FAF Crew

 Last weekend Jared participated in his first rowing regatta. You can't move to New England and not join a crew team, right? haha! Jared jumped on the chance when offered to join an 8 man boat sponsored by his work. (FAF stands for Financial Accounting Foundation for anyone who is curious...They are the umbrella that FASB and GASB work under) Anyway, they have been practicing every Monday and Wednesday night for the last few months and it's been a great experience for Jared (minus the blisters all over his hands!). In his boat he actually had the head honcho of the FAF so it was great for Jared to get to know her better. He had a very interesting boat, and while they weren't the fastest I think they were pretty commendable. If you look, the man in front of Jared only has one arm. It was pretty cool to watch him strap this device to his arm that would hold the oar and allow him to row. Jared's in the very back if you can't see well!

 Talking to the other FAF boat. We were out there for 5 hours and they only raced 3 times. That meant there was A LOT of waiting around:

 Beautiful scenery, though!

 Brody watching Dad's boat!

 The boys had tons of fun hanging out with Jared's co-workers that weren't racing. He made a friend named Lauren who he calls the "pretty girl". haha! He has been telling all sorts of girls lately that he likes them/loves them/they're pretty, etc. Not quite sure where he's learning his pick up lines from, but it's pretty funny and makes a lot of girls' days! 

Part of the cheering section. Parker and I share a trait in that our faces get red when we're hot. We're actually not sunburned though it looks like it. It's nice to have a mini me. ha! 

Dad's two biggest fans after we got home. I sure love my boys. :)

Just a little video of their time trial: (Please excuse the commentary in the background)

End of T-ball and 4th of July

Since I last blogged we've just been hanging around...

 Brody finished up T-ball...

 He earned his very first trophy...

He has been super happy about it and totes it around everywhere...

 T-Ball season was a hit! He struggled sometimes, grew a lot, and finished happy. He has told me several times since the season ended that he misses going to T-ball. It's been a lot of fun for all of us! I sure love this little boy who really doesn't look so little anymore:

Mr. Parker has picked up a few things watching his big brother play T-ball. This is his new favorite activity. He asks to play baseball all day and this corner of the rug is going to be worn out soon! This is actually two videos combined. The first was taken a few weeks ago and the second was taken this morning. He's progressing to! One of these days we're going to have to stop playing baseball in the house...

We loved watching Brody progress and get excited when he would accomplish little goals. One of his favorite things to do was be the clean up hitter. He looked forward to the game he got to be last and run all the way around for weeks. Here he goes!

Brody's other goals were to run after the ball and try to get 2 balls a game. Sometimes he got more, sometimes less but that was a good goal for Brody as he was pretty timid a lot when he first started. This was one of the balls he fielded. He's that cute little number 10 picking up the ball and throwing it to first base. :)

Next up: 4th of July!!! We have notoriously been not super festive at 4th of July. We've either been traveling, with newborns, studying, etc. Boy did we make up for it this year! Here in CT they do the fireworks shows the night before the 4th. I don't know if that's so people can go down to NYC to see the Macy's fireworks on the 4th or just to give people the day off, but we were happy to go join in the festivities. Jared's buddies from work invited us to go down to Norwalk and watch the fireworks on the beach. We ended up with 6 couples and 10 kids. Brody was the oldest one there and loved rallying the kids and getting games going. It was really cute to see. He made one buddy in particular who spend the whole time on our blanket with us so he could be by "that new boy with the grey shirt" (Brody).  It was a really fun experience to watch the fireworks at the beach. We didn't get home until 11:30 p.m. and I think that's the latest our boys have ever stayed up. They were so happy!

 haha! Parker caught me taking their picture!

 On the actual 4th we went over to a friend's house for a BBQ. There were 9 boys and 1 little girl there so my boys were in heaven! It was so fun to get to spend some time with friends (mostly inside with the A/C though as it's been CRAZY hot here!) 

Parker spent some time outside with the boys doing water rockets...

 Getting ready to watch the fireworks...

 Some of the crew:

 The lighting crew:

 Hooray! (Jared is on the left and so is Parker man sitting on the bench)

One last picture of my two crazy, sweet, adorable little people who somehow just keep getting bigger. :)

Hope you're all having a great July!