!!Happy 4th of July!!

I forgot my camera today so I don't have any pictures. Ugh! But we spent the day at Grandma's going through old photo albums and watching tributes to Michael Jackson on CNN. It was kind of drizzly outside so we didn't do many fireworks. We did some sparklers and Ella liked those!

I have a lot of pictures from Texas that I wanted to put on here. They are totally out of order and I don't feel like rearranging them so bear with me.

This pic I took the other day from our bedroom window so there is a screen in front of me, but I thought it was cute. Peter and Ella out weeding...


One of the days in Texas, Peter, Ella, Blake, Paul, Lisa, and I drove to South Padre Island. On the way we stopped at this lighthouse. They were charging $3.00 to go to the top so just Blake and I went. It was pretty cool to see the view, but it was windy...and hot.



Here's Blake going up the last few steps...

And here's us at the top!! Yay!!


Another day, Kathy, Peter, Blake, and I went to Mexico. We parked on the US side of the border and just walked over. If anyone is wondering, it's just a $.60 toll. Going there was pretty easy. Just walked right in. Coming back there was a bit more security! Checked our passports, asked Peter and I whether Ella was our daughter, whether Kathy was Blake's grandmother....weird. But it was an interesting experience. We walked around in what seemed to be the Mexican version of 16th St. Mall. It was very very hot. We ate at a restaraunt that our shuttle driver recommened. It was pretty good. Definitely different than what we are used to though. Two things I noticed. 1. No one had a stoller except Peter and I. Everyone was carrying their kids. The sidewalks were pretty run down so you couldn't really push a stroller very well, but man...it was way too hot to be carrying around those little heat generators!! 2. At the restaraunt there was another little boy and he was just walking around and playing. We let Ella get down and play with him. The boy would go over by the cooks as well. This made me nervous, because here people freak out and want you to "control your kid", but there the cooks would play with the boy and say hi and the waiters seemed fine with Ella and the boy walking around. Peter's brother made the observation that Mexico has much more of a "it takes a village" mentality than the US. Just from that one experience, I'd have to agree. And I have to say that it was a bit refreshing to not be so worried about what other people thought about your kid when really they're just doing stuff that kids do.....walk around and explore.
But that stroller thing totally bothered me!!! I'm thinking...business opportunity anyone?! hehe

One morning Blake and Peter went out on kayaks that the neighbors had so graciously offered to us. Peter and I went out when they were done. It was really fun. Blake and Peter just stayed in the harbor. At first when Blake got in he was a little nervous...I was nervous just watching him. But once he steadied himself, he was great. He figured out how to steer pretty quickly and then he and Peter were off! Peter and I went out to the ocean, we sat for awhile and just took in the view, but when I turned around and realized we had drifted pretty far, I freaked and headed back to the harbor!!

I finally got to meet Blake's and Ella's cousins, Colin and Ciara. How cute they are!! They are the sweetest kids. Colin is so smart and kind. And Ciara is so sweet and funny.
Here's Ella and Colin playing together.

Here's the whole gang.

And of course we had to go the beach. Ella and I only went once. I can't stand all the sand that gets everywhere! But Peter went back a few times with his brother and Blake.

This is a good shot of everyone just hanging out and playing in the sand.

Blake riding some waves.

Ella was very bold. She would just run right out into the water! Kinda scary. And you'd think as much as she dislikes bath time she would have nothing to do with the pool or ocean, but she loved both. Within the first ten minutes of being in the pool Peter had taught her how to put her face in the water!! Crazy kid.

We had a great time in Texas. It was so good to spend time with the whole family. I hope we can all do it again soon.

We had a busy month in June with the trip to Texas and a lot of birthdays. July will be even busier.

While we started off the month on a sad note (a co-worker and friend of Peter's was killed two weeks ago and we attended her funeral last Thursday) we are looking forward to Blake returning from Texas next week!! More birthdays (Venessa, Anna, and Peter), and my sister and Whitney coming in from out of town for the New Kids on the Block concert!!!

Ella was officially 14 months old yesterday. Yay! She is so much fun. She says hi and bye. She kind of says bottle and blankie, but they both sounds the same, it is just whatever she is pointing at. She can also give high fives, and claps when she is excited or if the Rockies are on. She loves to chase us or play hide and seek. She is still not a huge fan of bathtime, or getting her hair combed. She now has seven teeth! All of a sudden three came in at the same time. She wasn't very happy about that, and neither was I! But she's trooper, it was only about two or three days that we would notice that she was unusually fussy. She is still a huge fan of any kind of fruit, except cantaloupe and will pretty much try anything we give her.

She has another check up at 15 months, and that's just right around the corner! Crazy!!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!