Wednesday, July 10, 2013

4th of July Weekend

We had such a fun long weekend for the 4th of July last week. Ella told me that she "doesn't like holidays that last for only one day" -- lucky for her, we squeezed as much as we possibly could into the weekend.

Ready for camp on July 3rd - she loved the dress she had picked out for 4th of July and had been so looking forward to wearing it

I went to school that morning for her class parade, she was excited to wear the shirt and visor she had painted

Fun with her friends



That night we painted special patriotic nails and toenails

She got a really neat invitation for the morning of 4th of July. Her friend Addison's dad, is a volunteer firefighter for our town, and so they are able to ride on top of the firetruck in our town parade. Addison's older brother was away at sleep away camp for the week, so she invited Ella to come along to take his place. It was last minute and I had already planned to take off Friday instead of Thursday, so Steve took her, and it became a big Daddy / Daughter adventure.

Ready and so excited!

I did manage to drive down to the fire station and got a quick peek of her on the firetruck before the parade began :)


Steve and Hilary did a great job of taking pictures to fill me in on everything I missed




And on top of the truck


After the parade our town has a big festival at one of the parks, with rides and jump houses and water slides. For the big story there, Ella climbed this rock wall, and managed to get all the way to the top. I can barely believe she did it, and Steve couldn't either. 



There was a button you were supposed to push at the top once you made it up and Ella told me she didn't want to move her hands off the rope, so she pushed it with her nose!

On the way back down, the rope somehow malfunctioned and got stuck, and she didn't weigh enough to pull the rope down, so she was just hanging there. Steve says she thought it was great and was just laughing and kept yelling about how she was stuck on the rope. One of our friends was there and he climbed up to where she was and then pulled her down. (They ended up closing down that side of the rock wall after this.) Quite an adventure! 

After the park she went to swim at Addison's house for more fun 

That night we went to our friends' house for a BBQ and to swim

Getting a push from Ellie

 Our town fireworks show is at a park by the junior high, which is in the back of our neighborhood. We all sat outside and watched them from our friend's pool...it was the perfect way to enjoy the fireworks.



On Friday, Ella and I didn't leave the house once. We played in the house all morning and then swam all afternoon. It doesn't happen often, but I love whenever I get days like that - nothing on tap but having fun with my sweet little chum.  

Proud of the play-doh flag she made 

On Saturday we had friends over for a pool party, and Ella had a blast with her buddies




 And then on Sunday, our friends invited us to go out on their boat with them. It was a really overcast day with rain predicted; but fortunately, we avoided the rain and had a wonderful day out on the water.

Ella loved it - she laughed, yelled 'faster, faster', and enjoyed every minute


Some pretty sights from the water



Ready for a swim

We stopped for dinner at Sam's Boat, which I love - and even more fun using the water route!

So cute together

 Such a fun weekend - not remotely productive, but so very worth it!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Visit from Kelly

Kelly came to visit from Boston the last weekend in June. We've been working on a trip for her to come out since we moved and I am so glad it finally worked out. It was so, so, so good to see her and have her visit for a few days.

Ella and I picked her up from the airport on Friday afternoon and then we went out to dinner once Steve got home from work, then just talked and talked in the backyard all night. On Saturday morning we went to the Paint Pub, drank mimosas, and made some masterpieces!


We spent Saturday afternoon swimming and had Ella for plenty of entertainment and lots of laughs!
 
I got Ella's babysitter to come on Saturday night so we could go out for the night and we went down to Seabrook for dinner and to a bar on the water. So much fun!!
 
Ella had a great night with Jessica and was fast asleep on her floor in the 'fort' they made when we got home 
 
At breakfast on Sunday morning
 
We just relaxed and swam on Sunday afternoon and then barbecued for dinner. Steve took Kelly to the airport early Monday morning, so the weekend was over way too quickly... but ahh, such a fantastic weekend and we are so happy that Kelly came to visit us!!

Monday, July 8, 2013

Picture Post

Catching up on a bunch of pictures from May and June-- 

Beautiful blue jay in the backyard

Looking adorable with a bubble beard

So cute walking Cory

 With my baby on Mother's Day

Registering for kindergarten! 

I love all our lizards and frogs - this little guy hangs out under our pool umbrella a lot, I'm always happy to see him

And this cute fellow is on my bathroom window almost every single night. Whenever he's not around, I wonder where he is.

Steve and I went to the beach for the weekend when Ella was in NJ. The hotel was so beautiful, and this was our view from the balcony

And from dinner one night

A few nights after getting back from NJ - consulting her snow globe of NYC and demanding that it show her where Grammy was at that exact moment

Making funny faces with Caleb at our first crawfish boil

And there was a sole survivor, somehow a single crawfish hid in the net and managed to survive all day. We were hoping we'd last longer and we could get a little tank for him, but unfortunately he did not make it until the morning...but, for that night, Ella was very happy with her new pet

Father's Day

And the adorable card Ella made for Steve


And then I turned 33 on June 17 -- and of course Ella loves any reason for a celebration!


And my beautiful card!!

Great day trip to the beach 

I was in a really great book club in NC, and have been involved in starting a small one here for the last few months. I guess the nights I go to "book club" are very mysterious to Ella, just like when I go to bunco, which she calls "bonko", and she's just dying to know what's happening at any place I am out without her. Well, in June, Steve ended up having to go to a last minute dinner for work, and I didn't want to miss it because I was excited to talk about our book. So I decided I would take Ella with me. She was as excited as if I'd told her we were going to Disneyworld that night. She told me she was going to go get ready, by herself, and would come down when she was done. Here she is - ready for book club!


Little muscle woman!

Cory managed to tuck herself in our bed -- tough life being a dog!