Author: Jessica Pellegrini

It was a whirlwind of a weekend for all of us as we celebrated Ava’s birthday. We hosted a rainbow themed party at our house for 30 of our friends and family. It was a huge success and Ava had a great time. She truly seemed to know what was going on and ran around the house talking with everyone. I was a little afraid that she would be overwhelmed with all of the people in our house but she was a little social butterfly with most of the guests. Hands down, my favorite part of the whole day was singing Happy Birthday to her. I have never seen her look so sweet and happy. It is a moment of the party that I will never forget. I will willingly admit that I went a little overboard with all of the custom decorations and rainbow themed party flair, but I do not regret any of it. I think that everyone that joined us for the afternoon enjoyed themselves, and I know that Ava had a blast, and that’s all that we were hoping for.

Today is her actual birthday so I wanted to do a little something different for the day. I didn’t really have any specific activity in mind so after we said good-bye to Nana at the airport we headed into Seattle.

We started off with lunch at The Fisherman, a total tourist attraction but perfect for kids. Ava did unusually well at lunch, keeping happy eating both Grandma and Grandpa’s oyster crackers. They gave us free tickets to the carousel in the arcade next door so I took her on her first carousel ride. She did not like sitting on the moving horse but was thrilled to be held while spinning around so we just stood in the aisle between horses. After that we couldn’t resist the urge to ride the Seattle Great Wheel. I wasn’t sure if she’d like it but we figured it was worth a try. I’m so glad that we went. She loved it and kept saying “I’m in the sky” and smiling. After the Great Wheel we weren’t quite ready to head home so we took a walk through the market and ate some fresh roasted cashews and doughnuts. It was a fun impromptu afternoon.

It’s hard to believe that I have only been a parent for two years. I can easily say that becoming a mother is the most wonderfully, amazing thing that has ever happened to me. Ava is such an awesome kid. She is so funny, independent, smart, loving, energetic, adventurous and so much more. She continues to amaze me everyday with the little person that she is becoming.
Happy Birthday, Ava!

Ava loves her slide

Watching everyone sing Happy Birthday to her

Our little rainbow warrior

Yes, that’s cake on the walls

Visiting the market on her birthday

“I’m in the sky!”

Elise enjoying the festivities

To say that we’ve been busy would be an understatement. Every weekend for the past several weeks has been filled with some kind of special activity, and the weekdays are flying by with both Michael and I working. My schedule seems to be hit or miss with full weeks off at a time but I don’t mind it at all. We found a night nanny that I think will prove to be a perfect fit as needed. She has only come over to the house twice now but it seems to be working out great for Michael and the girls when I am at work. It just makes me feel good to know that everyone is happy and taken care of when I’m away and Michael has time to get work done.

I have finally finished my alphabet project for Elise. You can see a picture of the final piece below hanging above Elise’s crib. The final motivation to finish was an at home photo shoot of her with one of our good friends. I really wanted to make sure that it was complete just in case we had it pictured in the background. I never expected it to take this long to complete but I am so thankful to everyone that helped with a letter. I love the final product and I know that Elise will too. I can already say that she loves to lay in bed and stare at it.

We were able to celebrate the Halloween season more this year than ever before. We started out with a visit to Remlinger Farm with some family members at the beginning of the month. Then, my Friend, Laurel and I took the girls out to Two Brothers Pumpkin Patch to run around the pumpkin field and purchase our pumpkins. It was a week day outing and we had the entire place to ourselves. They even had an honor pay system so there wasn’t even any employees. It was kind of cool to just poke around the place, I’m not sure if I have ever actually been out in a pumpkin field before. The weekend before Halloween we got the girls dressed up in costumes and headed to the Woodland Park Zoo for Pumpkin Bash. Ava was a giraffe and Elise a kitten. They were both adorable. Ava’s 2T giraffe costume was hilariously small on her. So much so that we couldn’t button most of the snaps and it was about 2 inches too short on her. She did not care one bit and paraded around the zoo making people laugh. We let her take the lead and just followed her around, we didn’t manage to see very many animals but we had a great time.

On the afternoon of Halloween we visited Michael at work for the first time. Amazon allows all family to come in and visit and everyone has candy or treats to hand out. It was cool to finally see where Michael spends all of his time away from us. We didn’t see too many other trick or treaters because we came a little earlier than most families but we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying ourselves. Ava was content to walk around the offices and she loved running around out on the roof top of the building. She was not a big fan of trick or treating itself. I made her a new costume since the giraffe was so small, she went dressed up as a fortune teller complete with her own set of tarot cards. The idea was that since she likes to carry things around, especially paper, that she could hand out fortunes to everyone. She, however, was not up for the fun. She was much too intimidated by all the new people and didn’t enjoy visiting each office. Instead we made laps around the floor and stopped by different offices for quick intros and hellos before rushing off to avoid a meltdown. All in all it was a fun afternoon and I’m sure that as they get older both Ava and Elise will look forward to trick or treating at Daddy’s work.

Halloween night at home was our only disappointment for the season. I bought 3 large bags of candy in anticipation of all the little visitors we would likely have that night. We did not have one single trick or treater. NOT ONE SINGLE KID. I was crushed. For two years in a row now I have looked forward to having dozens of cute little visitors come take candy from us and for two years in a row now I have been let down. Ugh. We have so many young neighbors that I was sure this year would be different. I guess no one goes door to door anymore. I’m still baffled. I will definitely have to plan on a different event for the night of next year.

Friday night, Elise and I met up with a big group of family members to help celebrate Auntie Carol’s birthday. She opted for a bowling party this year so we all met up at Tech City Bowl in Kirkland. Michael had a ton of homework to get done so he and Ava stayed home. As always, it was nice to see everyone. It was a bit different for me than usual since I didn’t have Ava to run after. Elise spent most of the time asleep in her car seat so I was actually able to have some nice conversation with everyone. My bowling game was a complete embarrassment, I didn’t even break 100. It’s to be expected honestly, I have always been an awful bowler. I remember getting so frustrated at my Dad as a kid when he would try to help me throw the ball straight.

Last night we had a couple friends and their 4 month old son over for dinner. I had not met their little guy yet and they had never seen Elise so it was nice to get to reconnect with them. It’s so much easier to have people over to the house as apposed to going out. Aside from having to do the dishes its a perfect, family friendly night. We were lucky enough to have some pics taken of Elise as well. We will make sure to post some once we get them back. She has been changing so much. She has started laughing a lot more often and loves when I tickle her face with the ends of my hair. It’s adorable and melts a little bit of your heart each time you hear it. I have been trying to capture a voice recording of it and I swear she can tell when I click the record button and stops making any sound. I love the sound of baby giggles and the first few months of giggles have a softer, sweeter sound than the more developed sound that follows.

We are getting ready for Ava’s 2nd birthday. Since her birthday falls at the end of November it is likely that many years we will celebrate both her birthday and Thanksgiving on the same day. This year Thanksgiving is pretty late so we have the opportunity to celebrate the weekend before. It’s nice to have a little something to look forward to before we get into full blown holiday mode.

Today, today we are relaxing at home as a family. It’s our favorite Sunday pastime.

3 month comparison

Elise’s Alphabet

At the pumpkin patch

Halloween on the rooftop

Our little giraffe

Elise’s 1st Halloween

Our little kitty

Collecting leaves on a walk

Its been a crazy last few weeks. We have all been keeping very busy with various activities. I started back to work two weeks ago and had 4 shifts back to back. It was a big adjustment for us all. I think Michael now has a better understanding of what life can be like trapped in a house with two small children. It was rough on us all but we survived and have had the past week at home together. It seems like we are all still trying to get back into our normal routine since everyone was sick. Ava’s sleep habits have improved the past few nights but we have been having frequent late night episodes with her. She either wants to get up and play or she just wakes up and cries. Either way it’s tough on everyone because we all have bedrooms so close to each other. Since she is normally such an awesome sleeper even a few nights with interrupted sleep feels like a lot.

We have been embracing fall by collecting leaves in the front yard, visiting the pumpkin patch and farm, making plans for Halloween and taking every opportunity we can to enjoy the beautiful fall colors of the Northwest. I have to admit I have already been finding myself preparing for the up coming holiday season. One thing at a time though. First we have Halloween to enjoy; both girls already have their costumes and Michael and I have decided that we are going to pass on costumes for ourselves this year. I figure we will have plenty of opportunities to dress up with the girls in the years to come.

This past Saturday we spent the morning with some family at Remlinger Farm. It’s about 30 minutes away from us out in Carnation, WA. They have a fall harvest all October long. Its a celebration with hundreds of pumpkins, scarecrow, fall foods and lots of fun rides and activities for all ages. The highlights of the day were the Flying Pumpkins ride and the mini train. Ava loved both. She rode the pumpkins with both Michael and I separately and both times she rode with a huge smile plastered across her face yelling “weee”, “so cool” and laughing. I thoroughly enjoyed riding with her. Her least favorite attraction was the mini pony. We tried to get her to go for a pony ride but she wanted no part in it. She also had a strange aversion to the hay maze. It was a fun trip for everyone. I’m sure we will visit again in the future. We may even try to check out another pumpkin patch this season since we never bought one at the farm.

Today, Elise turned 3 months old. We had a great day to mark the occasion. Both of the girls, myself and my friend Laurel went the the Woodland Park Zoo. It was pretty busy because it’s Columbus Day but that just made it more fun for Ava. More kids running around meant more excitement for her which was the whole point so I was happy. We walked around almost all of the zoo and stopped a few times to feed some animals and run off some energy. The zoo is having a pumpkin bash coming up the weekend of the 26th. We are entertaining the idea of checking that out and giving the girls another opportunity to dress up in their costumes.

I’m about to start another busy week of work for Seattle Restaurant Week. I’m sure it will be incredibly hectic and I’m totally looking forward to it. It’s so much easier to tackle that kind of craziness after juggling two kids. Work feels more like social time to me now than anything. Although it’s not always easy to leave Michael and the girls at home I am glad to be working again. I did cry a few tears when leaving the first week. I always feel like I am going to miss out on something hugely important while I’m gone. Or I feel like I need to be home to help make everyones’ night easier and therefore better. I’m sure all working parents feel like this to some extent. Ava did take her first steps while I was at work so my fears aren’t completely irrational.

Here are a few recent pictures of Ava and Elise. We will post more this week as well.

Elise all wrapped up

Ava throwing a bedtime fit

Having fun at the park

On our way to the park

It was kind of a rough week around here. We’ve all been a coughing, sneezing, cold sweaty mess this week. The whole house has been battling the common cold in one form or another. Fortunately for us, it only presented itself as stuffy nose for Elise. Michael and I had mild fevers, sinus headaches, stuffy and runny noses, the whole sha-bang. Poor little Ava, although she took it like a champ, she was down and out for over a week. We decided it was best for all of us that we played it easy all week and rested as much as possible. Plus, we didn’t want to spread our germs to anyone else. It was disappointing that we had to cancel dinner plans with family earlier in the week but it was the best for everyone. Yesterday was the first time that the girls and I had much activity all week.

Ava went shopping with Daddy at Costco in the morning while Elise and I stayed home and cleaned the house and did laundry. After Michael and Ava returned with a load of booty from Costco I headed out to the grocery store to fill in the gaps for our nights dinner and daily needs. We all spent the rest of the day either napping (the girls) or preparing for our evening. I finished cleaning and setting the table and Michael jumped into the kitchen and began his mise en place for dinner. We all hosted our first dinner party since moving back!

It was a “Girls Night In” with Chef MP. Included, by the handsome Chef, was an all night playlist from our favorite artists and a digital menu. Yes, a digital menu. Michael put together the menu that morning and then designed and coded it and sent a link out to each of our guests. It was so cool. Here’s a link if you want to see what we enjoyed: www.pellegrinipage.com/menu It was a delicious seafood feast that everyone loved. It was not an easy task to accommodate all of the dietary needs at the table. Michael did an awesome job making everyone happy.

Our guests for the evening were some old friends that we’ve been wanting to connect with for far too long now. It’s frustrating how easy it is to let life get in the way of making time for good friends. Julianne and Penny two ladies that we love and admire. These woman have been in our lives for longer than the two of us have been together. They are practically the reason that Michael and I became a couple. I could go on and on about both of them but I’ll just say that they are old (in time, not age), dear friends and it was a pleasure hosting them. Our beloved friend, Laurel joined us as well. She has known JJ and Penny for a long time but has not seen either of them since our wedding, more than 3 years ago.

Lucky Michael, spent the night with 4 women, 2 little girls and a female dog. He pretty much hosted the whole event on his own (he did all the hard work). We enjoyed a nice, long, leisurely 3 course dinner at the table. Sharing wine, good memories and stories of recent adventures. We ended the evening with the girls both asleep and all of the adults curled up on the couch enjoying dessert and laughs with Planet Earth playing in the background. It was an awesome night.

Today we are all at home relaxing like we love to do on Sundays. This week I start back to work on Wednesday and will be working 4 nights in a row. Its likely going to be a little rough to work that many nights consecutively after over 3 months off but I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m not sure what my schedule is going to look like every week but my hope is that it’s usually only 3 nights a week with Sunday and Mondays off. We’ll see. I have mixed feelings about going back but am looking forward to a little time out of the house with some more consistent adult interaction. My reservations are only because I worry that Michael will struggle to get homework done on nights that I’m gone. I know that we will all figure things out and find a routine that works for us, I just find it hard not to worry in the interim.

Michael is off school for one more week. His classes start back up next weekend. I imagine that he will spend as much time as possible on his new project (the recipe site) this week. He is really enjoying putting it together and I love being able to be the middleman and help out a little. We’ve already had some great things sent to us. It will, no doubt, be a great site. Keep all the recipes and stories coming.

Here are a few pics of our friends getting a little snuggle time with Elise. I think that she loves to be held more than anything. It’s always a sweet, special moment to witness someone you care about meeting your child for the first time. Simple pleasures.

Julianne and Elise

Penny and Elise

My good, old, sweet Bella turned 9 today. I can’t believe how much has changed in the 9 years for the two of us. She was only 6 weeks old when I met her at a home shelter near Woodinville called Lil Waif. The woman sheltering the litter called me first because she knew that I was thinking about getting another dog. I had recently lost a 6 month old puppy from one of her previous litters to an over aggressive monster trunk in downtown Kirkland (very tragic event that led to Bella). I met all 5 pups at one time and they were a strange looking mix of adorableness.

Bella’s mom was a Labrador Retriever and her Dad was a German Shepard/ Rottweiler mix. I chose Bella because she was to me the cutest, female, and strangely enough she was the only one that didn’t whine when I put her down, she just sat quietly looking at me like she knew she would eventually be coming home with me. It was a weird instant connection. Two weeks later just before Thanksgiving of 2004 I brought her home; my first true responsibility. At one point I would probably have phrased that as I brought home my first “baby” but now that seems strange to say. Bella was however the first living being that depended on only me. Because of this she has changed me in many ways, forced me to grow up and has given me a different perspective on unconditional love. It never fails to amaze me how excited she is to see me each and every time I come home.

Bella truly is a great dog. Not one without her annoying quirks but still a great, loyal, loving and most of the time mellow girl. She has moved from Kirkland to Woodinville to Queen Anne then Ballard next Pacific Beach, San Diego to La Mesa, CA and now Bellevue, WA! In 9 years that’s a lot of adjusting and each time she has proved to be an adaptable family member. She has lived with over 10 different roommates and was affectionately welcomed into the Pellegrini family by Michael when we moved in together in 2008. Although we still refer to her as Bella Rudd (it has a ring to it) she is definitely a Pellegrini. Her favorite thing to do at home is sleep, she loves chasing Ava around the front yard these days and can not resist the urge to swim if within 75 feet of almost any body of water no mater how big or small. Her nicknames include, Bellers, Belle, Bells, Bella Rudd, B, Old Maid and the Fun Hater. She has proved to be a great dog with kids and does not even flinch when Ava pokes and pulls at her. We all love Bella.

Happy Birthday, Bella! You’re a good girl.

The rest of the family is doing ok. Everyone has been a little under the weather the past few days. Thankfully Elise appears to be the only one with no symptoms of illness. She is doing wonderful and attended her first wedding with Michael and I this past weekend on Whidbey Island. She was an amazing wedding guest and didn’t do anything but enjoy herself all afternoon and well into the night.

Ava is continuing to get better every day but is still not her vibrant, unstoppable self these past few days. She has been enjoying a lot more down time than normal which I have to admit is kind of nice. She isn’t usually one to lay down and watch a movie with you but we have been doing a bit of that and enjoying it. She had a great weekend with Grandma while we were out of town and the 3 of us dropped her off at the airport yesterday. It was, of course, another awesome trip. So much so, that I think we are all a bit exhausted from it. Combine that and this little bug and we are all on a little bit of forced downtime.

We have a few dinner parties planned for the week. One with Dana, Brad, Kallan and Anna tomorrow night at their house here in Bellevue. Another planned for Saturday at our house with a few friends. Michael is off school for the week and it’s my last week off before I start back up part time on 10/1. We’ll make the most of it with a good mix of fun, family and down time.

Bella on her 9th birthday

Melissa and Jamie’s wedding on Whidbey Island

Michael has been hard at work on a new project and we would love all of your help with it. He is putting together a family recipe website to share all of ours and hopefully your recipes with each other. It’s a site that is helping him learn a new skill and it’s something that we think will be really nice to expand on over the years. We want to include as much information about the dish as possible. Here’s what you can send us:

Title
About this dish (2-3 sentences about the dish, or the person the dish is inspired by)
Photo (Optional – can be a photo of the dish or the person the dish is inspired by)
List of ingredients
Cooking instructions

The categories of recipes on the site will be: Breakfast, Salads, Soups, Entrees, Sides & Deserts. We’d love any of your contributions as soon as you can, but you can continue to send us more over time as well. Once the site is up and running we will send out another email letting you all know about it. Please send all of your information to me at this email address: jesspelle@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing and trying all of your favorite foods. The more contributions we get the better. Thank you!

Today was a big day. Started out with breakfast at home, then went out for a day of park–hopping. We picked the grandparents up and toured downtown Seattle on our way to the Ballard Locks. We spent lots of time watching the boats, talking to fellow tourists, chasing after Ava, and enjoying the typical Seattle weather. After almost 2 hours we decided it was time for a new park and headed over to Gasworks.

We got to Gasworks and planned to setup our picnic and enjoy the views for a bit, but instead it was more like sitting in goose poop, eating half our snacks while the other half remained forgotten at home in the fridge. We made the best of it and enjoyed some dried fruit, candied nuts and crackers, and sat looking out over Lake Union, reminiscing about the Grandparents last visit to Seattle, which was for our wedding. We worked in shifts chasing Ava all around the park and decided on getting ice cream at Molly Moon’s.

Again we packed everyone up in the car and drove a few blocks up the hill for what we had been told was some of the top rated ice cream in the country. We each got our own snack and sat inside the small creamery next to a nice family from Illinois with 3 small girls. There were plenty of sticky fingers at the table. After some outstanding ice cream everyone was ready for a little rest before dinner.

After relaxing and cleaning up at home the family went out for dinner in downtown Bellevue while Ava got to play at the drop–in. It was a very full and enjoyable day. Both girls were great the whole time and are happy to go anywhere you like. Elise is growing fast and doing very well. She’s such a good baby.

Elise at 2 months

At the Ballard Locks

Elise and her Great Grandma

Like Mother Like Daughter

On a somewhat spur of the moment move, we both got new cell phones tonight. He text me this morning to see if I would be ready to update my phone, something we’ve been talking about for a while now. I happily agreed. We were both ready to turn in our iPhones and upgrade to something new. For me it was mostly for a better camera, nicer screen, and fresh style. Agreeing to the switch also means learning a completely new operating system, Android, and all new apps. Ugh.

Michael got a HTC One and I got a Samsung Galaxy S4. Speaking for myself, please excuse any delays in my responses. After having an iPhone for so many years this is going to take me a while to get used to. I actually had to have Michael show me where the home and power keys were. He gave me a nice little tutorial on the basics but it will probably take me a good day maybe two (depending on the willingness of the girls) to get used to it.

For now both of the girls are finally asleep and we can play with our phone for the rest of the night.

We’re relaxing at home on the couch tonight wrapping up another very good weekend. I worked an event at The University of Washington most of the day on Friday. It was their 12th annual Recognition Gala. It was a grand event for 530 of the University’s most generous donors. It took place in both the Odegarrd and Suzzallo Libraries. Me and 29 co-workers set up make shift kitchens, bars, dish rooms, drink stations, etc within the stacks of the library. Dinner was held in a large ballroom. The special guests of the evening were Costco co-founder Jeff Brotman and his wife Sandy. The night was filled with several prestigious guests, it was the largest and most magnificent event I have ever worked. I had a lot of fun. It was not only nice to get out and reconnect with some of my co-workers but I also met employees from both our Bellevue and Tacoma locations. It was a long, almost 12 hour shift but I’m glad that I was able to work it. I will definitely enjoy this last month off but I look forward to going back to work in October.

Saturday we slept in a bit and spent a relaxing day at home watching college football and playing outside. Michael started a meat lovers chili in the crock pot for Sunday and we watched a great baseball documentary that evening. It wasn’t an exciting day but it was great all the same.

Today was a lot like Saturday. We had family breakfast around 9:30 followed by the Seahawks season opener against the Carolina Panthers. My friend, Laurel, is a big Seahawks fan and came over to join us for the game. The Seahawks pulled off the win to start the season off with a bang. Great morning. The weather did a 180 by 2:00 and was nice and sunny out so we all went out for an afternoon walk. After letting the chili simmer for 24 hours we tried out our first slow cooked meal of the season. Another winner. It was awesome! Michael added 5 different meats, 2 different beans, mushrooms and bell peppers with lots of seasoning and a touch of fresh rosemary. After dinner we continued to finish watching the rest of the football game. Now it’s just a little more relaxation time before bed. What a great Sunday, I know that it’s about as close to perfect for Michael as it gets and I totally agree. Another good weekend in the books.
This week brings us more visitors, doctors appointments, 2 month milestones and so much more.

My Dad and his wife Chris just left town after a great 4 day visit. It was a much more relaxing visit than I could have ever imagined. We worked on various projects around the house Thursday and Friday in between time spent playing with the girls, catching up and relaxing. Because of all of my Dad’s hard work we now have a beautiful front gate to protect Ava from the stairs, a swing in the front yard and chandeliers properly hung in the nursery. On Friday, I had the pleasure of being sent off to the spa for a nice swedish massage and spa pedicure while Grandpa and Grandma held down the fort at home. It was so nice to get out by myself to be pampered. I got home to find both babysitters and Elise sleeping on the couch with Ava napping alone in her room. It was an adorable site to come home to. After only about 20 minutes I was followed by Laurel who came over to babysit and was thoughtful enough to come over early so that we could get ready for our evening out easier. She was and always is so helpful with the girls, it allowed me even more time to pamper myself with a home manicure. I also spent my time getting ready and got to enjoy the process instead of being pulled in 20 directions and rushing the whole time. We had dinner that night with my Uncle Butch and Aunt Carol at El Gaucho. It was, of course, an amazing dinner. I had my first oyster in almost a year (yum) and a delicious cocktail (one of my firsts not the first). They treated us like the family that we are and everyone had a great night. All around a great day, one of the best I’ve had in a while!

Saturday was a full day with breakfast at home and then a little play time at the house and nap time while the first half of Iowa’s season opener played. After Ava woke up we all headed downtown for the afternoon. The plan was to start at the market and get stuff to make dinner then spend the rest of our time just wandering around downtown. It seemed like a simple enough plan but when you have a toddler with you even the simplest thing can become impossible. We stumbled on our old friend Emery while entering the market. He was just finishing up his “shift” at the Local Color as a street performer. He does crazy, amazing things like hula hoop while spinning his guitar over head and signing a song about how much he loves his Mom and Dad. We enjoyed his last number of the day and headed off to purchase some goodies and get some good people watching in. Ava was doing great to start and loved Emery’s song and dance, she seemed to enjoy all the commotion of the shoppers and vendors but after only about 20 minutes she became cranky. We tried to fix it with treats of chocolate doughnuts and crepes but that just made a sticky mess. She desperately wanted to get out of the stroller and run around; in a busy downtown market that’s not an option. She proceeded to get more cranky and unruly so we headed north out of the market in search of a way to turn the day around.

Needless to say we left the market a little dejected. It’s a tough pill to swallow when you head out on a family adventure and it backfires on you. We wanted to try and salvage the trip out so we decided to head to the Seattle Center to play around in the water fountain and run around as much as possible. We were about one block away from the center when we remembered that it’s Bumbershoot this weekend and the Seattle Center has been taken over by concert goers. Another fail… at this point we figured it was best to just head back to the car and start to get things ready for dinner.

We had Butch and Carol join us for dinner again this time at our house. Michael made fresh seafood pappardelle with ingredients from the market. We enjoyed chocolate cake and port for dessert and lots of good wine and laughs the whole night. It was a great way to wrap up the visit. It’s always so hard to say good bye to family when they are visiting. I know that my Dad especially had a difficult time saying good bye to both Ava and Elise.

We hope to see more of Dad and Chris this next year. It’s a different experience for the girls with each of their grandparents and I want them to be able to enjoy all of their family as much as possible. I had a great time getting to see my Dad and watching him play with Ava and hold Elise. We had a hard time getting him to put the baby down, she smelled like his aftershave the whole time. They had an instant connection and he was continuously able to lull her to sleep. It was a very sweet sight to see. Although it was a quick trip it was filled with great family time and I think that everyone had a memorable visit.