July

Again- we've been busy! The first part of July was packed with a lot of activities. We went to UNC for fireworks on the fourth and Landon was scared to death. I thought he would never let go of my neck. They let the fireworks off in the middle of the football stadium (which is where we were sitting), so they were close, echoed and were totally overwhelming. So..next time I guess we'll watch them from the car or from really far away. He's now scared of loud noises- so hopefully he's not traumatized for life!

The next day we packed up and headed to Michigan for a week. It was full of seeing a LOT of people. It was nice to catch up, but good to come home where summer was actually taking place. I dont remember bugs being that bad before and it was cold. And no, I'm not being a wimp. Going from high to 90s down to high 60s-low 70s is a dramatic difference.

Once we were home, we continued our normal routine- gardening, playing Dr. Cheekers, organizing Mama's paintings for Artprize, museum with friends, swimming...
We made a really amazing tomato jam (http://kitchenconfidante.com/tomato-jam-recipe) which goes perfect on pizza with just some fresh basil and mozzarella. I ended up getting an end of season box of tomatoes from the u-pick farm we go to. I'm splitting it with a friend since it's 25#, but it was only $15. It would have been over $75 of tomatoes if I went there and picked them myself last week. AND they are delicious and perfectly ripe. I plan on making at least one more batch of the jam with less sugar and then a ton of salsa. This is our afternoon project today.

Other than this, we are getting ready for family to come in the next few weeks for Landon's second birthday. (when did THAT happen?!) He's definitely showing signs of being two and really likes to be...shall I say...independent. But, we're enjoying him really starting to talk and trying to say new words. He says about 1 new word a day.Kyle finished up his last final this afternoon, so we're going to celebrate another semester down, another semester of duke debt and the promise of 18 months to go by going out to eat tonight with a bunch of friends.