Welcome Zeta

We have happily welcomed a new 4 legged fury friend to our family. Zeta, a 4 year old black lab, joined our family in mid-August and is fitting perfectly into the family. John and I are now officially a family of 8 (3 cats, 2 labs, 1 toddler, and 2 crazy parents)

Maine

Summer was full of travelling, soon after getting home from North Carolina we went up to Maine where Julia got to hang out with her Nana and her cousins, Taylor and Chase.

Same problem as getting a nice photo of Ella and Julia together, was trying to get these 3 crazy kids to smile nicely for the camera!!

After relaxing on the beach we went to our friends Molly and Dave's wedding on a sailboat out of Rockland Maine. It was an amazingly beautiful 4 hour sail with good friends and food and best of all John and I got to enjoy this time to ourselves since my Aunt Ellen came for the weekend to babysit Julia. From her visit I learned that Julia can be happily entertained sitting in her stroller watching cars come out of the carwash.

Junaluska Part 2

While in North Carolina Julia went horse back riding for the first time and she loved it. Most of the kids rode the pony one time, Julia rode 3 times and when we left there were tears. Even the man running the rides said we would have to buy her a pony!

At our annual trip to Joe's Pancakes for breakfast we got a picture of all the young cousins together.

In age order: Jack, Julia, Maddie, Rybolt, Ella, and Baikal


Julia and Ella had an excellent time eating pancakes, but even more fun playing together.

Jack doesn't stand a chance at napping with Ella trying to tickle him and Julia trying to rock him.

How exactly do you get a cute picture of a 1 1/2 year old and a 3 year old together?

Junaluska Part 1

We had a fanstastic time on our annual trip to the mountains in North Carolina. Julia loved following Ella around and playing with all the other kids.

Ella and Julia playing outside

We also had a great time visiting with Thomas the Train. While Julia enjoyed the train ride, by far her favorite activites were watching the sheep, playing with bubbles, and jumping in the bouncy house.

Relaxing Summer

I can't believe that the summer is almost over, time flies when you are having fun. We spent most of August travelling, so I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. Here's some photos to hold you over while I get the photos of our trips to North Carolina and to Maine organized.

Jack, Ella, and Julia hanging out on our hammock