There's No Place Like Home

It's just too bad we weren't living in ours for 3 weeks. We spent two weeks last month living in a nearby hotel/motel while we had work done to our house. We spent an additional week in different states: Bill in Las Vegas for work and Lindsay and me in Oregon seeing family.

As you can imagine, we are happy to be back home. But we also feel blessed that things went smoothly, we have some new upgrades in our bathroom and the girls' room and have some wonderful memories of our time spent elsewhere (see below).





I came home one day to find our hotel living room transformed into a fort.













The great thing about staying at a hotel is that someone else will clean this up for you.

This view from the hotel living room was one of the best things about staying there. The girls loved feeding the ducks off the back deck.

Ella and her best friend Kate as Supergirl Sisters for Halloween.

Although we were staying elsewhere, we took Lindsay around our neighborhood to visit some friends. Her lion scars were courtesy of a wipe-out while chasing bubbles at day care the week before.

Mexico, Part II...only 2 months later

Life has been crazy over the past month (as you'll see from future posts), so blogging hasn't been at the top of our minds.

But before we move on to more recent photos, we wanted to share a few more of our favorites from our trip to Valle de Bravo for Mariana and Fernando's wedding in September.

Mexico, Part I

I'll call this Mexico, Part I...in the belief there will be more Mexico posts to come. No promises, there...but Part I is a start at least.

So, we went to Mexico from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 - a quick trip to celebrate the wedding of (hold on to your hat) the sister of my best friend's wife. Mariana married Fernando in Valle de Bravo, a lake town about two hours to the southwest of Mexico City.

To be more specific, they got married in a 400-plus-year-old hacienda, with enormous thick stone walls, pillars, horses, guard towers at the corners, moisture, odors and dubious electricity. Charming and rustic would be the polite way to describe the accommodations (we stayed at the hacienda as part of the extended-extended "family"). We actually loved staying there -- merely 100 yards from the tequila-soaked reception and dance-fest! Others in our group of family...not so much. There were tears and night terrors and general whining -- and not by Lindsay, but by the other end of the age spectrum.

We considered not going, due to the expense, the challenges of traveling with Lindsay, etc. But I'm so glad we went -- what a fascinating location and what friendly, fun people we got to hang out with.

The travel...well, it was challenging -- from the red eye to Houston to the cozy plane down to Toluca (Mexico's industrial capital!!) to the near-miss of our plane coming home. The Mexican president chose our departure day to visit the same airport...and that, compounded by our late arrival to the airport, resulted in a very, very close call.















Lindsay dozing at the Houston airport, around 6:00 a.m. after the redeye.
















The hacienda's main courtyard, being prepared for a wedding feast for 350!















Our room (left) and the open terrace leading to our room. These show the hacienda with the power on, which wasn't a sure thing for a while. We were all especially grateful the power came on in light of the ghost stories our Mexican friends were telling us -- apparently, the hacienda was used as a prison at some point, and the spirits remain restless!





















Young child, old wall.

More photos to come....

The Magic of Elmo

I may have posted this photo previously (I don't have time to go back and check right now), but even if I did, the fact that Lindsay "went peepee in her potty" yesterday for the FIRST TIME deserves this photo shown again.

We are unsure--and still in shock--as to what paved the way for this milestone. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Elmo had just shown her how fun using the potty can be on her new Elmo's Potty Time DVD. But, honestly, I don't think she really knew what she was doing. She was too caught up in mommy sitting on the floor reading her a book and daddy sitting on the floor filling the tub.

Regardless, she got a huge standing ovation from each of her parents and high fives all around. She was a little unsure about flushing the toilet and watching her "peepee go bye bye," but the fact that she reminded us of her accomplishment just a few minutes before going to bed does give us hope that the event actually meant something in her mind too!

Playing Catch-Up

I am not quite sure how it's already the middle of September. This past month has been full of family visitors, trips to the beach, extracurricular activities for Ella and many great summer memories.

Lindsay found a pair of infant sunglasses that were given to her as a gift when she was born. She spent an entire day wearing them around the house and on our outings.

Ella modeling a pair of Papa's handmade socks (by Neenie) and showing off her 1st grade coolness.

Ella and her best friend during their first soccer practice (first game this weekend).

No caption necessary besides: Happy mom!

Neenie and Papa enjoying the sunshine with the girls (which they were happy to have as they missed the big storm on the East Coast while visiting).

If you haven't been to Alameda yet to visit us, we hope this picture entices you to come! This great beach cove is only a short drive from our house.

Grandma Connie was much needed and appreciated support while Bill was away on business. We were able to venture out for an afternoon at the zoo after some tough days stuck in the house with a very sick (and grumpy) toddler.

Ella performing as a nymph in her opera camp production of Persephone.

Lindsay applauding for the performers of Persephone. As everyone else clapped, Lindsay would actually yell, "YEAH!" for the entire room to hear.

We also enjoyed a weekend visit from Uncle Erik.

Eighteen months and counting...

Happy year-and-a-half birthday to The Bean!

As a very happy (usually) and healthy (mostly) 18 month old, Lindsay is practicing perfecting the art of:

• Swimming in the Bay
• Saying "NO!" (and many other words)
• Using her potty, but not for what it is intended
• Standing on her bike seat while balancing with no hands
• Being an excellent mommy to her baby, which she pushes around the house in her miniature stroller and feeds with her miniature bottle and sippy cup
• Being an extremely loving and spirit-filled blessing in our lives

So many pictures...So little time...

And this site is not cooperating!

After several failed attempts to upload some new pictures to the blog I've decided to make this a picture-free entry.

We realize that we've been negligent about posting photos each week (as promised), but trust that we THINK about it all the time...It's the DOING part that needs some work.

If you have children, then you've had sick children. And so you understand my current state of mind as I am home with a rather ill Lindsay while Bill is out of town for 5 days for work and a very brief visit to see family in New Jersey.

Boy, do I have a story to tell about getting Lindsay to bed last night. I'll spare you the time and details, but let's just say that if the snot from the nose bulb spraying into my eyes at the end of the night hadn't been so unbelievable (and gross), I probably would have been crying. But today is a new day and although extreme amounts of "stuff" continue to come out of this child in buckets-full, I have managed to extract her from my arms long enough for her to sit alone and watch Elmo while I have a few minutes to get on the computer. Fortunately, my mom arrives today to help and play (Ella will be with us all day Friday and Saturday).

Ella only has a couple weeks left before she starts 1st grade. It sounds so cliche, but it seems like she was just starting kindergarten yesterday. It's amazing to look back over pictures from the past year and see how much she has changed. Last week she was a fabulous nymph in Persephone, the opera put on from her performing arts camp (photos to come soon). We ended up going to the dress rehearsal this year so that we could take Lindsay; which we are so glad we did. It was so fun to watch Lindsay's reaction to the live performance. While everyone else was clapping between numbers, Lindsay would add a resounding, "YEAHHHH!!" to the applause.

That's all for now. Enjoy the remaining summer days....I know we plan to!

And more photos from Oregon

In an attempt to catch-up with this Blog, I am trying to let go of my desire to have these photos in order and clear. Hey, at least they will make it up before the end of the month!



Lindsay and Ella helping Grandma feed the birds.













An added to bonus to our trip: a visit with my step-sister, Stacey, and her two kids, Eric and Grace.






It was fun to see the cousins playing together at one of the parks that we played at when we were kids.



Even Uncle Erik joined in on the kid-filled day!


Ella and Grandma making one of my childhood favorite desserts, rhubarb custard pie. Unfortunately, Ella did not enjoy it as much as I did.







How cool to see your kids (and husband) having so much fun at the city park where you grew up. Bill and I went for a 10 minute date as we walked around the park alone. I even got to show him the place where my girlfriends and I built a bench for our senior class project.








Ella and I as fish at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Summer vacation, part III

Enjoying the oh-so-festive Fourth of July Parade in "downtown" Bandon, Oregon.

Who needs toys when you have a milk crate?

We have a tradition whenever we are at the beach with my dad that we MUST build a sand sculpture. In the past it's been a giant starfish, a walrus trying to squeeze out of an igloo and a living room (complete with TV and couch built out of sand). This year we went the more traditional sand castle.

Murph, Phoenix and my Dad.

One of my new favorites.

Lindsay enjoying a cupcake to celebrate Murphy's 17th birthday.

We played a lot on this vacation!

This photo shows the very sweet connection between Lindsay and Poppi.