SEATTLE!! Part 1

Home, sweet home! It was great to go home after almost a year away (the last time I was home was for my baby shower last August). It was great seeing family and friends and picking up where we left off.

This was a very special visit because it was Esme's first post-womb visit to my home state. We saw a lot of people and did a lot of things but I tried hard not to make it too manic- I wanted people to enjoy their limited time with our special little girl!

If you go through the first few bits of this blog wonder where Grandma Julie is, know that we weren't able to see Grandma Julie for the first few days because she was on antibiotics and needed to be completely healthy so she wouldn't infect Ez. She was sad about this but wanted the best for Ez. Boy was she chomping at the bit by Sunday (the end of day three of her antibiotics)!

Here is a brief summary of our visit...

Meeting Grandpa John, Grandma Gale and Aunt Peggy for the first time

We stopped by the day after arrival for a quick visit. We were surprised to catch Auntie Peggy as she was leaving so she got to meet little Ez too!

Grandma and Grandpa were smitten with Ez (as expected). We hung out for an hour or two and returned the next say for an immediate family BBQ (more on that later).

Ez and Grandpa John


Ez and Grandma Gale


With Grandma and Grandpa


Meeting Aunt Peggy (cheeky little girl!)


Ez though My Dad and Gale's dog, Cadence, was a riot! She was laughing at Cadence and their other dog Daisy-too funny!


Here is a video of her reaction to Cadence and Daisy



Next stop was Great Grandpa Wil and Great Grandma Mardine's house! GG Wil had met Ez before but GG Mardine hadn't! She was extremely excited and thought Esme was a doll. Ez also met her first cousin, once removed "TJ," his fiance Jenice and Jenice's son Joey.

Here is a pic of GG Mardine, Joey and Ez


That night, we had a BBQ over at Dave and Vicki's. They were really excited to meet their first female granddaughter (they have three grandsons) and Ez got to meet Aunt Heidi, Uncle Robbie and cousins Zachary, Ashton and Logan! Ez even went for a cruise on a golf cart, played and with Bugsy the Rottweiler.

Ez loves dogs of all sizes. Bugsy is a complete lover and I am more comfortable with him around Ez than I was with my dad's three pound Yorkie. Bugsy loves all of his babies and watches over them like a hawk. Here are some of my fav pics of Esme and Bugs.







Ez and Granny Vick on the golf cart


The next morning we had breakfast with God Mama Tiff and Cassie in Seattle. It was a brilliant breakfast at a lovely place with fab food called Roxy's in Fremont. Tiff couldn't wait to get her hands on little Miss Esme.



Tiff gave Esme a spoon to play with for the first time and now it is a necessity at restaurants! She loves shiny things.


Sunday afternoon we had a BBQ at Grandpa John's and Grandma Gale's. At this BBQ Ez got to meet Aunt Rosa, Aunt Christine and Uncle Matt and Cousin Chloe.

It was fun to see Ez and Chloe try to interact and what a big difference three months makes!

Ez had a blast playing in the paddling pool too!


She even tried to stand up for the first time when she was in it!


Ez and Grandpa John


Me and my little niece Chloe


Chloe and her Mama


A Chloe smile


The size difference between the girls is incredible! Chloe is a tall girl but long and lean like her mama.

4th of July in Washington DC

We were fortunate enough to be invited to Washington, DC for the 4th of July and we jumped at the chance. The DC bell ringers wanted Stephen to participate in a peal attempt on the nation's birthday and even offered us a place to stay! The best part of the offer was that we would be able to watch the firework display (arguably one of the best in the country) from the top of the Washington, DC Cathedral!

We stayed with a DC ringer named Cecily and her family. We have stayed with them once before and thoroughly enjoyed it. They were very hospitable hosts!

The morning of the 4th we attempted to go to Arlington National Cemetery. We weren't able to make it there on our previous trip so I was really looking forward to it! Unfortunately, the park was closed off and we had to go with plan B! We actually ended up at the pentagon trying to find an open entrance to the cemetery....ooops!

Plan B was to spend the day at the National Zoo. It is a fabulous zoo but it was blisteringly hot and that made it hard to enjoy. I don't think I have ever seen a sweatier baby and I was worried about her getting dehydrated the entire day. We packed it in after a few hours and sought refuge at our host's home!





Sweaty baby in her festive 4th of July outfit!


Sweaty baby needed water and Air conditioning!


After an hour or two of rest it was time to head out to the Bell Ringer's BBQ. It was held in one of the courtyards at the cathedral and there was a ton of great food and drink! Esme was the bell of the ball- people couldn't get enough of her!





You can really see how hot it was in this picture! Poor sweaty girl! There is actually a great story behind this ballon. We went to the store to pick up something for the BBQ. While in line, the cashier of the next line started raving about Esme and her smile. Esme beams at pretty much everyone and is a very gregarious baby. The cashier was a small Asian woman and told us that in her culture a baby smiling at you is the best luck you can get. She stopped mid customer, rushed over to the balloons, purchased Ez a $4 balloon and then resumed her work! She said that Esme was her good luck charm! It was really cute.



The stunning cathedral




After the BBQ, we headed up the tower (which conveniently has elevators!) to watch a bit of ringing, followed by the fireworks. The fireworks were AMAZING! Esme loved watching them- we definitely had the best seats in all of DC!







Stephen Ringing (second from right)


Watching Daddy ring

Catching up on Summer days...

I'm not getting any better at updating this blog on a regular basis! As usual, the next few blogs will be catch up!

It has been a hot Summer in NJ/NY. We are lucky to have a pool at our apartments (perhaps the only remaining agreeable thing about the place!) and good friends to hang out with. Esme is an absolute water bug and can't get enough of the pool. Her best friend, Savvy, enjoys the water too!

Here are some pics of our days by the pool...





Ezzy's face in this picture is priceless!


Ez has a floaty that she can kick around in (with close supervision. of course!).




Savannah was knackered after hours of swimming!


And so was Ez...


We have also been spending some time at local parks. Sometimes it is far too hot to venture out in the sun but sometimes we get lucky and get to play on the swings! The girls LOVE the swings!





Lady bug bum


Action shot


And when we are not at the pool or at the park, we are funning errands together or just having play dates at one another's apartments. Savvy and Ez are pretty inseparable. Their mommies are too!





A costco run...