Curious George

Ella met Curious George at the library last night. I got a little claustrophobic with all the people there, but it was worth it for the look on her face. She couldn't stop laughing and running around in circles.

Happy Veteran's Day

Brad 1995

Random October Stuff

Things have been pretty relaxed around here lately. Other than a couple trips in October we haven't been doing too much. It's nice to just be settled (for now). We did go over to Seattle for a weekend in October to hang out and see a friend who lives there. He took us to the Aquarium and dinner at the Space Needle (which was the best Salmon I've ever had). Ella had fun seeing the fish, but honestly, there's more interesting things to see in Seattle. It's not a very large aquarium considering it's on the ocean.




This sea ray thing was by far the coolest thing there


Here we are at the Space Needle


Here's some pictures Johanna took of Ella playing. She likes to cook her Cheerios and dolls and shoes.






She loves her snow boots and put on a bedtime fashion show for us.


And here she is passed out on a road trip.

I Miss My Baby

Well, you know something must be different when I do 2 blog posts in 2 days. Yep, Ella and Brad are in Texas visiting his family and I am here all alone. Well, sort of. Mike and his friends are still around to keep me company. We had a good-bye party for him yesterday which was a lot of fun (except for the good-bye part). I am missing Ella and Brad but I'm definitely taking advantage of sleeping in, mountain biking, dirt biking and freedom from responsibility. Of course that freedom means I'm talking to myself on a blog...

Here's some pictures of Ella to tide me over until she returns...

Last Days of Summer-Take 2

Well, I thought summer was over but we've had some really nice days lately. I guess Fall feels bad for what Summer did to us. We had a lot of fun when my parents and Isaac came to visit.

This is what happens when Nonnie babysits:



I have a picture of my dad blowing bubbles for me at around Ella's age. I just spent an hour trying to find it and it seems to have disappeared. I found a lot of other good old photos. I'll have to post them soon.


Ella loved watching Nonnie sew


And Isaac gave her her first horsey ride


We took a nice hike to Gem Lake where we made a campfire to keep warm and heat up our lunch. The boys even caught a couple fish.

Last Days of Summer

The last month we've tried to enjoy the last bit of warmth we'll have for a while. Ella and I made a trip to Phoenix last month but the pictures are on my other camera which is somewhere, hopefully, in Uncle Mike's possession. Speaking of Uncle Mike, we're sad that he's going to be leaving us for his new job in Great Falls, Montana. Ella's going to miss him too:


We went camping with Hal along the Coeur D'Alene river. It was my first time camping in an RV and I have to say it was much nicer than a tent. It was also my first time riding a dirt bike and I loved it!


Ella had fun playing with rocks and eating dirt. She kind of freaks out when her hands get too much dirt on them.


She loved seeing herself in Hal's semi truck chrome and kept kissing the "the bebe" all weekend.


She also had her first roasted marshmallow


And this is the reaction I got when I tried to take a picture of her mustache

July 4th

At the end of June, Ella and I headed to Orlando for the annual Society of Actuaries Health Meeting. Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds. My mom met us there and watched Ella. It was a nice hotel and nice to see my mom again. That made it 4 months in a row I got to see my mom! I somehow did not manage to get any pictures of my mom or myself or Ella in Florida but I did catch some lightening and fireworks from our balcony.


Brad and I spent another holiday apart this year. Ella and I were in Dominican Republic and Brad went camping with Hal for the 4th of July. Here are some pictures of Brad's trip (they were roughing it in Hal's RV watching movies on Netflix):




In the DR Ella had a great time with her cousins Adeline and Darton. We were also able to go with them to their 20 week ultrasound where they found out they're having a boy! It was pretty fun since I have never seen an ultrasound besides Ella's.
My brother gave of a tour of the gold mine where he works. On the drive up there we followed a truck which had a set of guys along to hold up the power lines that were too low:


Bikes like this are everywhere:





On the back side of the mine is a very small village which had one piece of wire tacked to a poll for it's electricity:


To get to other towns the villagers had to cross a river which had no bridge so my brother helped plan and design this one for them (on the right, not a good picture):


Here's their Clomado which is the Dominican version of 7-11 (and which I'm sure is not spelled right).


This lady really wanted me to take her picture and thought it was funny when I showed it to her:


Here's the building where they do their cooking


And here's almost all the contents of the "store"


The next day we spent at the Arboretum




We never could get a good picture of all three of them together





For the weekend we went 3.5 hours north east and stayed at a nice place near the beach (Ella LOVED the water)





We had a beautiful dinner by the beach







This picture of Ella cracks me up




Man these are UGLY sunglasses!