The Beach!

Ahhh, The Beach.  Too many pictures here.  I actually thought Elliot was going to explode from excitement.  Living with Alex & Zoe for a week?!  Sleeping in Ami & Papa's room?! Alice and Sam and Harry just down the beach and in the pool?!  TV in the minvan?!  Poor thing was literally spinning for the first 2 days.  This was also good since it resulted in 3 hour naps from sheer exhaustion.  Check out Hello Harry & Two Little Tidbits for more cross-over pictures - since it seems my camera was always at the bottom of the bag when it was time for group photos.   Samantha was a trooper too - especially considering she is too young for chlorine, sunscreen and sun!  She held her own though with plenty of pterydactyl screams.  

Elliot on the path to collect shells.

Elliot contemplating Ned the Nice Crab in her Baywatch moment.

Our almost patented (thanks Isis) star-formation photo of the Heywood cousins.  Clockwise from Zoe:  Zoe, Samantha, Baby Alden, Alex, Elliot.

Salt water is not on the list of "Don'ts" for babies under 6 months.  Samantha was cool with it, until it touched her - cold!

Sam & Ellie lounging at the base of the dune stairs where mommy & daddy were cocktailing with cousins.  See Sammy J's hand in the sand?  Swiper pulled a fistfull and then dropped it on herself & Elliot.  

One of my rare photos of Elliot & Alice.  This is at "Alice's Beach House".  Oh yes, they were right on the water with this gorgeous deck.  See what you all were missing?  You can have it too if you come to the beach with us next year!

Elliot keeping watch from her perch in the sand.  Nena - is that your mom's towel you couldn't find?

Don't miss Sammy J in this picture.  She is the little hat in the Bumbo seat between Ben & me.  How about my Mrs. Roper swim cover?  I wore it all the time because I thought it justified cocktails.  I am sensing a theme here.

Owen, Zoe, Alex & Elliot on the whale Uncle Jamie built.  Below, Elliot says Bonjour to the Butterfly.

Above Ami & Elliot "surf".  Below, Samantha & Alden entertain each other with fascinating conversation.  Sammy is all, "why you interrupting with a picture, dad?"

Who can put a T-shirt on fastest gets a cookie --- oh, but you didn't know Auntie Sherie froze the shirts and you couldn't unfold them.  Alex won the contest.  And below he & Owen celebrated like raging bulls.  Oh parents, you must be so proud!

Ahh!  Our Ellie Isabelly's very first performance.  On Talent Show Night, Elliot rocked out to B-I-N-G-O thanks to the help of the singing crowd.  She was high on the applause afterward.  Below she is mid-dance getting the crowd involved while Daddy, the emcee, looks on.

Mrs. Roper and Sammy J again.  I just can't get over her in the Bumbo at the beach.  At least in this one you can kind of see her face.

Elliot really got into the waves after the 3rd day or so.  And then she was all about "Big One! Big One!"  Until a Big One splashed her face.   And got her swimsuit wet.  She does not like getting her swimsuit wet.

Samantha was more into the shade and the napping side of the beach.  We should all have beach towels that are approximately 4 times our height, like Samantha's (thanks Amy!).

Elliot and Lily had lizard tatoos on their arms.  These girls are serious observers.  And when you get 2 serious observer 2-3 year olds together, you get some pretty funny stare-offs. And of the 10 photos, this is the most excitement captured - though both girls continued to talk about their tats for the rest of the week.  Where did we leave our extra tattoos???

Crab Night!!  The highlight of many a beach night.  So many hammers, so little napkins.  So much thanks to the Cheevers, Bishops, Kresinas, Vandergrifts ... 

Alice needs a hammer above, Lach is not so sure. Below, Oscar the wiener dog is hoping Rob & Harry are not so careful.  

If you see the pic below up close, you will laugh like me.  It sums up my nuclear family.  Ben, mid-bite of some luscious crab he was supposed to be picking for me.  Elliot swinging a hammer saying "Elliot do it SELF!"  And Sammy J on the floor in the back ground wondering when we will remember to give her some more solid food.  (We finally remembered.  When we got home from the beach). 


Packing up to go home.  31 hours to get home - but that includes a semi-planned overnight in Philly and a delightful lunch stop in NYC Central Park!  Thanks to the Harris' for hosting our flighty selves!!    

So, next year - who's coming to the beach with us??

Auntie Kassi's Last Weekend

See how happy and carefree we are in Boston's Public Garden? Well its because Kassi was here. Lived with us all of June. Probably could not get back to Chicago fast enough once her stint of early wake up calls was up. On her last weekend here, we went out to ride the Swan boats again - mostly to kill time between the 5AM wake up and our latest nanny interview. We had fun. Kassi Sam & Elliot made way for ducklings too! And now, we make way for chaos as Ben & I go it alone with our ducklings. The day we left for the beach (more later) was the day Kassi flew the coop. "More Kassi, please!"

Cuteness

Samantha is only 5 months old and look! She is standing - practically walking! She can't even really roll over yet. Okay, she's not really walking, but she is stand-leaning on the couch. She likes to lock her knees and not bend in the middle, making it hard for us to set her down sometimes - so here, we just leaned her and she loved it.







Elliot happy again at 5AM. Sam, just happy.


Samantha took to sunglasses like a natural.

Ellie joined the fun to help make cupcakes for her class.

Yeah yeah yeah, my commentary is weak here. I am in a hurry to post new pics before we leave for the beach tomorrow. I am super tired and need to be in bed to stock up on sleep to drive all night tomorrow (HA!) and I am downstairs without the monitor with both girls in their bedroom asleep - which can mean disaster if one wakes up and then wakes the other because we did not swoop in on time. And am subtly distracted by Kass & Ben watching Real World Hollywood finale - oh they mocked me all summer for watching it and now they are watching the end without me!?
But, oh, look how cute my little babies are in these pictures. How could I keep this cuteness from you?

Terrifically TWO!

"Elliot Birthday SELF!" "Happy Birthday ELLIOT BIRTHDAY!" These were the phrases at our house all week. Our big girl turned 2 this week. She also went for a check-up at the doctor who confirmed, "yep. she's tall." My baby is 3 Foot 1 inch! And only 28 pounds. Also confirming, yep, she takes after her daddy.


Elliot decidedly likes cake more than frosting and flipped her birthday cupcake over to eat cake only...and without using her hands or utensils. We do not really encourage this kind of stunt-eating, but we don't really make a fuss about it eaither.


Here is Auntie Wendy holding Baby Alden at Elliot's party. Baby Alden was born 3 months after Samantha, making him 2 months old in this shot.

Sheffield spent the party looking like a garden statue and avoiding children.
Below Elliot contemplates her strategy for blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.




Above, Samantha contemplates eating baby Alden for using her kick-mat. Below, the party is in full swing - though not a great picture of anyone in the picture! But the festive balloons look nice!

Walden Pond

Family trip to Walden Pond. Kassi was so smitten she went back and kicked Walden Pond's butt by making it her daily summer work-out. Go Kass - what an inspiration. Here is Sam dipping her toes in her first big body of water. Oh yes, Kassi's hair is pink. And Oh yes, Ben yelled at us for disrupting the wildlife and then threw a rock at a bull frog to make it hop, but missed and bonked his head. Ooops.