It’s Begining to Look a lot Like Christmas

We had a week full of fun Christmas activities including a train ride on the “Polar Express“, Gingerbread Houses, and getting our Christmas tree. It was a busy but very fun week.

First up the Heber Valley Railroad provides a nice little Polar Express ride during the holidays. We enjoyed Hot Chocolate and cookies, a reading of the Polar Express story, a beautiful moon light view, Christmas Carols, and Santa of course. Our neighbors joined us for the adventure. I’m really glad we did this Ellie and Zak were in awe. It was a good first interaction with Santa for Ellie. He was kind enough not to scare her too much and offered her a jingle bell. When he had to leave she kept saying “bye bye Santa”.

Next up we teamed up with our friends Jen and Zak to make Gingerbread Houses for the Midway Cottages for the Children Fundraiser. They came over Wednesday evening and we built our little gingerbread neighborhood. Zak and Ellie helped for a little while but then decided playing and running around was more interesting. So it became a Mom project. It turned out pretty good. The next morning Ellie checked it out for a while with big eyes naming all the gingerbread animals we scattered around the cottages.

Finally, on Thursday we picked up our Christmas tree. We were particularly excited because it is our first little family Christmas Tree. Getting a tree and decorating it was one of the little events I was really looking forward to this year. I did missed decorating the tree Marcoccia style late into the night with the scratchy old record player. I was worried we wouldn’t have enough ornaments or lights for it but it turned out just right thanks to what we have collected over the years from family and friends. Ellie got right into it hanging up bells and ornament, enjoying hot chocolate, and dancing to the Christmas music. It was a good night in our wee little home.

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New York Part II

The second week of our time spent with the Marcoccia’s was spent at a cottage we rented with Gary’s parents on Keuka Lake. It was a cute little place tucked into a nice little community with the perfect amount of grassy lawn and a wade in beach. Jill and Larry provided a boat for a few days to play on the water with and Danielle visited a couple of time too. We also had some good visits with many Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. It was nice to experience the sweet life of lake living for a bit. Gary and his parents have fond memories of the lake from years past and now I understand their nostalgia for it all.

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Gary, Ellie, and I also took a morning to go explore the Garrett Memorial Chapel on the tip of the Keuka Lake Bluff.  It’s a beautiful wee church set in the the wood with lovely views of the lake. Ellie had a good time exploring all the paths, stairways, and surroundings.

Once we were back at the Marcoccia residence Gary took Ellie and I to his favorite park as a kid.  It’s a great little place up on a hillside overlooking Horseheads and the surrounding area. There is a family run small amusement park with rides for toddlers, mini golf, go carts, and such. The rides are apparently the same rides Gary experienced when he was Ellie’s age and even Bada and Papa remember them from their youth. In fact as a youngster Gary’s Mom had a recurring dream about the tug boats on Harris Hill.

Finally, we were able to celebrate Aunt Danielle’s birthday. She was gracious enough to share the occasion with Ellie and let her do some practice rounds of blowing out the candles on the cake and singing Happy Birthday. Thank you Danielle for sharing your day and involving Ellie in such a sweet way. She has been singing Happy Birthday all week and last night she knew exactly what to do with those candles.

New York Part I

We are back from our two and a half week NY visit and are settled back into home. It is good to be home again but Ellie is missing all the extra special attention she received while visiting Gary’s parents. Bada and Papa and her Aunts spoiled her and now I think she just doesn’t know what to do with herself. We were all very happy to reunite with Chip and Adah as well. We got home at about 10:30pm on Wednesday and Ellie stayed up until 12:30 reacquainting herself with the dogs and the house.

Our first week in New York was spent at the Marcoccia home catching up with Bada and Papa and all the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. We took it easy. Spent one day in Ithaca with Kevin, Sarah, Bada, and Papa visiting the nature center and the science center. Enjoying highlights such as a penny roller, outdoor bubble games, outdoor drum session, a six story tree house, and a butterfly garden…

Next up we spent some time in Bada and Papa’s swimming pool. It was a little chilly at first so it took some coaxing to get Ellie in but once she got used to it she became a little firecracker in the water kicking her legs and “swimming” around. She also showed her diva side lounging on Bada’s floating mat. In the middle of her swimming frenzy Aunt Danielle showed up and Ellie got so excited she yelled out “I swimming in the pool!!!”

Next up we spent one morning picking Blueberries just down the road from the Marcoccia Homestead. I seriously could not believe the size of these berries. Some were literally the size of grapes. We all ate our share as we picked and we came home with copious amounts of blueberries. Ellie was very good and interested in the berries. She ate her fair share as well and was good about picking the ripe berries she even helped fill up a few buckets.

We attended Gary’s 20th High School Reunion the first weekend. I didn’t break out the camera for this although I should have. My bad. We had a good time and it was nice to meet some people from his past. I think Gary had a really good time catching up with some good friends. Many people kept telling me what a good guy Gary is and quite a few said he is so genuine and sincere. It was nice to hear all that rather than the “remember when we blah blah blah…” They are all right he is a good guy and he is genuine. A one of a kind if you will.

Ellie has become very vocal about her needs. Telling us all the time “I need milky” or “I need apple juice” and so on.  Bada and Papa watched Ellie over night while we attended Gary’s reunion. That morning she woke up and was ok for a little while, but I guess she soon relized we were not around so she went up to Papa and with a sad little voice said, “Papa, I need Mommy and Daddy.”  Oh Ellie.

Summer Time and the Livin’ is Easy

We have been thoroughly enjoying the summer these past few weeks. Thus the lack of posts… Much to my disappointment I have neglected to pull out my camera but I do have a few fun pictures to share.

Gary and I enjoyed a weekend sans the Wee One. Thanks to my parents who so graciously volunteered to babysit and watch over the granddogs. We took the opportunity to stay in our old stomping grounds Little Cottonwood Canyon. We stayed at the Iron Blossom in Snowbird and treated ourselves to some good Mountain Music and a lovely dinner at the Shallow Shaft in Alta.  The next morning we met up with our friends Jesse and JJ and other fellow mountain bikers to ride the Crest Trail. The Crest Trail is a Utah classic. We made it 26 miles total from the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon all the way down to Mill Creek Canyon and out of Mill Creek via the Pipeline Trail. I took a little spill as though I was sliding into home plate and banged up my elbow and hip. Other than that it was an excellent day spent in a beautiful place with good people.

The next morning while Gary and I were still recouping from the ride and had cloudy heads we had an incident with Ellie, keys, and truck. I was watching her play in the back seat as I sat in the front seat. I got out to join her in the back and closed the door and right away realized the doors were locked and my bag with the keys was on the floor. Gary’s keys were inside the truck as well. So, Gary had to break the back window and I had to crawl in and unlock the door. It didn’t scare Ellie I think she thought we were playing a game with her. At any rate it was a mess but our daughter was safe.

Ellie and I also took a trip up to Cache Valley to spend some time with my parents and my brother’s family. We took a little hike on the Logan River trail and enjoyed a picnic at First Dam. Then went to Grandma’s to run in the sprinklers and swim.

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In between all this we have been visiting the Farmer’s Markets in Heber and PC. We have also been enjoying the Park Silly Sunday Market too. I love this stuff and wish it could last all year. Gary picked up a little charcoal grill and we have been enjoying his cooking as well.

Finally, yesterday Ellie and I met some friends at East Canyon Reservoir. It was a beautiful hot day and we all got our fair share of the sunshine vitamin. Our neighbor Jen and Zack joined us as well. Zack and Ellie are only a few months apart and they are becoming good buddies at one point as Zack was enjoying lounging in the water with his Mom while Ellie stood at the shore waving and saying “Hay Zack!” and he would answer back “Hi Ellie”. Oh the simple little things that please us Moms.

Our little swimming/beach adventure is just a little warm up for what lies ahead as we are headed to NY on Saturday to visit all the Marcoccia’s, and attend Gary’s 20th High School reunion. We have rented a cottage on Keuka Lake for one week with Gary’s parents and we are absolutely looking forward to this vacation. Hopefully I will be able to put up a post while we are there but until then keep up the easy Summer livin’.

A trip to the Zoo

We went to the Zoo last week with Grandma McKenney, Aunt Tamara, and Cousin Summer. It was busy but we had fun. Ellie’s eyes were big all day long taking in and processing all the animals that until now we have only seen in books, pictures, TV, and such. You could see the cogs and cranks spinning in her wee little mind putting it all together. She was spent by the end of the day and so was Momma. We had a wonder time though thanks to our company.

Easter

We visited my parents last weekend for the Easter holiday. My parents spoiled us with good food and good company. We stopped by my Grandpa and Grandma Jackson’s for lunch on Saturday and let Ellie go through her Easter Basket while we were there. She picked through the whole thing even opened each egg to see what snacks were inside. She also shared some of her loot with Great Grandpa and Aunt Laurie and Gay.

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We dyed eggs at Mom’s house afterward. I was pleasantly surprised that we did not get dye all over Mom’s kitchen.

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Gary and I hid the eggs in the morning and we all had a good time watching her find them. She was very interested in finding all the eggs and was very proud of herself each time she put a new one in her basket.

The Easter Bunny gave Ellie some kites in her basket we all went out and had fun with them. Though we could have use a little more wind.