Ocean Park

Yay!  We got our annual passes to Ocean Park renewed now that Elise is old enough to start enjoying it.  We weren't able to stay very long this past Saturday, but the kids still had fun.  It was Elise's first time riding a carousel (or anything else, for that matter), and Finley rode the Frog Hopper by himself for the first time!  Next time we'll have to be sure to take the kids to see some of the animals.

And a little video of the Frog Hopper:

1 Year Stats, Video, Etc.

Okay, I promise this is (probably) Elise's last birthday post.  Click here for Elise's birthday video.  And here are a few more photos of her opening up a gift, and more importantly, experiencing the wonder of tissue paper for the first time.

"Hmm...what's this?  It's for me?"

"Don't mind if I do..."

"I think I like it!"

"Let me just investigate it a little further."

"I love it!  It's amazing!"  

(And then she started shrieking and shaking the tissue paper all over the place!)

Here is 1 year old info about Elise:

• Has 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom).
• Is 77.2 cm long (85%) and weighs 9.14 kg (55%).
• Mostly wears 12 month size clothing and size medium diapers.
• Knows a handful of words-- more, dog, apple (what she calls all food), star (she points up and says it), etc.-- but doesn't yet call us mama or dada.
• Walks all over the place now and climbs on everything.  She can climb up on the couch, chair, and Finley's bed all by herself!
• Loves to walk up and down stairs (with help).
• Puts herself to sleep and sleeps through the night, but wakes up about an hour earlier than Mommy and Daddy would prefer!
• Takes 2 naps per day.
• Can't tolerate cow's milk yet, but at least I can have a moderate amount now and it doesn't bother her too much. 
• Some favorite foods are: steel cut oats, peas, corn, grapes, mango, pomelo, baked sweet potato fries, garlic broccoli, and pasta.
• Very feisty!  Don't even try to take away something she's holding!
• Loves to find shoes and clothes around the house and try them on.

Elise's 1st Birthday!

Wow, we can't believe our sweet baby Elise is one!  She's already so beautiful, inside and out.  

We had fun playing with balloons at home on E's birthday.  (She is very possessive about her balloons.)  Is this not the cutest dress ever?  Aunt Jessica and Uncle Brett sent it to us.

Nate was so sweet to get me flowers in honor of what my poor body went through a year ago!  And these are some cards we loved receiving in the mail from family back home.

We celebrated with a ladybug-themed birthday brunch on the weekend with friends.  Elise had her own little (healthier) smash cake.  She enjoyed sticking her fingers in it, but didn't really eat any.

My attempt at making a ladybug on top of the cake out of raspberries and blueberries.

And I made an "Elise is 1" poster out of photos from Elise's first year.

Finley being silly and Elise trying to grab my earring.

It's not a 1st birthday party until the birthday baby cries.  Here are the kids with our wonderful helper, Cathrina.

And this is Elise's birthday present, a toy kitchen!  We combined money from a couple of family members plus ourselves to buy this gift that we think the kids will love for years to come.  And let me tell you, they play with it every day, despite the fact that we haven't even bought any toy food yet!

We love our little Elise and are so happy she joined our family a year ago!  We look forward to seeing what the next year brings for her.

Happy 1st birthday, Elise!

Fall Holiday in Phuket

We had a wonderful time in Phuket, Thailand this past week!  Lots of great family time, mostly revolving around playing at the pools and eating yummy Thai food.

At the airport, watching airplanes.

They had Krispy Kreme at the Bangkok airport!  It didn't taste exactly the same, but it still hit the spot.  We bought a dozen and took them to Phuket with us.

The resort had kids (and teens and adults) activities.  Finley got his face painted...

And went fishing for the first time!  He caught this fish with Daddy...

And this one with Mommy...

While Elise played with flowers (i.e. pulled all the petals off).

The kids enjoyed dancing to live music.

We also got to watch a fire dance. 

Finley, Daddy, and Mommy went for bike rides while Elise napped.

But we spent most of our time in the pools!  We had some tired kids at the end of each day!  I don't think they've ever slept so well.  :)

Finley loved the slide!

Elise loved climbing the stairs around the pool.

Mommy and Daddy were happy to get to go out to a couple of dinner dates after the kids were in bed.  This was at a local Thai restaurant where we had an amazing final dinner-- green papaya salad, crab and corn cakes, green curry, and cashew chicken.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Packed and ready to go home.

Finley is so fascinated with our suitcases.

At the Bangkok airport, ready for the last leg of our trip.

We had such a lovely time in Phuket!