Eli's Backyard Beach Birthday!

Adorable! This little white rocking chair was Julian's when he was little. Eli loves it. G-ma and G-daddy brought it for Eli's birthday.
Three of my favorite little boys in the world!

Not so sure about this cake thing...

....okay so I think I like birthday cake pretty good!

Friends hanging out!

Opening birthday gifts!

O No! Eli doesn't feel good. Uncle Barry cuddles for a little while with him!
Silly Uncle Barry :o)
The water table was a hit!

Catching up!

I have been really bad keeping the blog updated lately and I appologize. These pictures are mainly from the middle of August through the end. He keeps me so busy I have been slack with pictures....so I will catch you up.Eli is very serious in this picture. He was painting a thank you note to his G-ma, G-daddy, Auntie, and Uncle for taking care of him while Mom and Dad were in Italy! :o) Wow! We love them for that!!!
This is Eli and his friend Addi playing. She was trying to get him to pay attention while she read him a book.

Eli borrowed his friend Sadie's picnic table for a few weeks and fell in love with it. She let him borrow it for his birthday party early. He loved it so much his Aunt Aunnie bought him one for his b-day.

Eli and Sadie coloring!

August 29th Kathleen & her dog Bogie came to visit us! It was awesome to finally share Eli with Kat and for her to get to know him a little.

Eli thought Bogie was super cool....and yes this is Eli and Bogie playing. When Eli would crawl...Bogie thought he was a fellow dog to jump on. It was hilarious!

Here it looks like Kat and I are in the Rain Forest....na just hangin' on the porch! ;o)

This week ....

Here is Julian this morning (not happy I was trying to capture a picture)

1st day of his Senior Year! Wow! Hard to believe it!

Just starting to get interested in his rocking horse

This is Eli's fort. I have several blankets piled next to the couch up against the window and it is his little mountain that he loves to grab a toy and climb up. Then he is so excited about playing in the window sill.

Trying on his new skeleton pjs :o) so cute

Eli and Daddy hanging out drinking our bottle. I took a whole photo shoot of him with his bottle. It is amazing to me that the bottle days are gone in a week or so.... :o( He is growing up so fast!! I'm gonna miss how sweet he is when he drinks his bottle.

Love this picture of Eli and his Daddy! If I could only get big brother to pose for more pictures!

Oh yeah we have a climber! He loves climbing or attempting to climb all sorts of things.

Eli loves books! I was just in the next room and came back in to capture several priceless photos of him picking one of his books up to read all on his own. This one is a lift-the-flap book and he loves that.

Here's our little man after bath! Love that wild hair!!!

Sour Faces!!

This Evening, Eric and I went to dinner with our good friends Tonya and Chris. Eric ...of course up to his regular mishchief gave Eli his lemon. Eli made some priceless sour faces! Too cute! Boy I love him. He's growing up way too fast!

Venice

Amazing just doesn't even seem good enough to capture our Venice adventure!

Here are a few of the 850 pictures we snapped on our trip. :o)Eric and I standing in front of our Hotel Danieli sipping on a glass of vino!


This was our awesome view from the rooftop balcony restaurant we ate breakfast each morning. The view was so unbelievable!


Eric soaking in the view while eating a huge spread for breakfast!

This was the bridge inside our hotel that we had to cross to get to our room.


The inside of Hotel Danieli....so beautiful!!



A wonderful sunset view!


The Grand Canal ...taken off one of the bridges.


A typical Venice street with gondolas and flowers hanging from the windows!

Amazing patio!

This is the island of Torcello. We toured the oldest church, Santa Maria Assunta, in Venice built in the 11th century. The mosaics were amazing!


This is the island of Murano. We went to the glass factory and saw a presentation and tons of gorgeous glass sculptures and jewelery.


My favorite island on our tour was Burano. It is known for lace making and it's beautiful brightly colored buildings.

More of Burano!Unbelievable massive mosaics on the sides of buildings going down the Grand Canal.

Eric and I on our Gondola ride. So romantic! Eric brought a bottle of one of our favorite wines to enjoy our evening. Such an amazing perspective from the Gondola.


We traveled by train to Florence. While there we took a tour into a Tuscan vineyard town called Greve. While in Greve we went on a wine tour.

Here is Eric in the wine cellar attempting to bring a barrel home. ha :o)

Our wine and cheese tasting at La Bottega Del Palagio. So FUN!


Eric in the cheese cellar that we toured. Talk about an amazing smelling place!!!
While in Florence we stayed in a bed and breakfast in the middle of the Piazza Del Signoria square. This was The David (copy) that was in our square. We did visit The David in The San Lorenzo to the Accademia and it was breathtaking!!! The whole museum was amazing!

Ponte Vechio Bridge in Florence! Shops were built along it.

Another beautiful bridge we loved!