The McGinnis Family

Well, the Philly McGinnis family is moving back to Newark, DE. The price of gas coupled with a very active two-year-old has convinced us city lovers to move back to the suburbs (at least for awhile). We are very excited as a house has opened up at the University so we'll basically be living on campus. I'll be able to walk to work and go home for lunch. There will still be a park down the street and CJ will have a huge backyard to play in. It will be nice not to be commuting for two hours a day while I'm trying to finish up law school. Casey is going to be able to start back to school in the Fall as well so we're very excited about that. Overall, it is going to be a great move for us even though we'll miss the city streets. As you can see, the house is sweet and we'll have more space since it has a huge basement. I can't imagine getting more lucky right now.

So the picture was stolen off of Mike and Sarah's website because I'm at work and haven't unloaded the camera of pictures at home yet. The blog is very behind because Mama is behind. Between the trip, work, and finishing up my summer class I've been swamped. As I approach my final semester, the posts are likely to be sporadic unless Case can pick it up. The trip was fabulous. Thank you to everyone. Thank you notes are on the way (Sorry for being rude and waiting so long). We have a great time and CJ really enjoyed his birthday. It was fun to have such a big party and see everyone. CJ likes to go through and name everyone he can think of as if he's running through a grocery list. Things have been crazy here not that its not always crazy. Uncle Eric is here for a visit and for work so we're heading to DC and Annapolis this weekend. We'll get some great pics and update on Monday. CJ is just being CJ. Like his cousin Abby, he loves the park and wants to be outsi...

We are getting ready to head back to Kansas City for the weekend. It should be a nice time. CJ is getting excited that his birthday is coming up. He keeps pointing out birthday cakes in his books and blowing out the candles. He has also memorized all the people in the photo album and points them out by name. (We'll see if he'll actually say the names when we get there though.) He is still shy about talking when others are around. This week he's taken to teaching Curious George his ABCs, which he sings over and over again- the tune and some of the letters are right. LMNOP is always in the right place. He's still the sweetest most sensitive soul and he really knows how to make people feel better already.

Hi again. Just wanted to let everyone know that invitations are in the mail for CJ's birthday. It will be from 1pm-4pm at my parent's house in Blue Springs on Saturday, July 5th. Casey will be grilling up some lunch so you know there will be lots of good food. The kids can play in the sprinkler and we'll have a little baby pool. It should be lots of fun.

CJ has grown so much lately. It shocks me to see that sweet baby face growing into a little boy. He continues to be hilarious and has his father's sense of humor. He's serious like his mother though and hasn't lost that sweet sensitivity he's always shown. He thinks he's a big boy now and likes the idea of it except when it comes to snuggling with Mama. I imagine he'll always be a snuggly boy. He's a climber and can scamper up the rock walls at the park faster than we can turn around. He also likes standing on his head or partially. He's always stretching out. Its funny to watch him. He seems to add new words everyday and every once in awhile he'll completely suprise us with a new phrase. At this point, his favorite phrase is "I want (insert newest noun here). Casey is ready to kill me because I kept calling one of the pictures of cookies in CJ's book a kumkwat because I didn't realize they were cookies. Now its one of CJ's favorite ...

We had a great time in Mystic, CT last weekend for Father's Day. We spent Saturday at the Mystic Seaport, a little reanactment community right on the water. We even got to see a replica of the Amistad (the original was either scrapped or sunk). That part was neat, but very sad to see the conditions those men endured. CJ loved the water and kept trying to walk onto all the boats he saw (even the yachts that had just docked for lunch). He really enjoyed driving the ship. We then had lunch at a great little inn right on the water- Seaman's Inn. It was wonderful. On Sunday we went to Mystic Aquarium. CJ really loved it. His favorite was the buluga whales as you can see from the picture. He laughed and oohed and ahhed. It was a great weekend. Now we are just gearing up for our trip to Kansas City and for his birthday in a few weeks. Daddy is going on a guy's camp weekend next weekend with Uncle Sami so CJ and I are planning a trip to the zoo. We'll put up more pics then.

Father's Day is just around the corner and CJ and I decided to get Case his gift a little early. So this morning the three of us set off in the jeep to the Dick's Sporting Goods where Daddy got to pick out his very own canoe. Yep, we city kids now have a huge canoe sitting in our living room. Case is out with some friends so he hasn't had a chance to put it away yet. CJ doesn't mind he's sitting in it watching Elmo. Both of them love the canoe and I think they will be very happy taking it out this week. I think we have another little camper on our hands too as he did not want to get out of the tent set up in the store when it was time to leave. He's ready to go for his first camping trip. He'll have to wait a bit though because our adventure for next week is to head to Mystic, CT. Pizza anyone? We're off to the aquarium, the seaport, and a beautiful park on the shore. We're quite excited and can't wait for this week to hurry up. We're espec...