US Virgin Islands

Just before Thanksgiving we spent two weeks on St. John in the US Virgin Islands. We had an amazing trip, and while there were certain events we could have done without, overall it was just fantastic. Ellie is still talking about it daily, wondering when we can go snorkeling again.

Be warned that there are tons of pictures in this post. I thought I'd better make it worth the wait for them :)

Ellie at the beach for the first time.

Tim, Ellie, and Grandma W. at Maho Bay (Day 1)

The owner of our villa, Dr. Bob, was pruning the plants one day and gave Ellie this palm frond to play with. She was in heaven!

Ellie at the beach the first day.

View from Maho Bay.

In the ocean for the first time!

Ellie and Grandma W. at Trunk Bay.

We went out to dinner one night at "Miss Lucy's," a charming little place right on the beach. It also happened to be overrun by Miss Lucy's goats :) Ellie was thrilled. She fed them sea grapes and had a blast until a grumpy older goat got impatient and butted her, causing her to fall backwards, because she wasn't feeding him fast enough. A few tears were shed, but overall it was a nice evening.

Waterlemon Bay (yes, that is waterlemon, not watermelon). We saw lots of stingrays there, a couple of sea turtles, lots of fish and coral, and starfish. It was definitely the best snorkeling we had, although all of it was quite stunning.

Salt Pond Bay. This beach is at the end of a short trail. Ellie was pinched by a large hermit crab at the trail head. It was completely our fault, and we felt horrible about it. Having had hermit crabs as a child, I assured Ellie it was safe and fun to hold them. The first one she held was nice enough, but then I gave her a very large, old fellow. He was not so happy about being held and clamped on to the pad of her hand and held on for dear life (quite literally in his mind, I am sure). It took five minutes to convince him to let go. Ellie screamed the whole time, but was very cooperative about holding still so the crab would relax and let go. She had a couple of small lacerations on her hand and they finally just healed over a week or so ago.

After the crab pinching incident, but before she became covered with biting ants... Not the best beach experience for her, but the snorkeling was quite unique here with lots of colorful coral.

Vew from our villa.

The view.

Trunk Bay.

Trunk Bay.

Trunk Bay

Potentilla bush flowers.

A Very Large seed pod.

The best way to get sand off a two-year-old? Dunk her in the ocean naked.

The owners of our villa had this great raft that had a window in it so that Ellie could "snorkel" too. She saw lots of coral, fish, a stingray, and a turtle this way. She loved it!

Salt Pond Bay

Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins

Windmill ruins at Annaberg.

Santa Claus

We made our annual $25 donation to Santa today. We stood in line for at least 45 minutes (the Big Guy is quite in demand this year) and were rewarded with (and by "rewarded" I mean "shelled out lots of dough") these pictures.


Josh and Jordan: You may recognize the hair bow and shoes. :)



We got back from our trip to the Caribbean almost two weeks ago. I'll get pictures from the trip posted this week!

Snow and Halloween

Well, Ellie is sacked out in bed after a successful evening of trick-or-treating. She wore a kitty costume my sister made for our niece 12 years ago. Brigette is trying to dig out a picture of Kieron wearing it for a side-by-side comparison. Ellie really wanted to wear her cousin Eddie's old lion costume, but it was too small. We had awesome Halloween weather, which was a nice change from the 15 inches of snow we had earlier this week.

Here are the pictures:

Look at the size of those snowflakes!

Halloween, reverse order (because that is just the way Blogger is being tonight...)

Enjoying her candy:

So tired by the end...

With Jamison the Dinosaur (who she refers to as her brother, by the way).

Playgroup

Ellie had a couple of friends over this morning. We had a good time making "oobleck" and it entertained the little ones for over an hour. It did take me a good thirty minutes to clean my kitchen afterwords, but it was worth it! Avery and Jamison are both 3 (about 7 months older than Ellie) and it is so interesting to watch her learn things from them.


Hugs from Jamie:


All three of them watching the rocking Hallmark Christmas Dog bark Jingle Bells. Great-Grandma E. gave this to Ellie on her first Christmas and she still hasn't gotten enough of it (I may have though... :)

See the condition of my kitchen floors? What a teacher will do for "sensory experiences!"

Avery attempting to make hand prints.

Jamie is so excited!

If you have never made oobleck with kids before, and you have some to make it with, it is worth doing. Oobleck is not quite a liquid and not quite a solid. When compressed it will form a solid, but when let to sit it becomes a liquid and will pour. If you really want to add an educational connection, and your kids are about 4 or up, read Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Suess first.

The recipe:

It is basically equal parts cornstarch and water (colored water if you want to get creative). Add the water slowly; you might not need it all. If it gets too runny just stir in some more cornstarch. You can save it (uncovered, or it will get moldy) for a week. Just add more water to reconstitute it as needed. Have fun!

30 Days Hath September...

...and you would think I would have found more time to blog! The last few weeks around here have been one illness after another, primarily confined to Ellie and me. We've all had colds, some of us two of them, and Ellie had a stomach and intestinal virus. It was as fun as it sounds. This was the first time that Ellie has ever come down with something that caused her to throw up (she's been carsick a time or two, though) and it was certainly not pretty. We are all recovered now, though, which is the important part.

In a few minutes Ellie and I will be heading to Build-A-Bear to "trade in" her pacifiers for a new toy. The time has come. She has only been allowed to have them in her crib for the last 6-9 months and we are ready to take the next step. I'm not really looking forward to the next few nights. This is going to be a big change for her, but I am hoping for the best.

I don't have any new pictures for this post, but hopefully I'll find time this weekend to add some shots of a Highlands Festival we went to a couple of weeks back. We are going to a festival tomorrow at a local Waldorf school. Hopefully Ellie will have fun with the pony rides and other activities they will have there!

Flower Girls

Last weekend we were in Idaho to celebrate the marriage of Josh and Jordan. Jordan, my cousin, is one year younger than me and we spend a lot of time together growing up. She was our maid of honor 10 years ago. I was honored to be a bridesmaid in their wedding; Ellie was a flower girl. Here are a few pictures taken after the ceremony.

The happy couple.

Showing off her flowers.

The flower girls together: Ellie and her cousin Abby.

Ellie did very well at the wedding, when you take into account that she is two and has a mind of her own. She was fantastic during pictures and the hour or so waiting for the ceremony to start. She and Abby walked down the aisle together and were adorable. About two minutes into the ceremony Ellie started talking (telling Abby to stop holding her hand) and growling very loudly... After a few attempts at quieting her on my part, and a hand placed over her mouth by Abby, Tim sneaked to the front and removed her. Oh well, it could have been worse!

The wedding was beautiful. Jordan's dress was stunning and her choice of flower girl dresses made for a very simple and classic look. We bridesmaids all chose our own black cocktail dress and shoes. The guys were in black tuxes, but not matching. It all worked so well together. I am excited to see the professional photographs when Jordan and Josh return from their honeymoon.

Library Concert

Ellie and I went to our local library a couple of weeks ago for a kid's concert. It just happened that the lady who taught her music class last winter was performing, so off we went. Ellie had a blast, even though it was hot on the concrete in the sun!



Singing "Old McDonald" - Ellie had a cow puppet.



After about 15 minutes we moved back to the shady trees. Not as good of a view, but much more comfortable. Ellie is holding an egg shaker.

Showing off her shaking abilities.