The Birchette's: July 2013

4th of July

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I always look forward to the parade, fireworks, food, and time with family and friends. I was even more excited this year because James got to experience his first 4th! We started the day at Zeb's grandparents and watched the parade with them. James LOVED the parade, especially the tractors. He followed each one as it went by and when he couldn't see it any longer, he would turn back to find the next one.

Then we headed over to Jennifer and Tony's for the rest of the day. They had a huge spread of delicious food! Needless to say, we were all stuffed by the end of the day. We spent the day eating, hanging out, and playing games. James (and I) may have taken a nap in the middle of all the excitement:) We finished the night with fireworks, which James slept through of course. It was another successful 4th of July.

James and cousin Dakota. They are 7 months apart.

He was too busy watching the tractors to take a picture with me:)

Aunt Zoey came home for the week!

Tummy time on the beach ball

Laughing at Daddy

Okoboji

My mom's side of the family had a reunion in Okoboji in June. We had lots to celebrate! My cousin Lauren graduated high school, my cousin Lindsey graduated from Iowa State, Allen and I are both finishing our masters this summer, my Aunt Heidi celebrated her 40th birthday and James joined the family. I told you we had lots to celebrate! It was a great weekend filled with lots of good food, family and making memories. This was also the first time James got to meet my Aunt Heidi and her family as well as my Grandpa Pete.

Zeb drove us up on a Friday night after a ball game. We arrived in Spencer at 2:30am, but it was worth it because James slept through the whole drive up there. We were not quite so lucky on the ride home:(

James loves the water at home, so I thought we would give the lake a try. He did not like that idea at all. The water was way too cold for him, but we stuck his toes in just a bit. However, he didn't mind the boat ride or the giant life jacket that accompanied it! I put most of the pics up on facebook, but here are a few from our weekend.

Meeting Family

My cousin Austin graduated high school this year. At his graduation party, James got to meet several of his aunt, uncles and cousins for the first time.

Spencer and Carla

The beautiful quilt my Aunt Dene' made for James.

Aunt Nancy

First Zoo Visit

In early June, James and I went with our friends the Isleys to the Blank Park Zoo.

My little monkey ready and excited to go to the zoo

He slept until the minute we walked into the zoo.

Summer was checking out the birds

James and Logan:)

My little monkey with the monkeys

He was wiped out

Baseball Games

I can hardly believe it is July already! I have not been doing well keeping up on this blog, but I have a good excuse. James and I have been spending our summer outside at baseball games support Daddy. Here are a few pics from our many, many games.