Boys of Summer

For most people, mid-July is the height of the summer. For a band family, especially a Hoosier band family, it's the end of all free time. Jason started up his marching band rehearsals again, so he's back to being a working dad. He's only going three days a week now, so Miles and I are savoring our waning hours with him before band camp blows summer out of the water next week.

While Jason was home this summer, he made the best stay-at-home dad. I have to admit, I was jealous of all the fun things they got to do together. I think I missed Miles less when he was at day care. When he was out cruising the town with Daddy, I just kept imagining all the cool things I was missing. They went to the Children's Museum and rode the carousel and played and played and played. They went to the zoo and Miles showed off his new-found animal noise-making skills. They rode the train, although, by this picture, it looked like he was thinking..."How banale..." I prefer to believe he was just wishing his mommy was there.



On the weekends, we did get to do some fun family activities. We brought a picnic to the Irvington Farmers' Market and were so pleased with what a happening gathering it turned out to be. Here we are, Miles goofing off as usual.



Miles makes this face often lately. He learned how to pant like a dog, and has been doing it for about half the animals he sees. For the other half, he bounces up and down, like he's riding a horse. He's been reading lots and lots of books, too. Grammy's alphabet books have been his favorite because he can do motions or make sounds for most of the objects in the book. He loves making an elephant noise for the E book, brushing his teeth when he sees the toothbrush in the T book, and making a "tick tock" sound when he sees the clock in the C book.

I'm a bit partial, but I think he's turning out to be a pretty smart kid. It's so exciting to see how jazzed he gets when he discovers something new. Here's a fun pic from this morning - Miles discovering his shadow.


Happy summer to all!

Fourth Fizzle

Thanks to the constant drizzle all of July 4th, we spent another Independence Day watching fireworks set to glorified elevator music on TV. I'm not sure it even reached 70 degrees that day - Miles was very confused when he had to wear pants for the first time since May.


To be honest, I was somewhat relieved that Miles would be missing the show...I was nervous about whether or not he'd be afraid of them. And what can you really do at a fireworks show when a kid freaks out? It's not like you can turn off the TV, shut the door, or, as we tend to do at church, take the kid out in the narthex. Nevertheless, we had a pleasant day hanging out around the house. We even went out to a fancy dinner with Jen and Eddie. Apparently, that was enough excitement for the evening for Miles:


We did manage to have a beautiful day on the 3rd, so we went up to our old stomping ground to Carmelfest. We listened to some bands, watched the big kids in the bouncy thingies, and, of course, ate horrible fair food. Miles even got a hat from the fire station:


Miles is growing into such a big boy! He's eating all kinds of foods (he discovered a love of black beans tonight), repeating words and noises (Ack! Vroom! Moo!), and even making up some new words (babonga...kind of like aloha, it means hello or good-bye). He's already getting pretty good at walking with just one hand on something or someone - he'll be an official toddler before we know it!

The Cuz - Little Lady Lyla

Introducing...Miles' new baby cousin:

Lyla Anne Kolb

6 pounds, 12 ounces
18 3/4 inches long

Lyla made her grand entrance a 1:55 P.M. on June 24. As much trouble as she had given her mommy in the past, all made it through the day happy and healthy. The new Kolb family of three is now home from the hospital, and Lyla is treating her parents well...a good sleeper and eater!

Miles got a sneak peek of Aunt KK in the waiting room before the surgery - he had to give his cousin a good luck smooch before coming into the world!



And here he is the next day, meeting her for the first time. You can't really tell from the picture, but he was grinning from ear to ear. Granted, it could have been his normal hamming it up for the cameras - there were only about a half-dozen onlookers aww-ing and taking pictures. However, I'm convinced that it's only because he loves his baby cousin!



I'm writing today's post about my boy with a heavy heart...sitting in the airport, ready to leave him for 3 days to go to Denver for work. It's the farthest I've been away from my little dude, but it hurts me more than it hurts him!

Here's one last picture from this weekend - trying to go swimming and not really liking it.

Last Day as an Only

There are no new pics (slackers), but I just wanted to give a quick update. Tomorrow is likely to be the day that Miles' baby cousin is born, so today was his last day as an only grandchild, at least on Mommy's side of the family.

Before the hubbub begins, an update from Miles' doc appointment last week:

• 31 inches tall (90th percentile)
• 22 lbs, 14 ounces (50th percentile)
• Finally above 50% on head size!

Miles had a great time at the Children's Museum with Daddy on Monday. He loved the water table, the dinosaur exhibit, and the trains. He was not so happy about the carousel or the maze of mirrors. Overprotective Daddy didn't like the bigger kids walking all over him, but he's excited to take him back again when he can learn to walk.

Speaking of learning to walk, Miles is well on his way! He is a pro at walking along with his Tonka truck toy, but is still figuring out how to take his first steps on his own. We will be proud once he does, but we're also savoring the non-walking Miles while we can.

He continues to love to say "Buh-bye!" and has moved from calling all food "baba" to calling all food "mama"...not even sure I want a Freudian analysis on that. He also is on his first one-syllable word..."Pup"! We went to the drive-in movies for the first time last week to see "Up", which we like to pretend he's saying as well. Considering he doesn't watch much TV, let alone cartoons, we weren't surprised that Miles was completely mesmerized by the movie.

We'll hopefully be updating soon with pictures of Baby Girl Kolb!

A Bit Phishy in Asheville

The day after Miles turned one, we begrudgingly left Aunt KK and her ouchies and headed down to Asheville. We checked into the hotel and hung out on the patio off our room. If you ignored the cars in the parking lot and tilted your head just right, you had a nice view of downtown up on the hill.


We wandered around downtown and took in some pretty sights. It was a quiet evening there on a Monday, but we enjoyed the leisurely sight-seeing:


Little did we know, but our visit to downtown the next day couldn't be more opposite. The band Phish was playing downtown that evening, and their throngs of fans (most of which who hadn't showered in weeks) packed the entire area, loitering with their hackey sacks and mangy mutts. Luckily, smelly or not, Phish fans are generally a mellow bunch, so it just made for a more interesting and colorful visit. That day was Jason's birthday. We started with an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Moose Cafe, followed by 9 holes of golf for Daddy.


Wednesday was our trip to the Biltmore - what an amazing place! Miles was such a good boy...we figured we'd only make it part of the way through the house tour, but he let us see all 5 floors of the house without much fuss. He charmed every old man and lady in the place. We had a picnic in the gardens for lunch:


We ate ice cream and the River Bend Creamery:

And we pet lots of animals at the farm (ok, so Daddy and Miles pet them...Mommy stood back and tried not to step in chicken poo):


On the drive back home, we stopped for lunch in Corbin, KY - home of the original KFC. Miles did his best impression of Colonel Sanders, especially for the occasion.


Now it's back to life as usual...Miles has had so much fun playing with his birthday toys. Our house looks like a Toys R Us exploded!

Miles is One!

Miles had a great first birthday last Sunday! Aunt KK will soon be delivering Miles' first baby cousin, so we decided to have the birthday party in Lexington so she could be close to the hospital. Good thing...because she started having contractions that night and went into the hospital the next day. No baby yet...hopefully she'll stick it out until her new C-section date: June 24.

Anyway, the grandparents and aunts and uncles all descended upon a nice park in Lexington for Miles' Big Day.

Miles was unimpressed by the tradition of wearing cheap paper hats on your birthday - someone could have at least gotten him a baseball cap or something!



He quickly cheered up though when we rolled out the cake. He recognized it from his first taste at the picture studio the week before...and he learned not to immediately stick his toe in it this time!



This time around it was even more delicious, because everyone sang and clapped just for him!



Not surprisingly, he got a shload of presents, and he even got to test out a few.



Next chapter - Birthday #2...this time Daddy's birthday and our celebration in Asheville, NC.

The Grand Ol' KY

We've had an exciting couple of weeks! Still trying to catch up, but first, here's what we did on Memorial Day weekend:

Watched Aunt Ashley's soccer game. Miles was so proud of her - she scored several goals!




Took his first carousel ride at Opry Mills...was kinda freaked out.



Checked out the fishies at the Rain Forest Cafe with Granny:



Miles was very good for his sleepover with Aunt Ashley while Mommy and Daddy spent the night in Nashville. He also loved playing with the big kids at the cookout on Sunday and watching his first Indy 500.

In our next episode...birthday celebrations! But first, a word from our sponsors: A&W, Veg-All, and Diet Coke...