June and July

We've finally fixed our storage issues with Picasa so I can start blogging again. I sure picked a bad time to take a break. In the past two months we've gone swimming in various pools and lakes, taken at least half a dozen trips to the zoo, celebrated the 4th of July in the rain, driven to Florida and back, visited an art museum, and made a few more trips to the zoo. It's been a bit of a whirlwind of a summer. This post will be a big grab bag of highlights. We're uploading to Picasa again, and you can find an extensive collection of photos from all of our shenanigans, including, finally, all of our pics from New York.



Our first zoo trip of the season. Look out for that alligator, dudes.



"Daddy, what're those monkeys doing?"



At Percy Priest Lake. There used to be a town underneath this lake.



It looks like the beach, but it's not the beach. Not at all. But it's still lots of fun, and Ira sure loves being in the water.



Ira pretending to be Daddy at the lake.



At the zoo again. Sometimes we go just for the playground because their playground is awesome.



We spent the 4th downtown at the Doubletree. Ira and Mommy had a lot of fun hanging out on the floor of the hotel room.



The pool at the Doubletree. That's pure fear keeping Ira's body so straight.



"Fireworks! Fireworks pretty! Fireworks go BOOM!" Now repeat this a billion times, and you'll get just a taste of our conversations for at least a week after the 4th of July.



This is us after the fireworks and the down pour that accompanied them. We got a little wet.



We made it to Pensacola at the end of July. Here's Ira, his youngest cousin Collin, and Granny Holley, or Big Holley as she is also known. Ira's baby kissing skills show he might have a future in politics.



Here we are swimming in GG's pool. Or standing in GG's pool.



A small fraction of the Holley clan. In the front are Serenity, Ira, Cheyenne, and Josh. In the next row are Nana, Mommy, Papa, and Daddy, and in the back is Uncle Luke. We're at the Naval Air Station Museum, which features about a billion awesome jets and planes and helicopters.



Our family takes a ride in a rocket ship.



We took in a Pensacola Pelicans game while in town. Ira showed great patience as this was the longest game in the history of baseball. We left in the 7th inning after about 3 hours. Ira was still a little sad that we left. This kid loves baseball. We'll try to get some videos of our living room baseball games up soon.



Cousin Holley and Ira after swimming at a pool in Perdido Key. When Ira sees pictures of Holley now he says, "Holley, swimming pool."



On Papa's shoulders at the Blue Angels practice session. Ira loved the planes but was almost as excited by the golf cart that sold bottled water.



Ira and Poppy at the Palafox Marina. You can't tell, but the boat behind them is gigantic.



Poppy, Ira, Daddy, and Nonny at the marina.



Back home, with the new water table.



Another trip to the zoo. This time we went with our friends, the Moses family. Ira, April, and Lilly (the baby) check out a goat.



Donuts. Doughnuts. Whatever, they taste good.