New Addition

Just a quick post to let you know about what has arrived at the Hale house.  We are not adding another Hale to be raised, but instead a new screened porch where we can play!!!  Our old porch posts were not great and had taken a further beating from the April tornado, so we decided to not just replace but to improve.  We are so excited that Mike and I are taking a "date" on the porch this evening to celebrate.

June is already gone!

Wow, I am apparently hitting one blog post a month right now.  It has been pretty crazy around the Hale house.

We started the month pretty quietly.  Mike had a trip to a conference in San Jose, California.  Before he headed out we spent Sunday after church at Womble Park near our house.  We headed over to play some sand volleyball with the boys (mainly to get outside and play before it got too hot)

We started with snack . . . animal crackers

Then it was onto the court where Mike was coached by Liam :-)

Since Mike was heading west, the boys and I headed east to spend some time in coastal NC with my family.  While there, we got to play in Bogue Sound, hang out at the pool, and check out the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores.  We really enjoyed hanging out with the big cousins and the great family with which we have been blessed.

Liam enjoyed walking along the edge of the sound

He was a Papa Witt seeking missile, especially while Papa was trying to take care of the dozen upon dozen ears of corn that were put away this second week in June

The boys enjoy rides on the four-wheeler with Papa (they are keeping the seat warm whenever he is ready to go :-)

Graeme even got to go kayaking with cousin Lena (Sarah got to paddle her own and she did a great job!)

And of course, there was watermelon to snack on (we had to cut the little man off)

Another day we made it back to play in the pool.  Graeme was very diligent about washing off his feet both going in and coming out of the pool.

Sarah likes to make crazy eyes

Graeme had so much fun

On Friday, we finally headed out bright and early and made it to the aquarium.

The boys loved watching the otters play

The corn snake exhibit was another favorite

It almost looks like he is actually touching the alligator

Sarah, Liam, Jadyn, and Graeme in front of the big tank

Digging for fossils 

My turtle friends :-)

After our visit to the coast, we came back for a rather stressful week.  We had an appointment with Wake County Early Intervention regarding Graeme's communication.  There is still a lot to learn, but he does have a speech delay and possibly some sort of speech disorder that we will be helping him with in the next few months.  

A few days after this appointment, Liam went to Duke for an inguinal hernia surgery.  This is something quite common in little boys and since it will not heal on its own, we had to get it closed up.  He was a great little trooper and within a few days was back to all his old tricks.  He is getting into everything and learning a lot about the word, "no".

The last part of June was not nearly as eventful.  We went to see Cars 2 with the boys.  We got to spend time with Mike's sister Katie and her fella.  We headed to Fayetteville to celebrate Mike's mom's birthday.  Then came the weekend of the 4th!  

We are generally out of town, but not this year.  We spent Saturday with Mike's brother Ken and his family.  We had a great time playing in the backyard with the cousins and having a yummy lunch from the grill.  Molly brought her famous potato salad and we had a great visit.

For July 4th, we finally made it to our first Ghetto Games.  A tradition started by friends of ours from our old Sunday School class, it is hot dogs, games and fun.  Several of us now have kids to bring along and we look forward to passing along some great fellowship.

One game Graeme still isn't quite sure what to make of is croquet 

You do have to keep an eye on him with a bat, though

Liam liked kicking (and carrying) the soccer ball

A new friend Mikale (I'm sure I've butchered the spelling of her name, so sorry) was wonderful with Graeme and tried to show him how to correctly throw a frisbee

Graeme thought this was a really cool hula hoop and shook himself silly trying to make it spin (I wish I had video)

Liam did pretty well at corn hole

Once back home, Graeme discovered my straw hat, added some boots and decided to end the day with a Daddy Rodeo.  Yah! Yah!!!

Well, I hope to be better in July about keeping the blog up to date.  We are having some great summer adventures.  I will strive to be better in both picture taking and blogging!