Introducing the Notorius S.M.A.L.L., or the "Frog Man" as Pop likes to call him in this picture. There are lots of beach pictures here.

We are sitting at Gate 93 getting ready for the return flight to Seattle. About 6 hours kicking off at 6 pm, ouch. We had a very sad good by out front of the rental house before taking a car service to the airport. It was such a great trip. Cooper was so comfortable with everyone and he really seemed to bond with them. The party was a great success, and the day we spent before it with Gram and Pop was very special. The beach week was really wonderful; I can't remember the last time we had the whole family together for a full week of vacation, that wasn't centered around some event or holiday, which are always so busy. This left time to talk, to play monopoly, to cook, and to catch up. Leaving has been a hard thing; I started feeling sad about it yesterday. But hopefully we will be back doing this again soon. And hopefully a certain someone will sleep on the plane. He slept for 2 hours in the car, and just had a good feed, we will see....

I have lots of great beach pictures to post, coming soon.

On Friday Cooper finally met his Great Grandparents, John and Lucy. It was a great day we spent all day at their house enjoying our time together. It was a proud moment for me to get to show off my new son, and he seemed to have a really great time too. He took to both of them, hanging out on their laps all day long. Be sure to check out the movie.

Everyone has been asking us how the trip in was with a four month old, and the short answer is that it was ok. Not great but the boy did ok. He was great at the airport, soaking up the most people he has ever seen in one place at one time, and he zonked out when we got to our seats. But as the plane gained altitude he had a bit of a fit. Maybe it was an ear thing, or maybe just too long in the car seat, who knows. At any rate he settled down for a few stretches, and we mostly averted the dagger eyes of our fellow passengers. The people directly ahead and behind us seemed to be baby lovers which helped. One woman even offered to hold him when he was crying. Being on a plane with a crying baby is very claustrophobic, you can't do any of the things you would normally do: walk around, go to a quiet dark place, sing, etc.... Lessons learned: check the car seat. We ended up holding him the whole time anyway and it just took up a seat we could have used for space. Not really looking forward to round II, but what can you do?

The boy took his first steps in the sand and surf today. He has a big beach vacation ahead of him and so with the temp pushing 90 today in Seattle we got in a little practice. Next up: surfing.