Road Trip

My mom, Eliana and I spent the week of July 4th in New Jersey with my mom's parents and two of her sisters and their families. We had a really nice time. Eliana was very excited to see G.G. and Papa, got especially attached to my Aunt Mary ("Oma, I love your sister Mary...where's Mary?"), and had a really great time playing with my cousin's kids, Clara and David. We missed fireworks last year, so this year was her first real experience with the "bright lights and boom boom that hurt [her] little ears"!

Check out the picasa album for more pictures. Remember, if you have a google account and download the free picasa software from google, you can also download any of my pictures into your account. It's pretty cool. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.perky/July08NJTrip

We have pictures of me and my brothers, about Ellie's age now, posing at these same trees.

Aunt Mary took us to the Bergen County Zoo. We had a fun little train ride around the park and saw some pretty neat animals.

Finally, a Beach Day!

It took me until June 25th to get to the beach this year. And I haven't yet been again. What a shame. Some beach bum I am! I guess I don't deserve that title anymore. I do still love to go to the beach, but it's awfully nice having a pool at home, and so much less effort is required to get to the water! I do feel blessed to live so close to the ocean, though.


My mom, Eliana, and I had a beautiful day. Ellie wasn't too sure about the waves, but she loved the water once we were past them! When I laid on my towel to read a book, Eliana wanted a book too. It was so cute. My little mimic.

Eliana's Announcement

"My mommy has a baby growing in her tummy. That means I'm gonna have a brother or a sister!"

We're, of course, very excited about the new-one due February 16th! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Sleepy Girl

Ever since Eliana started sleeping in her big girl bed, nap times have been a challenge. We're at the point now that they're basically nonexistent. I try to enforce a "rest time" where Ellie has to stay in her room, hopefully in bed. She just reads her books. No napping occurs. My dilema is that she often gets too tired to make it to 7:30 or 8pm.
Cases in point:
-Falling asleep at dinner.

-Falling asleep while on a bike ride.


It has been nice to get her in bed a little earlier (for her that means 8 or 8:30), but it's tricky. Tonight she fell asleep in the car on our way home from a friend's birthday party around 6:00 and slept a couple of hours. When we got home I changed her into her jammies without her even stirring, so I was hoping she'd sleep til tomorrow...but no. We'll see how late we're up tonight!

Stu in St.Petersburg

It took me a while to get this up here, but I wanted to let you see a bit of Stu's trip to Russia. He left June 20th and after some harrowing travel trying to get home, finally did return on the 28th. Check out the picasa web album for more pictures and commentary from Stu, but here are some highlights:
-Working with some great guys.

-Seeing some really cool architecture.


-Marathon dinner. Russians treat dining out quite differently then we do. I like their way! It's an event (at least it was this night with Stu). Everybody ordering food at different times, filling up the table, sharing...for hours!

-Bringing matrioshka (nesting dolls) home for Eliana. (I got a really cool gift too, but Eliana's delight was priceless!)

http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.perky/June20282008StuInStPetersburg

Eliana's New Friend

We're watching Coda for friends of ours, and I've gotta say, aside from the very loud barking and a few new holes in our yard, this is a good dog. She's put up with a lot from Eliana, including getting chased around the house with whatever's available (toy stroller, shopping cart, car). Here, Ellie's trying to put sun glasses on her. Good dog. Of course, she does get plenty of extra helpings from Eliana at meal times...

Swim Lessons!

Eliana, Robertson, and Lauren are getting swim lessons this summer! Last Friday was their first lesson. It was mighty cute seeing them all sitting on the side of the pool and taking turns kicking and blowing bubbles. Hopefully we'll have good little swimmers by the end of the summer!