Brave, aka Poconos 2012

We took our annual vacation to the Poconos the first week of July.  Philly was in the middle of a sticky heat wave, so the trip less than 90 miles north to the cooler mountain temps couldn't have come at a better time.  We were blessed with a whole week of great weather and lots of fun in the sun!

On our way there, we snuck in a visit with our old college friends Chris and Ariane at Chris's parents' house in Mountaintop, PA-- maybe 20 minutes from Lake Harmony.  We spent a really fun afternoon having lunch, catching up, and playing at their house. 

As great as it was to see Chris, Ariane, and Chris's family, let's face it-- the real reason we went was to meet their new little man, Xavier (French pronunciation, si'l vous plait!).  Xavier is a total sweetheart and one of the cutest babies!

While there, Daddy and Liam got to share a "special" moment in the woods.  *sigh*
Like father like son!

Luckily, they got to share some other moments too :)

Joergen had fun meeting so many new people and especially enjoyed some silliness with Dr. Rutt!

It was the perfect way to kick off our vacation, and we can't thank the Rutts enough for such a great day!

Between me, Nana, and Aunt Jackie, I have so, so many photos from our vacation that it is not easy to pick which ones to share!  So here we go, in no particular order... my favorite moments of our Pocono week.

1. Toasting our many celebrations-- Nana's birthday, Nana and Grandpa's 39th Anniversary, time with Aunt Jackie, Uncle Tim, and Colin.  CHEERS!

2. Lots of time to relax and enjoy my guys!

3. The Mountaintop 4th of July Parade.  So. Much. Fun!!

Waiting for the parade to start at the township playground

Playing imaginary baseball with Nana... still waiting for the parade to start!

Still waiting...

Happy 4th! And still waiting!

A festive trio, yes, still waiting...

IT'S FINALLY STARTING!!

Honoring the troops-- love this pic!

Yay for parades!  And firetrucks!  And so much candy that we need a U-Haul!

4. Playing games at Split Rock

Hot Potato, Hot Potato.  Liam didn't win, but he got close!

5. Being BRAVE.  This was a recurring theme on this trip!  We could not believe how brave Liam was, especially in the water.  He started the week insisting we hold him every minute in the water and within a day or two was swimming short spurts (with a life jacket on, of course), to swimming all the way to the floating dock... "Don't help me! I can do it by mineself!"

The courage continued when it came to jumping into the water.  He started the week jumping into the pool from the side, but only if someone caught him.  Within a couple of days, he was jumping off the floating dock in the lake (and eventually doing that by himself, too):

For a little guy who isn't in water very often, we were kind of amazed at how much he picked up and how brave he really got as the week went on.  Without a doubt, the highlight was Liam's adventure with the Split Rock diving board.  Now let me preface this by saying that I am scared to death of this diving board, and personally won't go off it (I know, I know...).  So I was kind of speechless when Liam announced that he was going off the diving board, just like Grandpa.

Once Grandpa was in place right below the diving board, poised to catch him in the lake, Liam got a little pep talk from Dad, and off to the end of the board he went.

Nana and I, on the other hand, stood on the beach with baited breath.  Would he do it?  Was he really ready for the jump? While we stood watching in anticipation, cheering for our brave little guy, suddenly we heard cheering erupt from all over the lake-- and we realized that we weren't the only ones rooting for Liam!  Nana and I looked around to see people from all around the beach and the sandbar watching  him and cheering like crazy with encouragement.  We both found ourselves with tears rolling down our faces at a scene that only little Liam could create.  And although the ending wasn't quite how we thought it would go, he mustered up all the courage he could in his 3-year-old self and I couldn't have possibly been prouder.

I cut out about several minutes of build-up in the video below, but this should give you a sense of how it all went down...

And speaking of brave... 

6. Riding in Grandpa's boat

This was Joergen's first time in Grandpa's boat, and he loved it!

Joergen especially loved when Grandpa would hit wake and we'd get to bounce around a little.  It was very cute to watch him react!

Liam, who also loves boat rides with Grandpa, decided that he and his brave little self would also like to give tubing a try.  So we donned our life jackets, jumped in the tube, and got ready for a new adventure!

Tubing was a success!  We ended up going pretty fast, and Liam was a total champ (although he didn't hesitate to tell me when he had had enough fun!).  It was very cool for me to experience that with Liam, especially since I've been tubing on that same lake since I was a kid. 

Even Dad went for a ride:

7. Celebrating Nana's birthday. Nana is a firecracker baby, and for what other occasion would you have this kind of a scene at 8:00 am?!

Liam helped Nana blow out her candles...

... and open her presents!

8. Quality time with cousin Colin.  Seriously, what could be cuter than these three?!

Colin, Uncle Tim, Mom, and Joergen

Colin and Liam crawl-racing down the hallway

Swimming with Colin, Aunt Jackie, Mom, Dad, and Grandpa

9. Fun in the Sun!

Blogger is acting up on me, so I'm taking it as a hint that this mega-post needs to come to an end!  I have a few more moments to share, so stay tuned for a little Part 2 coming right up :)