It is a bridge not an ark !

We all survived the storm of the century!! Mimi was busy building us a new bridge and man was it tested!! We received 6 inches of rain in a few hours and we had plenty of water views!! Mimi's bridge stood the test and remained in place. Isabelle loves her new bridge and loves walking across it and looking into the stream!! Thanks Mimi!!

Visit from AZ girls!

Last week Bethany and Juliana visted us (it was a busy July 4th holiday!). Unfortunately, Amelia couldn't make the trip as she broke her wrist :-(. We had a sleepover and Isabelle loved playing with Juliana. Juliana was so nice to Isabelle and Isabelle clearly looks up (literally) to Juliana (you are so tall!). We went to the playground, had a cookout and had plenty of laughs!! We are looking fwd to seeing the girls next week for Amelia's half birthday!!

Trip to the beach!

Last Sunday Fern, Kelly, Tyler and Julianna joined us at the beach. We all had a great time enjoying the sun. The kids were very well behaved and played at the beach while chasing the seagulls, eating sweets and trying to avoid the cold ocean water! Highlight of the day was Kel's cookies....!!

July 4th!

A few images from our July 4th holiday. We had a great time going to the town block party. Isabelle, Joe and Elise loved eating candy and bouncing in the Bouncy Thing. We then headed North and enjoyed Uncle Bruce's Installation to the Commander of the Post. Isabelle stepped out and chased the ducks away! The weather was super all weekend. We took in the parade from Pete and Christina's house. Isabelle loved the firetrucks, soldiers and especially loved the "family" floats!! A trip to Uncle Joe and Aunt Lisa's house from another party and Isabelle was pooped!!

Father's Day 2009

It is hard to believe that this is the second year that George is celebrating Father's Day as a Dad. Time has been flying by and it has been so fun to watch George and Isabelle grow together. I knew that George was going to be an amazing Dad. But he has grown into an even better Dad than I could have imagined.

George and Isabelle have a very special relationship. She really is a "Daddy's Girl." I am looking forward to watching George handle TWO little girls in a few months. We are lucky to have George in our lives and Isabelle, the little Bean, and I love him very much !!

The other two important men in Isabelle's life are Papa and Grampy (Mimi-Iasbelle recently re-named him Mimi. We have no idea why ?!). Isabelle loves both of you. Thank you for all that you do for her.

The pictures below are from the first few days of Isabelle's life with her Dad, Papa, and Mimi.

Haappy Father's Day to the all of the Father's out there !!

Isabelle and Daddy catching some z's !!

Papa and Isabelle in the rocking chair. When she was little she loved the rocking chair and her swing.

Isabelle and Mimi in the kitchen. We were not allowed to sit down with her for the first few months :)

This weekend we went to Storyland (See the blog entry below). George was a real sport and spent most of his Father's Day in the car. We appreciate this and we owe you a day of sitting on the couch and watching golf all day :)

Two weeks of fun!

On June 10th, Mary and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. WOW time has flied by!! 3 years later brings Mary and I less time to party and more time to parent. It is all worth it!! Yes, Isabelle did get a piece of cake and ice cream after we forced her to take the picture :-)


Fern, Kelly, Julianna and Tyler stopped by last week. The sun actually came out and we were able to go outside and play! Both the kids and adults had lots of fun playing around the house, eating and of course laughing!! We also headed to RI to visit Anthony, Michelle and Eva. Isabelle loved being chased by puppies (sort of?) and playing on the Anthony's giant swing set!!

This past weekend we headed up to NH with the "crew". We visited Storyland and had a great little vacation. I will say I was a bit skeptical about the "fun level" for adults at Storyland but I was proved wrong. Much like the Simpsons TV show, both adults and kids will have a good time at Storyland. Mary and I started our weekend with a trip to Friendly's and we all enjoyed our "happy ending" ice cream sundaes.The "cousin crew" - Felix, Grace, Danny, Koda, Frank and Isabelle!! Missing from the photo is Matt and Will. They were busy prepping for Disney World!! Isabelle milking a "moo moo cow" at Storyland.......that is water not milk and the cow isn't real for those who are wondering :-)

Isabelle "obeying" the rules at Storyland :-).....yes we were about 40 feet in the air and Miss "Fearless" is standing up while we enjoy the aerial view of the park!

Isabelle "oink oinking" at the pigs.....

Isabelle and Felix calling their friend from the hotel!! Believe they were caught saying "We are at Storyland and we are eating candy and sweets. We have gone to bed every night past our normal bedtime and are driving our parents crazy. Wish you were here!"

Nana and her "girls" at the pool!

Mary, Isabelle and the "little bean" making some waves in the pool. Isabelle is getting much better at the pool. We hope when the sun finally comes out we will convince Isabelle that she indeed does love the pool, swimming and of course splashing. She loves her tubby but still can't understand that the pool is just a "giant tubby".

A special thanks to Nana and Papa for organizing this yearly trip. We enjoyed our first Storyland trip and can't wait till next year. It will be twice as fun with Isabelle and the "little bean"!!

A Very Summery Weekend

Grampy and Grampy (Mimi) stopped by for a visit and tested out the new picnic table they got for Isabelle. She loves to eat and play outside at her table. Thank you Grammy and Mimi !!

I had a serious craving for pancakes on Saturday morning. So my little helper and I had a great time making blueberry and chococlate chip pancakes !!

Isabelle and Mimi being silly.

Isabelle practicing "Baggo." Next summer she will be ready to play with the rest of the Ramblewood crew.

Isabelle and Daddy dancing at Uncle Eddy's graduation party. She loves jazz music and of course she loves dancing with Daddy :) They both like to make funny faces while they dance !!

Isabelle and Toni. We had a great time at the party. Toni really knows how to throw a party !!

Isabelle, Daddy, and Uncle Eddy. We are so proud of Uncle Eddy for graduating from Harvard. He is an inspiration to all of us. We assume he will be going for his Master's degree soon !!

As you can see from this picture, Isabelle is more interested in Eddy's cake, than his accomplishment :)

We had a play date with the Scott, Erika, Anna, Ricki, Erika, and Ruby on Sunday. Isabelle had fun hanging with Ricki and Ezra.

Isabelle and Anna had so much fun on the slides, swings, and in the sandbox. They spent all morning playing together.

This picture is of everyone, except Erika (she was taking the picture). Ruby was a very well behaved dog. She became the "rock star" of the playground. All of the kids wanted to pet her and say hi. (And oh ya, I look really pregnant).

Sunday was a picture perfect day. After our play date we played outside and tried to get Isabelle used to her little pool.

She didn't love the pool. But she did love her new sandals and really enjoyed running around chasing bees in the yard.

It is officially summer because the soft top has been put on the jeep. Senior helped George take off the hard top and put on the soft top. What should have been a really fun event was turned sour when we realized that field mice had feasted on the soft top during the winter. But George made the best of it and still put the soft top on and used some duct tape to fill the holes. He was a real tropper and he turned lemons into lemonade !! Again, Isabelle was a little helper. You can see her inspecting the boy's work in the right hand corner of the picture.