The Schumacher Kiddos and One Spiers Billy Goat

My plan was to catch up with pictures of the remaining time at the lake visiting with Callie's cousins.  But I also have to add a note to this blog about our little climber.  As you may recall, it all started with her standing on her riding toy.  That was our first hint of what kind of adventure-craved creature we were raising.  Then she moved on to trying to climb the couch, the chair under the window into the kitchen and then there was the day I caught her standing on the dining room table.  Two weeks ago I caught her using the drawers of my dresser as stairs to reach my jewelry.  She also climbed a six foot ladder that Grampie had out to work on our gutters.  And all during our time at the lake she continually amazed Nana, Papa and Aunt BB by climbing and victoriously standing on furniture and even purposely rolling off things and just popping back up like nothing happened.  But today was the ultimate and hopefully the highest point she will reach for a while.  Callie made it to the kitchen before Matt and I did and went ahead and climbed up into her highchair!  She was sitting in it waiting for us.  We are so amazed because it is a booster seat attached to a high bar-chair and there is quite a gap between the only rung and the actual seat.  We just stood there awestruck for a few minutes until Callie grew impatient and pointed to her tray in the drying rack and screeched a command for us to get it out and put some food on it.   And then she ate and ate everything in sight like a true billy goat.  Forget going to the play parks in the mall.  I think Callie is ready for the giant climbing wall at Dick's Sporting Goods!

And now for our regularly scheduled giant load of "cousin camp" pictures...

 There was lots of swimming and water play...

Surprise toys from Nana...

Will was very aggravated that it wasn't his turn to get a surprise...

...but then he ended up playing with the beauty shop the most!

There was dress-up for pictures time...

Yes, she still tries to eat rocks.

Feeding time ...

We usually fed them in front of the TV to distract them from grabbing each other's food.

And just a little nudity... 
It's a little more difficult to go down the slide on a bare bottom but that didn't stop Callie from trying! 

Family and Fireworks, Bubbles and Blue Tongues

I am still trying to catch up on all of my July posts.  Callie and I have spent much of this month at the lake visiting with Becky, her kids, and of course, Nana and Papa.  Our "cousin camp" month started with a big family gathering at the lake for Fourth of July weekend.  In addition to Taylors & Co. we also celebrated with Grammie, Grampie and Aunt Michelle and Jon's parents, brother and his family.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast together.  It was a very pleasant and fun weekend.

There was lots of fun in the water.

Callie likes to dunk daddy!

The girls had matching dresses again this year.

What a pout!

Brighton and Callie started to bond.

There were bubbles!  Will carefully guarded the bubble machine from curious little baby fingers. 

And there was a boat ride.

This yummy cake that Dreama had made was a hit with everyone!

And all the kids wanted a blue star so they could have very patriotic tongues.

A FEW of Callie's Favorite Things!

So much has happened since the last post and I am terribly behind.  Our days are very busy and our weekends have been spent out of town.  Some of the pictures included in this post are from Father's Day at our house with Matt's family and our trip up to Giles to visit more of Matt's family.  There have also been visits with Taylors and I will post those pictures later.  With so many pictures to post, I will keep the text brief...So here are just a FEW of Callie's favorite things:

 BEADS! (especially official Mardi Gras ones direct from NOLA!)

Her "Callie Wagon" - with custom Grampie-made oak rails and three coats of wax!

Water - although this day she thought it was a bit too cold...

...so back to the wagon!

BUBBLES!

Grampie (and she is his favorite thing for sure!)

Kitties - this is kitty cousin Phoebe

Really, what's not to love!  I wish I could have seen Ollie when he was this little.

And let's not forget Puppies!  Callie loves puppies too.  This is puppy cousin Charlie.  I just want to clone him or steal him!

Rocking chairs!  She is getting really good at climbing in them herself and she will actually sit and rock in them all by herself.

Here she is sharing the rocker with the kids of our dear friends Dane and Kirstie from Boston.  We had a great time meeting them at Cracker Barrel for breakfast before they made their way back north to a land Matt won't speak of. 

And finally, did I mention kitties?...How 'bout big fat ones!  She doesn't leave Ollie alone.  I have caught her under our bed interrupting his peaceful nap in a place he thought was baby-proof.

Thursday Beach Nights

Our very busy summer continues and I have sooo many pictures to put on this blog after just one week!  The pics and video I am posting are from my Thursday night beach volleyball game.  This is my third summer playing and I am enjoying it more this year than ever.  Some nights I go there by myself which is a treat just to get away for a few hours and not have to get the stroller out and pack a million things.  But the real treat is when Matt and Callie come too.  (And Michelle!)  This past Thursday was one of those nights and it gave us an opportunity to get a very hesitant Callie Mae used to the ocean and sand again.  She was nervous at first, not even wanting to stand in dry sand.  And when we took her down to the surf she stood like a flamingo on one tip-toed foot trying to avoid the waves.  But something clicked, maybe just the confidence she gets from Daddy being there, and all of a sudden, she LOVED it!  Matt and Michelle took her to the playground area while I was playing and Callie decided that she would rather play in the water so she walked all the way down on her own (with them close behind, of course!).  She would hesitate momentarily when she reached different textures of sand but once she got near the water she took off.  I later took her back down in just a diaper so that she could get in further.  After we dried and changed her, Matt fed her a peanut butter sandwich while I played in another match and then he took Callie to the wall of the boardwalk to look at the carvings.  She surprised everyone by scaling the wall and then walking along the outside of the boardwalk rails.  Needless to say, we had a really fun night and she slept well that night and even took a four hour nap the next day!  Thanks to Michelle for being the photographer for most or all of these pics!  Make sure you scroll down to watch the two videos I have attached after this post.

Not quite sure about the sand...

...but she loves playgrounds!

Starting her turtle-pace migration to the ocean, which if you haven't seen VA Beach lately, is a really long walk!

Daddy, let me go!

Beach belly.

Testing the new texture...

Loving the waves and constantly trying to go deeper.

Playing v-ball

Scaling the wall--with daddy hands as footholds.

Matt told me not to use this picture but I think it is adorable how he stops to fix her diaper wedgie so she won't be "indecent"!  Her shorts were soaked from earlier and I didn't pack an extra set of clothes --mommy fail!

walking the wall.MOV

splashing in ocean.MOV