July Photo Catch-Up

Once again I find myself at the end of another month and wonder how it happened. Here's where some of our July has gone:

A girl and her duck -- the love story continues.

Spending a (rare) cool morning at the zoo hanging out with the lions.

(On a side note, I still adore those pigtails!)

A co-worker from my old job in Texas happened to be in town for work with her husband and daughter so our two families met for dinner. It was so good to see you (and the family), Jeri!

The hard reality of swimming lessons. I'll write a full post on the ups and downs of swimming lessons when we finish them at the end of the week, but this pretty much sums it up so far.

Bring on August!

Thank You, Swimming Lessons

After learning how to climb out of the pool at her swim lessons, Ellie brought her new-found skill home and applied it to climbing up on the couch. This photo is also known as me almost having a heart attack every time Ellie narrowly misses falling off when flopping around. Now we are working on a new skill -- sitting down while on the chair, so the books in the picture are a ploy towards that end (working about 45% of the time).

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

That crazy monsoon from a couple Sundays ago left behind one casualty -- the big tree in our front yard had to be cut down. Ellie and I came home from running errands one day last week to find a tree stump where our big tree had been and it's left me feeling quite exposed through our front two windows, though I did catch wind that we're supposed to get a new, more mature tree in its place.

At least someone has been kept entertained by all the rain (we have been, too!).

First Day of Swimming Lessons!

Just Peachy

The GREAT(!) Outdoors

I feel lately that in all my posts I have been complaining about how hot is has been here recently. While yes it has been pretty unbearable, the monsoon season has brought with it some cooler, albeit more humid, temperatures. We got a nice break from the heat last Wednesday so Ellie and I spent the entire morning outdoors, the most time we've spent outside in quite a while!

After breakfast, we made a trip to the park.

Go figure her favorite thing at the park would be the duck.

The rest of our morning was spent in the backyard, Ellie in her bathing suit playing with her water table (for almost TWO whole hours!) and me watching her while enjoying a surprisingly cool breeze under the shade.

Ellie also had her first taste of cherries.

Which she found delicious, and subsequently got all over her. 

Ellie also discovered the joys of playing with rocks and dirt.

She also discovered that mommy doesn't like her taking dirt out of the potted plants. Posting this next picture might seem a little insensitive, but it is a perfect example of what Ellie does these days when she isn't getting her way -- and it cracks me up. If I tell her "no" in response to something potentially dangerous she's doing or when I tell her it's time to leave when she doesn't want to go, first she'll challenge me by sitting down. If I try to pick her up or take her hand, she'll lay down on the ground in the ultimate toddler protest.

This is how she reacted when I told her she couldn't play in the plants anymore (see the dirt on her hands? So guilty!).

I'll say this much -- she certainly keeps me on my toes...

... but those eyes get me every time!

Monsoon Madness

Monsoon season (or how Brian puts it, "What people in the rest of the country call 'rain'") is in full swing here, but on Sunday afternoon we experienced what was probably the most intense monsoon since we moved to Tucson. It rolled in as most typical monsoons do: late in the afternoon, usually from the south/southwest. We had the front door open since the temperature was dropping and a nice breeze was coming in. Ellie would have stood at the front door with the wind blowing through her hair the whole time, but when the wind started really picking up, we shut the doors and windows, closed the blinds and sat it out, listening to the rain and occasional thunder. The wind was howling more than it normally does, so Brian peeked out the front window to see the tree in our front yard blowing over towards the house! The storm lasted about twenty minutes and after it had passed, we ventured outside to see if there had been any damage.

The trees in our front yard had blown over, but that was about it. However, things could have been much worse -- our corner neighbor's trampoline was picked up by the wind, hit the house next to them (putting a gash in the stucco and knocking the a/c unit off its concrete pad) before ending up in a pile on the street over from us! Thankfully it didn't go through a window or hurt anyone! 

Our neighborhood has plastic fencing (classy, right?), so a lot of the plastic planks had blown out of peoples fences and were strewn all over the place. There were lots of downed tree branches, stray garbage cans and we lost power for about four hours (forcing us out for dinner), but it came on right after we put Ellie to bed. An exciting Sunday if you ask me!

"Hey La, Hey La, My 'Boyfriend's' Back!"

Look who was back in town! 

Brent, who we jokingly refer to as Ellie's "boyfriend" because she gets all googly-eyed around him, was back in Tucson just for the past week to tie up loose ends at work before heading back east. We met him for dinner last Monday evening and then had him over for dinner Friday night. Ellie was giving Brent flirty looks all through dinner on Monday (and that's not even as flirty as she usually gets!).

Our girl was delighted to see him, and don't tell Sara, but I think Brent was, too. :)

Saying So Long to the Cunninghams

Our week in Coronado served as the perfect distraction from the fact that our very good friends here in Tucson, the Cunninghams, left for their new assignment on the East Coast while we were out of town. We met Brent and Sara through Sara's brother who is also in the Air Force. At the time he and Brian were attending the same university: Brian was getting his Master's and Sara's brother was getting his PhD. After completing his program, Brian was assigned to San Antonio and the following year, Sara's brother also moved to the area. When we got our assignment to Tucson, he put us in touch with Brent and Sara, who gave us a place to stay during our house hunt and we all immediately hit it off. I also stayed with them when I came out to Tucson two weeks before Brian later that summer, and in the course of that time Sara and I became fast friends. 

Between our two families, we've been through three deployments and the birth of three children in as many years as we've been here together! Sara became my closest friend here in the Southwest and I feel so blessed to have met someone with whom I share so much in common.

When I was admitted to the hospital while pregnant with Ellie, Sara was the first person I called; she brought me some essentials from home and picked my mom up from the airport late the next night. She even threw me a baby shower after I was discharged but still at home on bedrest! She was so supportive throughout a scary and uncertain situation that I felt like she and Ellie shared a special bond -- it's no wonder Brian and I asked her to be Ellie's godmother!

In the midst of packing up their house we had the Cunninghams over for dinner the last few nights before we left for the coast, which I told them it was purely for selfish reasons as we wanted to see them as much as we could before they left.

As they were heading out the door, Braden and Ellie even gave each other a hug -- sort of.

Awww.

That's one of the downsides to military life: you make wonderful friends, but eventually there comes a time when you have to bid those friends farewell. Thank goodness for cell phones and FaceTime, but we're still holding out hope to be assigned together again down the road!

Four Years On, Still Going Strong

Suffice it to say, without him this humble little blog about life with our daughter wouldn't exist!

Happy Anniversary to the man who laughs at all my corny jokes, is a fantastic dad, and after fours years of wedded bliss still sweeps me off my feet!

Best Ikea Purchase EVER

Especially considering it's far too hot to play outside!

Our Week in Coronado

We fled the Tucson heat the last week of June and escaped to San Diego. We've eagerly been anticipating a return after last year's debacle and rented a house on Coronado Island with our good friends and their daughter. They also happen to be the same friends who introduced Brian and I and are my very close friends from high school. 

Our house was gorgeous and all decked out for the July 4th festivities!

And what started out as a vacation with just our two families ended up being even better when the stars aligned and two more of the guys' college friends were able to join us for the first few days of our vacation! The only ones missing were Jess (who was supposed to come but at the last minute couldn't make it) and Jenny, but it is the first time we've had just about everyone in one place since Brian and I got married almost four years ago! Altogether, there were eleven of us (four of whom were children) in the house over the weekend and it was a blast.

There was Dom (pictured with Ellie)...

... Travis, Melissa, Isaac and Julianne ("Juju" -- I just love her nickname!)...

... the Ryan, Lauranell (our matchmakers) and Dagny...

... and our little family (with an overenthusiastic mom and child who didn't want to look at the camera)!

There was a lot of catching up and introducing each other to all the kids.

Who really enjoyed playing with each other.

Mostly we just hung out, enjoying the house and great company.

The only really eventful thing we did over the weekend was go to the beach and in the process found out that Ellie is a true beach bum who loves the sand and incidentally got it everywhere.

Her face is just covered in sand!

She didn't care about that fact until it came time for her bath later that evening -- not fun trying to scrub all that sand off her little body. 

We got a great group shot before the kids went to bed (notice Travis holding a picture of Jess and Jenny).

After Dom and the Russells left on Sunday, we spent the morning walking to the ferry landing on the opposite side of the island, stopping for lunch on the way back to the house. We spent the afternoon sitting on the patio enjoying the cool breeze with the windows and doors open... oh, how we have missed being able to keep the windows open, especially at night!

Brian read the girls a few books in the morning.

  

Playing with Lincoln Logs that Lauranell bought at a garage sale (who graciously split halfway with us so we could bring some home). 

Dagny is nine months older than Ellie and it was so much fun to watch them interacting with each other.

On Monday, we walked to the Hotel del Coronado and enjoyed their delicious breakfast buffet. We forgot Ellie's bib, but made do. :)

We spent Tuesday morning at Sea World. My family used to go every summer when I was a kid and I have been so excited to share the experience with Ellie. Lauranell and I also got to ride one of the roller coasters together -- something we haven't done in years (one of us was either pregnant or had a new baby)!Waiting in line for Manta. Not the craziest ride we've been on, but not bad for our first coaster after kids! Can you tell I'm excited?

We saw beluga whales.

Of course we had to catch the Shamu show.

Other Sea World adventures.

Wednesday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was so quiet that we felt like the only ones there!

There were a few nights when we gave our girls their bath together -- the cuteness was almost too much to handle.

We also came to the realization that meeting friends for vacation is the only way to travel because we were able to trade off watching each other's kids so we could each go on a date. Wednesday night, Brian took me downtown to an amazing Spanish tapas bar, where we drank a pitcher of the most delicious sangria I've ever tasted and devoured some equally yummy tapas.

My handsome hubby (who grew out some whiskers while on vacation!).

As if tapas wasn't enough, we walked over to the Ghiradelli store/restaurant and shared a hot fudge sundae. Then we drove to Silver Strand State Park and walked the beach while the sun set. Very cliché but wonderfully perfect.

Thursday, our last full day, was "friend date" day. The guys played racquetball in the morning and Lauranell and I went out later that afternoon while our girls napped.

We went out for lunch and afterwards I introduced my best friend to the magic of Ikea.

I swear the place is a time warp because what seemed like ten minutes after I checked my watch at one point was more like an hour! We spent well over three hours there and almost missed meeting the guys and kids for dinner! Needless to say, she's an Ikea fanatic.

Other miscellaneous vacation photos.

A truly wonderful vacation with such dear friends -- we kept commenting the whole time that we should do it more often. On Friday morning, we packed up the car and started the long drive home. 

Two weeks later I'm still suffering the effects of post-vacation blues, in denial that it was over so soon but also because it has been so mercilessly hot here lately. However, it seems monsoon season is finally upon us (we've had rain four times in the last week), so that should provide some much-needed relief -- or just higher humidity (ugh). When can we get back to the coast?