Last Weekend in June

Yee-hah! Part Two

I hadn’t uploaded all the photos from Anne’s wedding in time for our last posting, so here are a few more photos.


Fiona taking a catnap before the party started


Shawn, Sofia’s second cousin, helps her put together a princess puzzle


Action shot of Sofia and Keira dancing

Although it doesn’t seem like it from this photo, Sofia was very excited about posing with Anne. She’s still reminiscing about how the “big princess” picked her up for this photo.


Joe, Brian and the girls pose with the bride


Bienvenida Fernanda!
We were very happy to have welcomed Fernanda this weekend. Fernanda is from Sonora, Mexico and she arrived on Friday. She’ll be helping us take care of the girls. Sofia was characteristically shy for about half an hour, but after that she wouldn’t let Fer out of her sight. She loved the Dora PJs that Fer got the girls and Sofia asked her to read her bedtime books. Both girls seemed to have really taken to her, so we’re hopeful the girls will be on their best behavior (at least for a little while!).


Sofia and Fernanda pose with Cleveland in the background

Random Photos


Sofia and Fiona enjoy the warmth of “WOW” concert in the park



This was taken, by a friend, a couple of weeks ago, but it’s an adorable pic of Sofia and Will walking in Edgewater Park

Yee-hah! Weekend in Dallas
Ok, more like the suburbs of Dallas. We braved the child un-friendly skies to attend Joe’s cousin Ann’s wedding. Sofia was very excited about the “party”, dancing, and getting to wear her new shoes and dress, as well as playing with her cousin Kiki. Sofia was overall very patient and cooperative on the plane, but Fiona was….not so much. She was very restless and had several crying and screaming jags. The plane was a small regional jet that only had two seats in a row and one across the aisle. Joe sat in the one seat, but the flight attendant wouldn’t let him hold Fiona because our seats had the three oxygen masks. Although if we needed those I doubt him holding Fiona would have been our biggest problem.

A few minutes into the flight I vowed never to fly with the girls again. I hope I can keep that promise at least until next year. I’m not sure why I agreed that a “quick” three hour flight would be bearable and the trip worthwhile. It reminded me of how I felt about labor the second time around…you forget how truly excruciating it is until you go through it again.

In any case, we made it. I won’t mention how the Dallas airport smelled like one huge urinal, or how we had to take a bus to the car rental place, or how we drove around for about an hour and half for some errands Joe had to run for work.

We finally made it to the hotel and while Joe took Sofia to the pool I tried getting Fiona to nap. After 45 minutes of her crying and then singing and playing in the crib, she finally fell asleep.

That evening was the rehearsal dinner and we joined Nana, Papa and other family at the church. For some reason, some of our photos didn’t upload, so I’ll post what I have.






The Happy Couple


Sofia on daddy’s lap at the wedding

Sofia greatly enjoyed the reception. She danced and ran around the dance floor along with her cousin Keira. They really had a good time. As we were getting in the car, on the way back to the hotel, she kept saying "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for the party!" That alone was worth the trip!


Sofia and Keira at the hotel….so cute!

The way back was painful, but a bit less than on the way there. Fiona slept a little longer and the flight attendant seemed unconcerned when she sat on Joe's lap in his solo seat. Guess he didn't know about the oxygen masks...

Parade the Circle
The weekend before last we went to the annual Parade the Circle, a fun, colorful festival held at University Circle. It was a beautiful day, although a bit warm. I didn’t take many pictures, because we arrived late, but here’s a cute one of Cora and Fiona.

Long Week

Not much has transpired over the last week or so. I spent the first part of last week in Michigan at a conference and Joe spent the later part of the week outside of San Francisco for work meetings. We finally got to see each other on late Friday night.

Put-In-Bay
On Sunday we took the scenic route to Put-In-Bay. It was a beautiful day and a very nice ride. My mom read Sofia countless Dora books, as Sofia sang along to her Dora CD. Fiona bounced along to the music and ate lots of snacks.

Put-in-Bay, for those out-of-town readers, is a small (2x4 miles) island in Lake Erie just an hour from Cleveland. They’re the self-proclaimed “Key West of the North”…yea, I don’t think so, but it does have a number of restaurants, bars, B & Bs and is very cute.

It was warm and sunny and the girls enjoyed the brief ferry ride from the “mainland”. We rented a big golf cart and headed to lunch on the board walk.


Sofia liked riding shotgun.


My mom and the girls


Daddy and the girls

After lunch we drove around the island admiring the quaint century homes and went to the Butterfly House.


Tree sculpture outside of the Butterfly House before I ran out (the big butterflies freak me out!)

With such a busy day, poor Fiona hardly slept (she napped in the golf cart and then stroller for about 30 minutes) and Sofia napped on the way home for about 40 minutes.


Getting quite grumpy...


Now they’re REALLY tired!

I was just as tired, I think, but it was a good day! The girls did, relatively well, in the car; although I’m not sure I’m ready for that three hour plane trip (with the girls) to Dallas in a few weeks…