4th of July

For Micah's first 4th of July, we headed over to the west side of MI for a weekend with the Roe's. Micah is much more interactive now, so we were looking forward to having him spend time with his relatives on Daddy's side of the family. Sure enough, when we got in, he got right to work playing with Poppa and exploring the new toys.

We were thankful to have some time to spend with Micah's cousin Logan. We hadn't seen him since before Christmas and, boy, he has changed! Right away, the boys were very interested in one another. Logan is just four months older than Micah, so they'll enjoy playing together as they grow.

Micah was most intrigued by Logan's ability to walk. Micah can now stand up and move along the furniture, but Logan can walk all by himself! Logan walked over to Micah and the two of them practiced a shared favorite activity - banging with their hands on furniture (Uncle Kenny will have two young drum students soon).

The two boys played pretty well together for a little while and seemed like they were having fun.

They even shared the same toy - without arguing about it! But eventually, Logan got tired of that toy and walked away... and Micah was left in his dust. Now if that isn't motivation for becoming more mobile...!

Saturday night we took Poppa, Grandma, Uncle Levi and Marissa (soon-to-be "Aunt Marissa"!) out for dinner at the Cracker Barrel to celebrate Father's Day with Poppa (we missed the Roe celebration due to Jacob going to Florida that weekend). Afterward, Poppa treated Micah to a listen to his new toy - a string bass.  Micah has always loved music, so this should be a good bonding point for him and Poppa.

Poppa even let Micah take a turn at his guitar. Too bad Micah was getting a bit sleepy and not interested in giving it a strum.

On Sunday, a large portion of the Roe clan gathered to celebrate the 4th of July. Of course we ate good food (I think there were at least two dishes with bacon - a must in this family). Micah enjoyed hanging out with Auntie Allyson (these happy photos were before he fell and bumped his head... boy, that happens a lot!).

It was great to also see our youngest nephew, Baby Jack. Although he had a rough start and still has some health concerns, he's doing very well - he may even grow out of most of the issues he's had. We're so thankful for this answer to prayer!

The best part of the day, was lining up all five cousins for a photo shoot. This was the first time we've had all five of them together. Considering the age of all of them and the number of cameras flashing, this went relatively quickly! I just had to put several of these shots in here - it was funny to see the progression as they went. The last time we were in Hartford, Heidi taught Micah to "smile" for the camera - a lesson he continues to follow quite well. (Thanks Heidi!) So here you can see when he realizes what's going on and starts to flash that smile. He also learned to spit this weekend (don't ask me how - I think that's just part of being around all the boy cousins and uncles), so he starts to show that new talent off in the photos as well. Nice.

And the day concluded with our own personal fireworks display, thanks to Uncle Kenny. This was perfect! I had been bummed about missing out on fireworks this year, knowing it wouldn't work well with Micah's bedtime schedule and not sure that he'd even like the loud noises. But this way, he got to sleep inside Grandma's house with windows closed while we enjoyed the fireworks and sparklers in the yard. Judging by what I could see on our baby monitor, he didn't even flinch. We could even see several other displays off in the distance. But, as Heidi so aptly put it that night, "I like Uncle Kenny's fireworks the best!"