Venice continued...

Finally getting around to posting more of our pictures from our day in Venice.

Of course I had my fill of Caprese salad (ever my favorite!).  I think I had it at least three times during our whole trip....ummmummm.

We also found a little bakery that was serving up macaroons.  I've always seen them and heard about them, but I've never had them, so naturally I had to get some!  I'm glad to say they met my expectations.

Jason and I shared the above three macaroons...which means I ate two and he ate one.  My poor hubby ;)

We couldn't snap enough pictures of the waterways...they're just too pretty.  So here's some Venice eye candy for you...

Such a beautiful, beautiful sinking city...you must go!

I still need to blog about our last day in Italy, but it may be interrupted by a post of some fun farm animals...we'll just have to see which I decide to do first.  So come back, because, ya know, I like to keep things interesting around here ;)

Happy Birthday!

August 27- Today is my best friend's birthday!

I want the whole world to know how thankful I am that God brought you into this world 26 years ago. With you, I experience God's grace everyday. With you, I enjoy life more than I ever have. To raise our beautiful baby girl with you is an honor and a lot of fun. Thanks for making life good. I love you best friend and sweetheart. You are my only one! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

P.S.- Elise says that you are an awesome mama and wishes you a Happy Birthday too!

Eleven Months!

Interrupting our Venice pictures for some shots of our lil eleven month old cutie...

Eleven months...say what!?!?  How is it that next month our baby will be one year old?  Fastest. year. ever.

Early this a.m. we took Elise's eleven month photos.

Wow, it seems a whole lot happened over the past month.  The girl has really grown and learned lots of new skills.

Weight:  won't know for sure until our next appointment in Sept., but if I had to guess, she's gotta be a solid 20 pounds or more.

What's new:  TONS!  She can now blow kisses, wave really well, copy many facial expressions (like moving her tongue back and forth), point to my nose (but still not her own), she's climbing up on a lot of things and doesn't seem scared in the least, points at things in general, dances to all kinds of music, whines when she wants something (particularly food), and she's started squealing quite a bit.  She also knows quite well how to drink from a sippy cup and a regular cup (with help).

She's not yet walking on her own, but takes lots of guided steps with help :)

Also, this girl is still sporting her toothless grin (and oddly enough, I'm totally ok with that).  I love her gummy grin, though we keep expecting a bottom tooth where it seems there is a bud...any day now!

Food, oh food.  Let's be honest, this girl can put down the food.  She now pretty much eats what we eat...and seems to love most all of it.  She has a particular love for all fruit, eats meats well, and will eat veggies, though they're not her favorite.  But wow, I'm telling you, you would be impressed if you saw her eat...she's got it down pat!

Napping is still far from her favorite with two 40 minute naps being about all she can crank out.  She also is still a solid 5 am waker...she's consistent, this one.

Her personality shines more every day and she hardly meets a stranger.  She's still pretty attached to mama, but daddy makes her laugh like no other.

Happy ELEVEN months, big girl!  You're SUCH a blessing :)

We Got Our Vacation on: Venice Trip

I mentioned in the last post that we were able to hop a boat and spend a day in Venice during our vacation.

Our lil girl was a trooper for the day, and I have to say her dad was too.  Poor guy got his muscles worked out lifting her up and down all over the bridges of Venice (there are +/- 400 bridges in Venice...if that gives you any idea!).  I just told him it would make his already hot arms even hotter :)

The boat ride there took about thirty minutes.  Elise made friends with some elderly Italian ladies.  I love these below two shots for some reason...I think it has everything to do with the lighting.

All the old buildings are just so intricate and inspiring.  Wouldn't the windows below make really interesting stamps or designs for a project?

Of course we had to find the gondolas.  When I visited Venice some six years ago I thought it would be a neat experience to ride in one.  Well, it's not exactly a cheap experience, so it was pretty quickly vetoed back then.  However, my hubby insisted on a gondola ride for my birthday (which is next week)...so I said yes!  I still can't believe we did it (I get a little weak from sticker shock if I think about it too much!), but I'm pretty sure hubs was proud of himself for giving me what he called "a great birthday experience." ;)

Instead of holding hands and snuggling up while being toted through the water, Jas and I were pretty consumed with keeping that bundle of energy above from falling in!  (not quite how I imagined it six years ago, but I wouldn't change it for anything!!)

We did see some pretty gorgeous scenes.  This should be a watercolor painting...

Venice is definitely one beautiful, unique city.  Very thankful we got to visit.  I took quite a few pictures...more of those coming up next!

We Got Our Vacation On: Beach Days

We got our vacation on...

...and it was truly a much needed, relaxing, prayer-filled, great trip. We headed off to Italy to spend a few nights "Euro-campin'," which is basically a nice, but cheaper, way to camp on the Italian beaches.  First, however, we broke down the travel time into two parts.  We spent the night in Austria on the way down and continued our journey the next day.

The drive was gorgeous to say the least!

But we also spent a whole lot of time in tunnels since we were going through the Austrian and Italian Alps...

Ah, the beach, oh how I had missed it.

E got to spend some quality time with sand and sand toys... 

And on the topic of sand, let me just note a few things I learned from having a baby at the beach:

1)  Getting sand out of a baby bum is far from easy...challenging barely describes it (thank goodness for spray shower heads :)

2)  Another, possibly even more challenging feat is lathering the sunscreen on a moving target, aka baby.  Tough, I tell ya.

3)  Eating sand is totally normal.  This girl took clumps and chunked that in her mouth (could be because she loves to eat, but I think it's probably just the baby way on the sandy shores!)

Whew, but it was much fun and she sported that lil pink polka dotted suit like such a cutie :)

Below, one of my new favorite photos of my two favorite people...

Then Daddy Boy decided to build a sandcastle for E.  As you can tell she was less than thrilled with it (he'll have to work on his skills, it seems)

But she cheered up after awhile.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the beach and Elise was a total champ.  We were pretty impressed.  She even cried one time when we took her away from the ocean (that's my girl!!!)

Squished in between our beach days was a day trip to Venice.  Never fear, we'll be back with pics of that in no time ;)