Guppy Guppy Guppy

We enrolled Eli at the Y for swimming lessons. Much to my dismay, she is fearless. I thought that she'd be at least slightly apprehensive about dunking her head under water. And she was. At first. She overcame that hurdle rather quickly and is now taking flying leaps off the side of the pool into her Daddy's arms (and sometimes not). She is also pushing off the wall and can swim a short distance -- using mostly momentum, but unassisted nonetheless. We call her Brave Princess Eli. She rather likes that title. For this fearless attitude and athletic prowess, I can take no credit. Stephen religiously takes her to the pool every Friday and Saturday and she is maybe a week or two away from swimming, he reports. Kudos to Daddy. Here's a little video clip of our little guppy jumping into the pool.

Ski Bunny Eli

During our weekend getaway at The Sider B&B, we ventured to Ski Roundtop with two goals: Eli gets on skis and Stephen and I try our hand at snowboarding. With a late start, we were only able to accomplish one ... Eli got on skis and she loved it! She had a few spills, but she got back up and wanted to keep going.
We're looking forward to the next ski trip. We figure a couple more times on the East Coast and then we'll be ready to join Aunt Betsy and Uncle Roger in Colorado to ski the Rockies. Breckenridge? Vail? Aspen? What fun we'll have! And until then, I'm not giving up on learning how to snowboard ...

Belated Birthday Wishes

Only a month behind ...

On January 17, Eli turned three. We celebrated by throwing a birthday party for her friends (and ours). We had a great turn out of friends and family and Eli's table of presents was simply outrageous. We appreciated everyone heeding the $10-we're-in-a-recession guideline (with the exception of her godparents, Jeff and Mitze, who apparently went on a Groovy Girl shopping spree). It was wonderful to see everyone, especially those we don't get to see too often, but most of all, Eli was just thrilled to be able to run around and play with all of her friends and "cousins." See below for a few photos (I only had time to take a few). I should've delegated that duty to someone else.

Christmas into New Years ...

So, Christmas has come and gone, New Years has come and gone ... My apologies for the delay in blogging, but it's a crazy time of year. I didn't take too many pictures during the holidays, but enough to reveal a glimpse of the celebration. On Christmas Eve, Eli had a brief, surprise visit from Santa (Daddy). She quickly surmised that it was her father, but humored us by playing along. Later, when her Daddy admitted to donning the Santa suit, she put her hands on her hips and declared: I knew it!

We started Christmas morning with Eli waking the house (Gma, Gpa, Michelle, Lemon, Daddy, and Mommy) around 7 a.m. to open presents. It's a good thing we started early, she only had about 45 boxes to open. Yes, she is an only child. Yes, she is the only grandchild. Yes, she is the only niece to a handful of aunts and uncles. The outrageous amount of presents was a clear demonstration of all of the above. But, it was so entertaining watching her take the time to study and play with each and every toy. The only problem: her birthday is on the 17th. What do we get her? Later on Christmas Day, Uncle Timmy (visiting from Florida) arrived and we were fortunate to spend time with him for a couple of days. Eli adores her Uncle Timmy (we missed you Aunt Simoni!).

New Year's Eve was spent at the Strobecks, Eli's best friend, Claire, and her family. We ordered in from Maggianos, ate some pasta and watched the girls play, and were home by 10 p.m. Big night out! No pictures of New Year's Eve or Day, but there wasn't anything to photograph. We did, however, enjoy the day off! Enough commentary, now I'll post the pics. (One is a straggler from the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a quick visit with the Pierce family on our way out of Erie.)

You may notice that the pre-Christmas Day photos, Eli has beautifully long hair, and Christmas Day and beyond she has an extremely short boy haircut. Well, Eli decided she needed a haircut and did it herself. Now, we all agree that we love her stylish cut, but it was a little drastic. But, hey, it's only hair. It'll grow back. Enjoy the pics.

Hockey, Coffee, and Bears ... OH MY.

A last minute invitation brought us to Hummelstown, Pa., this weekend. Which, of course, we are always agreeable to staying at The Hershey Hotel's satellite B&B: Chateau de Sider. We arrived with enough time for Uncle Jeffery to drive us through a famous holiday staple here: Hershey Sweet Lights. Acres and acres of Christmas-themed lights. Our favorite part of the journey? The 12 Days of Christmas. Jeffery and Stephen sang (pretty well, mind you) the duration of that particular light demonstration. (Oh, did I mention I forgot to bring the camera? Darn it.)
Next, we rushed off to the Hershey Bears hockey game at the Giant Center. Last night's game included a philanthropic "teddy bear toss" in an effort to give local underprivileged children a little bit of holiday cheer. All attendees are encouraged to bring teddy bears and throw them onto the ice after the Bears scored their first goal. More than 6,000 teddy bears were collected for this wonderful cause.
Pardon the intrusion for a brief sports commentary:
At the 14 min mark of the first period, Maxime Lacroix stuffed home a rebound giving the bears their first tally and opening the floodgates for the traditional Hershey teddy bear toss. -Stephen M. Vereb
At approximately the 15 minute mark, Eli had a meltdown as she watched the two Christmas bears with whom she had become deeply acquainted with for about 5 minutes hurled onto the ice. I'd like to say it was a learning experience, but I don't think she understands. In her mind, there is absolutely no reason to throw two perfectly cute bears onto the ice never to be seen again.
Thankfully, Stephen brought his cell phone with picture-taking capability. So, we had a means to document this event. (See below.) Now, it is Sunday morning, and we just feasted on a wonderful breakfast and fantastic coffee. And, we're taking the opportunity to lounge around and watch Eli and Mariella play together. They are awfully sweet together.

Turkeys and Toboggans

We're celebrating Thanksgiving in Erie with family and lots of snow. The Thanksgiving feast was delectable (especially the rhurbarb pie!) and we took a moment to give thanks for our fortunate lives.
Some of us were thankful for the cold weather and accompanying snow, which gave us the opportunity today to take out the old toboggan (finally fix it, thanks, G-pa) and head for the snowy hills. The day started off with a visit from Aunt Marsha and lunch (and much needed coffee) at Panera. We headed back home and donned appropriate sledding clothes, paused long enough to build a small snowman, and prepared for the mile long hike to the sledding hill that Stephen used as a child.

I much prefer to take the photos then be part of the action, but I crumbled under the peer pressure, especially when my 2-year-old assured me that it would be "lots of fun." It turned out to be slightly enjoyable for me; but, more importantly, Eli, G-ma, Stephen, and Lemon had a blast. And I have the photos to prove it. (See below.)

Flashback ... To The O.C.

It is not December yet, so technically I'm only 2 months delinquent in posting a blog for the final day at The OC. (My sincerest apologies, Adam.) So, as I try to think back to our last day of our mini-vacation with the Pierces, I remember the cloudy sky, eating well, and the dreadful feeling of "our vacation is over." However, before we left the beach, we drove out to see the wild horses of Assateague. And, I believe that the pictures will reveal descriptions far stronger than I would be able to tell. Enjoy!

Finally, we say goodbye to our good friends and head back to Virginia. Thank you, Pierces! We had a fabulous time crashing your family vacation. Maybe we'll get invited back next year.