Blake's first haircut!

Aw, I put it off as long as possible but the day finally came! I had to take Blake to get his hair cut. We went this past Thursday, July 9th to Styles in Lexington for the big cut. I made an appointment with my stylist, Shalon, because she has kids and she's used to cutting their hair. Blake did really well until she got to the front to cut his bangs. At this point Grandpa had to hold him so Shalon could get the front. The whole thing went well and yes, I saved his first little curls. Shalon said she thinks he will have curly hair due to it's texture already. He does have a lot of body in his hair and when it's wet it's really curly. Poor thing :) Guess he gets that honest! I really like his new hair cut but a little sad because he looks like a little boy now and not so much a baby anymore :( 

Sandpit

     On the fourth of July, there is always the parade for the Peach Festival which starts about 9:30 a.m. and they close some of the streets between my house and my parents so I have to leave extra early so I can get through. I know I've already posted the 4th news but this is about Friday, the 3rd. I left work last Friday (July 3rd) and went to my parents house to pick up Blake. After I left their house I decided that I would continue down their street to find an alternate route in case the main road was already closed for the parade in the morning. 

Now let me start out by saying this "road" isn't what you would normally think of as a road. The part mom and dad live on is paved but then it turns into dirt. I went down this road a few years back (when it was first cleared out) in my Escort with no problem so I was just going to ride down it to make sure everything was still okay. Dumb, dumb move. 

     As I started down the dirt part, life was good. I then noticed that the "road" pretty much turned into a trail. Too late to turn around at this point but still thinking things were good, I plowed on. If you know much about living on dirt roads, you pretty know what to avoid and what you can and can't drive through. I know these things, I really do. I drove through some sand and fishtailed a bit but didn't get stuck. Life was still good. Next thing I know, I'm just driving and going absolutely nowhere! I'm stuck in the sand :(  Uh-oh.

     Trying not to panic I almost just have to laugh because of this stupid situation. My mind goes into overtime and I'm trying to find a solution to this dilemma. I went into the woods and hauled out these logs to put under my front tires for some leverage. No luck so I called up some friends from church who live across from mom and dad. I know they have trucks so I'm thinking they can possibly pull me out. Randy comes down the "trail" in his truck and then speeds up considerably and flies around my car narrowly avoiding getting stuck! After evaluating the situation we realize there is no way he can pull me out without getting stuck himself. Unfortunately he didn't have the tractor at the house or it would've been a piece of cake. Time to call in reinforcements!

Donna and Franky are two of our best friends and Franky recently got a Ford F-250 4x4. They come out to our house almost every Friday so I called them up and asked them to come early! Brent is probably leaving work headed for home at this point and I know there is NO WAY I am calling him because I don't want to hear his mouth :) Randy takes Blake and I back to their house to wait for Donna and Franky to get there. Randy's family is throwing a big party so Blake and I just partied along.

Finally my backup arrives and after busting a tow rope and a tow strap, and possibly getting stuck, Franky was able to pull me out of the sand far enough to get it in reverse and back up the trail. Whew! It's really funny now to think about and was actually pretty humorous when it happened but I won't be going down that "road" anytime soon! 

Word to the wise: if it looks like the sand at the beach, don't even try to drive through it, hahahaha!

4th of July

Independence Day is always fun for me and I was glad that Blake could enjoy it this year as well. Of course the Peach Festival is always a big deal around our neck of the woods and we were sure to be in attendance. As most of you know, Blake and I ran up there last year to win the "youngest at the festival" award and then went back home. He slept the whole time and has no recollection of the festival last year :)

     This year I was pretty sure that he would like that parade and music. He did! Dad parked our truck out under the big shade tree at the church on Thursday morning to ensure a good spot to watch the parade. Yes it sounds early but these people start parking their vehicles at least by Thursday night on the parade route. Our friends, the Crofts, came early that morning and we headed to the truck with our chair in tow. Since we had a good spot we were very popular with friends and our truck was full by the time the parade started. Blake enjoyed watching the parade and listening to the music. He started to get a little agitated by the end but overall did well. After the parade we walked up to look at the crafts and see what kind of entertainment they had. 

Mom and Dad always work a booth at the festival so we stopped by to say hi. We didn't stay for too long because it was hot and Blake was ready for lunch. Some friends from church let us borrow their huge inflatable water slide so Brent and Franky set that up and it was a wet and wild afternoon! The kids had a blast on it and yes, even Blake went down the slide. He was squealing with excitement and splashing around. 

Nothing ends the night like a good fireworks display. While it's not the most elaborate, it's a very good show and is a big deal in our community. Blake seemed to like them as he was pointing and wanting Grandmomma to look! I'm glad to say our 4th was a wonderful one filled with friends and family and I hope yours was too!

BLAKE IS WALKING!!!!!!!!

Yep, It is now official- Blake is walking! When we were at the beach, Blake started taking a lot of consecutive steps which boosted his confidence. Now he walks everywhere, picks up everything and of course puts it in his mouth. He is so cute and walks like a little drunk man. I hadn't really put him in shoes since he had not been walking but I thought it was odd that every time I would try shoes on him in the store, they wouldn't fit. I was telling a friend of mine about it at Bible School and she told me her son has wide feet. She looked at Blake's feet and said, "yeah, he might be an extra wide." So, this past Saturday I took him to "Goody 2 Shoes" in Lexington to get fitted for some shoes. Come to find out, he has a 5.5 EXTRA WIDE foot, hahahaha! He must get that from me as I have wide feet. I think they're cute and definitely help him keep his balance. Who knows, maybe he'll be the next Michael Phelps with "paddles" to help him swim, hahaha! We also went to a wedding last Saturday for a family friend so I put his new shoes on him which had gotten for him that morning. He drug his feet and flailed around because he wasn't used to them. It was hilarious to me even though he's already severely scuffed up the brand new sandals which were not so cheap! I am posting this little video of him walking and picture of him in his outfit and new shoes from the wedding. Hope everybody is doing well!