Happy Birthday, Dagu!

May is a month full of birthday celebrations for the Stephen Clan!  The 31st, especially, is an exciting day for our household.  It's the day when our beloved "Dagu" was born! 

Here's Brian holding a "Princess" balloon he received at work today!  His co-workers decorated his desk in a whole pink princess theme!  It was awesome!

Porter wanted to decorate the driveway for when Daddy got home.  His penmanship is really coming along!  

Memorial Day Outing

For Memorial Day, we headed up to Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, Ohio.

Before Porter got on the scene, Brian and I went up here all the time.

It was fun to walk through the shops and have lunch at one of our old favorites, the California Pizza Kitchen.  

It was a good day, especially since we got to spend it with Daddy!

In Good Company

Brian had hoped to take a quick nap on the couch today.

I guess Porter wanted his Daddy to be in good company!

iPhone Photos

One of my absolute favorite iPhone apps is called Hisptamatic.  This app uses special filters to make photos look as if they were taken with an antique film camera.  Although I take lots of photos using this app, I am pretty bad about transferring them over to my computer.  So this week, I finally moved a bunch over and created some collages with these pictures inside.  Below, here's the Stephen Clan on a Mother's Day car ride.

Here are a few pictures from my walk earlier this month at Cascade Metro Park (an absolutely beautiful trail).

Last week, Porter and I took a road trip to the Berlin Lake Trail off 224.  

Porter loved exploring this trail!

He especially liked the tall grass.

Thank goodness for Porter's Great Aunt Darleen!  She bought him this fabulous hat.  With a red-head of porcelain skin, being directly in the bright sun can be a real disaster!

Good times for an inquisitive bubby!

Skivvies

Today was HOT!

The boys decided to strip down to their skivvies in order to cool down. Notice, only Porter is pictured. I am saving Brian's photos as blackmail!

Supervisor Stephen

Porter loves being in the middle of whatever action is going on at the time. Even when I am checking email, he wants to be involved in the process!

I would like to think that he just enjoys being with his Mommy, but in actuality, I just think he enjoys supervising all I do!

Rolling Excitement

Porter loves to visit his Grandpa Gauder!  

Grandpa takes him on tractor rides, one of Porter's favorite activities to date!

Also, Grandpa lets Porter pull his childhood wagon.

These two even came up with a new way to enjoy the wagon together as seen in the video below!

All this wagon-pulling wore the little boy out!  Grandpa had to pull him home.

These two make a great red-headed power team!

Birthday Adventure in Durham

For my 30th birthday, I spent the weekend down in Durham, North Carolina.  With entering into a new decade, I felt I needed to take a little time away from the daily grind to gain some prospective and clarity on... well, I guess life as a whole.  I've never been to Durham, but it is a city I have wanted to see for some time now.  I was able to stay at the stylish Hotel Indigo.  My room was quite charming and very colorful!

While down in Durham, I ate at 2 rather fabulous restaurants.  The first, named Watts Grocery, was exceptional.  If I ever go back to this city, I will definitely revisit this tasty place!

Also, I went to Toast located in the heart of downtown.  Although it was just a hole in the wall establishment, the food was amazing.  

I tried to take in a few notable sites as well.  Some of my favorites included visiting Brightleaf Square and the chapel at Duke University.

The highlight of my Durham exploration, however, would have to be the Susan P. Duke Gardens.  I spent hours just walking around the grounds and enjoying the immense beauty of all the plant life.

This was an incredible trip.  I am very happy I went, and I know I gained some important insight from this adventure.  However, the absolute best part was coming home.  Instead of leaving on Sunday morning as I had planned, I actually left Saturday night.  Driving in the dark through the mountains and dense fog was worth it in order to see my baby when he woke up in the morning.

Secret for Mommy

Happy 30th Birthday, Mommy!

I won't tell anyone that you're getting old!