This past weekend was days 5 and 6 of a heat wave.  We rushed to get the Walden Pond only to arrive at 8:56 AM to find out that the park was CLOSED because it was at capacity.  Who knew a pond had a capacity?  Really, its the parking lot that was full.  Mom and Isaac were bummed.  After all, they were this excited to go:

But Dad had a plan.  He had heard of another beach, a much more secluded one, in a nearby state park.  Undaunted, we all got back in the car and plotted our new course to Pearl State Park.

The beach was small and the pond was very secluded.  The water wasn't as clear as the kettle pond that is Walden, but the pine warrens offered plenty of helpful shade.  Isaac, Mom, and Dad all had a great time.  We played in the water, built sand castles (Dad showed Isaac his "stalagmite" building method, shhh, its a secret), and generally just relaxed.  With a beach mainly to himself, Isaac strutted around like the beach hunk that he was.  Here is his strut picture:

 
I don't think he learned it from anyone strange:

Uncle Rob sent Isaac some of his beach-hunkiness.  Right?

Isaac has been eating a wide variety of new food, now that he is a big boy and we have joined the ranks of liberals and take part in a CSA.  New foods includes eating old food in new ways.  Corn is one of his favorite eats, so when we had grilled corn on the cob recently, Bianca and I agreed it would be fun to let him try it.  Seeing as we are still in the throws of a dinosaur addiction, I thought it might be fun to call eating corn on the cob what it really is--a messy violent, carnivorous feast on vegetables.  Last night then, we ate corn on the cob T-Rex style.  Here is the little guy going to town:

We all know that Isaac has a thing for teasing his Nanna, and nothing gets her goat like a quick glimpse of his bell-bell.  Well, now that he is not just chatting, but interacting and planning and remembering, he has come up with all kinds of new ways to tempt his grandmother.  On a recent trip to Rota Springs, that mini paradise of ice cream, cows, and bucolic farmscapes, Isaac and Dad sat on a grassy hill waiting for Mom with the ice cream.  He turned to me and said, "I want to show Nanna my bell-bell."  I explained that would be possible, but that I could take a picture of him and his famous belly and send it to her.  He said that would work and then laid down for this shot saying: "Nanna....here's my bell-bell."  We had to hustle home because of a summer storm so the picture got stuck on my phone without being sent, so to make up for it, here's the post.

"Nanna...here's my bell-bell..."

Seriously, that is what Isaac said: