Montana Family Love
August was another busy month, especially for Madeline. She spent the first half of the month in California with Lola,Mommy, Papa Ron and Evan. Brenda would send cute pictures and videos of her at the beach, and we would face time almost every night. She would run through Lolas beach house showing me her cubby, her brother, the back yard lol anything really. I love that about her; shes always so happy to hear from me, to see me come home, to spend time with me even if its just a trip to target we always have so much fun and I believe we share a strong special bond :)This month Maddie finally got to meet her Uncle Eric and Cousin Harper, and spend time with Grandma Terri before school started. She insisted on going to the airport, in Baltimore, with me at 11 pm to pick everyone up, her excitement was un-containable she was giggly, squirmy and full of smiles as soon as we got there. Once we got to the truck I caught a glimpse of the biggest smile across her face as she sat next to her cousin :) The next few days were jam packed with activities, the Marine Corps Museum, the DC ZOO and a birthday party for Maddie, Harper, Grandma Terri and Mommy. I don't think Madeline was ever more than an arms distance from Harper lol. Such a cool thing to see those two together laughing dancing snuggling and just hanging together.
Evan also had quite a busy month, with a trip to California (his second since birth) and time with his Grandma Terri, Uncle and Cousin. This boy is getting big and fast, it seemed he was done having crazy growth spurts around the beginning of the month, but once his top two teeth made it through the skin he went on a chow binge! eating anything and everything in site. He has graduated from the low crawl to a high crawl, on the knees style, this has made him insanely fast lol I have to remember how quick he is now. If I put him down to brush my teeth 30 seconds later hes across the room playing with the door stop, pulling himself into a standing position, or trying to push the door open. Hes wild but so so sweet, its hard to put into words but you can just tell in his eyes hes a sweet sweet soul. When I'm holding him and I look at his little face he gets the biggest smile from ear to ear exposing his little bright white teeth and then he turns his head and leans forward to bury his face in my chest and snuggle up to me. When other family members hold him he leans right in resting his head on their shoulder and snuggles right up. He loves his Uncle Eric, maybe because they look like each other lol, Evan kept feeling Eric's face and giggling as Eric held and played with him. I love watching that little boy grow and develop, its like watching a flower bloom or the sun rise makes me all warm and fuzzy :)
Dad and Hercules, we are dong awesome! Hercules spent a lot of the month just hanging with Dad while everyone was in California, the rest was spent sunbathing early in the morning and relaxing in his room the rest of the day. The next few months the weather will be cooler and he will be back out in the neighborhood for our evening family walks:)
I had a great month, not even sure where to begin. I finished up another class putting me half way to the goal of having an MBA. Despite the long classes, the drive to College Park, the sometimes ridiculous group assignment; I enjoy it. I am definitely learning a lot and it has already helped me professionally. This was the month I had been looking forward to for sometime, Eric Mom and Harper all got to come spend a few days with us in Virginia. Hugging your mom and brother everyday playing with your little niece, eating meals together, experiencing new sites and adventures together. nothing beats that, nothing compares to that.. not to me anyways. To say it was a blessing is an understatement, the last time I saw Harper she was 3 or 4 months old, now shes 2! time flies and shes so big. Such a good sense of humor, great behavior and a strong strong love for her daddy. Its not one of those "I love him because hes my dad loves" the one even the worst parents get just by virtue of being the parent. No this was a deep love based on trust and a strong belief and understanding that Eric truly loves and cares about her. Impressed doesn't describe what I felt when seeing those two interact, honestly I felt I needed to step up my daddy skills lol Eric is a great, amazing, wonderful, passionate, sincere and real dad. Something that I strive to be, and I leaned a great deal about Eric by watching him parent. Mainly that my little brother has grown up, which brought back memories life in our small town, Whitefish Montana memories of bike rides, tree forts, playing with Josh and Jared, Holidays and events at Grandpa and Grandma's, Grandma's goose cookie jar, cold snickers ice cream bars from grandma's freezer after cutting her grass, their 4 wheeler, our dogs Mister and Tuffy, the love that our Mom has for us; all great great meaningful memories many that have made us the men we are today. When we stayed up late with a few cold ones we shared these memories, stories of our kids, our current college programs, Marine Corp war stories and current life experiences. We briefly talked about our dad, wondering and questioning how someone could be so selfish when kids are the most important part of a persons life. I guess somethings are just unexplainable, I guess we each came to terms with that in our own way.
It does make me wonder how we can both be the Parents we are with a horrible example like that.... Then I remember MOM :)
I cant wait for the next visit or for the Hills Trip to Montana