The Zorio Family: Mid-Summer Update from The Zorio's

The lack of blog posts lately is due to our super busy summer! Since July 4th when I last updated the blog, we have had numerous play dates, traveled to Tennessee, and overall just enjoyed the summer!

We have had a few playdates at our house and a couple at The Play Place which has several inflatables. Dawson loves climbing, jumping, and being wild in all of the inflatables with his friends.

The weekend of July 16th we traveled to Tennessee so I could attend the wedding shower for Cassie, my best friend from high school. I had fun at the shower, and it was SO wonderful to see Cassie since i had been a while. In high school we cheered together and took a couple trips to Charleston, South Carolina together! We always had fun together, so it was great to have a reason to get together and celebrate her upcoming wedding!

John and I only stayed on night in Tennessee, but Dawson stayed a couple nights longer. John's parents, Dawson's Grandad and Nana, offered to let Dawson have some "grandparent time." We took them up on the offer. They said Dawson did great. John and I missed him so much. After being away from Dawson for a couple of days, I began to wonder who actually had more separation anxiety...Dawson or me? I always talk about how Dawson still gets upset at church or anywhere we leave him and this separation anxiety, but perhaps it's not just him! :) It was nice to have some time to go out to dinner and see a movie with John though! Dawson is still talking about the fun he had with Nana and Grandad, so I know he was happy!

Dawson also had to have another hair cut recently, so we decided to take him somewhere fun. There's an awesome place in Jones Valley called Spoiled Rockin' Kidz. They are a kids salon and barber shop. The whole place is really neat, but the seats were Dawson's favorite. Instead of the boring barber chairs, Dawson got his hair cut in a yellow race car. The other chairs were trains, planes, and boats! The lady who cut his hair was wonderful! She gave him a spray bottle of water to "wash" his race car with while she cut his hair, and he LOVED it! She did a great job cutting his hair despite getting sprayed in the face with the spray bottle! :)

This Saturday we attended Dawson's friend Jasper's 1st birthday party. Dawson had so much fun at the party. Now he talks about it and says," Jasper birthday! 2?? NO 1?? YES!!" He also has been singing happy birthday to his friend, Jasper, all week! The party was an adorable dog theme, complete with a dog wash for the kids to play in! Everything was adorable, and Dawson had a ball with his friends!

We have also been spending a lot of time swimming lately. It has been so hot outside, but Dawson still wants to play outdoors. Heading to the pool has been the perfect option. We are so, so thankful for our wonderful friends who allow us to use their pool ALL THE TIME! Dawson and I have been going over to go swimming at their house about once a week. He has turned into such a little fish! He wears his vest and swimmies and just jumps right in and kicks his legs to move around in the water. I love seeing him swim, and he loves swimming!

One new thing we have been doing lately is biking! We got a bike trailer for Dawson to ride in, and I've been riding about 5 miles a day in our neighborhood. Dawson really enjoys the bike trailer. Our neighborhood is so wonderful for biking because it's mostly flat. There are a few hills, and I've taught Dawson to yell, "Feel the burn, Mama!" as we go up those hills! With him yelling this, I can't help but laugh and keep pedaling! :) As he rides along his favorite thing to do is sing. I wish I had a little tape recorder to stick in the bike trailer because he just sings and sings back there! It's so sweet to hear as I pedal along. He also loves to point out absolutely everything we bike past, from animals, to cars, to people. He talks about the bike trailer and calls it "Dawson's bike." I'm glad he likes it so much since it's good exercise for me while giving Dawson the outside time he loves!

Over the past few weeks we've continued to go to the library like always, but Dawson has become more interested in getting to pick books to bring home. When we went this Tuesday morning, he probably picked out 20 he wanted to bring home. Thankfully we narrowed it down to 6, and we have read those 6 books a million times already! I love that Dawson is still so interested in reading.

Dawson continues to keep us laughing. Before too long, I am hoping to write a "Dawson Says the Darndest Things" blog post with a short list of some of the things he cracks us up by saying.

He has continued to do extremely well with potty training, and I would say that he's potty trained now. John has been staying busy with work, but managing to squeeze a few games of golf in here and there. Dawson is in a big "Daddy phase" right now, so any extra time John has had has been spent playing with Dawson. Dawson loves to play with me, but right now when John's around he only wants his Daddy to do everything.

Even though we've been to Tennessee so many times this summer, we're headed there one more time soon, I'm sure I'll have a blog update after we return complete with pictures.

For now, enjoy these pictures below...