A Sweet Ending

I must say that it has been a very sad and lonely past two days at our house. Poor little Ella is stuck with me and only me for most of the day. We both got spoiled this past week with Mark’s parents around. Ella had constant playmates and I had excellent conversation and extra hands to help with dinner prep and clean up, among other random things—a huge help.

Filled with laughter, the second half of our visit proved even more wonderful than the beginning. Carmella learned that making certain faces and sounds got everyone excited so she kept it up until we all became exhausted from laughing. What a little monkey.

Here's our silly girl…

I for one don’t know what she is going to do without her Grandpa V. riding in the back seat with her making faces and playing with her. She must be so bored now that she has to sit back there all by herself. We visited the zoo and Ella got to ride the carousal for the first time. You can’t really see, but she is sitting on a panda bear. She liked it for about two times around, then wanted to be in my arms until the ride stopped. Ella started cruising like crazy while her grandma and grandpa were here. She wanted to be walking with her little push toy all the time. If anyone tried to stop her she protested. In this video she is a bit stuck, but very persistent.

Thank you Mom & Dad V. for a lovely time. We all miss you.

A Grand Visit to be Sure

Glorious first moments! We got home Thursday afternoon from our trip to California and Saturday morning Mark’s folks flew in from Boston to visit us for a week. Carmella wasn’t too sure about these new faces for a while, but she got over her shyness and began to show her silly side pretty quick.

The first day we went to the park, the glowing grandparents’ faces tell the story for you.

Yesterday we tried out Carmella’s new baby pool. Grandma got in with her and they splashed around for a while. Isn’t Ella’s hat stylish? I think she could start a fad.
Sunday was yet another fun day for us all. Ella gives out kisses now—well, mostly to her stuffed dog that her Great Aunt Dona gave her—but every once and a while mommy and daddy get lucky to receive a kiss from her too. In these photos you can see her standing at the sliding doors trying to give us kisses through the glass. Too adorable for words!

San Diego

Mark, Carmella and I all hopped on a plane last Sunday morning to accompany Mark on a business trip. His company was making a big joint venture announcement and it was a massive excuse to see some special relatives.

We arrived in sunny San Diego, checked into our hotel, and then headed up the coast to visit with Mark’s Aunt Dona. It was so sweet to see Carmella interact with her Great Aunt. We had a delicious dinner together, chatted up a storm, and drove back down to San Diego for a much needed night’s rest.

The next morning Mark went downstairs to attend the conference and Carmella and I got back in the car to spend some time with my sister and her family. Mark knew he would be booked from morning to late night so he placed his blessing on our little trip—glad that we would have company while he was working.

We had so much fun at Laurel’s house. Ella got to visit with her cousins and meet Sheena! A very nice, but large German Sheppard. Ella wasn’t intimidated at all… Eyes, teeth, nose...she explored them all.

She tried so hard to play with all of Luke’s toys, but he really didn’t want a pesky little girl climbing on his things, so he did his best to keep everything away from her. But Ella can be quite sneaky. She managed to get a few giggles out of it. Plus, I guess it was only fair since she pretty much yanked away any toy Leah was interested in and played with it herself.

On the second day of our visit, we went to Disney’s Boardwalk and ate at Goofy’s Kitchen. Ella got to meet some characters for the first time. She got so excited any time a character walked by. Oh, oh, oh…
On Wednesday, Laurel and Lars came to San Diego. That evening we all went out to dinner at The Beach House. We sat outside and admired the ocean, dolphins and surfers. It was perfect! Afterwards we took a little walk on the beach. Ella got to dip her feet in the Pacific Ocean for the very first time.

She didn’t like it so much.

Carmella and Leah in their matching Minnie Mouse onsies we picked up the day before.

What a fabulous trip. See you in Chicago next time!!