Auntie Jacy is Here!

My baby sister Jacy arrived on July 30 and we are having a blast! It is now a tradition for Jacy to visit us all by herself during the summer for a week or so. This is the fourth summer that she has made the journey all by her lonesome. Now she is 17; I wonder how much longer she will be interested in spending part of her summer with a couple of old married folks and her little niece?:

Auntie Jacy has arrived!

Kate, Mike and Milly joined us for pool fun and dinner on

Saturday; Milly LOVES the water!

Emmeline prefers to stay out of the water.  She likes

to take water out of the pool and pour it into cups

and bowls.  I hope she grows out of her fear of water

soon.  She won't even let us wash her hair in the tub.

Jacy feeds Milly a bottle.  I can't believe how long it

has been since anyone fed Emmmeline a bottle.  My, how

time flies...

Emmeline gets to feed Milly again.  Open wide!

Emmeline and her friend Elisa at Bellevue park on

Sunday.  Another fun night of free music!

Emmeline concentrates on Jacy's feet as Jacy explains

how to jump off a cement block.

Oh!  That was fun!

Swinging like a monkey on the top of the slide as

daddy anxiously polices the situation from behind.

Choo-choo, cha buggy!  Maybe Central High's yearbook could

use another picture or two?  This would be a good one...

Emmeline saw this stone wall and said: Humpty

Dumpty sat on the wall?!

Emmeline Louise and Jacy Kaitlyn

Us girls

This morning: eating a peach in pigtails.  The pigtails lasted

about ten more minutes.  I can't even describe how cute

Emmeline is in pigtails, barrettes and clips but you will

hardly ever see pictures of her in them.  She gets pretty

frustrated with them and I get equally frustrated as she pulls

them out.  Her bangs then hang over her eyes and I want to

scream!  Arg!

Playing in the sand at Rehoboth Beach this afternoon.

Notice the Dora Band-Aids on her knees, compliments

of tripping yesterday during our walk.  She is such a little

tomboy!  Scruffy, scrappy, and no patience for fluff! And, no,

she did not get in the ocean. Not even close.

Auntie Jacy and Emmy Lou; so happy to be together!

Yummy little toddler.

Diggin' with daddy.

Working hard.

Ice cream!

Pure contentment.

Another annual tradition: burying Jacy in the sand.

Emmeline was very worried about poor Jacy under

all that sand.

But was reassured as Jacy continued to smile throughout

the burying process.  (If you can't tell, this is one of Paul's

favorite traditions, too!)

Kiss, kiss!

Berry Fun Adventure

This sunny, hot afternoon we ventured to Milburn Orchards  in Maryland with a few friends. We picked blackberries and raspberries, got up close and personal with the barnyard animals, and sampled other fresh fruit and ice cream.  We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back.  The fall harvest and activities are supposed to be spectacular:

Paul used to pick raspberries with his grandparents

near Grygla, MN when he was a little boy and had

fun passing on his berry-picking expertise to

his daughter.

Ah! What a gem!

Here's another good one!

Haley and Emmeline were berry-pickin' experts in

no time at all.

Though we kept telling Emmeline to wait to eat the berries

until we got them washed, she absolutely could not wait.

This looks good enough to eat!

I had better test one, just to make sure...

Oh, yes!  That's yummy!

Our blackberry haul.

When all the red is gone from the berry, it is perfect

to pick and eat.  The red means it is under-ripe

and will taste bitter.

After picking berries, we introduced ourselves to

some barnyard animals.  Here the girls are discovering

a donkey.

A cute vid proving that Emmeline knows what

a goat says!

The goats hoped we had some food for them.

Sweet little babies.

A couple of turkeys discovering a turkey.

Yum! Nothing better than a fresh peach...

...except for maybe watching a toddler eat one. 

On to the ice cream!

Emmeline was REALLY excited about the ice cream.

"So I says to Mabel, I says..."

There's that look of Paul's again.

The orchard has toddler-sized wooden vehicles scattered

throughout. Here the girls take a ride in a school bus.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round!"

"Don't make me come back there!"

We had a berry wonderful time!

Summer Days

Over the past several weeks, our family has been able to spend more time together.  I had the week after the fourth off, and was able to get in some much needed Daddy, Daughter time.  Emmeline and I were able to play in the park, visit some friends, and just hang-out together, I had a blast.  I was able to have Emmeline to myself because Allison has been busy writing her dissertation.  She has made considerable progress, but it is a bit like running a marathon; it takes some time.  Since then Allison and I have been busy watching some of Emmeline's friends while their parents have celebrated anniversaries or gone to see the new Harry Potter (Which we will see on Tuesday).  We also celebrated Elisa's birthday yesterday.    The video below was from Thursday when we watched Milly while Kate and Mike celebrated their anniversary. 

On the flip side we have also started to experience some of what is often referred to as the "Terrible Twos".  Emmeline is becoming more possessive of her things and wanting to lay claim to other friends toys or snacks.  We have seen this activities most often when friends come to our house.  It seems that territory brings the behavior out most of all.  When she is at someone else's house or in a public place then she is her usual sweet self.  She is more willing to take turns, share, and just enjoy being with her friends.

Emmeline loves being active.  At least once a day she needs to get out and experience life.  When we were together for my week off we made frequent trips to the park.  We read stories and listened to music.  We would go on walks around the neighborhood or go for a run in the baby jogger.  This week on Thursday both Allison and I took Emmeline in the baby jogger for about three miles each.  It is amazing that she will sit in the jogger for long stretches at a time when we can't really get her to sit in a regular stroller.  When the two of us went running it was quite refreshing to have her along.  She sang songs, pointed out birds and trees, and encouraged me along the way "Good job running, Daddy".  I think that I ran the whole time with a smile on my face which is saying something when you run with the baby jogger.  She also still loves to dance.  "Daddy dance with me"  which means that she wants me to hold her and dance together.  Below is a video I took when I had my time off.  She is dancing with a picture of her second cousin Caeden:

     

Here are some of the fun summer activities that we have been doing together.

Homemade popsicles "Kinda Sweet"

  

Swimming on our deck, as you can see she really loves getting in the pool

Sharing her popsicle with Mommy, how sweet.

Open wide!  You too Milly

Feeding her friend, baby Milly (She had so much fun)!

Sitting with her friend Haley at Elisa's birthday party.  

Emmeline is eyeing the cake.  (Sweet Treat Bandit strikes again)

Daddy's First Post: Fourth of July Camping

This weekend marked another year for our country.  In our little world it marked Emmeline's first camping trip.  We went to Killen's Pond State Park in southern Delaware.  It is about 10 miles south of Dover.  Emmeline was excited the entire week leading up to camping and she had no idea what we were about to set out to do.  She often said "Go camping with Nathan" or "Go camping with Grandma and Grandpa, and Odie".  By the end of the week we were able to convince her that we were going camping just the three of us, "Emmeline go camping self and mommy and daddy come with."  We arrived at the campground on Friday around noon had lunch and then checked into the site.  We set up the tent and unloaded the car, it was a primitive site so we made several trips to the car.  After nap time it was time for Emmeline to head to the water park.  I was a bit jealous that I never went to a campground with a water park before, "In my day, we didn't have water parks.  We just splashed in puddles and called it swimming."  Boy am I getting old!  

Emmeline had a great time at the water park, but not for the swimming.  She got into the water about up to her knees and that was it for her.  Her real enjoyment came from people watching. She could not get enough of watching everyone else playing and splashing.  She watched people like Grandma Kresel watched the Tuppas. 

We had the Fourth of July, swimming, fires, bugs, sleeping bags and the like, but my favorite parts of the trip involved some first time treats.  Emmeline had her first taste of my favorite, shaved ice, on the steps of some government building.  She kept calling it ice cream, but thats okay with me.  The other first is a Grandpa Danny favorite, crackers and milk.  It reminded me alot of growing up and having that as a bedtime snack.  She had so much fun dipping the cracker into the milk and I had so much fun watching her.  

Overall, camping was a great success and we are all looking forward to doing it again in August with Grandma Jeanne, Grandpa Kim, Auntie Jacy, and Odie.  Hopefully, others will be able to join in the fun.  

Emmeline helping to make Oatmeal Cookies

for camping

Having a bit to eat before checking in, we arrived too early!   

Check out the new camping chair, Oh yea and the kids pretty

cute too.

At the water park, look at all the people

Yogurt and strawberries a staple of a good breakfast,

at least in Emmeline's life

Yogurt day two, still waking up.

Yummy, crackers and milk

I really enjoyed that snack, I think I will save some for later.

Walking a stone labyrinth in a church courtyard.

Grape shaved ice, it was a hit!  Both for Daddy and Baby.