2 Brothers Layne

So unfortunately some of us acquired nasty sunburns at the beach yesterday so it was determined that today needed to be a no sun day. Unfortunately it turned out to be a go no where and do nothing day... Hopefully we'll make up for it tomorrow by going to the aquarium!

We spent the day at the beach! We all had sooo much fun. The water temperature was perfect and the day was overcast most of time with mildly warm temperatures! AWESOMENESS! Garrison enjoyed jumping the waves. He was concerned this morning that the beach would be no fun but I think he was pleasantly surprised! Daddy was able to spend some time with us too before heading off to work. Everybody loves diggin holes in the sand. We were close enough to the water that we created a little pool. The most exciting part of the outing was the pod of Dolphins that were less than 100 yards away! They had chased a huge school of fish up toward the shore and were feeding. As the dolphins swooped in hundreds of fish went flying out of the water! It was crazy! The dolphins stayed in the area for at least 30 minutes!

Our mode of transportation. Can fit six adults, plus some kiddos in the front basket. 4 pedals two steering wheels, only one works, and a great time had by all. Posing for a shot at the beach ball art. enjoying their castle. Garrison didn't like the sand in his sandal so he took it off. Today was a bundle of fun for us. I didn't have to work today so we went down to the beach front. We rented a bike to so we could see the entire board walk. We had a great time taking pictures at the different spots. We even watched a bit of the circus that was going on. It was one of the nightly performers on the board walk. Hopefully they will make it onto the sand tomorrow.

We had a whole lot of fun this morning at the park. Silly me, I forgot my camera! It has been a day full of playing hard and longs naps. I think we have all been in recovery mode. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a bit more energy to get out and about.

Hurray!!! The Selman family made it safely here!! Garrison seems to seems to be enjoying himself tonight so far. Laurel said that this is the easiest he has gone to bed in a week. I hope he enjoys his own bed, instead of his couch cushion corner. We have many mixed emotions!! Excited that Justen Laurel and Garrison made it here; but very sad that Ally has to leave. Tanya is so sad that she shed tears of sadness. I feel bad for these two girls. It will by a sad day in the morning when Ally goes to the airport. On the bright side, Tanya has plans to party with Ally in a few weeks while they are in Utah. Today, Was a chill day. Not much happened. I went to church, came home ate dinner. And we just had a hang out day. Jonah has been on his fever meds alternating every three hours.

The bears were fighting. One of the highlights of the day. An elephant made up of butterflies. Can you see them? Jonah and Ally made a camera. One of the few times Jonah is not knocking over a tower. Sunrise on the beach. AWESOMENESS!!! The other highlight of the day. The Giraffes. So close you could touch them but, the sign said not to. This morning Tanya and Ally went to see the sunrise at the beach. Lucky them, they also saw a pod of dolphins. Jonah and I didn't even know they left. Although we had breakfast ready for them when they woke up. In the afternoon, Jonah developed a pretty high fever, in the 103s. After some medicine and a blessing, his fever broke. But before all that drama, Tanya and Ally visited the Norfolk Zoo.

We got a real treat today. We were able to get up close and personal with one of Daddy's Helicopters. These things are HUGE! They are the second largest helicopter in the world (Russia has one that is slightly bigger). Be sure you enlarge this pic and take a look at Daddy's pout-e lip. He He He... Ally is standing in front of the Sponson (one of the fuel tanks). This is our little family standing in the cargo area of the bird. HUGE! We drove down to the ship yard. This is a carrier. Checkout the person on the deck for a size comparison! This is the statue of Neptune on 31st street and Atlantic Ave. in Va Beach. Pretty cool! They have free concerts every night at this park and tonight was a "Tribute band" for Rascal Flats. Well we stayed all of 15 minutes or so and called it quits. Chillin at the park. Jonah was highly entertained with all of Auntie Ally's treasures in her purse. Topped the night off with a little Henna Art. We're going to attempt to r...

After some very enjoyable play time with Jonah this morning, Ally and I headed out to see the Cape Henry Lighthouses. This was a grown-up only visit because kiddos have to 42" tall and be able to walk up the stairs on their own to go. We also walked the beach in search of seashells. Pretty landscape Ally captured with the newer of the two lighthouses on the right. We quickly discovered that the hundreds of holes strewn across the beach were filled with crabs. They had perfect camouflage and often caught us by surprise. They were not Ally's favorite creatures to say the least! Just a little fun! Ally's Turn! We are standing at the base of the original lighthouse (build int he early 1700's) with the the modern lighthouse to the right. We climbed 191 stairs to get to the top. It was such a tall spiral staircase! The view was incredible! When we got home Jonah asked to do some coloring and Auntie Ally was happy to help! Jonah and his Silly Face! Jonah walked to the pa...

Today Jonah had to have been asking himself, "Ally and the Big Sandy, Can life get any better!?" We had the perfect weather to play at the beach today! Check out the view! The sun was a little too bright for Jonah but he still enjoyed the beach. Enjoying some "Auntie Ally" Loves. So today's cute story is randomly as we were playing at the beach Jonah suddenly starts yelling Auntie Ally, and she has been Auntie ever since. Just chillin! Jonah's excited face on the way to the beach!

Jonah seems to be in heaven. It took all of 10 minutes for Jonah to warm up to Ally and it has been Ally, Ally, ALLY ever since. On the car ride home Jonah said at least 3 prayers all of which stated with , "I'm thankful for Ally!" The entire time we cooked dinner Jonah repeated, "Hold me Ally, PLEASE!" Then I was reading the Book of Mormon with him at bedtime Jonah looked at me and said, "Ally rockabye please." So I excused myself and Jonah was perfectly happy with it... Funny boy! It looks like tomorrow will be a Day at the Beach!!!

This is Miss Molly. She is our new toy schnauzer. She won't actually be here with us until Jonah and I bring her home from Utah in August. Jonah and I were talking about names all day. I would think of a few names and ask Jonah to repeat them back to see if he could pronounce them. He would occasionally repeat one several times without me asking and he even suggested we call her Beverly. I thought that was a big name for such a little dog. Eventually i suggested we call her Dolly Jonah looked at me and said, "Mommy, Molly!" He then sang for me the second verse of the song Splish Splash where it says, "There was Lolly Pop, and Peggy Sue, and golly Miss Molly was even there too!" Grandma Raine and Gaga went over and met her today and said that she has a very calm personality and that Molly fits!

Today was all about family. I woke up to Jonah singing "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home." Tanya tells me that they have been working on this for two weeks. Also, a special breakfast was waiting for me, biscuits and gravy!!! Jonah liked the gravy also! After breakfast we took a family nap, and woke up just in time to get ready for church. Jonah did very well at church. He sat in an extra long sacrament meeting and was very very good. Our ward did something special for the fathers today. We had snacks waiting for us the last 15 minutes of church. Tanya volunteered last week to help dish everything up. Today as she did her job, Jonah was given a task as well. . . He was to wish all the father's that came through the line a happy fathers day. They both did a fantastic job!! Although, as more and more people congregated around the food and the noise grew to a dull roar, Jonah was overwhelmed and needed to leave. It was a great day in our home. We hope ever...

Today we attended a baptism in our ward. Jonah was very excited to meet the missionaries, as He and Tanya have been talking about missionaries all week long. They also have been learning about the Holy Ghost. He went nuts when the talk on the Holy Ghost was given!!! Then tonight as we were singing "The Farmer in the Dale" he said the farmer takes the Holy Ghost. What a kid. We did not make it on the hike today, but we did make it to the baptism and also helped some of our friends load their heavy stuff into the moving truck. Jonah was strapped to Tanya's back for a few hours, and did great. He must have wore himself out because he slept for 3.5 hours after we got home. Maybe he is growing again.

Jonah wanted some chocolate for dessert. What a kid!! Always pulling silly faces. All dressed up for church last week Today was a great day for our little family! First thing this morning when I woke up Jonah was ready for a family hug! Does it get any better? I bet it does. Tanya has been busy all week preparing for two weeks of visitors, so today we did all the chores so we could go hiking tomorrow. Another exciting turn of events is today we picked up a toddler bed from a friend in the ward. We only had to buy a mattress to go on it. So now Jonah has a new bed to sleep in. I am still not convinced this is a good idea as it will allow him to get out of bed in the morning with all of his nightly cords still attached. We will see though. . . About our garden. Not a huge success. 3 tomatoes, some small radishes that are too hot for us to palate, not sure about the carrots just yet, the squash fall off easily, a hand full of peas, and the beets are still in the ground. So may...

Jonah, over the course of the week, has made great progress in being able to match his colors. This afternoon he got them all right! I'll try to get a video of it tomorrow while Daddy's home. As for the rest of the day it has been pretty uneventful.

Jonah has again touched my heart and shown me the way. Jonah and I had an off night and were running a little behind in preparing for bed time. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a bit deal but my favorite show was to come on at 8 so I decided to cut a few corners. Our nightly routine is to sit in Jonah's rocking chair in his room, read from the Book of Mormon, sing a few primary songs, and say prayers. I opted to remain in the family room and rock Jonah while I watched my show. Jonah got upset and asked to be put on the floor. I told him that his choices were to either snuggle with Mommy in the living room or to lay in his bed. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, Book of Mormon!" So I thanked him for the reminder and we went to his room to begin our nightly routine. When it came time for prayers the first sentence out of his little angelic mouth was, "Heavenly Father, Thank you for the Book of Mormon!" I have so much to learn from this incredible little man...

Tonight for dinner we had Crepes. Jonah especially enjoyed the cooking process since Mommy was flipping them into the air to cook the other side. We got creative with the filling and tried, peanut butter and honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon, and Mayo and tomatoes. It was great fun! Jonah played with his OT today and showed off his eating skills. He took around 8 spoonfuls of sweet potatoes. The OT likes what she sees and tells us to continue trying to get more volume at each setting so long as Jonah will tolerate it!

The excitement today was the walk we took this afternoon. Jonah walked from our house to the park and back! He finds it highly motivating to walk when he gets to swing at the end of the walk. Jonah also asked to watch Tangled today. Silly boy just can't get enough of the frying pan!

Today has been a huge step in Jonah potty training. He has not kept a dry diaper all day, but has let us know each time he needed to go potty. Tanya is hoping that she will have a potty trained boy when she comes to Utah for her visit next month.

Jonah fell asleep in his chair after cleaning up his toys today. To cute!!! Jonah has started to tell us somewhat consistently that he has to go pee. Hopefully pretty soon Jonah will be able to achieve his goal of wearing undies. He is doing so well. Any way, today was a pretty good day for all of us. This morning we went to a ball park to watch our neighbor play baseball. It was enjoyable for all of us. We had a family outing, two in fact, one to the baseball game and the other on was shopping. In the evening we enjoyed a family movie, Tangled. Jonah loved the Eggs Pan, the frying pan used as a weapon. It was great. We even got to skype with Brittney, Ty, and Parker.

It has been so nice to have Daddy home today... although he spent most of the afternoon at the mechanic's waiting for the car to get fixed. The AC hasn't been working the last couple of days and today was the day to fix it. AC is MANDATORY here in the summer heat! Tomorrow is bound to be a fun one. We are planning on attending our 10 year old neighbor's baseball game in the morning!

We met up with friends today at the Dam Neck Beach. It was SO hot and SO much FUN! It took Jonah a little while to warm up to the sand and the ocean but after the initial warm up he was in heaven!!! One of the other moms also took some picts and they were really cute. I'll need to get a copy to share on the blog!

We had soo much fun today with Ms Erin! Jonah, Mommy, and Ms Kristen met up with Erin at our community pool this afternoon to get some ideas on how we can maximize Jonah's time in the pool. We discovered that this is the PRIME LOCATION to practice Jonah's standing with minimal assistance from things and people. Jonah is definitely getting braver (is that a word... Well, it is now) in the water. Twice today he got a face full of water. He came up spitting water and smiling! Enjoy the videos, and Erin, I hope you don't mind that I posted these!

So the Dr. today says it looks like Jonah has roseola. He hasn't seemed to be as itchy today so that's a good thing. Tomorrow our excitement will be doing Jonah's PT with Erin in the pool!!!

So last night I noticed that Jonah was scratching at the base of his neck. When I took a closer look he had a dark red rash and was running a low grade fever. This morning the rash all over his neck and shoulders, his ears, around his eyes, and across his forehead. The poor boy has been sooo itchy all day and the benadryl only seems to take the edge off the itch. So We'll be making a quick trip to Portsmouth in the morning to see what, if anything, can be done.

We attended church today as a family. We sat in the chapel as a family too. It was great. Jonah did very well. Our entire ward was introduced to all the family in Utah. After church we were invited to dinner. We had a lot of fun. Then when it was time for the kids to play, a noise scared him and he lost it for about an hour. Another late night, hopefully tomorrow we can get back on the normal schedule.

I must say this weekend has been, unequivocally, the best weekend so far this year!!! Swimming almost everyday this week, and to the beach yesterday and today. Also to attend the Beach Boys concert for FREE!!! AWESOME!!! Today I tried to let Tanya sleep in a bit, so Jonah and I watched some music movies. Tanya only slept in for a bit. I helped someone moved at 800 so she didn't get too much of the "in" but more than the usual. After Jonah's nap we went swimming and our neighbors were there. They were a ton of fun to play with!!! I can't wait until Jonah is old and strong enough to throw around the pool. Well more so than I do now. Then down the the festivals at the beach we went. With delightful weather, we enjoyed the Chalk the Walk festivities today. That's what some of the pictures are from. It was a competition in art. Some of the ones I liked the best didn't win though. So maybe my taste for art isn't very good. Then d...