Miss independent

Last week, Mom, Bobbi and Dido took me to Pennsylvania for Ukrainian American Cultural Festival at Tryzubivka, celebrating Ukrainian Independence Day (Dad and Henry stayed behind). It was great fun. I filled my belly with pyrohy (pierogies) and was riveted watching the men and women perform on the stage.


Bobbi seemed to really enjoy it too.


One of the day's highlights was spending time with my Aunt Halina and cousin Michael, whom I haven't seen since my one-year birthday.


As you can tell from his photo, I liked playing with Uncle Michael a lot! Come visit me again soon!

Meeting Melanie and Kylie

Last week I met two new friends: Melanine and her younger sister Kylie, who came to visit with Mom's friend Betsy. It was really nice to hang around with not one but two girls, though I'm still a bit hung up on the fact that one of them touched my hairbrush.

Henry liked seeing them too. He really seemed to bask in all the attention, especially when they played with his little piggies:



You saw me push his swing quite high in that video; I can't help myself, even though Mom and Dad always tell me to be careful with him. I want him to go as high as I do when I'm swinging!

Shall we dance?

One of these days, I'm going to learn to crawl and/or walk so I might be able to flee whenever Julia comes after me. But until then, I'm stuck being Julia's dance partner, plaything or whatever else strikes her fancy when I'm trapped in my papasan seat.

Getting my goat

Before Wildwood, before Sesame Place and before visiting Grandma and Grandpa, I went back to Pauline's farm with Bobbi and Dido. It was so nice spending time with my friends like Hockey the dog and Ellie May the goat (who's pregnant! Pauline said I could name one of her offspring, so I picked "Angelina." Great name, right!). So here's a look at some of the photos from our visit, which included hiking with Bobbi, Dido and Pauline, eating blackberries and catching up with Hockey and Ellie May.











I can't wait to go back for another visit, and meet Angelina!

Worth the wet

Before we went to Wildwood and Sesame Place, we were down at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which gave me a chance to spend some more time in the pool. To be honest, I had so much fun the rest of the week that I completely forgot about this, but I loved making big splashes and playing with all the pool toys.



When we came back to Grandma and Grandpa's after Sesame Place, I felt bad that Henry couldn't come with us to Sesame Place - though he seemed very happy to play with his rattle and coo - so I brought him a T-shirt and hat. I think he liked it!

Girl and boy gone Wildwood — and gone home

You've seen my Wildwood photos, and Julia's Wildwood photos, but nothing much of us together. So for our final Wildwood post, we wanted to share a few photos of us posing together at the hotel.



When we finally got home, there was lots of laundry to be done. Julia decided to help Mom and Dad out with the laundry, while I hung out in the papasan seat. Take a look:



What's up with Julia's accent? "DOY-dee"? Come on, who talks like that?

I hope you enjoyed all our Wildwood photos this past week. We can't wait to go back next year!

One trimester down!

I'm three months old today. That means I'm done with my first trimester! Wait a minute, do we not count by trimesters anymore now that I'm not in Mom's belly? Oh well, the three-month mark is still a big deal. As I've mentioned a few times, I've been learning several "big boy" things in the last couple weeks, like holding my head up (I don't completely have the hang of it yet, but I'm doing pretty darn good), "standing" (with lots of help) and feasting on my thumb and fist. Plus, I'm more observant and wide-eyed then ever!



Here's video of me going to town on my fist:



Speaking of trimesters, don't I look a bit preggers here myself?



We still have a few Wildwood odds and ends to wrap up after the weekend. See you then!

Boy gone Wildwood

I'm sure you've been wondering what I was up to while Julia was frolicing on the beach and the boardwalk. I spent most of my time in the hotel, but there was always someone like Bobbi or Grandma to keep me occupied.



I also slept a lot (at night at least). I slept through the night every single night we were there, getting up like clockwork at 6:30.


I hung out on the couch alot...


And practiced gnawing on my thumb and fist, which is a new talent of mine.


I also practiced smiling, which I'm great at!


And when Julia was out and about, I played with her toys just like she does with mine. If she knew what I was up to, she'd have such a fit!


Since I couldn't spend much time on the beach, I had to model my cute beach outfit indoors.


I also spent lots of time in the swing, which was a great place to work on my rattle skills.



Here's my Wildwood video, which includes a look at how Dido makes me smile, an update on my drooling progress and a glimpse at my fist-chomping skills:

Girl gone Wildwood, everything else

Wrapping up my portion of the Wildwood blogging before Henry takes over, I had a few more odds and ends to share with you. Bobbi and Dido were with us the whole week, which was really nice of them.


Grandma and Grandpa came up for the last two days, and I convinced Grandma to let me use her makeup.



Pretty cute, huh?

Okay Henry, take it away...

Girl gone Wildwood, on the boardwalk

I did more on the boardwalk than just go on rides! Every day I made sure that Mom and Dad took me to the big Wildwood sign and the beach balls, so I could play on and around them (you saw some of this in the ride video I included in the last post).

One morning, Mom and Dad rented a special bike, which had room for me in the front seat, and we rode up and down the entire boardwalk. Mom and Dad weren't sure whether I'd like it or not, but I really did!


And one night, after going on the rides, Mom played one of the boardwalk games, and won me something very special...


A pretty horsey that I named Angelina! Thanks, Mom!

Girl gone Wildwood, on the rides

I've been on the carousel dozens of times, and on Sesame Place rides, and even on rides at Wildwood last year, but this trip was the first time that everything clicked for me. Now I've turned into an amusement park junkie like Dad! Every night, we went onto the boardwalk and I excitedly went on ride after ride. Mom and Dad didn't force me on anything; when I got off one ride I told them exactly what I wanted to go on next. And some rides I even went on all by myself! Can you believe it? Lots of kids around me—many of them older than I am—cried on some of the rides, but not me! I loved them all!

Here's a look at several of the rides I braved at Wildwood, including the boats...



And the carousel...


And the cars...


And the crazy bus...


And the swings...



And the airplanes!


You see the roller coaster in the back? I've already told Dad that "when I get older," I'm going to go on the roller coaster with him. I've been practicing screaming like everyone does on the coaster so I'll be all ready for the big day! Let's take a look at video too (at the end, you can see me running around the beach ball "statues" that I like to touch everytime we pass them on the boardwalk):



There's a few other rides I went on as well, like the elephants, the smaller ferris wheel (the cars are the shape of balloons) and the pirate ship that floated around the park. I can't wait to go back next year and take Henry on all of them!

Girl gone Wildwood, on the beach

Henry was still too little to go on the beach, so he stayed behind in the hotel while I went off to the beach. I would only be there for an hour or so every day before heading back to the hotel pool, but I made the most of my time. Take a look at some of my beach photos:


It was Dad's first time on the beach with me, so I was able to convince him to do a lot of things for me, like draw my name in the sand.


I really loved playing with my beach toys.


I made Dad and Mom dig me a hole so I could stand in it.


And then I made them ferry water back and forth from the ocean so I could fill the hole up and splash around in it.


I also enjoyed chasing the seagulls around...and feeding them my Cheerios.


I attracted so many hungry seagulls that Dad was worried it was going to turn into a scene from The Birds.


We did get Henry out on the beach one day for a family photo, but as you saw in Monday's post, getting all of us to smile in the hot sun was easier said than done.


Even though I'm still a bit afraid of the ocean (I like the pool much better, though I liked it when Dad would lift me up and swing my legs in the water to make big splashes), I really do love the beach!