Megan

Bonus pictures from the Taste

These were emailed to us by the lovely and talented Laura who continues to date Adam though she is way out of his league. I thought they were too cute not to post. Thanks, Laura!

Completely unrelated to these pictures, I need to get some video of David talking before I miss my window. His negatives are the cutest. In general, he makes an affirmative statement and follows it with an emphatic "no" and a head shake instead of saying don't or not. For example, he doesn't say, "Don't do that." He says, "Do that, no!" and shakes his head. He also continues to call Snoopy "Beezus" which I can't get enough of.

Cheezborger cheezborger cheezborger

This weekend I had my usual Friday off for the first time in 3 weeks. David and I celebrated with a little parent and tot Mandarin. This week we learned words for various sea creatures, so we are all set for a trip to the hai (ocean). I continue to be totally impressed by how much I'm retaining (I can only imagine what is sticking in David's younger, more plastic brain) and by how much fun David has. Language Stars, everyone. Sign your kids up!
Saturday we hit Sox park for a season ticket holders' do. We got to eat free food (that was the first thing on David's agenda), walk around the warning track and check out the visitors' dugout and club house. There was more to see and do, but there's only so much even our sports enthusiast two year old would tolerate. David had a lot of fun playing catch with Kevin in the visitors' bullpen as well as various other spots. He also climbed in and out of almost every locker in the club house.
David's White Sox highlights: stuffing his face, the visitor's bullpen, jumping in and out of lockers


I enjoyed the numerous soaps, lotions and gels available to the players. I can only imagine what kinds of lightly scented moisturizers they have for the manly men in the home club house. Also of note: boat loads of junk food.

After a nice long nap that afternoon, we hit GG's block party. There was a fire truck and a never ending supply of food. Bet you never could have guessed that.

David and Grandpa salvaging spilled bubbles. David devouring his ice cream cone.

Today we took David on his first Chicago boat tour. It was not just any boat tour--it was a canine cruise. Mercury Cruise lines periodically opens their 90 minute river and lake tour to well behaved dogs and their humans. Pete and Snoopy do not qualify as well behaved, but David liked being on the boat with the other puppies. I think he really had fun being out on the water, too. After our boat ride, we hit the original Billy Goat's Tavern for some cheezborger cheezborger cheezborgers and (no fries) chips.





Last but not least, we trucked out to St. Charles this afternoon to hang with Kate, Josh, baby Zach and Nate, Charmaine and Evie. David and Evie were really cute together, and I think both the grown ups and kids had a really nice time.

After a weekend like that, if David doesn't sleep in tomorrow morning, I give up.

Early intervention

Yesterday David put on a show for the developmental and speech therapists from Illinois' early intervention program who came out to do a follow up evaluation. We are pleased to report that, at the age of 29 months, his expressive language is at the 30 month level and his receptive language scored at the 33 month level, making him normal and age appropriate. I guess we can stop obsessing over his speech. For now.

David's Taste tally

Since my last post, we have been rabbit free and David has been to the Taste of Chicago 3 more times to bring his grand total to 6 trips this year. He sampled from 51 servings of 48 different items from 33 booths. (Did you think we weren't keeping track?) If he doesn't have type 2 diabetes, it's not because we're not trying. My mom will be happy to hear that he loves Rainbow Cone and actually pointed to the booth on Saturday and said, "Have it this!" And have it he did. I think a trip to the south side for some ice cream is in order with the SC GPs come to town in August.

David stuffing his face with some delicious corn. He insisted on being the one to hand over the tickets at every booth.

Enjoying more tempura and some Eli's cheesecake with Great Grandma Lil

We spent this weekend in Galena with Great Grandma Lil, whom we are trying to get David to call GG because Great Grandma Lil is way too long, and Grandma and Grandpa Maas. Saturday was rainy and cool, but David amused himself playing "hockey" with his plastic golf clubs and foosball. We also made a brief trip into town where we hit the highlights: the awesome popcorn store, Poopsie's, and Chef Ivo's where Chef Ivo himself was so enamoured by David and his orange crocs that he gave him a very large M&M cookie. Today we had much better weather, so we went out on Grandma and Grandpa's boat before we hit the road for home.

David playing foosball and relaxing on Grandpa's wet hammock

The sunglasses lasted just long enough to take this picture

And last, but certainly not least, David pulled Jackie boy's hands off on more than one occasion this weekend. He was so so very proud of himself. This is for those of you who know Jackie. Enjoy.