Florida Day 4

Today was a bit chillier than the rest of the week - it only got up to around 64 and was windy. This morning we went to breakfast at a great place called Millie's. Cameron chowed down on breakfast, he ate most of three good-size pancakes. We went back to the condo and played and read until it was lunch/naptime. After naptime, we went on a walk to look for a geocache on the public beach just down from the condo. We found that quickly, then stopped to play on a playground and walked back along the beach. Luckily we thought to bring buckets and shovels with us, so we stopped to play in the sand for a while.

Finally, a photo with all three of us. Playing in the sand, which is our favorite thing to do here.
Cameron tried to chase the birds. Unfortunately, he won't run fast enough to get them to fly away because he is a little afraid of them. Instead, they just walk away from him. He still likes it though.

Contemplating the meaning of life.

Having fun on our walk. In Cam's hands is the dinosaur toy that we found in the geo-cache.

Cam and Mama walking on the beach.

And we stop to smile for Daddy.

Florida, Days 2 and 3

Cameron is pretty much in heaven here, between the beach and the pool. I think he could probably play in the sand for hours if we let him. He likes to swim too, but gets chilly eventually. Today it was around 65 outside, but the pool is heated to the low 80s so we were able to stay in for a long time, as long as we stayed in the water. When we got out though - whoa was it chilly! Yesterday was warm and nice all day, a little cloudy and a little windy but warm enough for us! Cam and Daddy went swimming in the morning and in the afternoon. And we played on the beach quite a few times. We have been having a lot of fun. Cameron has been sleeping good, taking long naps and sleeping 12 hours most night.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the past few days. We have taken a ton of cute ones (Cam is such an easy subject!), so here are some of our favorites.

Cam, ready to go to the beach. He insists on carrying the beach toys himself.
Come on guys, let's go!
Cheeeeeeese!
Cameron and Daddy did a lot of walking down to the ocean, filling up buckets.
Cameron likes making sandballs and dropping them back onto the beach Daddy dug a big hole for Cameron to play in. Cam really liked sitting in it.
He helped dig out the whole from the inside.
Then he went down to the ocean to get some water. He usually wanted to bring the bucket back up himself, and ended up splashing half the bucket onto his shirt and bathing suit.
Pouring the water into the hole!
That afternoon, Cam and Opa played on the beach.
Let me help you fill that, Opa.
Camzilla destroyed all of the castles after working hard to build them.
Sweet beach boy
More water into the hole!
And then we jump in the hole and splash around.
Cameron in the pool. He really likes walking around on the steps and swimming in the shallow water.
This water baby would spend hours in the pool if we let him.
Swimming in the deep end with Daddy.
And then wrapping up to stay warm in his monster towel.
Today on the beach, Cameron and Daddy built a sand mountain. Cameron climbed to the top and pronounced himself the winner.
Then they decided to pour water on the mountain - what else would you do with a a giant sand pile?
Coming back with his bucket filled with water.
The mountain turned into a volcano, so Cameron helped to dig out the hole in it.
Cam and Daddy making a hole in the volcano.
And Cameron climbs in! This could go on for hours, Cam really loves the sand.

Cam Cutes: Airplane Edition

We are currently in Florida visiting Omi and Opa. It is warm, sunny and wonderful here. And it sounds like the weather back home is horrible and snowy, which makes the weather here extra great! We got here around noon today, and spent the afternoon at the pool and at the beach. Cameron loves the sand (which he keeps calling "snow") and loves swimming in the pool.

This is the first time Cam has been on a plane since he has been old enough to understand what is going on. He has really been looking forward to the flight, and was a good boy on both flights. He really liked "driving fast" (aka taking off) and just liked flying in general. Here are a couple cute stories from the airplane.
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When we were taking off on the first flight, just as we took off there was that funny feeling you get in your stomach on takeoff. Cameron looked at Tim with a bit of trepidation and said, "I'm falling!". Tim told him we were just taking off, and he said "Oh" and didn't have any more problems with it.
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Cam was VERY impressed with the potty on the plane. We walked into the bathroom to change his diaper and he said in a hushed, awed voice, "Airplane have potty??" I told him that most airplanes have potties, and he said, "Wow, I like it!"
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Since we left so early, Cameron just had his pajamas on. We changed him into a t-shirt and pants on the second flight. When Tim pulled Cam's t-shirt on, Cam looked confused and told Tim, "Something wrong with shirt - my arms are nakie!". Of course, he just meant he had a short sleeved shirt on, but I guess you know it has been a long winter when he forgets that short sleeve shirts exist!!
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Cam finally fell asleep about 20 minutes before we landed in Sarasota. Right as we touched down, he woke up, opened his eyes, and said "Whoa!!".... then went right back to sleep and slept until we got the gate.

At first, Cam didn't want his picture taken.
Then, he decided to be at least a little cooperative and uncovered his face.

Cam Cutes: Crib -> Big Boy Bed

When we moved into the new house, we also moved Cam into a new bed. We figured it was a good time for him to be making the transition to a big boy bed, so we spent a few months hyping it up and letting him go with us to pick out his new bed. He was very excited to move into the new house and start sleeping in his BIG BOY BED.

Cam's last night in his crib (January 1st) - of course I had to document the occasion

Here are a couple of pictures of Cam sleeping in his new bed. They are dark, but you can see that Cam still hasn't quite mastered the art of sleeping with his head on his pillow, under the covers. He is getting better, but every couple nights or nap times, we peek in to see him completely turned around with his head at the foot of the bed.

The first photo was his first night in his big boy bed. Notice the pink blanket acting as his temporary window covering. Not very manly for a Big Boy Room!!
This picture is about a week later, when we bought and hung up his permanent room darkening shades.

He does love his new bed, especially the drawers at the foot where he can store his books and treasures, and the shelves at the head of the bed, where he puts his Pooh bears, sippys and books. We have been lucky that it has been a pretty easy transition so far!

Christmas Recap, Part 2

The other Christmas pictures we have (on Tim's computer, not the broken laptop) are the ones from Christmas with Kristin's family. Everyone was able to be together at Christmas time, which was really great. We had our traditional Christmas dinner of appetizers, followed by lots of lots of gifts. We had a really great time!!

The Christmas tree, loaded with presents underneath
While everyone was getting ready to open gifts, Uncle Paul and Uncle Matt turned Cam's ride-on fire truck into a "tank". Cam loved it.
Cameron also loved this puzzle he got (and every other toy he received, as well).
Angela inspecting the smell of one of her gifts. Check out that bling on her finger!
Matt and Gina (or "Genie", as Cameron prefers to call her)
Hello Daddy, this gift is for you!
Cameron and Nana look at the picture frame that Cameron got for Nana.
The whole family
Christmas boy!
Uncle Paul, very excited to be receiving a Slip N' Slide for Christmas. Angela, in the background, may not be quite as excited. :-P
Uncle Matt and Cameron play with a toy
Cam and Poppa work on Cameron's work bench.

Christmas Recap, Part 1

Hello there blog - long time, no see. We have been quite remiss about keeping you updated. There are lots of excuses, but I won't bother getting into them. :-P

Instead, here are some pictures from Christmas. Unfortunately, we only have half of them at the moment. One of the not discussed excuses from up above is that our laptop is currently completely out of commission. That means that the majority of our December pictures are on that dead laptop, so they can't be posted at the moment. We are working on getting the laptop back into working order, but that is still a few weeks off.

First, pictures of our family Christmas. We didn't take very many, and as you can see, everyone looks really tired from a late night drive back from Massachusetts the night before. Nevertheless, it was a really nice Christmas and we all got some great stuff. Cameron was especially delighted with all of his toys. When he came running downstairs to see the tree, he said "Wow, Santa bring me presents. A LOT!!!". What a cutie!

Cameron posing with the gifts and the tree. We could not get a good picture because he was way too anxious to open his gifts, and did not want to be sitting and smiling and posing!
Finally we let him start opening presents. He got right into it.
He also did a really good job of delivering gifts to Mama and Daddy, when he wasn't opening his own gifts.
Cameron working on a present.
Cam got skates for Christmas, and of course he had to try them on right away.
Cam with his gift pile. Not seen here is the new bedroom set he got, which also counted as part of his Christmas haul!!
All in all, we had a really great Christmas!!