Crab Feast & Happy Birthday, Grandma Babs!

Grandma Babs celebrated a big birthday milestone in Maryland with the whole family. The whole Malcomson family travel to Maryland for the weekend. In honor of Babs we had a huge crab feast on Sunday. We order two bushels of crabs (about 12 dozen crabs!). Everyone took a turn at the crab table, picking & eating yummy crab and drinking beer (of course!). I can happily say that I felt like a true Marylander as I sat picking crabs until the sun went down. As it turned out we ordered way more crabs than we could eat. There was no way I was letting these tasty crabs go to waste. Thanks to Nancy, my crab picking partner, we picked the rest of the crabs and put the meat in the fridge. Chuck and I had enough fresh crab meat to make and freeze 20 super large crab cakes! We'll be eating well this fall.

Babs got the very best birthday present...Charlotte said "Grandma" for the first time while she was here. Babs is an awesome grandma and you can see how much Charlotte and Babs love each other when they are together. It warms your sole. Happy Birthday Grandma Babs, we ALL love you!!

Before the feast began, two bushels of yummy Maryland Blue Crabs

Birthday girl, Babs, enjoying some crabs with Dallas and Chuck.

Charlotte (and Amelia) checking out the crabs. Charlotte was not to sure about this little critters. We gave her a piece of crab meat, but she didn't like it. She did like the crab cakes the next night!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Nancy and I picking crabs in the dark, while Ivy keeps us company (Thanks Nancy!).

The true sign of a fun night...a table full of empty crab shells and empty beers!

New Bike

Chuck got Charlotte her first "bike". It's not really a bike (no pedals), it's more like a scooter. Charlotte really likes it and loves to ring the bell on the handle bars. She started off wanting to push the bike around, but she's really starting to get the hang of it now. Pretty soon she'll be scooting all over our house. We just think she looks adorable on it!

Carousel

Charlotte took her first ride on a carousel a couple weeks ago. She had a very serious look on her face the entire time. I know she enjoyed it because as soon as the music stopped and it was time to get off she held on tight to her horse and did not want to get off.

Some Summer Fun

I can't believe it is the middle of July already! I was having the feeling that we hadn't really had any good old fashion summer fun yet.....so I bought a backyard kiddie pool for Char and finally took our friends, Roger & Angela, up on their many offers to take Charlotte out on their boat. It was Charlotte's first real boat ride and she seemed to really like it. She was very serious throughout the whole excursion. She liked watching all the other boats, water-skiers, and the many birds flying about the river. She also liked when Roger went FAST!

Happy Summer to everyone!

Chuck & Charlotte waiting on the dock for Roger to pick us up on his boat.

She's got Grandpa Bill's love of boating in her!

She loves her backyard pool. Her favorite thing is to pour water over her head....see following pictures!

Before!

After!

Uncle Pete & Wendy Visit

We had a GREAT Fourth of July visit from Uncle Pete and his girlfriend, Wendy. We cooked out almost every night, went on a boat ride, toured downtown Annapolis, played Baggo, and just hung out. It was a really relaxing weekend. We are so happy they drove all the way from Ohio to see us. Charlotte enjoyed all the love she got from her Uncle Pete and Wendy.

Thanks for a great visit, guys!! We love you!

Family Time in Madison, Wisconsin

Charlotte and I spent three weeks in Madison in June visiting my sister and spending time with my Dad. It is rare that our whole family gets to spend this much time together since we are spread out all over the country. Our reason for being together is not one any of us would have chosen, but we made the best of our situation and had some wonderful times together as a family.

One of the neatest parts about our visit was the bond that developed between "the cousins": Anna, Mary Jane and Charlotte. The three girls were inseparable. Many times through out our visit we heard phrases such as "I'm not going if Charlotte isn't going," or "I want to sit by Charlotte," or "How much longer til Charlotte wakes up from her nap?" While these statements came from Anna and MJ, Charlotte, although she can't really talk yet, would show her total admiration for her cousins by crying every time they left for swimming, tennis lessons, or baseball practice without her. These girls were more like sisters than cousins by the time we left to come back to Maryland. It really was sad to break the threesome up!

Charlotte's first real swimming pool. She LOVED it and would run back to the edge of the pool as soon as you took her out.

MJ pushing Char in her "car" which she spent many hours playing with on the front lawn.

Aunt Heather and Charlotte at Anna's school for a party celebrating the end of the school year.

Cute little Char Bar in the hallway of Anna's school.

The three girls often ate on the floor next to one another.

Fun with Aunt Lisa.

At the Children's Museum with Anna.

More Children's Museum

Charlotte feel in love with ducks in Madison! We saw them all over including in Lisa's neighbor's yard almost every night.

Grandpa's Girls

Grandpa Bill with his three darling granddaughters, Mary Jane, Charlotte Jane, and Anna Sue.