5 on Friday

I'm so behind, but there's so many Marino moments I don't want to forget. Here's 5 of the latest reasons I'm loving my boy: 

5. A couple weeks ago, we went to the beach.  That night, Marino was eating shrimp for dinner. Evan was peeling them for him and handing them over. Marino said, "This is the good life."

4.  Also at the beach:  we had the perfect weather day and we spent 5 hours in the ocean. At one point Marino looked at me and said, "Mommy, the ocean made you look like a freak. It's mostly the hair."

3. Marino loves his brother so much. He came to visit for two weeks and Marino was so happy.  He's so proud of him and always introducing him to everyone, "This is my brother, Quintyn. He's 14 years old!"

4. At Marino's summer camp, the kids get a green band for their legs when they're able to swim the length of the pool without stopping. This means they get to go in the deep end and use the water slides. Marino has been wanting a green band since he went to camp last June. The other night I got home and he said, "Mommy, this is going to be a surprise for you" and held out his leg with a green band! I was so happy I teared up. Later he said "Mommy, I never knew you would be this excited about my green band. I knew you would be a little excited, but not like this!"

5.  Speaking of camp, twice a summer, Marino's camp has each group put on a performance for the parents. The first performance was last month...watch below. The end is the best part.

Summer Fun with Old Friends and Daddy Love!

I'm a week behind here but catching up. The week before last, daycare was closed for a professional day on Friday. Our buddies Audra, Hayden and Jackson came by for a playdate. Hayden and Marino were next door neighbors in the NICU (which was way overcrowded at the time, which meant they were practically on top of each other) and we all still keep in touch. Audra is one of the sweetest women I've ever met and the boys are both adorable. Marino was in heaven having two boys to run around with!

They were digging Marino's play hats! Jackson the cowboy.

Hayden the pirate.

Saturday, our friends The Western's had their annual summer pool party. It was a great day for it - not too hot or too sunny but warm enough. We had a great time.

Marino shooting the breeze with Mr. Western...

Tony's first pool experience. He wasn't sure what to think initially, but he warmed up to the pool in no time.

Marino was pretty terrified of the water, so he looked like this a lot of the afternoon.

Bella is a sweetie!

Marino was in love with Ruby, the Western's dog.

Pool volleyball is always fun!

Marino was loving throwing the ball to Onyx, who also loves to swim!

Marino was much happier on a pool float!

Learning lawn games with Uncle Brian.

This boy is serious about his watermelon.

Marino was fascinated by the Western's bird, Sammy.

Sunday was Father's Day and Daddy spent most of the day fishing with a friend. We took him out for lunch at one of his favorite places, Mi Rancho.

Feels Like Summer

It's definately summer. For those of you not familiar, weather in our area (DC Metro) is HOT and HUMID in the summer. This week is ending with temps near 100 with 70% humidity. Ugh. So how do we cool off?

Saturday, we got to visit with my friend Kristal and Marino's buddy Gabby. There's now a new buddy in the family, Baby Brianna, born in April. This was my first time seeing her, and I got a chance to hold and feed her. What a cutie! She looks just like her mama.

Kristal has this great deck that is completely enclosed (no door). I wouldn't have previously found that appealing, but now that Marino can open doors, I am wanting one of these! Gabby and Marino played with the water table on the deck and had a little dance party. The water table definately helped the kids keep cool...check out how wet Marino is!

Marino's BFF, Sydney, turned 3 on Friday. Sunday was her birthday bash. The kids had a great time in the pool, splashing each other and kicking.

Sydney was absolutely adorable, as always!

The really bizarre thing was that Marino acted fine at the party. As soon as I strapped him in his car seat, he said "I sick. I need to see the doctor." Two hours later, he had a blazing fever. Very strange. But glad we got to go to the party and celebrate with Sydney!

Low Key Weekend

We had a fairly low key weekend. In case you haven't noticed from reading the blog, I have a tendency to overbook myself every weekend and never feel rested by the time Monday rolls around. I'm working on this!

Saturday was Evan's cousin Sammy's graduation/18th birthday party. Evan's cousins are all the best of friends and I absolutely love it. I hope that Marino has that relationship with his cousins one day (whenever my sister-in-laws get around to babies...no rush, Chelle and RiRi!!). Sammy is a sweetheart and has changed so much since I started dating Evan 5 years ago.

Here's a shot of Marino and Aunt Chelle at the party

Rianne and Sammy
Evan and Sam

Super cool cake...that's Sammy playing football on the cake

We had a great time at the party and got to visit with lots of friends and family.

Sunday we had a huge storm, so after our (indoor) swim class, we were lazy all day.

Today was a gorgeous day, so all 4 of us (including Max) went to fly Marino's Brobee kite after work. We had a great time! Marino kept saying "Brobee face in sky!!" He did a great job holding the kite and only let go once (we got lucky and the handle stuck on a chain link fence so we didn't lose the kite).

Marino loves to tell us "I'm scared" (I'm not kidding, he probably says this 20 times a day, sometimes for no obvious reason). He usually gets to the top of slides and then announces "I'm scared" and has to be coaxed down. This is what's going on here...

Loves to climb

Running with Max

Happy boy!