Julia's first plane ride!

We decided to visit Connecticut for Julia's first birthday celebration. The Salesky girls all have summer birthdays too so Sharon and I decided to have one big party! I spent enough time and brain power planning for this trip you would think I was attempting to invade another country... (Sometimes I miss work :)

We are in-flight as I type and so far, so good... Chad is napping, Julia is tearing apart the Sky Magazine, and I am taking advantage of the plane's wifi.  Stay tuned for an update once we make it to the ground!

Julia's first MLB game

Thanks to Chad's work we got to go to a Marlins game Wednesday afternoon. They were playing the Nationals so I was especially excited! Grandma Edie (the biggest baseball fan I know) came along which made the trip even more fun. 

Julia likes watching the people and the bright screens but didn't pay much attention to the game. In fact her favorite part was eating the cookie bits Grandma fed her ;) 

Grandmas!

It's great having both of Julia's grandmas close enough to visit on any given weekend. We are so excited that my mom (Oma) bought a house in Vero Beach so she is only 75 minutes from us! We are equally glad her new house has a big pool! ;) 

Another treat is that Chad's mom (Grandma Edie) is even closer for the next few months. Normally Edie lives in Dunnellon which is 4 hours away BUT her boyfriend (Grandpa Skip) has taken on a work project in Boynton Beach for the next few months so we get to see them (only 30 minutes away) pretty much whenever we want!

What a treat for Julia to have both grandmas so close for awhile. Who knows how long we will live in south Florida, so we are enjoying it while we can.

Here are a few pictures of our last visit with Oma. Unfortunately I only got one picture from Skip and Edie's, Julia was too busy to grab the camera :(

10 months

Julia started walking more than just a few feet at a time last week. Since the middle of May she would walk holding our hand but didn't want to let go. We would walk all over the house with her until our backs were going to snap. Finally she decided we were too slow and just let go. She had one bad fall head-first into a corner but otherwise just did down if she feels unsteady. She does best if she is holding something small in her hands, I think it distracts her a bit so she is more fluid. Now she walks all over the house!

She is also a little climber. Yesterday I found her halfway over a 2ft doggie gate! I was less than 3 feet from her and was so quick that I barely grabbed her. She got her toes onto the horizontal adjuster bar and then leaned her belly over until she was stuck parallel to the ground! Thankfully she didn't go the rest of the way over before I grabbed her!

Her last (heart-stopping) daredevil move was to squirm out of the harness and tray of her high chair. She was supposed to be eating blueberries and cheese while I cooked dinner... I had my back to her for maybe 3 minutes. I turned around to see her STANDING in the chair smiling and waving at me!

I swear I am not letting Julia run wild while I eat bon bons! I am rarely more than 5 feet from her all day long but she is so quick (and quiet like a ninja) that I can barely keep one of her feet on the ground.

I have the world's most freakishly agile 10 month old... Oh goodie, this should be fun...

Pictures:

Cheering on Holland in the World Cup!

Forehead 0 : 1 Very Sharp Corner

Moorish Baby Gate 

She is plotting her escape

Visitors - Part 1- The Saleskys

This is the first in a series of posts about our amazing month of visitors!

 Our dear friends the Saleskys visited us briefly on their way to Turks and Caicos at the beginning of March.  It was just a quick visit and we did what we always do - chase kiddos, eat Indian, drink wine, fall asleep early :) Julia loves to watch the big girls run around and Nya and Sage like to tell everyone that 'Baby J' is Ayla's friend because they are babies. They is an clear understanding the Nya and Sage are 'big girls' and OBVIOUSLY not babies... Its awesome to see Ayla and know that she is EXACTLY one year older than Julia.  We are in for some excitement!  They were off to the airport early the next morning so (as always) it was a too short visit!  Thankfully we would see them again in just a week when they come back to the States.

Next - The Stuehlers...

Visitors - Part 2- The Stuehlers

Our dear friends (and old next door neighbors) the Stuehlers came back from Germany for a nice long visit to Florida.  We had to share them with all or our friends still in Orlando but we got to steal them away for a week of fun in South Florida. 

Lion Country Safari, beach, pool, sea turtle rescue, more beach, more pool, and shopping filled the days with lots of relaxing and beer drinking in the evenings!  Its odd to think of them as visitors because we spent so many years living just feet apart :)  The visit ended too soon with their return to Orlando for a few more weeks of vacation and then back to Germany.  Our plan is to visit them in Germany next summer!

Visitors!

We have had tons of visitors in the past month.  We took family pictures while my Grandma Jennings was here.  How amazing to have 4 generations all together!  There will more info later but here are some pictures. (Enjoy Aunt Michelle!)