Guadalupe River Style

Papasita, Grandma Becky, Whitney, the Ingrams and the Kaplans spent a lovely weekend on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville.

A shot of the scenery from earlier this morning.  Now on to the important stuff...

Runa and Vivi have a very special relationship.

 Pretzels and the Lorax = good times.

 The Healds with some awfully cute kids.

Vivi loved her birthday present from Papasita and Grandma Becky.  She's quite a little driver. 

 Group shot.  If you look closely there's an actual Aunt Whitney sighting.

Momma and Reli.

Recent Travels - California

Is anyone still there?  Here are some pics from our recent travels to California.

In the redwoods.

A happy family.

 Banana slug inspection with cousin Ella. 

Downtime with uncle Dan and cousin Eliana.

Poppa's tree.

Happy Girls

I have a lot of catching up to do, but here are some of the latest pictures of our happy girls.

 

 

 

Summer Fun at the Beach

So Much To Report!

A few weeks ago we took an amazing trip to California to visit Grandma and Poppa Kaplan. It was a long overdue trip and I cannot express how wonderful it was for all of us. I can start by saying that Jonathan did not have to work the entire time we were there, which is truly the longest break from work he has had in months. It was divine.

Grandma prepared for our visit. We were all so comfortable and cared for it was wonderful. We also got to spend time with Seth, Kari and Eliana. How lovely! I am so overjoyed that we all had such a great trip. I wish you could have all been there to see how the girls took to California and being with their California family. They were so happy. We wish it could happen more often (but without the plane rides there and back). The girls were good, but it was frankly very exhausting. Here are some photos from our adventure.

One of Aurelia's favorite toys at Grandma and Poppa's was a shape sorting toy that Grandma taught her how to use. Here she is enjoying some incredible time with her beloved Poppa.

Both girls loved every minute they got to spend with Grandma.

Here is Vivi and a very happy Grandma.

Vivi with her Aunt Kari and Uncle Seth

Aunt Kari with cousin Eliana

Aunt Kari and Jonathan took the girls on a walk after a rain one day.

Aunt Kari rescued several worms from drowning.

Aurelia was ecstatic and still talks about the rescue to this day.

The girls with their grandparents

Reli in a beautiful hat she got from her Honey,

modeling her favorite chapstick

(also from Honey).

As promised, here are the retrospective photos from our amazing trip to Odessa to see the girls other grandparents. We are so fortunate to have such incredible people in our kids' lives. Grandma Becky went out of her way to make sure Reli and Vivi had a wonderful time. They did, I can assure you! Here are some pictures from our visit.

For weeks we had told Aurelia that on New Year's we would get to have donuts - a tradition Jonathan and I have started.

Here we are enjoying the long-awaited donuts.

Story time (Ian's face describes how we all felt after

reading/hearing the same story many, many times).

Grandma Becky introduced Reli to the beauty of ornaments.

Reading books with Uncle Ian

The entire West Texas crew:

Grandma Becky and Papasita also took Reli to the mall and she got to ride on the carousel three times! She kept asking for more and they were more than happy to oblige. Fortunately, they had plenty of snacks to sustain our girl on her hour-long outing!

(She has been talking about riding on the carousel for several days recently.

A lasting memory with her grandparents).

Back at home. What happy girls we have!

In other news, Vivianna just turned 4 months old. We had her checkup today and she weighs 13 pounds, 11 ounces and is 24 inches tall. What a healthy girl! She also started sleep training a couple of days ago and said goodbye to her pacifier. She is doing great! What a big girl she is already!

The proud and tired parents.