The Anderson Adventures: Ahhh, Summer

It has been a very hot and dry summer with the exception of last week. We were lucky enough to get a TON of rain which turned everything green again. Most of Brentwood, with the exception of those places with irrigation systems, was brown and dry. Even fireworks were not allowed this year due to the extreme dryness. Kate and I participated in a music class over the course of 6 weeks which just finished up today. I don't have any pictures of her in the class, which I regret, but I'm so glad we did it together. I learned a lot of new songs that I can sing to her at home. I plan to enroll her again, but will probably wait until next Spring, when she is older and can participate more. Michael and I were fortunate to take a trip to the Dominican Republic together. We stayed at Iberostar Grand Barvario Resort. It was an adult only, all inclusive hotel. It was so beautiful down there!! It was our first time to be away from Kate overnight. Michael's mom and 2 aunts came to Nashville and kept Kate while we were gone. They had such a good time with her. We really missed her but were able to FaceTime with her each day around her suppertime, so that really helped. I got to celebrate my 31st birthday while we were there. We are so terrible about taking pictures of just each other on vacation. I'll post the few that I did take. My mom came and spent Memorial Day weekend with us and then I spent the following week in Arkansas with her and got to see my brothers, sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews, aunts, & uncles. The weekend of June 15th, I drove Kate to Canton, GA for her cousin Finn's first birthday. Michael had to stay behind and work, but we had a great time. Nikki, his mom, did a monkey theme for his party and invited all of their neighbors and their kids. They had a banana derby. I had never heard of a banana derby before but you can order kits online to turn the bananas into little race cars. It was so fun watching the kids race their bananas down the driveway. It was such a fun idea. The weekend of June 23rd, Kate and myself drove back to Arkansas to help celebrate my cousin's upcoming wedding. My mom and her siblings hosted a fish fry at my aunt & uncle's house in Little Rock. Kate was so good the entire day despite not napping at all!! She got to meet my Uncle Gary's Dalmatian Lucy, and I was able to get some really cute pictures of them together. My aunt Susan & Uncle Bobby came up from Baton Rouge. Susan brought Kate a cute tutu and matching headband that was all about Mardi Gras colors. I put it on her for the pictures with Lucy. After our trip to Arkansas, the 3 of us drove to Lake Burton to spend some time up there with the Winsteads, Clements, & Doughtys. Again, my mother-in-law kindly agreed to watch Kate and even flew in some back up crew. Michael's wonderful Aunt Delane few from Kansas City and they kept Kate at Joan's house while we had an adult only weekend. It was so nice to get to finally spend time up there. Last summer we did not go up there because there were repairs being done after the terrible tornado that hit the lake in April 2011. We got to see the huge Lake Burton fireworks display on our boat. It was so amazing to see the hundreds of boats on the water, all watching the hugh, colorful fireworks. I cannot wait until we can take Kate to see those fireworks when she is older. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful lake to spend a lot of fun, lazy days on. I'm so excited to see Kate grow up there. I hope Michael can teach her to ski in a couple of years there, which is where he learned. The actual 4th of July was on a Wednesday and Michael worked until 5:00 that day. We went to the Doughty's house for a cookout that evening. It was SO HOT!!! We had a great time, but decided to skip the big Brentwood fireworks show this year because it started so late and was way past Kate's bedtime. Since then, we have pretty much been hanging around the house, staying in during the hottest part of the day and going to the neighborhood pool in the late afternoons. Kate really seems to enjoy the swimming pool. She even got in Lake Burton with Michael for a few minutes while we were up there and I was able to get one of my favorite picture of them together, which I will post. We will be traveling a lot in August. We are leaving July31st for Pensacola Beach for my cousin's wedding. Our second trip will be back to Lake Burton for a huge family trip. A lot of Michael's family will be there. I'm excited for Kate to spend some more time at the lake and hang out with family!

Kate hit some BIG milestones in the months of June and July. She started crawling on June 11th and started pulling a day or so later. She upper 2 front teeth started coming in. In July she started saying "Ba Ba Ba". Just the other day, she constantly started saying "DaDa". She has such a sweet voice and the funniest little personality. She likes to cock her head to one side and stare at you, especially when she's being fed.