Back to the beach

A year again, when we went to Wildwood, I was only a few months old and was basically stuck in our room — and far away from the sun — all week long. My beach time consisted solely of the few seconds it took to snap this photo (and as you can see, I was none too happy about it!):


Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. We're going back to Wildwood on Sunday, and I think I'm going to enjoy this year's vacation a whole lot more!

I'm sure Julia and I will have lots to talk about when we get back. Until then, I've prepared a couple of posts that will go live next week during our vacation, so be sure to check back here then.

In a Jiffy

I love popcorn, even though I usually only eat it during my 60-second cameos at movie theaters. But Mom recently brought home something really cool: Jiffy Pop popcorn, which she and Dad used to have when they were kids. Take a look at how she made it, and watch me flip-flop between being excited—and completely terrified:



Mmmm, delicious!


Thanks Mom!

Rainbow bright

Jonathan and Saffron visited us over the weekend, and Henry and I had a great time joining forces with them to run buck wild all over the house and backyard. It was another hot day, so we cooled off in pool and the sprinkler.

Look at the pretty rainbow that the sprinkler made!


Henry also had a good time getting wet.



Here's a quick video of our wet backyard fun.

Shiner on

I got myself something special for my 14-month birthday: my very first shiner. I was scurrying around holding some books, and then I fell, and the books whacked me just below my eye. Babcia and Dido took me to the doctor's, but he said it was just an abrasion. The next day I had a shiner, though it doesn't look quite so bad in these photos.


Here's a video of me with my shiner:



Thankfully it's already cleared up...though given how active I am, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it happens again.

Did you notice how good I've gotten at throwing things? I'll talk more about that next week...

Playing with fireflies

I get very excited when dusk approaches, because that means I can go outside and look for fireflies!

Fair thee well

Last weekend we went to the annual carnival and street fair thrown by one of the churches in town. They had some rides, and they didn't let grownups on which meant that Henry couldn't go either. So that left me solo to go on the plane...


And the car...


And the purple Jeep!


After the rides, I tried a fishing game for kids that Mom helped me out with.


After I got the hang of it I tried fishing myself and did pretty good! But not as good as Mom, who played one of the grownup games where you have to knock all the bottles off a platform. She got it on the first try, and won me a purple dog that I named Courtney. I sleep with her every night!

Later on, we got to watch as they brought out a statue of the Virgin Mary, which they parade through the streets each year. There's a tradition where they put dollars and flowers on the statue as it goes by.

And of course, how could I forget to mention the funnel cake? At least that was something that Henry could enjoy too. Here's a video of our day:



(By the way, the title of this blog also refers to the fact that I keep misprouncing a line in "Polly Wolly Doodle," one of my favorite Dan Zanes songs. The line is "fare thee well," but whenever I sing along I keep saying "Ellie-well" instead.)

Have a great weekend!

Gift basket

I try to play with literally everything in the house — except for my actual toys, that is. I emptied everything out of this big basket so I could play around inside, and Julia jumped at the chance to join me.




Here's a video from our fun:

Oh, SuzyQ

Over the weekend we took our annual trip to SuzyQ — also known as Soyuzivka, the Ukrainian resort in upstate NY where Mom went to camp every summer — for their big Ukrainian festival. There was so much for Henry and me to do: we listened to live music, saw dancing, munched on pyrohy (pierogies, for the non-Ukies) and shopped for Ukrainian items like Matryoshka dolls (which I was very excited to get) and flags (which Henry couldn't keep his hands off of). Best of all, we beat the heat on what was a really hot day by hanging out in the baby pool, which was so shallow that even Henry could walk around in it.

We were so busy that there wasn't any time to take pictures, but Dad did put together this video of our day.

Teacup time

After I got Kitty Gaga, I celebrated by taking her for a spin on the mall carousel. We went on the teacup, which is my favorite thing to ride on the carousel at the moment (as long as Mom or Dad doesn't spin me around too much). Wheeeeeeee!

Have a great weekend!

Hello, Kitty!

For my birthday, Nia got me a giftcard to Build-a-Bear Workshop, so I could create my very own teddy bear. Last weekend, Mom and Dad finally took me to redeem my giftcard. I chose a limited edition Hello Kitty-themed teddy bear.


After I made my pick, it was time to stuff her, and I got to operate the pedal on the machine to fill her up with stuffing.


After she was stuffed and sewn up, I picked out an outfit for her (purple, of course!), and Mom got her dressed for me.


Then she hung out with Henry for a bit while Mom and I worked on her birth certificate.



While I filled out her birth certificate, I needed to pick a name for her. I suggested "Me," then "Pink" (which Dad said didn't make sense because she was dressed in purple), then "Purple," and finally Dad came up with the perfect name: Kitty Gaga!


I love you, Kitty Gaga! (And thanks for the gift, Nia!)

Walking the walk

I haven't given you guys an update on my walking skills since I took my first steps, and now that a couple weeks have passed, I'd say that I'm now walking more than 90 percent of the time (and crawling the other 10 percent).


I've gotten really good at it, as you can see in this video (which also shows me playing a bit with Julia.) Yes, I still fall randomly, but what do you expect from someone who's only been walking for two weeks?



And yes, in case you were wondering, Hurricane Henry did visit the house before the video was shot.

Tastes like chicken pox

I was sad that I wasn't able to meet up with Nia during the July 4 parade (parade traffic and the heat kept us apart that day)...until she found out a couple days later that she had chicken pox! Talk about dodging a bullet! Feel better Nia, and I look forward to playing with you again when the chicken pox goes away.

Jewelry district

Whenever I visit Grandma and Grandpa, I go almost immediately for their big box of costume jewelry and start modeling necklaces, bracelets, glasses and rings.


This last trip was the first time that Henry was interested in jewelry too. Nice necklace, Henry!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Pooling our resources

Whew, what a HOT week this has been! Good thing that Julia and I have been keeping cool. When we visited Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend, they filled up their pool so we could take a dip.

Julia and I kept trying to drink the poolwater, but Dad would let us. He's no fun! Then again, he did help me slide into the pool, so I guess he's not so bad after all.

Marley and me

When we visited Grandma and Grandpa last weekend, Dad and I stopped by to see baby Marley, who was born to his friends Sara and Don just five days earlier. She was so adorable!


I loved blowing her kisses and touching her tiny feet!

Fighting fireworks

So for the first time in years, they didn't set off fireworks in the park around the corner from us, which meant that we couldn't watch the show from our backyard. So Mom took me to the baseball stadium a mile away, where the show was relocated to this year. As I mentioned yesterday, I got nervous a minute into the show and made Mom take me home, but I had lots of fun up until then!

Hip, hip...parade!

I bolted from the fireworks display Mom and Babcia took me to after just a couple minutes, but I happily stayed for the entire Independence Day parade, which was actually held on July 5 this year.

I was reunited with my friend Dora, after the Dora that I got at last year's parade met an untimely demise last fall. I was very happy to see her again!


Henry still has to learn that waving the flag is not the same as eating the flag!


The parade was loooooong, with several gaps where nothing was going on, so Henry and I amused ourselves.


Between the heat and the long morning, Henry eventually drifted off to sleep.


Babcia and Dido came to watch the parade with us (along with Jonathan and Saffron, who got sleepy too and left part of the way through).



Thanks for taking us to the parade, Mom! It was even more fun than last year's!


After the parade, we went to the park for activities and food. I went on the bouncy castle twice, and Henry had almost as much fun watching me through the window of the bouncy castle as Dad "bounced" him too.

Here's a video of us at the parade. Because of the heat, we're not as animated as usual, but you'll see me perk up when Spider-Man makes his way down the street (I loved seeing him last year too).



Until next year's parade!

Going Fourth

Hi there. I know that Julia and I didn't post much last week, but we'll be making up for it this week, starting off with these belated Happy Fourth of July greetings. We went down to Grandma and Grandpa's to kick off the holiday weekend, and Grandma got us in the patriotic spirit but giving us some flags to wave. It was enough to make Julia break out into song:



We've got more Independence Day highlights for you later in the week!