The Best Faces of Ellie

I found a few more photos from the trip. This time they were of our stop in Cleveland.  We walked at the pedestrian mall, ate a good dinner, shopped a bit and found a few photos ops as well.  We've had good luck in Cleveland .. with overnights, with activities ... and now the Cleveland Indians even have two former Yankees, Nick Swisher and Jason Giambi, so it really must be a nice place!

After check-in, pool, shower, fresh clothes ... then dinner!

Ellie posing behind a Mona Lisa cut-out!

Ellie's activities

Ellie has had so much fun at Bright Horizon's lately.  They learned a new game called, HeadBanz and are planning an all day outing at a state park next week.  They have a cookout/luau planned to grill hot dogs and even bowling at a local alley.

This weekend Bill and Ellie played miniature golf since it was just a little bit cold to swim.  They sure do have lots of fun together!

Playing HeadBanz with Miss Jenna and friends ..

Miniature Golf near the water trap!

Sizing up her shot....

Face Painting!

At Bright Horizons on Monday, the Zoo Lady face painting paid a visit.  And boy were these kids happy!  Of course Ellie chose a ZEBRA!

Happy together!

Lots of shots of hugs and happiness in the couple of days we spent in Saratoga .  Many of them were captured by the cameras!

Ellie and Trudi - oh, the good old days of daycare at Trudi's house!

Good morning Aunt Mimi - I'm ready for a haircut!

Trudi and Jude at the track - ready for the day!

Gianni, Grammy and Ellie - happy together!

Bill, Ellie, Josh and Papa 

Ed and Jude - annual photo op at Gaffney's!

A few more favorites!

Fricano family at the rail in Saratoga!

Pretty new haircut!

Childhood memories of Grasso's Italian Ice Truck

"No, I don't want anymore of that Big Red Spring water!"

The end of the morning at the track!

All Bill's friends ...

Bill has this wonderful habit of getting someone to take his picture with the person he's with ... and this creates the memory in time.  Sometimes the person knows Bill, and sometimes not ... but we sure do have a lot of those pictures ... here's a few from our summer vacation!

Bill's new friend, Chris from our night at Gaffney's - Bona alum Class of '91

Bill and Steve Wilson - they met in IL and now Steve was promoted to Ballston Spa

Not sure how this one happened -this is the Coors Light Frozen Guy

Bob Tomaski -former teammate in Ballston Spa and BIG Yankee fan too!

The Annual Summer Photo

2007- 17 months old

2009 - 2 1/2 years old

2013 - 7 years old!

Oh how far we've come .. and when I look back I realize we don't actually have photos from all years, but we do have the same sweet girl who loves her trips back to Saratoga in the summer!

Bill & Papa

You may notice that these two like to dress alike ... you may be right!

These are the shots from our recent trip to Saratoga!

Matching Saratoga shirts for the track ...

No matching shirts, but matching drinks in hand....

Matching "Life is Good .. The Goodfather" shirts .. don't ask about the woman behind them!

Return from vacation ...

It is always wonderful to spend time in Saratoga in the summertime.  Downtown was so much fun with people, Hats Off weekend and lots of walking, window shopping and people watching.  The track was kicking off Opening Weekend with  lots of excitement and a bit of a break from the really hot weather. And the very best part is catching up with all the people ... family and friends that surround us during our visit!

I'll make the pictures last and show a few each day so you'll get the full impact of the trip! Although we didn't fill the roadtrip with actual destinations - we did overnight along the way and enjoy hotel rooms with big beds and indoor pools!

Ellie and Gianni reading from her iPad

Gianni, Grammy and Ellie

Ellie and Gianni - Cousins Part I

Ellie and Josh - Cousins Part II

Papa and Ellie - end of a long day - already in pjs!

Reading and Swimming

Read to hit the pool with new racing suit and water balls.

Catching a glimpse of her reading the Kindle!

Ellie has two finalists for favorite Summer activities ... swimming and reading!  She wants to go to the pool as often as possible, and even talked me into going with them this afternoon ... what a hot day to welcome a swim!

And her interest in reading has grown beyond our trips to the library.  She's been tracking her books for a Barnes and Noble reading contest.  Read 8 books and she earns a free paperback.  When she finished #8 last night we were off today to claim her book.

She happily chose one that's in a series, The Adventures of Captain Underpants!  Although Nancy Clancy and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were also choices, she had final pick.

And one more detail to the reading weekend.  I decided to charge my Kindle for the upcoming roadtrip to Saratoga.  I have a couple books in my pile, but also a few electronically as well.  As soon as it was charged, Ellie asked if she could try.  So I downloaded a sample of a kids' book - which lasted all of 10 minutes.  So we carefully went through the list and purchased a book from a different series, The Dork Diaries .. and she's had that Kindle under her arm every where she goes!

"Can we share it?' she asked.  "I guess so ....." I said, but I have a funny feeling that just as the iPad before this, she will claim my Kindle for her own!  Perhaps instead of Toys R Us gift cards, she'll now ask for Amazon ones instead!

Ellie and Olivia

Olivia (left) and Ellie (right) on matching diving boards!

Yesterday's pool adventure Ellie caught up with Olivia.  You see these two go way back ... to kindergarten.  And they've been on the same soccer team, seen each other at Grove events and State Farm events ... and they are both only children.

If you go far enough back with Olivia, you may recall she is the one who puked on Ellie one afternoon in Kindergarten.  But through it all they have remained friends.

Bill and Ellie found the Corson's yesterday with Olivia and they hooked up for swimming and lunch.  And in the end they asked if they could take Ellie with Olivia to the McLean County Fair on 8/3 for the Country Financial (other big company in town) Day at the Fair.  What a treat!

So the independence begins.  I'm finding that Ellie is developing a social life outside of us, and activities that she gravitates toward.  Friday she insisted on going to Bright Horizons even though we were both home, and now she's making plans with friends!

And so it begins ...

Summer, Summer, Summertime

Strawberries and Cream Frozen Pops!

Love these cornfields!~ Morton, IL

This summer we really seem to be enjoying all that the heat of the Mid-West brings to us.  Ellie and Bill have enjoyed the pool most weekends since Memorial Day... sometimes with friends and always with lots of sunscreen and laughter.  They both love to be in the water.

We've also enjoyed a more temperate (not a drought) season with the wonderful corn more than knee-high by the fourth of July.  I've grown to love the look of unending fields of beautiful green corn.  The soybeans are beautiful in their own right too.  Much lower to the ground and a deeper green that is like a flowing carpet in the deep Summer.

But the corn.  I love the cornfields.  Those little seedlings in the spring and the wonderful tall stalks by this time in July.  Oh, the corn.  We've also enjoyed lots of summer food as well .. of course, sweet corn, grilled steaks and chicken outdoors and now our new treat, frozen fruit pops!

Yesterday while Ellie was enjoying the Bounce House and Water Day at Bright Horizons I made this bright strawberry desserts!  She was overjoyed and can't wait to come up with new flavors since, although delicious, she though my choice of just strawberries and cream somewhat boring!  "Can't we use mixed berries?"  "Of course we can, I only had strawberries - that's why I made them!"

Ella-belle's new friend, Annabelle

Ellie and Annabelle!

Just a quick shot of Ellie at the pool with Annie yesterday.  She really loves the babies!  And Annie is just the right age for Ellie to fuss over!

Happy 4th of July

Scoring two run! - View from our seats!

Me and my girl in our seats at the park

Warm up drills by Beloit A's

Happy to be at the ballpark for 4th of July

The might tumbling troop - lots of oohs and aahhs!

Today was another busy day for my girl.  She began with the pool and her friends, AJ, Charlie and Annabelle.  She was most excited that she got to hold and her!  What a treat... she told me she was like a big sister.  And she's right since all three are younger than she is.... lunch poolside, a big nap and then the evening fun festivities began ...

We began at Dozer Stadium the home of the Peoria Chiefs.  They are the Single A farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Not that it mattered to us since we didn't know any of the players and honestly don't follow the Cardinals.  Didn't matter to us.

We joined friends from work and sat on the third base side right near all the action.  AND the best part was the seats were NOT in the sun for this 5:30pm start.  Game was close, the Chiefs lost 3-2.  The loudest cheering came when they turned a double play late in the game with a great play at third and a BIG stretch by the first baseman to make it happen.

Ellie happily dined on hot dogs, snow cones and cotton candy.  I mean, you don't go to the ballpark everyday, right?  She also loved the local tumbling troop that performed after the game.  She truly admires talent - and this group has worked really hard to hone their skills!

There were over 8,000 people in the stadium and most planned to stay to watch the fireworks over the river from their seats.  We had a better plan.  Since the game ended and the fireworks weren't starting for another 45 minutes - we gathered out stuff, headed to the car and saw more than a dozen fireworks displays on the ride home.  Amazing!

Ellie said it was her very best Fourth of July ever!  She loved seeing one display after another!

It was a great way to celebrate 4th of July!

Summer can be exhausting!

She's really sleeping!

It's been a busy week for my girl, as you can see from the picture!  She's been active at Bright Horizons with activities of tie-dying, water play, crafts and survivor challenges.

This past weekend as I was studying, Ellie and her Daddy had a lot of fun together.  The started Saturday morning at State Farm Pool meeting up with friends Alex and Jamie with their boys AJ and Charlie and new baby sister, Annie.  They splashed and floated until lunch time .. they dined at McDonald's and made their way to the theatre to see Monsters University!

After the movies, they all came back here to our house - where I was wrapping up studying - so their house could be shown again.  They moved here 14 months ago from Charlottesville, and are now headed to Dallas!  Whew - that's a lot of moving for a family with three kids under the age of 5!

Ellie loved spending time with the boys, who follow her around like ducklings!  She's like the big sister - and she loved being able to snuggle with Annie as well!  She doled out books she'd outgrown and asked when we could visit them in Dallas!

All this activity has tired her out!