TAMPA!

Luke and I went to Tampa last weekend to hang out with the fam, and we had a blast. Here are some of the highlights. As usual, I didn't get half the pictures I would have liked to because we were too busy having fun to worry about the camera!


Luke's girlfriend, Finley, came over lickety-split to see her boyfriend. She also brought her mom {and my BFF}, Paige, which I was really pumped about. Fin was happy to see Luke after being apart for so long!


And Luke was happy to see Fin!



Finley gave him a great big hug.


Then she may have regretted it a bit...Meanwhile Luke was thinking, "Oh yeah. She totally digs me..."


Not sure if this was a yelp of joy or a wail of lament over her actions, but it was hilarious.

Luke had had enough and decided to get out of there.


He made it 3/4 of the way up my parents' long stairs. Until then, his record had been just two steps!

Later in the visit, we had a birthday lunch for the April birthdays in the family--Ben {my brother}, Abbi {my sis-in-law}, and Luke. It was lots of fun, and yet I have maybe 4 whole pictures of it...BOO-HISS!


Luke hangin' with the schladies--Mrs. Curry, Grandma, and my sister, Anne.


...And later with yet another lady, my Aunt Kate.


Then when my cousin Amy broke out Luke's latest OBSESSION, Gerber Lil' Crunchies, Luke was all over her like white on rice and gave my dad the brush off.


After which he reminded us that, with his birthday just around the corner, he is now SO BIG!!


Uncle Jim got a hold of him and Luke was wondering where all the cute girls went.


He was content, though, to be returned to the arms of Pops, my dad, whom Luke adores.


It wasn't long, though, before Luke found himself being forced to wear a birthday hat even when it clearly didn't accentuate the positive aspects of his figure... {Aunt} Annie didn't defend him, either.


P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.


Flipper, my mom, tried to rescue him, but forgot to save him from the brain-squeezing hat.
Thankfully, the birthday boy survived and even managed to enjoy himself at his party!


Unlike us, my parents live very close to a great park, so Luke got to go swinging several times. Saturday evening was a pretty night, so my sister and I walked with Luke to the park.


I love taking pictures of Luke in the swing, because it's one of very few times when he actually looks little!


But now he looks big again...


Annie took him down the slide, but Luke wasn't really impressed. I think he likes yellow slides better.


Oops! Not a good landing. Let's try a smaller slide.


Doesn't he look like a 2 year old in this picture?


Annie was sweet and held his shoes up for him so that he'd actually slide and not just sit and be stuck.


Yay! A much better landing!


I did it!

So that's it for my pictures (except for a few others with Finley which I'm saving for another post). Like I said, I totally blew it. Oh well. We were having too much fun, and that's all that matters anyway, right?