Dr. Appt

Eliana had her 18 month Dr's appt. today. She did very well and ended up getting her Hep A and B injections. Her Dr. wished that all the 18 month old patients were like her because she sat still for him to check her out and did whatever she was asked! If it always worked that way at home.

Eliana is now 21lb 13 ounces. She has finally made it to the 12th percentile after not being on the chart for sooooo long. She is about in the 50th percentile for both her head circumference and length. She's doing very well.

On another note, Ben and I went with some other couples to Spring Green, WI yesterday to see the American Players Theatre. It was a great time. We had a picnic lunch that was all set for us when we got there and enjoyed hanging out with the other Pastors and their wives. The theatre is actually on a hill outdoors in the woods. I haven't been to anything like it and I hope we have the opportunity to go back again. We saw Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. The only bad part of the whole trip is that we didn't get home until midnight, which is VERY late for Ben and me nowadays.

Chapstick

Eliana just loves playing with the chapstick and smacking her lips.

Grandma's Pool

My mom gat a swimming pool for Eliana, so Ellie got to try it out for the first time. She sure looks like the queen of this pool.

New Chair

Ellie got a Dora chair from her Grandma. She was so excited to sit in it. I just hope she stays sitting in it at our outdoor church service on Sunday.

I had Ellie looking so cute before we went for our walk this morning and then when the walk was done, she had taken her headband out and her hair was everywhere. Sorry about the red eyes, I was using the point and shoot and I didn't edit the pics.

Play Date

Today I went to my friend Holly's house in Green Bay. We used to work together at Aurora. She has two kids, Hailey and Cole, 2 and 3. There were also a couple of other friends there as well. So, it ended up that there were 6 kids. Holly's yard is perfect for this kind of thing. They have an amazing swing set, two pools, picnic table and all the toys a kid could want. It was different because all the other times we got together it was hard to talk because we were always keeping track of our kids. It worked out great because all of us moms actually got to talk!

Ellie helped herself to the snacks.

Ellie took almost every single ball and put it in the pool with her. Then she proceeded to move the balls from one pool to another. She even had Charlie following her lead.

18 Months

I can't believe our baby is 18 months! Where did the time go?

It's Tradition

Guinness for Strength!

From the time Ben and I were dating whenever we would go away someplace together we would find an Irish Bar and Ben would have a Guinness and I would traditionally have a Bailey's. There was an Irish Pub downtown Minoqua and so that's where Ben had his Guinness. Ellie also got some of the lemon from my water. She used to eat lemons without a face, now her taste buds have changed! The best one is towards the end.

Zoo Trip

Feeding the deer

Checking out the zebra

Feeding the deer

Looking at the bunny

Checking out the kitten
Petting the pig
Petting the baby goat
Looking at the Shark

Boat Cruise

Crazy enough we ran into a family from church while we were at the Wild Wood Zoo. Later that day they saw us on the resort's beach and swung by in their pontoon boat and we set a time for the next day for a boat cruise around the lake. It was Ellie's first boat ride. She loved it. She likes the wind in her hair and of course watching the couple's 3 and 4 year old.

Presents

Ellie's Grandpa "Butch" got her a hat that says I love Grandpa as well as a dog that plays music and barks. Little did he know that when Ellie got up, that would be the first thing she'd play with and thus it became his alarma clock as well!

Downtown Walk

Almost every day we took a walk to downtown Minoqua via a trail behind our resort. It was a beautiful walk with two bridges that went over the lake and the rest of the trail was in the woods. It only took us 10 minutes to get into town.

This was just a German Bar.

One of the bridges over Lake Minoqua.

We're Home

We got back home around 1:00pm today. We had alot to unpack and much cleaning to do when we got home. While we were gone, we got new counter tops and sink in the kitchen and things were pretty dirty. So, we double teamed it and got it done alot faster. Here's just a quick video until I have a little more time to get organized. This is Eliana at the Wild Wood Zoo in Minoqua. They had an area where there were animals walking around such as pigs, goats, bunnies, sheep, and deer. Ellie finally got brave enough to feed the (albino) deer.

Spatula Lickin' Good

As a child my favorite thing to do was lick the beaters and spatula whenever she baked. Not to my surprise, Eliana likes it too!

Pretty Eyes

Eliana now makes "pretty eyes". I bat my my eyelashes and she tries to do it back. The best one is the last one because she scrunches her face up!

Daddy's Home!

We made Ben (and Papa) a Father's Day German Chocolate Cake that we'll take with us tomorrow when we leave for Minoqua. I'm not sure if we'll have internet access so you can expect to not hear from us for a week. Once the dust settles after we get back (I've got a photo session, Ellie's Dr. Appt, and play dates already filling up our week) you can expect to get many posts from our vacation.