I dug a hole and built an alligator.
Marc just dug a hole.
The whole beach crew is finally here. Our friends Marc and Jodie arrived with us on Saturday and yesterday my sister Kelly, her fella Carlo, and the kids, Grifinn and Felix arrived. Let the fun begin! Marc, Grifinn and Felix did some serious wave riding this morning.
Waiting on the right wave...
And let 'er rip! Wheeeee!
Swallowed a bit of ocean. Yum.
Pop tart break!
Eric and the kitties made the 25 hour drive successfully. Eli and I flew down on Friday on Saturday morning we all loaded up in the car (without the kitties) and drove 8 hours to Emerald Isle.
Eli has been officially introduced to the Atlantic.
This is just before it got ugly. Eric and I should've planned it a little better, but Eli's first peek at the ocean ended quickly as a wave knocked him backward. After that, he was done.
Post wave-tastrophe.
After a bath and some dinner we headed back out for a pre-bedtime walk on the beach.
Eli steered clear of the water.
This morning Eli sported his Decker-Smith Pottery t-shirt for the first time. Mama's so proud.
Today we took all the necessary accouterments for a fun beachy day. 
Eli and Marc dug. Something in the sky caught their attention.
Dad and Eli chilled in the sun shade.
We finally convinced Eli to test out the water again. It went much more smoothly because Eric and I were on the ball.
Now he loves kicking and splashing. By the end of the week we won't be able to keep him out I'm sure. Now it's a little cloudy and rainy so we're resting. A lovely Sunday to all...
First, a few of you have requested a belly shot. Here ya go. As you can see it is large. I measured 4 weeks ahead at my last appointment, but the Dr. assures me that will level out. We'll see doc, we'll see. I quite enjoy this round protrusion. It dances most of the day.
As we've been packing for the move we've come across some fun items for Eli, like this apron I had made years ago. It says "Olive Eric" on the front. Get it?
Eli at the Rockies Game. Thanks for the awesome baseball jacket Yaya! He looked very authentic.
Just a funny face.
I call this hair-do, "cute in the front..."
"disaster in the back."
Eli loves LOVES playing in Eric's jeep. Eric loves this about Eli. Ah...male bonding.
Yesterday morning Eric left for the epic drive to N.C. with our five cats. They are moving in with Eric's mom and grandma while we're in student housing, where there are no cats allowed. Eli had to get some last jabs in at good-natured Obadiah.
Farmer Eli poses with the wildlife.
I took Eli to see Night at the Museum while we were waiting on our car to get done in the shop. Eli has been to see many movies in the theater. When he was little, I took him to see anything, because I LOVE going to the movies, and he would sleep and nurse quietly during the whole thing. It's been getting more difficult in the last few months as he's getting wigglier and more vocal. On this trip I decided to give him his own seat. I got one of those booster seats provided by the theater, and fake buckled him in with the buckle on his diaper bag. It worked great. He sat there or on my lap, eating popcorn like it was going extinct, and laughed through the whole movie. What fun.
Shopping at pottery barn kids. We never actually buy anything, but he has the most fun playing in there.
Clearly these two shots were not taken with the phone, since he's on it. But since Eric's been gone Eli has enjoyed phone conversations with him. He doesn't say much, but he holds the phone to his ear and smiles as Eric talks.
It's delightful.
Memorial Day has passed and you all know what that means - Tiny Town Railroad is open! This is our third visit to Tiny Town - our first since Eli can walk. Here he and Grace are checking out the goings on at the Tiny Town Rubber Co.
Waiting for the train to pass by...
Here it comes. This is pretty much where the day began to break down. The train let off steam really loudly and that put Eli into a funk. After that he stayed in the stroller until lunch.
After lunch he thought it might be safe to venture out. He checked out the Tiny Church.
Another bit of lunch...
Eli's friends: Christopher, Grace, Hanley and Hanley's Dad Shaun.
Christopher riding in the train caboose.
Eli crashed in the five minutes it took to get home, with his Tiny Town Train ticket in his sweaty little hand. Ahhhh, sweet railroad dreams.
The bad idea. If my water breaks on this trampoline, it will not be because I haven't been warned. Get a look at that belly. I have three months...THREE MONTHS PEOPLE. I don't think I have three months of growing room left. Last Sunday an older man at church asked me if I'm having twins. And this guy is not a joker. He was serious. And I couldn't tell him no without a little smidgen of doubt. Yes, we've had two ultrasounds, and yes, they've only seen our one little guy - but, I'm putting it out there - if it's twins, I won't be surprised. My belly is giant and there's enough movement going on for at least two babies, so who knows.
The big critter. Caught us an elk! We had a friend over for homemade pizza and a bon fire the other night. During dinner he pointed behind me and said, what is that behind your shoulder? That freaked me out a bit, but he was referring to the elk in the corral. The corral has one open side, and critters like it in there. It's almost always full of deer, but tonight we had an elk. Eric and I also saw our first mountain lion on our way home last night.
The puddle walk. We have had more rain in the last two weeks than we've had since we have been in Colorado. It's been lovely. So today we pulled on the bear boots and slicker and went out to puddle jump.
Good times.
Eli loves to check the mail. It's our daily post-nap ritual.
Sitting on the wood stove, which is now accessible, since the gate is down. Hooray for spring!
Goober.
Not sure what's going on here.
Making a mess in his high chair.
Yesterday Eli got to take a very short ride in yellow Jeep. He had a blast. When it was time to get out, we had a good 5 minutes of "No, dada. No no no, dada. No." He loves it.
Today we took Eli to the Butterfly Pavilion. He was sleepy for most of the time.
He did perk up after a while.
We had to carry him a lot, to help him see the butterflies and to help him not squash them.
Eli is good at smelling flowers now.
This is the honeycomb exhibit. Eli is pretending to be a worker bee.
This thing made a mosquito proboscis (no idea if I spelled that right) go up and down. But Eli just liked spinning it around and around.
