Family Reunion

We met little Evelyn Lily de Jong for the first time! Brendan's sister, Katie, and our brother-in-law, Peter recently came to visit North Carolina; they live in Toronto. We met them on the North Carolina coast, and enjoyed a mini- beach trip.

Little Eve is beautiful blend of her parents. Garrett enjoyed hanging out with his baby cousin. He was surprisingly gentle, with a few expected rough moments.

Garrett looked like such an adorable little surfer boy in his swim suit.

We had a great time at the beach!











We got a second treat-- Brendan's brother, Tim came home safely from Iraq! There was a fun and chaotic family dinner with all the Stephens siblings, except Isabelle, who was at the Emmy's!









The delightful chaos was largely created by all the little cousins-- Garrett, Mia, Vincent, and Evelyn. It's so much fun to watch the sweet little rugrats romp around together.










Everyone was excited to have Tim back home. It was great to
see him interact with all the kiddos.









It was a loud and fun evening!

































On their way out of town, the de Jongs spent the night with us. We had great cookout! Our mutual friend Garrick chilled with us. He's a natural with the little ones :).

Good Times in Atlanta!

The last week in August we went to Atlanta to visit my sister, Nicole and brother-in-law, Frank. Frank had just graduated from National Guard basic training with honors. Frank was super fit and super thin. Nicole was looking hot and trim.

We had a great time on our mini-trip-- one overnight. We stayed at the Intercontintental Hotel, which is beautiful and luxurious. How did we afford it you ask? Nicole bid on our rooms at priceline.com, and we got a real steal of a rate. Garrett loved romping around our room, and had a great time Sunday morning taking a bath and eating breakfast with Aunt Nicole and Uncle Frank.

We went to Stone Mountain (the Confederate Mount Rushmore) and saw the lazer and fireworks show. The lazer show is like a fun, flashy travel guide to the South. We also went to the Atlanta Aquarium. It was Labor Day weekend, so the aquarium was packed to the max. The aquarium is huge and magnificent. I don't know what Garrett liked more the fish or the people.

Check out the Atlanta Trip videos.

Belated Birthday Post-- Happy 1st, Garrett!

Garrett Douglas Stephens turned one year old on August 4th, 2007!

We celebrated at the NC Asheboro Zoo with Grandma Judy, Aunt Hannah, Cousins Mia and Vincent. Its an awesome zoo, but it was sweltering hot day. The zoo has two sides, the African and North American.

We went to the African side, which has vast natural exhibits. Garrett ate his first cupcake, and made a grand mess. Despite the heat, we all had a lovely time.

Check the out the Birthday videos :) .

New Things and New Adventures

We love our new dishwasher! The generous wedding gifts we received made it possible for us to get our new, beloved dishwasher :).









Garrett is becoming quite a handful. He's cruising and crawling all over the place. He's now more confident taking steps (holding on to furniture) and lowering himself to the ground. Brendan sometimes calls him the all-terrain baby. He keeps us on our toes.


We recently got Garrett a big boy chair-- a front facing car seat. He loves it. It's so cute when he puts his arms on the armrests, like he's just chillin'. He seems small again, in the car seat.






Over the last month, Garrett has gained a real love for books and storytime. I'm really tickled by how happy and excited he gets, when you sit down to read him a book. He's learning to turn the pages. He has a somewhat limited attention span, understandably, but you can really see his wheels turning when you read to him. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, out of the blue, he will say a whole sentence.

Garrett's new favorite thing to do is point. His points have many meanings: I like it; what's that; I want it; hello; I see you; etc.

We been on a couple hikes recently, Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain lowers. Garrett enjoys riding in his backpack and seeing new things. We switch off, but Brendan does the majority of carrying. It's a workout!

Vacation!

We vacationed in Florida--courtesy of my mom, Kim, and my stepdad, Stu. We spent two nights in Orlando and three nights in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a great time, but no one had more fun than Garrett! He loved the adventure and watching all the interesting people. One of his favorite things to do is wave, at everyone and at anything that generally pleases him, like ceiling fans. He has the adorable open and close hand wave and what Brendan likes to call the vote-for-me wave, open hand, arm extended in an arch motion--very adorable. Garrett's a charmer, what can we say.










We went to the Kennedy Space Center, which fascinating and surprisingly very family oriented. It's hard to describe how impressive it all was; let's just say it's hard to fathom that there are people that smart.











We also went to Pompano Beach in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a pretty beach. Garrett had a good time, except for the wave that got him in the face. He was really interested in the sea shells Daddy found for him.







We took an airboat ride in the Everglades. We saw three alligators! One alligator swam right up to the edge of the boat, where I was sitting! It was sorchin' hot.









We went to many tasty restaurants, including Joe's Crab Shack, which Garrett loved. We ate at a intimate French restaurant, and then went and saw Ratatouille--very cute. We highly recommend it.










Garrett has reached a new plateau. He's more animated and active. He's all over the place. He can pull up and is learning to cruise. Garrett jabbers all the time, and is becoming very communicative. One of his favorite new games is the gravity game-- dropping things for fun.









We had a great time on our first family vacation! Garrett was a real trooper.