Our Trip to the East Coast

Well July has been a busy month for the Grimms. We decided to escape from the heat of Arizona and headed to the east coast for a few weeks. The weather was perfect...rain, clouds, only in the 70s, and even some sunshine from time to time. Shaun's good friend, Doug, was getting married in Maryland so that was the initial reason for our trip, but we decided to enjoy some time up east so we spent a week in Vermont with family first! What a wonderful time we had. Shaun's sister and her family (that is one husband and four kids, yep four kids) even drove up from Kansas City to surprise us and spend the week with us. Larkin got to meet all of her cousins and her wonderful Aunt Tara and Uncle Dan. She also got to meet her Great Gramp and see her other aunts, uncles, and cousins again. Here are some highlights from our trip.

Our Week in Vermont!

Meet the family! There is of course Gramp, Shaun's Aunt Paula, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Gary, their spouses, 8 grandkids and their others, and 5 great grandkids. This is the whole clan, except one cousin who couldn't make it. It had been quite a while since everyone was able to all get together. What a fun family!!!!!

Here is Larkin with all of her first cousins: Garrett (4), Carson (8), Phoenix (11), and Kaycee (6).

Larkin with Daddy, Aunt Tara, and Great Gramp

The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

All the adults having fun!

Look at those cute cousins!

Getting ready to go on the Teddy Bear Factory tour.

Family Fun

Larkin learned how to play Connect Four on game night at Aunt Mary and Uncle Mark's house. She was quite impressed with herself!

At the arcade Larkin got tired of her turn on the school bus, so Uncle Mark decided to go for a spin!

Shaun and Uncle Gary playing a mean game of horseshoes at the camp where Tara stayed. For all of you who don't know what a camp is, it is like a cabin or summer house by the lake. Those Vermonters have crazy terms. Sometime ask Shaun to tell you about kreemees, hamburg, and fried dough if you want to learn some other Vermont lingo!

Smore making time

Uncle Gary busy at the grill making dinner for more than 20 of us and Shaun, Uncle Mark, and Phoenix trying to help out.

Fun at the Farm

We had to stop by Uncle Jeff and Aunt Paula's farm while we were in Vermont. It is the PERFECT farmhouse and just screams Vermont. It is absolutely beautiful and they have done so much to fix it up and make it super cozy.

Shaun and Tara by Uncle Jeff''s awesome Model T Ford!

Larkin hanging around on the old wheelbarrow.

It's picture time

Larkin and Daddy having a little fun!


A Day with the Family

We stopped at a little malt shop for lunch and tried to get all of the cousins to cooperate for a few photos. This is about as good as it got.

Mommy, Larkin, and Cousin Kaycee ready for lunch.

Uncle Mark and Garrett getting ready to go down the Alpine Slide. This was awesome! You ride up ski lifts to the top of the mountain, get on these sleds, and then race down this concrete curvy course. This time Kaycee and I raced Uncle Mark and Garrett. It was neck and neck the whole way down, but the girls won in the end!

Meet the Cousins

Garrett: four years old, running with sparklers, all boy. Don't need to really say anything else. Garrett is such a blast!

Kaycee: six years old and sweet as can be. She is surrounded by her brothers at home so I think she loved having a little girl cousin to play with. Larkin loved it too!

Carson: eight years old and so helpful. He always wanted to make sure Larkin was doing okay. Here they are taking a little nap together!

Phoenix: 11 years old, and really good at sports. He took some time out though to read to Larkin and helped keep an eye on her!

Brother and sister and their two little girls!

Larkin's First Parade

Here we are at the big parade in Milton, Vermont. It really was a lot of fun! Larkin loved the horses and all the candy that was being thrown. I think all the adults liked the riding lawn mowers the best:)

Getting ready for the parade to begin!

Fireworks Over The Lake

Here we are all bundled up for the big fireworks show on the lake. People come from all around to Burlington to see them put on quite an impressive show. In fact, it is so crowded that you might end up spending about an hour and a half trying to get out of a parking garage after the big show. It was worth it though! It was a little cool and rainy, but the fireworks were great and Larkin loved all the lights!

Doug's Wedding in Annapolis

Shaun and BJ all dressed up for the big celebration!

Doug and Emma's sword ceremony after the wedding

All the fellas hanging out at the rehearsal dinner.

The dinner was at the Naval Academy Football stadium so of course everyone ended up out on the field by the end of the night horsing around. Everyone had a great time and Larkin loved being able to fun free with the other little kiddos!

Larkin practicing on the football field

Finally it was time to call it a night!

Swim Lessons!

This is how both Mommy and Larkin felt about swim lessons the first week. We were so excited to start our lessons last week and then were SO disappointed once we got there. Unfortunately our swim teacher did not understand that she was actually supposed to TEACH us anything. We went to three of our four lessons last week and the instructor did not even talk to anyone. No instructions, guidance, hellos, or anything. However....

This is how we felt about swim lessons this week! We had a new instructor and he was GREAT!!!! We learned how to blow bubbles, float on our tummies and backs, kick, and jump off the side. We also learned some CPR and some other great tips. This week was much better and Mommy was MUCH happier!

Larkin did have lots of fun hanging out with her two favorite fellas for the past two weeks, Brody and Liam. Brody's mom works with Mommy and Liam goes to the same daycare.

Larkin and her swim buddies posing for a picture

And they are walking

And they are off. Notice how they all decide to go in separate directions, us Mommies think they planned this escape!

Getting ready to make a splash!

After all that hard work at the pool Larkin was ready for a nap. Too bad she couldn't make it through a meal first!



I Can Do It All By Myself!

Larkin is getting quite the personality. She wants to do more and more things by herself. Right now she is trying to master how to use a spoon to feed herself. She is definitely still "mastering" this. Until that actually happens we are going to buy stock in stain remover. I am pretty sure we can keep them in business by ourselves!

What We Do All Day

These days Larkin is a pro at walking and even getting back up on her own. She keeps us busy chasing her all over the house.

Mommy's little helper. This is Larkin's attempt at putting away laundry.

It is reading time. Right now we are a fan of Sesame Street books from like 30 years ago.

Larkin and Her Daddy Pre- Father's Day

Larkin and Daddy before his big roadtrip

Obviously she already has him by the collar!

Father's Day Getaway

This year Shaun had a little getaway over Father's Day weekend. His good friend Doug is getting married next month and so Shaun and about ten other guys headed to San Diego for a little bachelor party weekend. Of course I sent the camera with him so that he could capture everyone at their best, and yet it came back with NO pictures on it. He did attempt to show me a picture or two caught on his cell phone that were supposedly a baseball game (they saw the San Diego Padres play) and then some NFL players they hung out with one evening out on the town. Those pictures were pretty much a blur so I am just taking his word on what Chargers they really were. Overall he came back in once piece and had a great time with his buddies!!!! This was the only picture I could come up with for that weekend.

It Is Summer Time!

Well summer vacation is here and we are loving every minute of it! Thought I would finally take a moment to fill you in on our last month. School was out right before Memorial Day and Larkin and I have been hanging out ever since. Unfortunately, Shaun is working on a lovely job in Vegas and pretty much is gone every weekend until I go back to work. How is that for timing! You would think working in Vegas would sound like a lot of fun, but pretty much he works non-stop and a lot of times it is in the middle of the night since they are working on a hospital that is full of patients. He has gotten lucky enough to enjoy a suite or two at his hotel/casino since he is there pretty much every week, but the only gambling he seems to be doing is a little poker on the cell phone. At least you can't lose money that way! Meanwhile here is what we have been up to....

PJs....
We like to spend most of the morning in our pjs these days! Actually we keep busy playing, running errands, going to story time at the library, and practicing our walking. Larkin is doing a great job WALKING these days. Next week we start swimming lessons so that should be fun.


Aren't I Cute!
Larkin sporting a new hair-do. We thought she looked a bit like Boo from Monster's Inc. especially when she chases the cats around the house saying "Kitty".



One Year Portraits
We finally made it to have some one year portraits taken. We caught a smile or two, but she can be tricky! Here are a few of our favorites.

This was how our portrait session started! Larkin likes to look at the back of cameras so she can see the pics (thanks Lisa for teaching her that one) and was not happy about having to sit in front of one.

Going to the Doctor

You would think the world had ended. Last week I had to take Larkin to get some blood drawn. Guess they do this for all one year olds to test for anemia and things like that. Well I asked Heather about this since Noah, who is the same age as Larkin, had already gotten this done and she said no worries. Her doctor only poked Noah in the foot and took a few drops of blood. So that was what I was expecting. I need her doctor! Instead...... I take her to the lab and they proceed to have me sit in a regular blood-drawing chair and tell me to hold her down. They go on to take blood just like they do for adults. So of course by now she is screaming. They tighten the wrap around her arm, find a vein, and then tell me they are going to take 2 full size vials of blood. Of course she misses the vein the first few times and then it takes FOREVER. I was NOT happy and if I had known this I would have made Shaun take her. It is definitely his turn next time. At least everything came back normal, but here is her unhappy face and bandage. You might recognize it.

Cell phones: not sure if I should talk on them or eat them!

Larkin has gotten very good at saying hi and waving. Unfortunately she doesn't understand why she hears Daddy through the phone but can't see him waving!

Grandma came for a visit at the end of May!

We had lots of fun together playing, climbing, and even helping make some new curtains. I think we wore Grandma out with all of our stair climbing!!!!!

How many people does it take to give Larkin a bath??????

Larkin and Hailey are the best of friends. Why shouldn't they be when Larkin feeds her non-stop. Her motto is one for my mouth one for the doggy. Our dog will never be hungry again! Here she is working on petting the doggy "nicely". We haven't mastered this yet.

A play date with Brody

Larkin and Brody, who are just a few months apart spent the day hanging out while his mommy went to a training. They had lots of fun!

A race up the stairs

Lunch time!

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Gary come visit!

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Gary came to visit the weekend after Larkin's birthday. We had a wonderful time catching up, playing, and checking out some other parts of Phoenix. Can't wait to see them again soon!!!!!

Larkin sharing her baby that she got from Aunt Jackie.

Larkin and Uncle Gary having a little coffee break. I think Uncle Gary is more of a morning person than Larkin!

A little side trip to Krispy Kreme in honor of Uncle Mark. Unfortunately they must think that no one wants a doughnut at 3 in the afternoon because it was closed. So sad!