Dear Alex,

It’s been so much fun taking you out after what seemed like an endless winter! For some reason it seems to me that we pretty much skipped spring around here this year, and the days are already getting pretty hot. We spent Memorial Day weekend at your first of many many family reunions. Dad’s side of the family has this reunion in WV every year. It was the first chance you’ve had to meet that side of the family, and I think everyone enjoyed it!

Here’s the whole clan. As my generation starts to have kids, the group is getting bigger & bigger. We also got a great photo of our little family:

There was a lot of good food… here you are sitting up at the table, probably thinking about how you can’t wait to chow down into everything next year! I love this little portable seat, it folds flat & hooks onto any table.

Me, you & Nanna sat together and watched the annual cornhole tournament. Dad & Uncle Robbie won for the 2nd year running!

The night before we all went out to dinner. Grump took you around & introduced you to everyone.

Then the following week, we ended up having to go to Hampton for my Uncle Bob’s funeral. Your first funeral… quite a sad milestone. Other than the bugle scaring you at the end (my uncle was a marine, so they did the flag folding ceremony complete with playing taps), you did pretty well. I’m glad my uncle got a chance to meet you at Easter this year. Anyway, while we were down, Grandma & I took you for a quick trip to the beach!

This was your first beach trip, and overall you seemed to enjoy it. You snuggled with Grandma and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the ocean… we play ocean sounds for you at night, so naturally the real life sounds lulled you to sleep. When you woke up we put your toes in the sand, and you seemed to enjoy it:

And you posed for a couple of cute (and funny!) pictures:

Then at the very end of our trip, I took you down to the water’s edge to let you try playing in the water… you did NOT like that one bit!

Man, you cried & cried after that little “dip” in the water, for a solid 10 minutes straight! It was worse than when you got your first shots! I think the cool water temperature (it wasn’t super cold, but cool compared to how your bath water usually is), plus the suddenness of the waves splashing up probably scared you. needless to say, we decided it was time to go at that point, which was okay since we’d already been there about 2 hours. We’ll try the water again next time! 😉

Some other fun we had earlier in the month (although it was not in the sun), was an outing with the January 2013 moms & babies! We’d planned to go to the botanical gardens, but it ended up being a rainy day so we met in the mall.

Of course you were napping when it was time for the group photo! One of the moms (Danna, second from the right) is a photographer & got this great photo of you when you woke up. It’s my new favorite Alex picture!

You are so handsome. 🙂 Anyway, can’t wait to have some more outdoor adventures with you this summer! I’d better wrap this up, it’s almost time to get you up & ready for daycare.

All my love,
Mom