Big day at the beach

Luke made his first trip to Tybee Island the 2nd week in July. At first a little unsure, Luke did start to get use to the water and the sand between his toes. Aunt Anna taught him that the beach is fun.

10 months!!!

Wow, how time flies! Luke is already 10 months old and such a little ham. He sees a camera and knows what to do. Damien took these shots of Luke with his elephant, which get harder every month as he is becoming more and more mobile; now he tries to dive head first over the arm of the chair. Look at his gorgeous eyes.

Luke loves to make us laugh - check out the performing he did at the photo shoot (above) and the next day at Anna's bridal shower when my camera came out.

July 4th

My co-author Joe Kirby and I were asked to be in the Marietta Freedom Parade on July 4th. We got to plug our new book, "Marietta Revisited," which is a sequel to our first one. We rode in a 40th Anniversary Ford Mustang and waved to all the spectators. Kristin, Chad, Caleb, Susan, and Luke all came out to watch us while Lisa worked (boo). Later in the day, I cooked sweet tea brined fried chicken, Susan made homemade mac-and-cheese and Lisa sauteed spinach. Then we watched the fireworks from our front yard.

Happy First Father's Day

We spent Father's Day traveling so we celebrated it a week later. I enjoyed steak for dinner and celebrated the fact that I have a wonderful little boy.

Playground fun

We all took Luke and Caleb to the playground in our subdivison the other week. Caleb is the adventurous one, and loved it. Not so sure about Luke, as you can see by the photos. Maybe he was just tired and not in the mood for the swings. Or the slide.

Liz and Peter's wedding

Follow the link to see some photos that we shot during our weekend in Baltimore for my cousin Peter's wedding. (Click on "Liz and Peter's wedding to take you to my Picassa page.) It should be called "Luke's Adventures in Baltimore Hanging on the Front of Daddy in his Baby Bjorn." Luke got to meet a lot of my aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time, and despite what the photos show, was a real sweetheart and eventually warmed up to all the new family members.

We stayed in the Inner Harbor, about two or three blocks from the aquarium and Harbor Place and Little Italy. We had Italian for lunch, really awesome BBQ at the rehearsal dinner, Lebanese for lunch the next day, great food at the reception, and lots of pastries from Whole Foods for breakfasts.

It was wonderful seeing all my family, who are scattered all over the east coast from Maine to Florida, and then west along the Gulf coast to Texas. Unfortunately it was not enough time to visit with everyone as much as I wanted. Oh well, I guess we'll all see each other at the next wedding *cough - Matt - cough.*