Woodstock week

Can hardly believe we’ve already been back from vacation nearly as long as we were gone. Our week up in Woodstock and the surrounding Catskills with Rein and Christa really flew by. It was incredibly relaxing and a great retreat from the city. We spent our days hiking, swimming in the pool, enjoying dinners outside, reading, and playing with Ellis. We made day trips to visit Mommom’s sisters in Stamford, Storm King Sculpture Park and the Woodstock Animal Farm Sanctuary. We also had a nice visit from Josephine on her drive back to the city. The cottage was much fancier than our apartment and we were spoiled by the large living room, washer/dryer and dishwasher. The pool wasn’t bad either. Ellis really liked splashing in the water, but was less enthusiastic about the sharp grass. Such a city girl! We even hiked up Overlook Mountain for a gorgeous view of the entire area. We celebrated Erik’s 32nd birthday on Saturday and found out the amazing news that Marijke and Adriano are expecting their first child in February!

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!

Underwater Swimming

We had our fourth swimming class with Ellis today. She did so well! The big challenge was for her to ”swim“ underwater from the instructor to Erik. Erik was already under so he could see her coming. Judging by her happy kicking legs when she came up, I think she enjoyed herself.

The lovely Clara

Isabelle and Nick made their first trip to the East coast with their 10 week old daughter Clara last week. It was so exciting to meet her and to see our good friends as new parents. They are doing great and Clara is so precious. I tried to get a good picture of Ellis and Clara together, but it proved to be a little difficult since Ellis is in the grab everyone and everything stage. Seeing Isabelle and Nick with Clara brought me right back to last fall when Ellis was that young, easy to carry, and we counted her time outside of the belly in weeks. What a special time and how quickly it goes!

9 Months!

Or 3/4 of a year! Ellis now has two cute little stubby bottom teeth and is crawling up a storm. She’s been commando crawling for quite sometime, but is now up on those hands and knees shuffling around. We've done some minor babyproofing at home, but even with that I am amazed at what tiny things she can find on the floor and get into her mouth. Her mobility has forced us to vacuum and mop more, which isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t know when babies generally say their first words, but I think I hear ‘ja’ (or yeah), cat, and dada from her all day long.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of going upstate for visit Josephine and Peter. It was a very relaxing weekend with lots of delicious food and time in the hammock looking up at the trees. We rented a zipcar to drive there and were so impressed; Their cars, locations, and reservation system are so much easier to use than the standard car rental companies.

clap your hands say waahhh

Another sticky summer weekend has flown by and we had a lot of fun hanging around the neighborhood, seeing friends and consuming lots of ice tea, ice coffee and ice cream. Ellis had her 8 month check-up on Saturday. Her head and feet were hanging off of the scale, but I think she came in around 23 pounds and nearly 30 inches! I am only 66 inches. It’s crazy to think she is nearly half my height. Thankfully, she is less than 20% of my weight! It is just incredible how much more adventurous she is lately. I find that we are having to say “No” and “Nee” suddenly around the house as Ellis lunges towards some power cords, a twig on the ground, dirty shoes, etc, etc.

We managed to capture a little of her clapping this morning.