it's official: mercer loves the beach.

Todd and I haven't ever really been beach people (except for that trip to Cumberland Island a few years ago which was more about camping & hiking than playing in the sun). But... it looks like we need to learn to love the beach too because Mercer is really REALLY into it!

We went up in honor of Todd's parents 50th wedding anniversary. His siblings and cousins all rented a beach house for the week at Sea Isle City beach - about 1/2 an hour from Atlantic City. I stayed for a few days (because of the new job) but Todd and Mercer stayed all week. Mercer grew more and more comfortable each day and by the end of the week was wanting to go deeper and deeper into the water. He followed his cousin Marley around & doing what she did when on the beach. Most of the time spent at the beach, however, was spent digging in the sand, throwing a (soft) Frisbee, kicking a soccer ball, playing paddle ball, and "riding" the waves.

We would generally spend only a few hours in the late morning on the beach and Mercer would take an afternoon nap after coming in for lunch... however... close to the end of the trip - the group "ordered" lunch on the beach - as they have pizza delivery there - and he stayed out all day with the rest of the family.

When Todd and Mercer came home, they were both exhausted. I was actually exhausted too. As it turned out, I had plans each day after work with different friends. I did a lot of socializing in the evenings and tried to tackle (mini) projects here at the house while the boys were away. I did pack away everything related to diapers / cleared out the potty seat / took down the changing table / got rid of the diaper bag. It was actually a little sad -- not becuase we don't have to change diapers anymore -- but because he's not a baby anymore. He's a 3 1/2 year old "big boy." *sniff sniff* I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but were - of course - so glad when they both came home.

Mercer kept saying something about going back "our other house." I figured out that he was saying that he liked the other house better (the one on the N.J. shore). Yeah - the beach was steps away. He got to stay up late, watch a lot of cartoons on his DVD player, and eat junk food. He had lots of older playmates (his cousins, aunt and uncles). What's not to like? (Here, his uncle Jim is tossing him around. Thanks for all of the pictures, Becki!)

It was hard for him to go back to school on Monday.

Have to mention one thing he's doing that is cracking us up: he's very into "favorite" colors. Todd's is green. Mine is blue. Mercer's favorite is red. SO... he walks around saying "that's YOUR color!" "that's MY color!" pointing at various objects as we walk along. Todd said that his walk through the airport terminal on their way back home was color overload and he kept on and on and on with his observations.

Mr. Daredevil

oh.... we are going to be in trouble. It was completely evident this past weekend that Mercer has no fear. We went to a birthday party for a neighbor who was just turning 4. They had a big inflatable water slide that was in the front yard during the party. The guest of honor went down a few times, but mostly played in the pool at the bottom of the slide. Some other children - a little bit older than Mercer too went down once, but hung out in the pool.

Not Mercer. He kept going down over and over again. He was completely exhilarated. He was definitely keeping up with the 7 and 8 year old kids. He had a blast. We had fun watching him. But..... we realized then that we are going to have to keep an eye on him and speed!

There are a couple of videos that Todd snagged:

http://youtu.be/vAbnpHU2Agk friends "Jacken" (Jackson) and Glady are in this one playing in the pool.

http://youtu.be/hd8vMZFl_5c the birthday boy, Graham, is in this one... the one Mercer plows into. oops!

Some cute things that he's doing:

at night when we are singing songs before bed, he will change his voice to a really deep voice. He starts laughing so hard that he can no longer sing. He tries to sing again, then busts out laughing again.

As mentioned before, he's really into his ABC's. Anytime he sees the letter M he blurts out "M is for Mercer." (He even says this about the golden arches... another funny thing thing he says about the golden arches, is "that food is sick. that food is sick.") whoops - guess we over-did that one telling him that the food there doesn't make people feel good.

He plays a little game now too but he's not very good at it yet.... "I spy with my little eye" he says while he's looking directly at the object he's describing. I've spied them playing this game at school. It's funny to watch & his current teacher, Ms. Tiffany gets a kick out of it too.

We've officially found out that Mercer is moving up to the next grade... he's moving to Mrs. Roya's class soon. (Main reason - his age + he's officially potty trained - YAY!) He has had 3 accidents in the past 3 weeks, but none at school yet. He's doing really well overall! We are thrilled. And - we are happy he's moving to the next class. It will be interesting to see how he grows and develops, as Mrs. Roya is the Montessori Directress of the school. This is her school. She's strict but she's really gentle and loving to the children as well.

Before signing off - I have to mention these activities that they're doing at the school. They have numbers dotted out on pieces of paper (I think Mrs. Roya has her teenage daughters who have been there this summer hand draw pages and pages of these dotted numbers). Mercer is supposedly "writing" his numbers. He's tracing - with pretty good accuracy - over the dots. I don't know about what's good for his age or not, but I am really impressed with the tracings. It really looks like he's writing!

had a "brag."

Here's a photo that Todd & I just received yesterday. We went to a Cars 2 movie event where the hosts provided balloons, pop corn, and family photos. (No idea what Mercer & I are looking at, but Todd's photo-ready.)

We're going to be packing & flying up to NJ a little later today. There is a family gathering at a shore house in honor of Todd's parents 50th anniversary. Way to go, Bob & Rose Marie! Congratulations!