Another Budding Artist

It's certainly a scene she is used to viewing: Ella involved in some art project. This week Delia picked up the crayons and started coloring too!

VM Men's Road Trip 2008

Yesterday's pictures were just to preview an evening with the nephews. However, the heart of the trip was in traveling to Washington D.C. and road tripping back to Chicago with my Dad and brother. As the pictures show, we did a quick walking tour of D.C. monuments, a visit to the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields, and had the chance to see the Mighty Cubs win a great game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Here are some of the better pictures from those events.

Some shots from the WW II memorial.

A quote from the WWII memorial, with the Lincoln memorial in the background.
As you can see we had great weather for the whole week.

Dad by the "Sunken Road" in Antietam

Burnside's Bridge at Antietam

Dave with Gen. Longstreet at Gettysburg

On top of "Little Round Top"

Monument to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Ready to go to the Cubs Game.

Dave and Family

If you have written an e-mail to us over the last few days, you know that "Dave is on vacation this week." Well, I (Dave) have been spending a great time helping my brother move from Washington D.C. and hanging out with the family- especially the opportunity to play with my boys and meet my new nephew. Here are just a few teaser pictures of a visit we made to the park this evening.

Here are all of Dave's nephews for the first time together with Uncle Dave.

All we are missing is matching outfits.

While I have been having a blast with the extended family, I can't wait to get back to see my girls tomorrow. Love you all!

Tea for Two

Oh how I love watching my girls play together!

A Trade of Roomies

Dave is on vacation this week. He went to Chicago to meet new nephew Cole and help Dad move Kyle from DC back to Chicago. As is becoming the custom, when Dave leaves we hit the road too. Since my usual roomie is livin' it up on a Civil War road trip with the guys of his family, I decided to road trip down to Fresno to visit my college roomie, Dorina. Dorina extended her typical generous hospitality to us-- making amazing meals, planning outings, sharing her pool and letting us take up 3 whole bedrooms of her home! Ella and Meilani are good buddies and had tons of fun playing together. I realized that my friendship with Dorina has shifted over the years. In college we'd stay up late just having deep conversations or we'd do crazy things (like dance around in strange outfits) for laughs. Now we rely on the kids for our laughs and entertainment. This weekend, the best quality time with my friend was spent watching, playing with and laughing over our daughters. Also special, was the opportunity to just "do life" together-- eat breakfast in our jammies, fall asleep on the couch watching Olympics, roll wontons for dinner's soup, balance washing dishes with keeping kiddos content.

On Saturday, Dorina took us to Storybook Land. This was a great park where the kids could wander through fairy tale scenes and "unlock" a narrator that told them the story as they played on the set and with the characters. We especially liked the train ride and splash park portion of this outing!

On Sunday, Dorina and Ericlee took us to their church. We are so committed to being present at our church's services, that it is a rare treat to visit a new and different church. Dorina's warning that her church would feel like a rock concert compared to what we're used to was right on! Though different, I appreciated the passionate worship and impressive children's ministries.

When we weren't feasting or trying (unsuccessfully) to get the kids to sleep, we were chilling in the pool-- for real, it was 103 degrees and the pool was wonderful relief! Ella's pool bravery peaked as she jumped off the side, by herself, and bobbed around the deep end, by herself, and even put her head under and intentionally swam toward things. She and Meilani were putting on quite the show doing synchronized diving and their best Michael Phelps impersonations!

For Daddy

Dave was so disappointed that he missed Ella's big show of bravery in the pool this weekend. It is he that she has been taking baby steps (strokes?) with in the water this whole summer. I told him I'd put some pictures and video of this bold little fishy on the blog, so he can experience it in his hotel in Gettysburg.

A Conversation with Ella about School

If you are wondering how Ella's first week of school went, the answer is great! We think. Ella is pretty good at answering our questions, but there is still much about her preschool experience we don't know (and that is fine). It's strange that I am surrendering my daughter for three and half hours each of these days and I don't know every detail!

To satisfy your curiosity (Grandma!), I will write out a combination of conversations we've had with Ella about Tuesday and this morning so you can get an idea of how she is doing.

Us: How was school?
Ella: Good.

Us: Do you like your teachers?
Ella: Yes.

Us: Did you have fun?
Ella: Yes.

Us: What friends do you play with?
Ella: Olivia

Us: What did you eat for snack?
Ella: Pretzels, circles and bears.

Us: Did you make a craft?
Ella: Yes, I cut with a scissors and I paint paper. When I paint, there was a star!

Us: What did you learn?
Ella: I learned about Jesus.

Us: What did you learn about Jesus?
Ella: Jesus made cows that moo, birds, rainbows, dirt and bugs.

Us: Did you sing songs?
Ella: Yes. I sing the "Preschool is a happy place, happy place, happy place. Preschool is a happy place. I like going to my school!" song.

Us: Did you go potty?
Ella: Yes. We all take a turn, but they don't leave us alone.

Us: Did you talk about your Share Bag? (Each day they bring some item for show-and-tell. On Tuesday she brought Turbo, her cat from Auntie Heather)
Ella: No, I didn't want a kid to touch him or him to get holes. He just stayed in my bag.

Us: What is your favorite thing about school?
Ella: Playing outside in the park.

So there you have it. You now know as much about Ella's take on preschool as we do. She does seem to love it!

Family Visit Wrap-Up

Tonight my house is quiet and empty of guests. The departure of Anna and Heather has saddened all of us, but we are so thankful for the time we got to spend together. We did do a number of fun outings, but many of the good times happened right at home (or close to it). Here are a few memories from my family's mini-reunion.

Anna flew out last night and today was Heather's last day. We spent it showing her a big California dairy and cooling off in a friend's pool.

Each night without fail, we watched the Olympics until half of us were asleep and had to be dragged off the couch (Heather and me). Why Anna's animated style of viewing the games didn't keep us more awake, I don't know. She may be Michael Phelps' #1 fan; here she cheers him on for his historic 8th gold medal.

We celebrated both Anna and Heather's summer birthdays with cake and presents. I gave my girls a morning of pedicures (a gift for me too!)

Oh how my girls *loved* having their Aunties here!

Ella's First Day of School

It does not seem that long ago that Dave and Ella came down the path like this... (This was the day we brought her home from the hospital.)

Today Dave and Ella walked down that same path like this...

It was Ella's FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL! She is beyond excited. I know she is totally going to thrive in this environment, so while I will miss her on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I am excited for her too.

Anna's First Sequoia!

Anna has been in California as long as we have and when we heard she'd never seen a Giant Sequoia, we immediately planned a trip to Big Trees State Park. And even though the rest of us have hiked this path many many times, we were still awed by the awesome trees and fresh pine smell in the air.

This is a tree that has fallen. It is hollow, so you can walk through it. It is so huge, that you can even stand to your full height inside! (Here we are peeking out "the window")


We also went down to the river and dipped our toes in the freezing water.

City Girls

Anna arrived safely on Friday night and we've been having such a fun family mini-reunion! Yesterday us big girls hopped on the BART and headed to San Fransisco for a day of shopping. Dave kept the little girls at home, so we had a whole day of freedom! We enjoyed strolling around the downtown streets, chatting, eating delicious salads for lunch, browsing the overwhelmingly giant stores and sipping some Starbucks.

California State Fair II

Last year Dan, Heather, Dave and I stumbled on such a great find we just had to participate once again this summer: The California State Fair! Perhaps we are starting a tradition. If you have an excellent memory (or check out this link) you'll see that our pictures from last year very closely resemble our pictures from this year, with a few subtle changes and the fact that we all look one year older!

Last year Delia was a newborn infant sleeping the entire experience away. This year she was a mobile toddler, though more timid and clingy that I expected her to be--especially around the animals.

This year we tried a few new things in the kids' farm pavilion. Ella got her "Horse Drivers License" by walking Pez the Pony around a short path on his harness. Delia made butter by shake-shake-shaking a little container of cream.

Last year Ella milked a cow, this year she tried a goat.

We loved petting these sturgeon last year too. This year we giggled and squealed as each of us chickened out on grabbing a craw fish. Their pinchers were huge and ready! Ella told Uncle Dan on the phone, "We tried to touch the little lobsters, but they were too pinchy!"

Last year we loved seeing the baby piglets in the animal nursery. We did love that again this year too, but these 3 hour old lambs may have topped them on the oooh and aaah scale.

Last year I could not indulge in this amazingly refreshing adult treat. This year I happily sipped my strawberry while zinfandel slushie in the wine bar oasis.

And like last year we ended the day with a tram ride around the grounds. This year Ella narrated what we were seeing (she was especially empathic about the ride midway) while Delia just chilled in my lap.