ElsaBea: July 2008

Hi everyone,

Wow, have we been running around a lot in July. So many things have happened! Bea is now literally running around and her vocabulary is expanding every day. Her favorite word right now is "BABY!" -- usually in reference to her baby dolls, but also to point out the baby in any picture. Bea is also the proud owner of FOUR molars.

We had a nice Fourth of July. We spent the actual Fourth with my parents and then went to Matt's parents' cabin on the fifth. Bea got some lovely new shoes for the occasion. She was very impressed with them as you can see.

Here are some pics of the bathing beauty at the cabin with Grandma Pat before she tried the baby pool for the first time:

We spent the next few weeks preparing for a party we were throwing to kick off Matt's family reunion. We had about 40 people at our house, so we were cleaning like crazy. Thanks to Grandma Liz -- she saved our butts by helping us clean for two days even though she wasn't coming to the party! We did take a break from the cleaning on my birthday, when we went out to one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Minneapolis.

The reunion finally came and our party went off without a hitch. Then, we went to a resort in Northern Minnesota with all of Matt's aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids from all over the country... and Grandma Hazel (the matriarch of them all)! We all stayed together in one giant cabin. Unfortunately, Bea saved up all the bad behavior she has never used in her life for the week we were up North. She discovered the tantrum, and boy, can she scream. She also classically pooped while she was in the bathtub with her cousin, Sadie. Nice.

We thought she was just overstimulated and out of her normal routine. We felt really bad when THREE MOLARS appeared within two days after the reunion. Sigh. Sorry Bea, a little Orajel probably would have gone a long way. We had fun with all the family anyway. Here are some pictures.

Here is Bea (far left, crying...) and most of her cousins from California and Massachusetts. As you can see the troops were a little restless at this point. Luke, a two-year-old California cousin, had already crawled off the scene.

Here's Bea at the reunion watching bubbles. (Stopped the screaming for a few minutes.)

This picture is of Bea's Uncle Mart and cousin, Sadie (Minnesota); Matt's cousin Eric and his son, Jackson (California); and Matt and Bea. Sadie is six months older then Bea, and Jackson had the same due date as Bea -- so the three of them had a lot of fun together.

Matt and I NEVER look good in pictures. So, since by some crazy luck we got two good ones on the same day, we thought we'd post them!

This is Matt and Bea in the lake at the reunion. She was quite afraid of the lake and the sand at first, but with help from Mom, Dad, Aunt Renee, Sadie, Grandma Pat, and Grandpa Steve -- she finally got into it.

Finally, just days after the reunion was over, our friends Chris and Deanna from Maryland came to visit. We had a nice Friday night out with them and went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. We actually got to sit in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, but that pic is on Deanna's camera. Here are some other fun pics for anyone who happens to be a Star Wars geek like the four of us.