At Home

Ellison wanted Grandpapa to play the piano with her

Little miss setting the table for one of our dinners. She was so proud to lay out the placemats and silverware. :-)

[June 2, 2009]

Back to Reality (Sort Of)

On the way home from the beach, Grandma wanted to stop someplace to try to find Ellison "The Little Mermaid" to watch on the way home. While we were in the store, Ellison was very happy to ride the little Kmart carousel. She tried out each animal.

They were out of "The Little Mermaid", but she got "Barbie Thumbelina" (which Ellison calls, "Bumbelina") and "Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses" (which she dances right along with, even trying some of the same moves). Can I just say that I now know all the words to both? That's all she wanted on the TV several times a day for weeks after we arrived home. Addicted. That's all I can say. I need to create a 12-step program.

[May 31, 2009]

Last Day at the Beach

Our last day at the beach (sniff, sniff)...

Giving me her "smile"

This is the way her mouth is when she sucks on her food. That's right - most often, when she takes a bite of food, she keeps it in her mouth and sucks on it for a while. She starting doing it when she turned two - just a little Elli quirk.

Playing Peek-A-Boo

Had to post this because it became one of the signatures of our trip - Jonathan shedding his skin. The Puerto Rican, no less. This was merely the beginning of the peeling, folks. Looks like a map of some continents or something. Can you believe he's still peeling in places?! (Posting this on June 22).

No, the matching of Ellison's bathing suit to the chair was a coincidence.

Doing giant bubbles on the porch after a bath.

[May 30, 2009]

Lighthouse Tour

On Friday morning of our beach vacation, we just strolled around the beach, looking for shells and walking.

And of course Ellison absolutely would never pass up being in the water, if even a little bit. She kept begging me to walk out with her further.

Daddy, caught some tiny little fishies for Ellison to look at back at the condo. Little did we know she would actually play with them. Give a girl some fish and a shot glass, and life is good. You heard me right, we found a 12-pack of cheap plastic colorful shot glasses for Ellison that she loved playing with on the beach (or with her new aquatic friends). And yes, the little friends went back to live in their natural environment when she was done. Secretly I'm hoping this will take care of her for a long while - I can't say I enjoyed cleaning out my goldfish bowl growing up.

Then it was time to get ready for our boat ride. We booked a ferry cruise to the lighthouse on one of the islands. I had a much different picture of "ferry" in my head than what the reality was. At any rate, it was such a fun thing to do. We cruised around some of the islands on a little tour, and Ellison fell asleep in my arms, wrapped up in a blanket (pure bliss for me!). After seeing the wild mustang on some of the islands, we made it to Cape Lookout where the lighthouse is. We got to roam around at our leisure for about an hour.

Love the dress and scarf Abuela made for her!!!

Waiting to board our little "taxi".

All aboard! The 3 of us scored the coveted shaded spot on the boat.

The old assistant lighthousekeepers' house. Talk about a beautiful setting!!!

This was our "ferry".

A wild mustang

The tour was great! We all loved it so much!

On the way back to the condo, we saw this boat - Grandma's namesake. Had to be cheesy tourists and get a pic of her next to it. :-)

[May 29, 2009]