Fourth Festivities

We had a relaxing and fun Fourth of July this year. Our towns parade was Saturday morning so Cope and I took Ramsey to check it out.

Ramsey being pretending he is shy for the camera:

Waiting for the start of the parade:

Cheese!:

Ramsey being a little scared of the loud sirens:

Pointing out his favorites:

Later that night my sister and I went to dinner and then met up with my Mom who was having a sleepover with Ramsey. We went to the neighborhood next to her property to watch the fireworks. Paige's boyfriend, Jay met us to watch them too. Cope was on an over night "Man trip" at the river with Morgan and his kids.
Ramsey seemed pretty indifferent to the fireworks and was more interested in running and staying up late:

Destin Family Vacation

Last week was a Rowell family vacation with Cope's family (his Sister, Julie and her family, Cope's parents, and us). We headed down to Destin on Monday and we stayed in a big beach house where everyone had plenty of space. It was so nice for Ramsey to get a chance to play with his cousins Mattie(8) and Caroline (almost 6). We don't get to see them often enough and Ramsey was just i awe over the girls. I will say it was probably the easiest week of parenting ever because he was so entertained. Here are some pics (totally out of order) of of fun adventure:

We celebrated Judy's (Grammy's) birthday on that Thursday:We also celebrated all the other July Birthdays too:We hit the Bay Cafe for birthday lunch:Ramsey was a total fish in the pool:Cope and I went on a date one night and Ramsey stayed with "the girls" and Cope's parents:The weather was pretty bad all week but we did make it down to the beach for a little bit. The oil wasn't bad either but you would occasionally step in a little tar ball:Family dinner at Pampano Joes:Ramsey loving on Caroline:Enjoying the evening:Beach gazing:Mattie spent a lot of the week reading. This girl loves her some books:Ramsey colored in his spare time:Our house had a pool so we spent lots of time there:Cope and Mattie we constantly picking on each other in the pool:Time to head home:

Road Trip!

We hit the road last Monday morning for a family vacation with Cope's parents and his sister and their family. Ramsey was such a trooper and was a great traveler. I almost thought of buying a DVD player for the car but we might have missed some Rock time with the wild man:

I'll be back over the next several days of lots more pics form our adventure!

Cope's Dinner

Cope has been wanting to cook us some of the foods he had eaten while he was in Iraq for a while now and so last night he invited my parents and his parents over for a feast! Cope had gotten an Iraqi cookbook for his birthday so he picked his favorite recipes. Of course some of the ingredients were hard to find to we took a little family outing to Harry's yesterday morning and of course they had most everything we needed. I love Harry's! Anyway, Cope worked VERY hard all afternoon and by 6:00 dinner was served! Here he is explaining to my Mom about some of the items:

My Mom brought Lintel Soup:

Lamb Kabobs:
Dolma. I know this looks disgusting but it was one of my favorite dishes. It is tomatoes, zucchini, and egg plant stuffed with rice and lamb. :

Flat Bread. Mom Made this too:

There was also pita chips with hummus, rice with a delicious almond and raisin topping, a cucumber and tomato sauce and chi tea. It was a neat experience and I will say when Cope first told me about the food I was no excited but I was wrong, it was good! I am glad Cope was able to show us some of the experience he had while in Iraq so SO LONG.

The boys right before Ramsey headed to bed watching monster trucks on the computer:

Rockin Ramsey

Ramsey loves to ride in Cope's truck because they rock out. Every time they pull in the garage Cope rolls down the back window and Ramsey is jamming out. They other day in my car he said "turn it up, I have to rock!" to some song that came on the radio. He is also a big fan of the Black Eyed Peas and this morning in his bed I heard him singing "Shut it down, Mazeltaugh!" This kid like his music like all other things LOUD and INTENSE!

Wordless Wednesday- Handsome!

Father's Day

Yesterday we had a low key but good Father's Day celebrating as a family. We started off at church, then it was home for naps. After nap we took Ramsey to see Toy Story 3. This was his first ever time to the movie theatre. He did pretty good seeing as how we had to sit on the front row because the theatre was so packed. He didn't want to wear his 3-D glasses either so it looked a little blurry. He had two little breaks where he wanted to get up and run the halls. We let him. I think we'll maybe take him again around Christmas as it is a lot of work to keep this kid entertained. After the movie we took Ramsey to my moms and then Cope and I went to get some dinner at Moore's Market where they had beer and bingo too. It was a fun evening and I got got to spend it with my favorite guy. Cope really is just the best father I know. He is level headed and he helps keep me glued together. I know Ramsey doesn't know it yet but he is the luckiest boy ever to have Cope for a Daddy.