Finley's Top 10 from the Lake

We spent a wonderful week down in Palmyra, VA at my parents' lake house. They have a great spot right on Lake Monticello and while we had visited there last summer with Finley, he was barely sitting up and I was excited to see how he'd take it all in this time around. My parents took some pictures and I eventually cracked open our camera mid-week, but we still managed to end up with a zillion great photos! I tried interviewing Finley while flipping through the iphoto album of our visit to get some ideas of what to blog about, but he was just yelling our nouns...which wouldn't make much for a blog, but might do well for a David Letterman style Top Ten list.

Finley's Top 10 Reasons to Visit his Grandparents at Their Lake House

10. ICE!

Since it was in the upper 90s and even the low 100s during our entire visits, we indulged Finley's new love of ice. He mostly ate it, but did toss it in the baby pool, watched it melt, and even tried to put it through the slats in the deck. He knew there was tons of it in the cooler and it was hard to say no when he kept asking for more and more.

9. BEANS!

After picking up some fresh beans at the local Farmers' Market, Finley and his "rammy" (Grammy) were going to prep them for dinner.

Finley was adorably invested in this process and while he wasn't terribly helpful, his motives were genuine.

He wanted to show the beans to me and even shared one with his beloved penguin, Arty.

8. TRUCK!

We did manage to squeeze in some "field trips" when we could pull ourselves away from lounging around. One morning, we went to the Charlottesville Childrens Museum and it was a great chance to run around and have fun in the very cool, AC-ed playspace.

7. BUBBLES!

As advertised, the bubble machine my mom had bought provided "billions" of bubbles. Finley had a blast walking through them and popping them while Dan and I were out on a hike.

6. HOE!

Yes, Finley is as articulate about garden tools as he is about trucks. Whether it's a rake, shovel, or hoe--he'll be sure to tell you which one he has or wants. Someday, Finley will be really useful in the yard and I'm glad we're getting him to practice now.

5. BOAT!

Finley liked riding on my dad's boat last summer and the same was true this year. He liked going fast, seeing the other boats, and getting to drive the boat and beep the horn on my dad's lap.

watching a neighbor's model train

checking out some ducks

Here's a fun pair of photos: one from this year and one from last year.

5A. KAYAK!

Okay, Letterman doesn't do "As" in his countdown, but one of the fun new words Finley learned on this trip was kayak and enjoyed yelling in out whenever he'd see my parents' boats on the lawn or if one would pass by on the water.

4. POP!

Again, the hot weather ended up working in Finley's favor since we did not hesitate to help him cool off with a popsicle whenever the opportunity presented itself. In fact, after have only one at least a day before if not longer, he woke up a bit crabby from his nap and rejected all my snack options. After a silent moment, he looked at me and said, "pop?" and pointed to the freezer. He's really picking up on words and ideas so much faster these days, borderline amazing!

3. DEE-DA! TAR!

Last time (maybe 3 weeks ago) when Finley hung out with my dad, he wasn't quite able to say Granddad but came up with his own version, Dee-da, and it's official now that my dad will be Dee-da since Finley probably called him that 400 times over the week we were there. It was adorable how he was always asking about him, looking for him, and wanting to be near him. He eagerly awaited my dad's arrival each morning, we'd watch for the boat to pull in and wait to hear all about how many fish he'd caught. However, Dee-da's great talent (in Finley's eyes) is playing the guitar. I missed the first performance since my dad babysat and put Fin to sleep while my mom, Dan, and I went to see HP7, but we were there for all the rest of the evening serenades. "Tar!" Finley would shout and then he'd pick a chair and settle in.

2. SANDBOX!

Well, it is the world's largest sandbox aka the beach. Finley's love of sand was perfect for outings to the lake's beach. We'd boat over there and spend a while. Finley walked around and dug from a squatting position at first, but eventually figured out that getting covered in sand is part of the fun.

"Dee-da, hole, peas" (My dad obliged after such a polite request.)

Wow, it's really deep!

Burying everyone's feet was fun!

1. WATER!

While Finley's swim lessons were a success, he's not exactly a fish. However, he got more and more comfortable in the water as the week progressed and something tells me that by this time next year, we'll be dragging him out. He did seem to like that he could walk in and out of the water at the beach and he was even running into my arms for a big splash by our last day there.

Thanks to my dad for this great family shot!

We had a great week and miss Rammy and Dee-da terribly. Whenever Finley has cantelope and calls out "mayan" for melon, the next word is always "Rammy" and Dee-da always comes up if we are talking about or looking at boats, fish, or music. We love you!