Lily's First Boatride!

 My dad got a new pontoon boat!  It sure is nice for taking out the little ones!  Here are some pictures from Lily's first trip on a boat- last Tuesday.  She did better than I expected with having a life jacket on!

 Lily and her Grandpa

My nephew Vinny

Hiking in White Water

 Last week my mom and I went hiking in White Water went up to Chimney rock.  I hadn't been out hiking here in many years- but it is just as I remembered it!  AND- there were a bunch of tadpoles in the crick! Lily loved the walk, but I have decided she is getting too big for the front pack, and I ordered a backpack to carry her in.  When it arrives I should be able to go much further- and it has a little sun shade so I don't have to be so careful to stay in the shade.  My skin is truly the palest it has ever been in July....I am starting to get a bit tan though, and my freckles are definitely out!

I love this little manatee onesie she got from Steve and Judy Smith.  I don't think they knew how much I love manatees! She has little manatee socks to go with it, but they are a bit big yet and keep falling off.
Lily seemed to like the feel of the grass, and off course loved pulling it out.

First time in the Pool

Today was Lily's first time going in the pool...though she has been in the river 4 times now.  She loved it!!!  Since her time in the river this weekend, when her daddy held her up to her waist or more in the water, she has just loved it.  She loves sitting in people's arms and kicking her legs in the water.  Today she got really excited when I would start walking into the water, and she even started to splash in it for the first time- waving her arms around and splashing herself in the face a few times.

Katie, Aidan and Alaina are visiting from Missouri this week, and Trina, Chris, Vinny and Joey just left after visiting this last week.  It was a lot of fun to meet baby Joey, just one month younger than Lily.  He is a pretty content baby....and I hadn't seen Vincent in almost a year- he has definitely changed a LOT!  He seemed to really enjoy the water when we went out on the river last Tuesday and Sunday.  Today, as I mentioned I went to the pool with Katie and the kids- and Aidan passed the swimming test to jump off the diving board and go in the deep end. After that we hung out at Mom's house for awhile and got food from Winona Gardens and Jim came up and joined us.  Then Katie and Mom watched Lily for us and we got out to Freemont to do some work out there.  Jim fixed the air conditioner and worked on the hot water and I planted a couple azalea bushes, asiatic lilies, picked up sticks and pulled some weeds.  We got a couple hours of free time which felt really nice.  As much as I love hanging out with Lily all day during the summer, a little bit of time away is probably good for both of us....and I definitely got more done not bringing her out with us.  Tomorrow we are meeting up with Clare and Anne and Chris for breakfast....so we are getting a lot of visiting in this first part of July.  Soon Elisabeth is coming into town as well after visiting with her dad.  I am so excited to see her again! I love having so much company =)  Good thing I have summers off!!

Lily- 4 months

I had Jim bring home his nice camera from work, and I tried to get some good pictures of Lily......She is now 41/2 months old!

I also took her into JC Pennys to get some professional pictures, and then last night I went to a cancer benefit for a sibling of one of my students and I won a $150 gift certificate to a photo studio! Since we just had her pictures taken I will wait a couple months, but I am pretty excited about that!

We have been on summer vacation for 2 weeks now....mostly I have been cleaning out my storage shed, and getting rid of things.  Lily had her first dip in a lake- at Lake Wazee- when we went to Black River falls to apply for her passport.  Today we are headed to Jaeliah's 5th birthday party.  Lily is quite the social girl- loving social events and lots of people.  On Friday we went to the kiddie parade in Winona and she thought it was great- laughing at the kids going by. At the benefit yesterday, she was laughing at the guitar music.  She is one smiley little girl!  And this week she has finally started to take real naps!!  Maybe it is just a growth spurt and she is tired out, but it is great!  She has been sleeping for a 1-2 hour stretch each day!...even a couple times a day sometimes! This little girl typically does not nap long during the day- but she has been sleeping wonderfully at night for quite a while now.

Lily's Trip to Alaska

I am way behind on my updates.....I see I haven't posted anything since I started back at work.  Maybe now that I am on summer vacation again I can post a little more, or at least catch up a little.  One of the most important things to note is that Lily is now 4 1/2 months old.  At the end of April she took her first plane ride (taking 8 different flights) going to Alaska and back for Bert Karmun's funeral.  It was really nice to visit with people and be back for a little bit.  We even went to Elim for one day, and I got to visit with some friends and see a bunch of my old students- who have gotten HUGE since they were in Kindergarten 4 years ago! Anyways, I don't have time to write too much about it- Lily will wake up from her nap soon.  But- we had a great week up there, and I even got to hike on a couple of my favorite trails again.  Lily did wonderful under my jacket in the front pack.  Thanks to Mark and Eric and Selena for letting me crash with them while we were up there!

 Sleeping in front of a mammoth skull....

Sleeping in front of the Iditarod Finish line....

Growing, Changing Lily....

It is amazing how much Lily has changed in the last couple of weeks.  She consumes more formula now than breastmilk, because my body just isn't making enough, but she is happier because she is getting full, and she is so much more playful!  She is now reaching for toys, and smiling SO MUCH!  She has just been so much FUN!

St. Luois Botanical Gardens

 Last Saturday, while I was still in Missouri, we drove into St. Louis to see the botanical gardens.  The trees were all budding, and there were many flowering trees- and some flowers were already up.  It was beautiful, and a felt so good to be outside when it was sunny and about 75 degrees!  Lily did great in the baby bjorn, sleeping until all but the last hour- when I found a secluded spot to change her and feed her.  She then actually slept most of the way back....I was so impressed! But, after 2 days of consant eating, she spent 2 days pretty much sleeping and she sure grew!

 Aidan- in the kids Park, there was this balancing rope to cross- he loved it!  He was pretty brave!

 The kid's park was great- with all these little hidden areas for kids to hang, slide, crawl and play.

 Aidan rock climbed up this big boulder!....and then jumped off!

 There was an outdoor music area.

 In the Japanese garden....

Aidan and Alaina met some friends near the kid's garden.  What a fun day! And then 2 days later I came back to MN/WI.....where it has been snowing/raining/ice most of the week.  Today I finally see the sun peaking through the clouds at North Bend.  Hopefully it will melt all the new snow we got yesterday....  Lily and I are headed into town to do some shopping and visiting today.....I now have only 2 more weeks left of maternity leave =(

Missouri...Lily's first Hikes

 The weather in Missouri was beautiful!!...especially because our late spring in MN/WI.  I did not mind leaving snowstorm after snowstorm to find green grass and weather in the 60's or more each day!  While Katie and the kids were in school, and Matt was at work, Lily and I enjoyed hiking with Arlo in the Grand Bluffs nature reserve near their house.  The hike up the bluffs was exactly what I needed to clear my lungs and build up some strength after all my time inside with Lily.  She loved being outside in the nice weather, though she slept through most of the hiking.

 Arlo was thrilled to see his first butterflies to chase!  We also saw a few wildflowers, bees, buds on the trees....ahhhh!  SPRING!!!

 Oh, yeah, and the ticks were out....

The baby bjorn worked the best, though Lily was not a fan of the sun in her eyes.  The next day we bought a sunhat, since I didn't think to bring one!!

Lily's first Easter!

 We went up to my mom's after church for the kid's Easter egg hunt (where I recruited help from the kids in finding my "golden egg"), and then went down to Westfield for lunch with Jim's Dad an family.

 This is Lily's about to cry face...

 Most of the grandkids, with Great Grandma Ruth

Right after lunch Jim took off to drive to Annapolis, Maryland.  He was gone for a week for the Polar technology conference...so on Tuesday, Lily and I headed to Missouri for a week, where Lily had a major growth spurt!  Looking at these pictures 2 weeks later I am amazed with how much she has changed!!