Mary Liz’s NYC visit

Last weekend my cousin Mary Liz visited NYC from Austin. It was her second time in the city but the first trip all by herself. We had so much fun and nearly walked holes into our shoes! We went to the Highline, Governor’s Island, Times Square, Chinatown, SoHo and, of course, Greenpoint. She met Ellis and I got to know my wonderful cousin better before she heads off to college. We made it up to Top of the Rock on a very clear night and took these lovely photos.

Saturday was also our sixth wedding anniversary! We like to celebrate our anniversary with a boat ride every year. This year it was the ferry to Governor’s Island. Here we are pictured along the water in front of Ellis Island.

Ellis is doing some serious teething and hasn’t been her usually happy self. We were so distracted trying to make her feel better, that we complete forgot she turned 10 months on Tuesday. Congrats big baby! You are getting so close to one year!

Hip Florida

Last week we traveled down to Florida to be with Mommoms while she recovered from hip replacement surgery. The surgery took place on Wednesday and we made it to the hospital by Thursday afternoon. Our flight and drive were, thankfully, incredibly easy. Ellis slept for a good part of the flight and navigating from Tampa to Inverness from the back seat was no problem. While this wasn’t a typical Florida vacation, it was relaxing to stay in a hotel with a pool for a few nights. When we weren’t checking in on Mommoms, we enjoyed lots of jumping on the king sized bed, crawling on the carpet and watching the World Cup quarter finals. Ellis discovered her new favorite game: empty the contents of Mama’s wallet and chew on plastic cards. Erik wore his orange jersey with great pride when they beat Brazil last Friday. Mommoms is recovering well and it was so encouraging to see her smiling, laughing and enjoying her Great Granddaughter. While waiting for our return flight, I let Ellis crawl around to burn off a little energy. As she moved between the rows of chairs, I was delighted to find this amazing padded and fun children’s play space right next to our gate.

Our July 4th was rather uneventful. We stopped by a local park, but the rain and Ellis’ early bedtime had us inside before dark. Someone else we know had a very exciting 4th of July though. Congratulations to Rachel and Fabien on the birth of their adorable son Théo! Looking forward to following their adventures in new parenthood. Théo’s weeks in the womb were aligned with Ellis’ weeks outside of the womb, so I guess this means she’s officially been out longer than she was in!