For the Grandparents

A Very Fine Trip

This past weekend we loaded up the Jeep and headed down to VA for a great weekend with friends and even a couple relatives.  Thursday night we stayed in H'burg with Jeannette and Brant, and their adorable 8 week old baby girl, Meredith.  On Friday, we walked around JMU with Becky, Andy, Nathaniel and Carrie.  The kids had fun climbing on the "kissing rock", running down the sidewalks and climbing up the steps to our freshman dorm.

On the way to Ch'ville, we met up with cousin Mark and his fiance Erin for lunch in Waynesboro.  It was great to catch up with them and we were glad they got a chance to meet Olivia for the first time.

At The Purple Foot with Mark and Erin

On Saturday, we got together at Becky's parents house with 5 out of 7 of the girls that lived in "The Very Fine House" and our families.  Becky's parents have just about the best place imaginable for a get-together with families with kids.  They used to have a preschool in their basement, but they recently closed the school.  They still have tons of toys, an indoor slide and jungle gym, and a large playground in the shaded back yard.

Olivia chatted about the toys and the house and all the fun people on the way home.  By around 5:00 she was getting really sick of being in the car.  (At least, these were the kinds of things she kept telling us:  "Stuck!" "Help!" "Out!" "Get down, walk!)  So, we stopped at Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA.

Olivia loved the world's greatest miniature village!  She especially loved pushing the buttons to make the elevators go down to the mine, or work the circus parade, trolley car, etc.  She's still talking about all the things she saw, even details about the logs and the miniature cows.

We then ate at the Blue Mountain Family Restaurant where we discovered that Olivia loves French Onion soup!  Guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!   What better way to end our busy weekend than with a delicious bowl of soup.  We had a great trip!

Crying

Olivia has just started a new habit that has Kyle and me shaking our heads and chuckling to each other, even though it is also kinda sad.  When she is feeling upset, but not all that extremely upset, she barely cries but accompanies her tears with a whimpery voice saying, "Crying...crying..."  It's like she wants to make sure that in case we haven't noticed, she is crying.  

She has also started saying, "Matter."  She often says this in combination with the whimpering cry when she wants us to ask her what is the matter.  So, for example, today she wanted a magnet high up on the fridge.  She said, "Magnet." "Please."  When we didn't respond right away she said, "Crying."  "Matter?" "Reach."  There were hardly any actual tears.  Kyle gave her the magnet with the picture of a little World Vision girl, and she was very happy.  

I usually hear some crying when I first put Olivia in her crib at night.  Tonight, she was quietly sobbing and saying, "Crying. Crying." until she settled herself into bed.  Then she chatted about some of her favorite things and people until she fell asleep.    

Bangs are Back

Today I finally decided to give Olivia her first hair cut.  I had been trying to let her grow her bangs out, but she kept yanking out the cute bows and hair clips.  So I pulled out the scissors and daddy let her play with his wallet while I cut her bangs.  They came out a little crooked (inevitably), but at least her hair is out of her eyes and the battle of the barrettes has come to an end...for now.  Here are some after pics of her relaxing with some books.

    

Family Fun!

Nanny, Bop, Craig, Chris, Lily and Caleb all came up to Cape May to visit for the week.  We couldn't stay for the whole week (work sure gets in the way of our personal lives) but we did get to visit them for two fun-filled 3-day weekends!  Livy had a great time playing with her cousins.  Oh, and Clarksons and Schimmings were there the first weekend, and Livy, of course, had a great time with them too!   So many fun people to hang out with!  I didn't get any pics of "Team Clarkson", so we'll have to be sure to get some when we go up to Rockport in a few weeks!)  Here are some pics that I did get:

                                        

Lily has some great babysitting skills

                                        

Cute Cousin Caleb

Livy and Lily

Here are some of my better photos for Bop to critique:  

A study of line and form

A study of perspective

A study of light and shade

On Sunday, while dad and Kyle were driving Nanny and Bop to Philly (long story for someone else to tell), mom and I took Livy to the zoo.  One of her favorite toys happens to be a little cheetah that I had in a box of speech therapy toys (you can see the cheetah on the floor behind Olivia in the top picture.)  She knows a lot of zoo animals now, but cheetah was one of the first ones she learned to say.  So, I was excited to show Livy two real cheetahs at the zoo.  Funny though, Olivia just looked at them and said "walking" and "lick".  She didn't seem all that impressed with seeing them for the first time, but just wanted to chat about what they were up to.  Some other zoo highlights were two baby snow leopards with their mama, giraffes and, of course, the carousel.

Livy was saying, "Wee, wee!!!", "up, down" and pointing out all of the animals around her on the carousel: "Zebra. Panda. Birdy."  As soon as the ride was over, she looked at me and asked, "Ride again?"  She was not happy when I told her it was time to leave (read: pitched a small fit).  Back at Grandma and Grandpa's, though, she had plenty more fun with Grandpa picking grapes for her from his vineyard.