June in PA

We're back! Our time in Pennsylvania was marvelous. My sister and my mother both beat me to a blog post, but for the sake of repetition, here is our family’s summary of our time away:

We arrived in PA and stayed one night with my folks before heading to a beautiful lake house for a little R & R. The first photo looks fake, but I assure you it's not. The smiles are real too!!

[No, she did not get any beer. She's just helping her daddy.]

Later that week we headed back to my parents’ house to meet up with my two sisters and their families.

[Grandma and Grandpop with all four grandchildren. A very rare moment.]

On Saturday my Aunt and Uncle came over as well as my cousin Matt, his wife Heather and their crew. It was wonderful to see everyone and get the cousins together—a whole bunch of them—to play. Ella especially loved Robin’s attention and played nicely with everyone. We are so proud of her. She only tried to pick at Leah’s face a handful of times.

It was sad to have to leave, but our lives awaited us back home. So long PA vacation, we will miss you and all the love you brought to our lives although it was brief.

Just for Fun

A little fun with letters... I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I guess I never thought there would be enough O's.
You probably guessed by now--rainy day without much to do. You can only play peek-a-boo so many times.

Out and About

Friday and Monday were two fun-filled days for the Vig girls. On Friday Carmella and I went to the zoo to see the Fisher Price Little People show. Fisher Price celebrates its 50th this year and the zoo is host to many celebratory events all summer long. The Little People show just happens to be one of the first to kick off the season. Even though it was smack in the middle of Ella’s nap time, she stuck it out and even enjoyed it... as much as she could between eye rubs. We ended up leaving a bit early due to tiredness on both our parts. But we had fun while we were there.

This is Sonya Lee singing and dancing on stage.

Monday we went to the mall with a group of junior high girls and some of their moms to get a facial at Bare Escentuals. Young Hanna won a prize to have a facial party and her mother, Heidi, brought along a few of her friends as well. That’s how we ended up as part of the crew. After the facials, Heidi hosted a little cook out at her home for some of the ladies. It really was a blast. Poor Mark missed out on some good eats because he had to study for his finals this week.

Here are some shots of the makeovers…

[Hanna is on the right, one in from the end in blue. Ella absolutely loves Hanna and laughs at pretty much everything she does.]

[I look a bit tired, but Ella is cute as a button...as usual.]

[Dawn has four kids of her own, but it's been a while since she held a baby. They are both enjoying it.]

Random Thoughts

Extraordinary things can happen even during the quietest of days.

Walking to lunch with a friend today we passed an older couple walking two tiny white dogs. The woman was also pushing a baby carriage…with no child in it. I asked: “Is the carriage for the dogs?” The reply—with a smile: “Yes, actually it is.”

Now in this particular case, I smiled, chuckled to myself a bit, and then thought aloud… “My goodness, my dad needs to witness this.” A carriage for little “rat dogs”. I could almost hear his voice in my ear and several of his silly small dog jokes to accompany it. Love you Dad! And happy birthday!

With Ella fast asleep for a late afternoon nap, I decided to try to get some work done and settled in on the couch with my laptop. I got as far as opening the document when I heard a really loud BANG! Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark figure fall to the ground right outside our sliding doors. I jumped up and saw two birds on the ground. One hopped around flapping its wings and eventually flew off. The other lied lifeless on the ground. It gasped several times for air and then stiffened. Just like that…gone. Mark got a dust pan and broom, swept it up and moved it to the very back of our yard where no one ever goes. So sad.

Duck… Duck… …Moose!

Although Carmella has never been to Maine, her grandma and grandpa V. frequent Ogunquit. On one of their latest trips, they picked up a little sweat shirt for Carmella. "Duck… Duck… …Moose!" Since there was a chill in the air this morning, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to see if it fit. Sure enough…she is a beauty in bright blue.

As you can clearly see by her huge smile, she is happy as can be…gumming it proudly with no sign of teeth--just plenty of drool.

The case of the missing wallet

Carmella came to Home Depot with me today to buy a bag of lava rocks for the garden. She sits up in the cart now and absolutely loves her freedom to do so. It’s a much better vantage point for watching people, looking at the inventory and of course all of the plant life in the nursery. What a field trip for her! She had such a fantastic time laughing and smiling at the flowers, people and cashier.

After we checked out we walked to the car and I buckled Ella in. I put the rocks in the trunk, then opened my door and sat down in the driver’s seat. That’s when I noticed that I didn’t have my wallet. What could have happened to it in the three minutes it took to pay and walk to the car? I searched everywhere I could think. I looked inside the car, around Ella’s car seat, under the car in case it fell while I was placing my baby in her seat. It was nowhere to be found. So I unbuckled Ella and retraced my steps back into the garden center.

I asked the cashier if anyone happened to bring back a wallet in the past five minutes. “No. So sorry,” she said. So I went into the main store to see if anyone brought it to customer service. Again, the answer was no. A very nice sales clerk followed me back out to my car to help me look. By this time several people were in on the action. A woman holding hands with her two young children came to the car and started thinking up all the ways a mom loses stuff.

“Did you place it in the top folds of the stroller canopy?”

“No. I didn’t bring the stroller in with me.”

“Did you put it down in the diaper bag while you placed your baby in the car?”

“No. It’s not there either.”

“Is it inside the Home Depot bag?”

“No. It’s not there either.”

She started to walk away when I heard her excitedly shout: “Oh, I see it! It’s on the top of your car!”

Boy did I feel the fool. I looked in the car, around the car, under the car, but not on top of the car. What a relief! I often place my water bottle or coffee cup on top of the car while I am getting stuff loaded inside…but I didn’t even remember placing my wallet up there. Phew!

Needless to say, I waved a big thank you to the mom and gave the woman who came out to help a huge hug. Carmella must have been over excited as well because she fell fast asleep on the way home.