100% Boy

As if there was ever any doubt, my kid is 100% boy. He loves playing ball, eating dirt, and, in general, just running amuck. Robert is certain he will turn out to be a basketball prodigy as he is already shooting hoops on the back porch. Watch out Kobe Bryant...here comes Coby Taylor!
Check out that follow through! =] Maybe cousin John can give him some pointers when we're out visiting our Oregon family?

When we aren't shooting hoops (and it's not raining!) we head to the YMCA for swim lessons every day at six. Coby LOVES the water and has no problem blowing bubbles or dunking under the surface of the water. I gotta brag - the lifeguard even said he looks like he's really swimming! Now, that's not actually true, but the whole point of swim lessons at 15 months old was to get him comfortable in the water...
If he looks a little serious it's because he's hunting down tub toys in the water.
Our instructor was great and he's definitely acclimated to the water. Although the lesson were only 2 weeks, we plan on keeping up with a pool schedule over at Westside Park.

Back home, we enjoyed some post-lesson watermelon.
It's grown out in Newberry.
And then enjoyed right here at our dining room table.
And the whole chunk goes in the mouth...
*A little side note - if the watermelon piece wasn't quite to his "liking" back in the gladware it went for the next person to "enjoy." I'm saving those pieces for Robert =]

Father's Day Fun

Coby's new word is "hoop." As in basketball hoop. He points out every single hoop in our neighborhood when we go for walks. When we go to the park his favorite activity is to be lifted up above our heads to the basketball hoops so he can drop his ball in. Over and over again. 23 pounds might not sound like much, but he gets real heavy real fast. So instead, we found a Little Tykes basketball hoop that adjusts all the way down to 3 feet. It's perfect for him and he loves it.
When he's not too busy playing basketball, Coby's been helping me take care of my class guinea pig, Wicket. He loves to stick carrots through the bars of the cage for Wicket to nibble on.
We're also taking care of my teacher friend's cat while she's on vacation. She only lives a few streets over, so we walk over to check on Max a couple times a day. Coby has picked up on that cats (especially ours) do NOT belong on the couch, tables, or bed. As soon as we walk in he's bossing Max to get "Down!" from wherever he happens to be perched.
It's been hot the last few days. The temperature got up to almost 100 last week. To cool off quick we've been dipping in our kiddie pool in the backyard.
Notice that we spared no expense when it came to pool toys...his favorite "toy" is that mustard bottle you see floating in there :o)

To celebrate Father's Day today we let Robert sleep in and do whatever he wanted to. That turned out to be watching tv and eating donuts all day. He kept flipping to World Cup matches and after a couple of hours the sound of those vuvuzelas started to make me BONKERS! Finally, around 4 o'clock. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned off the tv and forced him outside. Maybe next year...

Kickoff to Summer Vacation

Summer vacation has officially started, let the relaxation begin! Our 5th grade graduation was last Thursday. All the planning and organizing and practicing gets a little stressful, but it always turns out beautiful. You know it's a success when you've got teary eyes in the audience. :o)
The sad thing about teaching 5th grade is that the following year they've moved off to middle school. Sure they stop by every once in awhile, but it's not the same as seeing them around the school campus on a regular basis.

To celebrate the end of another school year we decided to fill our weekend with our favorite summertime fun, so off to the splash pad we went.

I wish there was audio to go along with these pictures. Jacoby's giggles and squeals were priceless! The water coming out of that fountain is actually pretty strong. He'd put his hand in it and it'd spray all over his face and he'd just LAUGH and LAUGH.
In another area of the park is a fountain with buckets on top that fill, become unbalanced, and then dump on you if you happen to be standing underneath. Guess who got dumped on?
It was 95 degrees this past weekend and won't cool down again until October. Phew! We started swimming lessons this week. Got home around 7, fed Coby some Mac and Cheese and he was out as soon as I got him in his jammies. That kid was wore out! Not that I'm complaining :o)

Oregon State Baseball Game

Out of the blue, Robert found out on Memorial Day that Oregon State's baseball team was going to be playing the College World Series Regional in Gainesville this weekend. The first game was at one o'clock on Friday, so I went ahead and took a half day off of work (gasp!) so we could make it there on time. When we got to the stadium it was raining and thundering and looked like this:
Did I mention it was also about 90 degrees out? The players weren't even out on the field and everyone was huddled under the grandstands so we grabbed some lunch and joined them there.

The OSU fans LOVED Jacoby's Red Sox jersey - especially since it's got Ellsbury's name and number on the back. When they found out that his name was Jacoby they really went wild! There was actually a suprisingly large number of Beaver fans there. After waiting for the game to start and suffering through multiple lightning delays, we decided to bag it and take Coby home for a nap. He slept at home for 2 hours and then we headed back around 5. This time it was perfect baseball watchin' weather. Got Coby a bag of popcorn (thank goodness he has Robert's metabolism!) and we were set.
Hung out in the shade over by right field and Robert caught a fly ball! All in all, a great day.