Smoothie Face

Smoothies are currently at the top of Court's list of favorite foods, and we love them for their ability to make yogurt, milk and fruit a little more fun. Along with smoothie drinking comes the requisite smoothie face!

Cool Treats

We recently hosted a group of friends for some backyard water play. The temperature reached 100 degrees so the toddlers cooled off with some juice boxes and melty popsicles, including Court, who proved to be quite the natural at enjoying these summertime treats for the very first time. (The Spiderman Band-Aid is compliments of a small tumble and resulting "owie" on his face.)

A Boy & His Dog

With summer in full swing, Court is living it up in the great outdoors every day. He especially loves to cool off by splashing around in his toddler pool in our backyard. Bonus: it's the best way to spend some quality time with his pal Edith in the late afternoon!

Cake Mash!

Court celebrated his half-birthday on June 29, which was a big deal around here! We wanted to give him a re-do on his birthday cake since he was feverish and puny on his actual first birthday and could barely muster the energy to eat even a tiny a bite of his cake. So on the fourth of July, after a wonderfully fun day at the pool, we gifted Court with a small half-birthday cake (baked by his momma) and let him go to town. We also helped him to eat it, but he put a big dent in it on his own!

Chapel Hill

Court's Maui grandmother Kathy (or Tutu) came to Raleigh this week to visit us. Today we ventured over to Chapel Hill for a short stroll around campus and lunch on Franklin Street. Court loved climbing the steps of the Old Well and dining on pizza at Pepper's. He also successfully cajoled his Tutu into buying him a darling wooden toy car adorned with UNC decor. Of course, we couldn't resist dressing him in a smocked Tar Heel outfit for the outing!

Day One

Welcome to Court's new weblog and photo journal! For the amount of growth and change that Court realized in his first year of life, it seems like the second year is going by even more quickly, and we are already more than half-way through it. Now that he's talking and on the move, our days are filled with lots of fun and new discoveries. We hope to use this weblog to share a photo or two, every few days, to document his daily doings and milestones.We welcome you to check back regularly for photos and updates on our life with Court!

A proper photo session was the perfect way to kick off the second half of Court's second year, and the perfect subject for our first post here. On June 16, we joined professional photographer Erica Mulford at Fred Fletcher Park, a beautifully landscaped park in downtown Raleigh on the grounds of the former Methodist Home for Children. We discovered the park upon moving to Raleigh last year and we now attend its regular summer Sunday evening concert series, where Court loves to dance to the music and chase after other kids and puppies (or "Ruff," as he calls them). The photo session took place in the late afternoon, when the natural light offered an amazing format for some remarkable photos. Here are some of our favorites from the day!