What do you mean I can't date until I'm 16?

Okay, I am a little freaked out about a new change in behavior that Sam has had! He use to tell me about his friends that are "girl lovers" at school. He let me know all of the time that he is definitely not one of them. . . then today happened.
Elle and Elaina are two little girls that live in the house right behind us and come over to play all of the time. Sometimes Sam is interested in playing but mostly he acts annoyed that they are here to play again. It is Emily that loves to play. They were over today playing in our backyard and I guess Sam saw them out his window. He came downstairs and asked me where his tie was. ??? I told him where they were and a few minutes later he comes down wearing a long sleeve button up "fancy shirt." ???Whoowhut??? Sam hates "fancy, handsome" shirts!!! Danny and I asked what he was up to and he just gave us a funny smile and went out to play.

Then he comes in and tells me I really need to bring out the camera and take pictures of him and Elle. ???Whooowhat??? Elaina wanted to have her picture taken with him also but he just told her no thanks. I took some pictures and he was WAY TOO FRIENDLY!

Then Elle told me I needed to see them dance. Sam didn't want to show me but I insisted. I needed to see what they were up to. They told me she taught him in the garage!!!! ???Whoowhat???

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We brought Sam in to have a talk and he said he just thought she looked so pretty today and wanted to date. ??? He was surprised to hear that wasn't going to happen until he was 16 and then only in groups. We talked to him a little about what he was feeling but honestly I was at a loss for words. I just told him to make good choices and that he was too little to be worried about girls. "But mom, she just looked so pretty today." ???? Danny and I watched them closely all afternoon. They kept holding hands or Sam would put his arm around her or gently guide her with his arm to where they were going. A couple of times they just sat by each other on the steps. We just kept telling them to go play and they would quickly seperate like they had been caught at something. I have no clue where he learned to "Court" a girl like this other then from watching the adults around him.

Help!!! I really don't know what else to tell him other then it is not appropriate for him to have girl friends at this age and that he shouldn't be acting like a 20 something. I don't want him to feel like he ever has to hide his feelings from me and that he can talk to me about anything but he is 7! I thought he was supposed to hate girls. As soon as they went home for dinner Sam changed into something more comfortable.
Just so you know when I took the pictures and video it seemed so innocent it was in the few minutes afterward looking at them that I was like ???WWWHHHAAATTT???

The 4th!

We had a very fun but busy 4th of July.Our camera is having some trouble so we didn't actually take any pictures of our own. A couple of friends took some for me so hopefully I will be posting some of those soon. We started out at a pancake breakfast at our church, then we went to a parade in Chesterland. Next we hosted a few friends for a BBQ at Squires Castle, where I enjoyed a nice game of Bocce while Danny kept an eye on the kids . . .Click here to see how that went! and here!
Sam, Emily and our little friend Tanni had a blast in the mud. But this wasn't just any mud. This was mud made from the fine dirt of a baseball field that is actually more like really wet clay. Agh! Danny took Sam up to a spicket and Jason, Tanni's dad, ended up finding some nice people with a funny bus/trailer/spaceship built in the late 40's that had a hose and were willing to share it. We sprayed the girls down with freezing water and then we took them home to fill our tub with the fine silt.
We finished cleaning them up just in time to go see fireworks.
I love the Fourth of July!!!

Kelley's Island

We took our second annual trip to Kelly's Island the weekend of June 20th and had a blast. We joined 7 other families from Danny's office for a weekend of swimming, fishing, music, rain and bugs. Some of the families left a day early when their tents and all of the contents of them got soaked during a 3 hour rainstorm. We were lucky and tough and stuck it out.



Kelly's Island is a quaint little tourist community out on Lake Erie. We took our van across on the ferry and then drove to the State Park campground.


We had a little friend that joined us as we were packing up. We think that it was a baby Robin or Red winged Blackbird. We couldn't tell for sure because there was an adult bird of each species hanging out acting concerned about their baby (or lunch.) The little guy is sitting on the picnic table and is kind of camouflaged.
We are definitely going back next year and highly recommend it. The campground is clean and well cared for with great views, a nice playground and an awesome beach where the water isn't too deep and there are no big waves like you get on most of the other Lake Erie beaches we have been to.