A Day in the Life of Ethan Bradley

It was a busy weekend for the Clark family, ranging from BBQs to nature walks. Below are just a few moments that I was able to capture throughout the weekend.

On Saturday, my dad’s friends celebrated his retirement by throwing a little pizza party. And what is a party without balloons? Every kid was given one at the start of the party, and sadly, only one of the five left with a balloon. And that lucky little person is pictured below. Can you guess which one?

All week long we had been telling Ethan that there would be cupcakes at his grandpa’s party. You think he enjoyed his?

Then, on Sunday, my brother’s friends had a little get together in the dog park, again, everyone’s kids were invited. Ethan made a new friend who taught him how to jump like a big boy. But, before each jump, they made sure to give us a countdown to the excitement.

Finally, on Labor Day, we started off the day by spending some time in Huntley Meadows park, which happens to be only 15 minutes away, tucked in between a busy highway and a dense residential area, though when you are in the park, you’d have no idea. Below, Lauren is pointing out one of the many, many turtles we encountered on our walk.

And not only did we see turtles, egrets, and tadpoles, we also saw some…

I think Ethan was initially in shock that these were not penned in behind some fence and just walking within 20 yards of where we were standing, but by the end, he was trying to make friends.

But, after walking for a good mile, Ethan was done walking and required transport.

And when he DID decide to walk, he complained of “rocks in his shoes”. Though each time his shoes came off (about 15 different times in the span of 10 minutes and 1/20th of a mile) there were no rocks to be found.

After a good nap and some lunch, we spent most of the afternoon playing in side, which involved a few important phone calls on his “ergo chair.”

Needless to say, we were all exhausted last night, which led to a great sleep from our little boy and an even greater sleep for his parents. We hope everyone had an equally exciting and fun holiday weekend! And of course, as usual, if you want to see the full set of pictures and videos, check out our Summer 2011 album on Flickr.