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| And we are off! We have made it to Dulles, parked our car, dragged our things to the shuttle stop and are awaiting our shuttle to the airport - we have a long way to go, but are excited for VACATION! |
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| With two under three, this is how we roll. |
This month we embraced the crazy and finally made our way back down to Florida for a wonderful, whirlwind visit with friends and family! It was lovely and an additional, beautiful bonus was getting to spend time together as a family as well, I love vacation so much! Daniel has returned to Florida for work several times, but I had not returned since I was 16ish weeks pregnant with Hannah, when I had flown back to present at the state social studies conference in October of 2013, very shortly after our move to Maryland. For our trip to Florida, we cashed in our long postponed tickets to the Chicago baby-moon that the 2016 DC Snowpocalypse had obliterated and put it all towards taking our sweet family of four on an adventure.
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| Not only are we delayed, but they are kicking us off the plane. No bueno. |
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| herrrrro, airlines, get it together please... |
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| Back on the plane! We are going to Florida after all! :-D |
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| Hannah doing more than our share in Orlando! |
The whole six day trip was wonderful and we split time between Orlando and Melbourne, but barely fit in the moderately ambitious plans that we had - and definitely missed catching up with many, many friends. But, still, it was a lovely trip and we even took one day and adventured to Disney, so that Hannah could meet her most obsessed about character - Elsa (from the movie Frozen). We were realistic about what we could manage and didn't even attempt the Magic Kingdom too (really in terms of Disney, we barely scratched the surface...but it wasn't even the main goal of the trip) - but we did meet Elsa and for Hannah, it was pure magic.
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| so so excited to meet Elsa - she's waiting in line (newly soaked from Florida showers), super excited |
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| giddy doesn't even cut it! :) |
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| giving one last glance to Elsa on our way out :) |
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| enjoying our lovely ride - and mickey mouse chocolate popsicles |
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| fountains at Epcot |
And then there was watching our girls interact with our friends and family and just getting to catch up with such dear people who had been such a central part of our lives for so many years! It was wonderful to get to pick things up where we had left off and enjoy everyone's company so easily. We even managed to meet up with former students who had two daughters just a few months younger than Hannah and Lily respectively and enjoy strolling through the Melbourne zoo with them.
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| Our mornings are so often rushed and crazy - after getting in after such a harried trip down, it was so nice to have a lazy morning with Chris and Natalie and some sweet snuggle time with these girls :) |
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| Hannah and Lily got some bonding time too! |
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| they loved Aunt Marsha! |
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| meeting up with Paige and her sweet girls at the zoo! |
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| Enjoying the zoo...and time with mommy |
And, for Hannah, the beach and the Melbourne coastline was an instant hit. She found the edge of the water enchanting and both girls had a great time at the pool. And! It was also wonderful just have time away from the daily grind and to get to spend time together as a family. It was all just really wonderful!
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| beach time! |
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| it took a few minutes, but Hannah was a huge fan! |
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| those cheeks!!! :) OMG |
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| pool escapades with daddy |
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| staying warm with mom by the pool |
Since we have gotten home from Florida, Hannah continually states that she wants to go home. After our first full day back in routine, I was tucking Hannah into bed and she was begging to go home.
When I explain, “honey, we are home,”
Hannah will exclaim “No! Go other people’s homes, different houses!!!”
Me: “So you want to visit Chris and Natalie? Or Uncle Bill and Aunt Marsha? Or Brie and Thomas and our Florida friends?
Hannah: “Yes!!”
Me: Aww, Hannah, you have a travel bug like mommy and daddy!
Hannah: *eyes wide* “No trouble, no trouble”
Me: *gently laughing* “aww, no, not trouble, TRAV-EL. Mommy and daddy and Hannah and Lily are travelers. We like to explore and go to different places and travel around the world.
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| princesses celebrating A's special birthday! |
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| evening shenanigans and snuggles |
Additional Hannah musings from our almost-three-year-old daughter:
When we say that we love Hannah, she replies “I love you too much!” instead of “I love you so much” or “I love you too”... I love it!
Hannah insists that “Mommy loves Daddy, Daddy loves Mommy, Hannah loves Lily, Lily loves Hannah, Chance loves Holly, Holly loves Chance”
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| Our beautiful winter snowflake at the winter show...who sang the first song...and then ran off stage because she hated the second song... |
Hannah asks “Why” frequently now - and when you call her on asking it so many times in a row that it’s ridiculous, she just bursts out laughing.
Hannah also loves to say “it’s delicious!!!” and “I’m ridiculous” ...and it seems so funny somehow to hear more complex words come out of her mouth.
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| Olaf was at the winter fest at Hannah's preschool |
Hannah tells Lily “you're bokay" over and over and over when Lily starts crying and hovers over her like a mother hen.
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| the new bookshelf/reading seat, that has been a hit |
Lily our excited wiggler and big time snuggler:
At 10 months, Lily has more and more personality almost every day. She wiggles and shows her excitement by bouncing up and down with her entire body. She’s an AMAZING snuggler - when you pick her up she cuddles right into you - with her arms and by tucking her head into my shoulder in the sweetest way. For weeks already she also has understood the phrase “no.” She can be heading over to the dog food and can reach for it, and I can say “Lily no” and she already stops, turns and looks at me… (her face usually then crumples into a protesting cry, acting as if her feelings are horribly hurt that I said no). We started the month out with her second front tooth allllmost breaking through and have ended this month with almost six teeth. In a single week we went from 3 teeth to 5 to alllllmost 6!
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| they loved their new sweaters from Aunt Betsy! |
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| oh that dimple! |
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| Lily @ 10 months |
As we end nine and reach month ten, Lily seems longer and leaner and when she crawls it’s much more coordinated, fast and aggressive. She climbs stairs and is standing to cruise way more steadily now - usually only holding on with one hand. After a really stormy, tumultuous week with Lily, it was suddenly as if the dark and stormy had never happened, the clouds cleared and our daughter was ever-so-suddenly the happiest baby you have ever seen. All smiles and giggles and whole body bouncing up and down with excitement.
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| I believe Hannah demanded we take this picture as she exclaimed, "family time!!!" |
