CEB

Today Elise wore a little sun dress I made for her. I fell in love with the fabric - and even took it in to get her monogram put on the front. She looked great! It's nice to put her in something other than pink for a change. We just kept snapping pictures - so I'm sorry if it's a bit much - but she was also looking very patriotic, so we handed her a flag & took more pics! John commented on how it's getting harder and harder to take pictures of her - she wants to be constantly moving. The last picture in this series is from yesterday - she decided to climb into the fridge so she could reach the shelves in the door...or maybe just stay cool in this Carolina heat? As we were making dinner last night, she also decided to climb onto the door of the dishwasher when it was open. I'm not sure what kind of weight restrictions they have, but I'm sure they didn't make it to withhold small toddlers walking on it! Another one of those things I don't want her to get used to trying again and again....This afternoon we took naps (all but John who watched Germany vs. Spain in soccer) and took a bike ride and rode to McDonald's for dinner. Now we're settling in for a new week. Hope you have a great one!

Fun at Carowinds!

Yesterday we had a fun afternoon at Carowinds. We've been so busy in the last several weeks, that we haven't had an opportunity to use our season passes, and so we ventured to the amusement park to cool in the water park attractions...and so did lots of other people. But despite the crowds, we were able to find a spot & Elise enjoyed it so much! After playing in the water, we walked over to the Nick Jr. area and she rode the carousel & a little Dora the Explorer Train with us. There may be more rides she can go on, but she was quite sleepy by the time we got off the train, and some dark clouds were brewing overhead, so we headed back to the car. Later that evening when John was giving her a bath, he said that she wanted to put her hands in the running water from the faucet, and would have played with her bucket and shovel much longer if he'd let her...too funny. She really is starting to remember things.

Life as a 1 year old...

Busy Girl...

Summertime in June

Spinning round & round in the backyard!! Elise just giggles and giggles when Daddy turns her around. We had fun with Ben & Toni this past week - they stayed with us after the rest of the family went home from TN. Toni & I had fun doing "girl-things" around Charlotte & Ben joined us after several days of hiking the Appalachian Trail. So much fun...it's great to have family relatively close (9 hrs to Philly) and to spend good time together, too.

Visit to TN Mountains

As I stated in my earlier post, we spent Father's Day weekend in the mountains of TN with John's family.
We got a great cabin with a pretty view & lots of space for everyone. Elise enjoyed playing with her cousin, Ethan & we were entertained watching them. We took a couple small hikes, and this group picture shows us at Laurel Falls. Elise loved splashing around in the cool mountain stream after a warm hike. On the way back, she fell asleep in the carrier, as did Ethan....they were too cute! We also drove through Cades
Cove & saw wild turkeys, lots of deer & one bear (I only saw it on pictures...and it was fuzzy at best). It was such a nice weekend away to spend with family. We ate very well & were able to relax a little too.

Happy Father's Day, John!

We celebrated Father's Day in the mountains of Tennesee outside Pigeon Forge with John's family. Each year when I've asked him what he'd like for his birthday, he would tell me a grill apron. Well, I finally made him one this year, not in time for his birthday, but thankfully Father's Day was right around the corner and gave me a little more time to put it together & gift it to him in June. We had a great weekend enjoying the beauty of the mountains and we did a little hiking as well.