The Beach (Again)

We made another trip to the beach last weekend since weekends for the next month or so are already booked. Spent some quality time with Nonna, Poppa, A. Meliss and U. Clarke, and cousin Parker. It's confirmed - Audrey loves the beach in Ocean City. Highlights include a trip down boardwalk for fun and excitement and getting some "Scopes" with cousin Parker. Audrey also met her very first beach boyfriend, an older man at 14 months, short, dark and handsome. But for the most part she played it cool, and made her Daddy proud by thwarting his advances to get too close.

Besides fighting off boys, most of her beach time is spent running between the surf and the sand, eating lunch, and dumping sand on herself and on everyone else. Video of Audrey in action follows...

Trip to the (Reston) Zoo

Did you know there was a zoo in Reston, VA? Neither did we until last week. Theresa and Audrey made it home Friday morning just in time for Theresa to leave for Charlottesville for the weekend to help with her friend's bridal shower. As much as I was tempted to take Audrey over to Nonna and Poppa's for the weekend, I decided to make up for the week away with some serious bonding time. So on Saturday we headed out to the Reston Zoo, which is more like a farm, really. We saw parrots, a horse, some kangaroos, chickens and turkeys, a porcupine, an ostrich and an emu, pigs, rabbits and best of all, got up close and personal with some goats and sheep. Audrey thought about trying to feed a couple of them, but always thought better of it at the last second. She did get to touch a couple goats (and the ostrich), which she thought was exciting, but she had the most fun chasing a couple of ducks and a goose. Well, that and this lion, which we spent more time around than anything else at the zoo.

4th of July

We spent the week leading up to the 4th down in Duck, NC with Grammy and Grampy, Aunt Mere and cousins Kollin and Brady, and a huge mix of other family (sorry, no shout outs). It was Audrey's first extended beach time, and for the most part she seemed to enjoy it. On the 3rd we headed up to Ocean City to spend the 4th and the rest of the weekend with Nonna and Poppa, Parker and crew. She and Theresa stayed through last week, so they both got two weeks of beach time in (lucky). Thankfully for us, she seems to be a pretty good beach baby.

It just might be the soft sand, but Audrey definitely prefers the beach at OC to the beach in NC. She even got to play in the surf a little bit (and get bounced around), which is almost non-existent in NC. Straight from waves to shore down there, so not much room for a 1-year old to run around.

NC also provided us with our first opportunity to get Audrey on a bike. We each just got bikes, so we were experimenting with the best way to include Audrey in some rides. She seemed to like both the trailer and the baby seat, but we're partial to the baby seat. Besides, she looks so cute in her little helmet. Now we just have to convince her that there's more to look at than the tires on mommy's bike.