We had a nice leisurely Fourth of July, followed immediately by Dad's trip to London for a few days. Things have been pretty routine around here lately. Over the holiday weekend, Mom and the kids went to Pennsylvania with Karen for a day trip. Then we all went to the beach on the 3rd, where we enjoyed dinner while listening to a reggae band at our favorite spot on the boardwalk. We were lucky to get Natalie to sit at the table, since Bob Marley is her favorite artist, followed by Jack Johnson as a close second! She knows all the words to all of the songs off of Bob Marley's Legend album (the funniest is when she sings about "dred-locked rastas!"), as well as all of the songs from two of Jack Johnson's cds (her favorite is "The Sharing Song"). While Natalie was off listening to the band, Owen was happy to have a taste of any kind of food - he even enjoyed some pickle! On the Fourth, we spent the afternoon in Brooklyn, then went to Karen's to watch the Macy's NYC fireworks from her roof. Dad and Owen slept through the fireworks, but Natalie enjoyed all of the colors and shapes. She talked about them for days afterward. Natalie and Owen were well-behaved while Dad was out of town, although Natalie has become quite the procastinator at bedtime, coming out of her room five or six times. She has to use the potty multiple times, etc. Owen is learning how to cruise - he needs a little help to get up on the furniture, but he can hold his own once he's standing. He's days away from crawling - at this point, he'd rather roll, scoot, creep, or just drag his body around to get what he wants. They are both still playing pretty well together, with an occasional bop on the head for Owen from Natalie (he still has a dent on his forehead where she dropped a wrench on him two weeks ago!).
