Imagination

The mind of a 3 year old is amazing! McCord's imagination has exploded this summer and we are taking adventurous trips everywhere without ever leaving our house. Of course, these days we take these adventures on our ship, the Black Pearl, because we're still pretending to be Jack Sparrow. He has added a few pieces to his outfit and now we must have all 11 pieces on before leaving the house. Every box we find is a treasure box -- we now have 4 -- and they are all filled with treasure. We might as well run the Jolly Roger up the chimney to let any other nearby pirates know we're friendly.

Captian Jack

When McCord gets into something, he really gets into it. His current obsession is Captain Jack Sparrow. (We have been through many months of Blues Clues and Handy-Dandy Notebooks before this!) He has "the outfit" (hat, headband, compass, sword, belt -- given to him by Mimi) that he wears all the time. Really... Until yesterday, we were going on 12 straight days of wearing the band and alternating between the other items... It's quite cute. Captain Cordy escorts me to the grocery store, Target and friends' houses -- all to the delight of those we pass along the way.

Did I mention that he also sleeps in it?!?

Crawling!!

The past few weeks we have felt sure that Preston would be the Marines youngest recruit! He had perfected the "commando crawl" and really became quite fast moving with just his elbows and pushing off with his big toes. Last week, though, the bottom went up in the air and the knees have become much more important. :-) He is scooting around all over the place. Here are some pictures of "the crawl evolution".

The picture in the middle (with all the red welts on his face) was taken to remember just how allergic he seems to be to mosquito bites. Richard says it's a shame that he takes after me in this department. McCord never had this issue with the mosquitoes. Now I have bug spray in every conceivable place -- car, stroller, house, pool bag, etc. The only place I can't put the bug spray is on his face -- hence, the bites. :-(

VARSITY

Yes, sportsfans, you heard it here first! Savannah Grice has become the first freshman in four years to make the Varisty volleyball team at Marist. :-) (The last one to do it went on to a full ride at GA Tech...) She is super excited and looking forward to a great year of learning and watching a lot of fantastic volleyball. :-)

The Beach

We spent July 4th at the beach this year (like the firecracker hat Preston is sporting?) and everyone had a great time. McCord discovered that he really loves the ocean and the waves. It was a little frightening to Mommy, however, when he would dash out into the waves all by himself without hesitation. We were able to come to an agreement that he would wear a lifevest this year in the water -- that made Mommy happy. :-) Preston found that he also loved the water -- his love happened to be more of the pool variety. We bought him a froggie float and he loved splashing in the water. Of course, it always seem to take more time to get him dressed and ready to go than the time we actually spend in the water! Oh well!