Reunion Time

Every year, my family tries to set up a weekend where we can get together and hang out somewhere. Last year, we had a super time in Pittsburgh, so we were really looking forward to this year. My mom and aunt set up a trip for us all to the mountains of West Virginia, which was a central location for all of us.   They rented some cabins, arranaged meals, and even researched some activities for us to do. 
On the first day there, Ela got to catch up with some of her second cousins. Sammy gave her a "make-over" with some help from Maddy.  I was strongly reminded of the times when my cousins would give my sister and I make overs when we were young. 

The next day, we all went out to see a bridge.  If I wasn't so busy chatting with family, I might be able to tell you all why. I know it's very high off the ground, and I can tell you that next weekend it's Bridge Weekend there, and people will be parasailing and bungee jumping off of it.  I was pretty happy to just look at it. 

We took a group picture at the bridge, but my camera seems to have gotten passed over in the hubub.  Then we split up and half of us went white water rafting (and had a blast from what I hear), while the rest of us took it easy and got a tour of a coal mine and town.  Ela loved it.

I'd have a better picture of that, but my camera battery died.  The weather was perfect all weekend long, and we spent a lot of time just catching up with family.  It was very relaxing, and a lot of fun.

But Wait, There's More!

After a really cool day trip, we also got to go to North Carolina last weekend. We dropped Ela off with her grandparents, and then we took the little one went here:

To see these people:

 

It was a lot of fun.  Ela got to go to the fair and to the pool with her grandparents.  From what I gather, she had a really great time.  We got to see a lot of old high school and college friends and visit our alma mater complete with typical Boone weather: snow, sun and sleet all in one day.  It was nice to get caught up with everyone one.  It was kind of a whirlwind trip, and there's lots more travel planned for this month, but it was well worth the effort. 

A Day Trip

We've been planning to go to Gettysburg since we lived in DC. Last week, we finally managed it.   We left in the morning, and got there just in time to have a wonderful lunch down town.  Then we headed to the museum, which is new so none of us had seen it before. It was excellent. We took in their movie and cyclorama (a painting made of the battle with a narration done over it, but it's way cooler than it sounds).  Then we rushed through the museum itself to keep the kiddos happy.  Ela made a new friend.

Having gotten our history refreshed, we headed out to the fields. We drove a good bit of the auto tour while the girls slept in the back seat.  We were pressed for time, so we didn't get a chance to take nearly as many cool pictures as we could have, given the beauty of the day.

 

It was a lot of car time, but well worth it to see such a historically imporant site. 

It Was Her Idea

While I'm in the shower on the average morning, Ela is going through my stuff in the bathroom trying to get into trouble. One of her favorite things to find is the nail polish. For months, she's been asking for green toes. Every time I get close to her, she changes her mind. This morning, I had time, so I tried again. I thought it'd go just like usual: I attempt to paint a nail, she runs away. Nope. This time she was ready.
After they were done, she walked very funny for about five minutes while she got used to the feeling of polish on her nails. Now she tells me her toes are green every time she looks at them. I think next time I'll go with pink.

Dinner Time

Our littlest girl is growing up!  This week, we introduced her to rice.  She's still working on her feeding technique, but she loves the rice crackers that I found.  (I thought they only existed in Japan, so I was delighted to find some here.)  So far, we're only giving her food at dinner time.  Some evenings, she'll take the cereal, others not.  When she does eat, she sleeps even better than usual.  In the next few days, I'm going to pick a vegetable to try her on next.

Lily is also teething.  Her first tooth popped out this week, and I'm certain there is at least one more hiding just under the surface, based on her fussiness lately.  Since they've recalled the teething tablets that Ela used, we're in search of a new way to ease her pain as the little pearly whites break through. 
I just can't believe how big my baby's gotten!  Time certainly flies.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Ela's hair is getting long.  See? We can even get it into a ponytail now.  It's very cute when she lets us touch it, but she almost never lets us touch it.  It gets tangly, and she thinks we're going to hurt her.
This week, Ela announced that she needed a haircut.  This surprised me because she hate haircuts, like everything else hair related.  I asked her about it, and she said she needed a haircut and a lollypop.  Then I understood: she remembered that after her haircuts, the stylist always gives her candy.  I figured she'd drop it, but all week long she asked about her haircut.  Her bangs were looking a bit shaggy, so I decided today to take her to get them cut. 

Ela was very excited when I told her we were going to get her haircut.  She kept repeating, "Ela get haircut.  Ela get lollypop." as she put on her clothes, found her shoes, and went to the car.  In the car, she announced she wanted a yellow lollypop.  She hurried into the Hair Cuttery.  It wasn't until they called her back that she realized something important: they were actually going to cut her hair.

As I lifted her into the chair, Ela got pouty.  The stylist was very chill about it.  She gave Ela  a comb to hold and kept up a nice distracting chatter as she separated and trimmed up her hair, starting with the bangs (which are the hardest part).  She talked about the baby, the comb, the pictures on the cape she was wearing to protect her from the hair, the girl in the mirror, and of course, the lollypop.  Ela continued her insistance that she wanted a yellow one, which led us to discussing what flavor it would be.  All the same, we barely got the girl through her trim without a tantrum. 

Finally (really it didn't take that long), the cut was done, and Ela was set free.  Instantly, she was happy again and hurried to the front of the store for her lollypop.  Yellow, as it turns out, is "banana split".  Ela demanded I open it right then.  We paid for the cut and went out the car to go to Target.
At Target (a short drive across the parking lot), I pulled Lily out of her carseat and fed her while Ela enjoyed her treat.  By the time Lily was done, Ela had also finished her lollypop. 

She said she wanted another haircut.

She wanted a blue lollypop.

:::sigh:::

Beach Week

Every year, my family gets together for a week on the beach. This year, my parents rented a house that not only was beach front, but also had a pool.   So here's how we spent our week:
Most mornings we spent our time by the pool.  Ela always wanted to go to the pool. when she woke up, but almost never would get in.  Note the death grip she's got on me in this shot:

She loved being near the water, though, and sat on the steps with her feet in for hours, playing with her toys.  Lily, on the other hand, was soothed by the water, as long as it wasn't too cold.  She only got in a few times, but seemed to like it when she did. 
If we weren't by the pool in the morning, we were out enjoying the perfect, post-hurricane weather.  We biked, walked the beach, hung out on the sand, or went jogging.  Those of us who managed to bike, walk/jog and swim all in one day claimed the honor of having completed our "vacation triathalon".  We took advantage of as much of the morning as we could before wandering in for a late lunch. 
After lunch, we'd put Ela down for a nap.  One of us would sit on the porch and read so she wasn't alone.  The rest of us tended to find our way out to the beach.  Things stayed quiet during the hottest part of the day, but before long Ela would be up again, and we'd all find our way out to the beach for some late afternoon games.  We played bocci ball, or just sat in the sand and tried to convince Ela that 1) the waves were not going to get her, and 2) the sand wasn't too hot to touch.  Sometimes we'd have success and Ela would play in the sand with us, or toss a ball around.  Again, Lily found the whole experience very relaxing.

In the evenings, we'd make dinner and some gormet popsicles.  When Ela started acting tired, we'd put her to bed (the clock didn't have a major role in our activities this week).  Then we'd play a card game or rock band or dominos until we were all worn out and wandered off to bed ourselves.
On our last day at the beach, we found the part that Ela enjoyed most for this year: crabbing.  Crabbing involves putting a piece of something bloody and gross (this year it was fish heads) on the end of a line and tossing it in the marshy water of the inlet, preferably at low tide.  This attracts crabs, which you lure slowly in until you can see them and catch them in a net. 

While, obviously not interested in throwing the line or standing in the murky water at the edge, Ela was fascinated by our few catches (all of whom we threw back when we were done). 

 

Ela loved watching the crabs swim frantically around the bucket and we had to keep a close watch on her to prevent her from trying to touch them.  She announced repeatedly, "Ela want to kiss crab!"  She settled for poking at them with some reeds, though. 
Obviously, I have tons more pictures, and even more good memories, from the last week.  I'll sort through them this week and may be post again with a few more.  It was an excellent vacation.