Happy Birthday America!

The only thing better than America is America's birthday - man can this country throw a party.

Our day started off with the neighborhood parade where my buddy Dru and I went as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. We had an awesome road crew to pull us and our attached homemade Washington Monument - my Aunt Karen, cousin Francesca, my dad, Dru's mom and Dad, and Pop Pop (my Grandpa). Check it out...

A fourth of July family portrait in front of our house.

Me, Dru, and our parade road crew.

Then it was off to the Air Force Memorial to watch the fireworks over the Washington Monument. Pop Pop put me on his shoulders so I could see the thousands of people - whew, there were a lot of people. After the impressive show we headed home and now I'm headed to bed - this birthday party stuff wore me out. One thing is for sure, I am really glad I live in this country, America is one cool place and I'm one lucky kid.

Water Water Everywhere

The past ten days have been filled with lots of water activities. First, my dad competed in the Nation's Triathlon with 3500 people and placed 11th in his age group - what a stud. He swam in the Potomac - and said it didn't taste as bad as he had expected - then he biked around the city's landmarks, and finally he ran up and around the Capital to the finish line. My mom and I cheered him on and got a little exercise of our own trying to catch him.

Summer swim class started last week; I'm officially a Tadpole. And while I'm the youngest in the class, I try to make up for it by being fearless. The first class our teacher had us lay on our bellies on the side of the pool and hang our arms in the water and splash. One little challenge, my arms weren't long enough to reach the water. So he asked my parents to dangle me over the side so I could reach and I absolutely loved it.

I loved it so much that I am obsessed with going head first off EVERYTHING now. Each day at the pool I lay on my belly and eventually end up face first in the water - lucky my mom is watching and scoops me out because I still sink. At home I climb on all of the furniture and lean over head first and away I go; only minor bumps there so far. And this week at the park I thought I'd give head first a try from a park bench to the concrete. Lucky for me, my friend Henry broke my fall (not so lucky for Henry) and I only split my chin and gum open. Lots of blood but I'm healing just fine. (I was moving too fast when my mom tried to take a picture of the damage - but you get the idea.) My mom keeps saying with a weird look on her face, "I really need to 'thank' that swim instructor for introducing Bodie to the head first idea..." and I agree, it's awesome.

And finally my mom and dad went on a evening cruise of the monuments on the Potomac. It was a kids free night so I'm sure it wasn't that great. But the pictures of the monuments from the water were cool, and my folks don't look too bad either.

Looking forward to lots more summer and lots more water adventures ahead!

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad

#10 He buys clothes so we can match

#9 He teaches me about democracy and the importance of voting.

#8 He takes me bike riding - really, really fast!

#7 He likes to bond with me on "guy trips" to Home Depot.

#6 He makes my nightly bath the funnest event of the day.

#5 He looks like the buff guy on the front cover of Triathlete magazine.

#4 He reads to me every day.

#3 He takes me to get pedicures

#2 He gives me lots and lots of kisses.

#1 He's MY dad
Love you dad - Happy Father's Day!

Dunk! and Other Fun Junk

Wow, this past week sure had a lot of fun junk. We had our summer dunk tank party and it was full of lots of fun junk. First, my grandparents flew in for the fun. Second, lots of crazy friends came by to dunk and be dunked. And third, the weather could not have been better.

My dad made lots of funny faces when he was in the "hot seat." He would heckle the people throwing the balls. It was really funny, especially because he spent a lot of time getting wet - everyone seemed to hit the target when he was in the tank.

Lots of good food was enjoyed - thanks to everyone for bringing so many treats. Hazel, Ginger, and Poppy's mom brought the yummiest treat - a coconut lime berry cake. You can check the recipe out at http://virtualgoodyplate.blogspot.com/2011/06/coconut-lime-berry-cake.html. They even posted some pics of the dunking!

The fun junk continued with tons of time with Grandma and Grandpa. We tossed lots of balls, swam, read books, played chase at the park, went for wagon rides, played in the water, swam some more and threw rocks into the creek. Awesome, just awesome.

The fun junk never stops around here. Several cool playdates this week. This is me and my buddies Nick and Xander. Nick would shoot the bubbles, I would catch them, and Xander would watch. Then Nolan came to play and we cooled off in the water and played with the beach ball.

And finally my friend Eliza was in town with her mom from South Carolina - a state I haven't been to yet. Hey mom and dad...I see a trip in our future! Eliza and I played in the water, ate dinner, pushed each other around the house on my plastic hot rod, and dined on chocolate covered strawberries. Not a bad first date.

And tonight we went to a Fox Fun Campfire at the Gulf Branch Nature Center. The funny lady giving the fox presentation got down on her knees in the dirt, then pounced in the air just like a fox. I petted a real fox fur and roasted a marshmallow for my smore. While the roasting was fun, I skipped the smore and went straight for the Hershey's chocolate. Mmmmm.

Score!

Many of you have already seen the first two videos because I posted them on Facebook. I decided to share them here as well for those of you who don't do Facebook. The third one is a bit too over the top (in my humble opinion) to share with the world. Yes, we all know Dave and I are very competitive; the third video captures this a bit too much. However, Bodie's shooting is pretty crazy for such a little peep, so we're sharing it with family and friends - enjoy!