It's been a busy summer.

We had a major computer malfunction just before our August vacation, and sadly, lost about a months' worth of photos. It took quite a bit of time to get the computer back up to snuff, and I'm still not sure it's really 100%. But we bought an external hard drive, finally, and so now we have plenty of storage space for everything.

Part of what we lost were some fun photos from our 4th of July trip to New Jersey, but I do have these (admittedly low-res) photos from my camera phone, including Monkey's first "amusement park" ride, from a fair at the park near Grandma's beach house.




Monkey wasn't too sure about the ride at first, and the operator was about to stop it to take him off because he was crying, but I got him settled down, and by the time it was over, he had enjoyed it so much he didn't want to get off, and cried again.

When we got back from vacation and finally got the computer up again, it was time to start watching political conventions. Matt and I stayed up WAY too late during both the Democratic and Republican conventions, cheering and jeering.

In case you needed a hint about which convention got the cheers and which convention got the jeers, check out these Monkey videos:



(Okay, "Go Bills" isn't terribly relevant to the election, but it's awfully funny!)

I also decided that it was time to make my wedding album. (Almost three years later, with kid #1 approaching two years old, and kid #2 on the way, I'd say it was more than time!) So I've been spending a lot of time on that. In fact, once the conventions were over, I started staying up late to finish the book. But it is nearly done, and anyone who wants a look-see can e-mail me and I'll share the Shutterfly link.

We did, however, take some time to visit with Nana over Labor Day weekend, and the highlight of the weekend was our trip to Edaville USA, for a "Day Out with Thomas." Monkey loved the kiddie rides, the ride on the train (according to him, we rode on Clarabel), and spending time with Nana and his aunts. Check it out!