Van Buren Family Adventures: Hot Days of Summer

Hello family and friends! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated the blog. July has been a pretty good month in the Van Buren household. We started the month off by going on our annual family vacation to Pismo Beach for 10 days. Needless to say, it was soooo much fun. This year we were blessed to have 2 sets of amazing family friends with us through the 1st half of our trip. The Turner/Lingford family took the hotel room we had previously booked (before we had bought our travel trailer) and the Robertson family got a hotel room for a few days. The first half of our trip was spent walking down Pismo's main street and pier, playing on the beach with Andy, Killian, and Sue, going to Avila beach and watching the seals and even a little wine tasting trip. On 4th of July, everyone gathered at our campsite for a big BBQ. It was mass chaos with so many people, dogs, and babies-but that is what made it so fun and memorable! The second half of the trip was just the family and we had a lot of fun breaking in our new trailer. Madison had so much fun on the beach and playing in the sand. We cannot wait to go back and are planning a tentative trip for Memorial Day weekend. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it'll work out.

We returned to a thriving garden thanks to my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Our tomatoes are doing way better than last year and the corn is almost as high as our fence! The pumpkins are starting to take over as well. Once more veggies are coming in I'll have to post a picture.

Excluding a few days/nights here and there, Madison has been doing great. She has been in such a great mood and I love seeing her like this. She can get so grumpy when she's teething badly but luckily those days are becoming fewer and farther between. She also has been testing her legs and just trying to run everywhere. Madison is turning into a beautiful, funny little girl and it's insane how fast it's happening. She understands everything we say and follows directions so well (well, when she's not feigning deafness). I have to say the funniest/cutest thing she does is chase around Charlie all day and then cuddles with him on the floor when they're both tired. It is so sweet to see the bond between our beloved dog and child.

When we first got home from vacation we were blessed with amazingly cool weather and now it's just plain hot. So, our days consist of spending some outdoor time in the morning while it's not too hot and staying in the cool of our house the rest of the afternoon. But as Madison's growing up we have more of a variety of indoor activities like coloring. I got Madison some jumbo crayons and she loves it. Obviously right now we're not focusing on staying inside the lines ;). Just holding the crayon correctly which is also helping in teaching her how to hold utensils to feed herself. She has far from mastered feeding herself with utensils, but she's on her way and LOVES doing it.

Next on the Van Buren family to-do list: clean out and organize our basement into a play area (which we've started) and start.....wait for it......potty training Madison. Wish us luck!