Back in July, Alaire helped me with a day-long mid-summer clean up of the yard. I was thankful for two nap breaks, but as you can see, we had lots of fun. One trait I seem to have passed on to my daughter, is the knack for really embracing a task and getting as messy as possible. For example, you may remember the photo of Graham and I tiling; we both spread mortar all day, but somehow I was the only one with the awful stuff from head to toe. You should also see me bake pies and paint. Back to the story, for some reason, I couldn’t keep Alaire on the grass, she preferred the dirt, which was fine, until I witnessed a childhood right-of-passage: she was eating dirt. “Yucky!! Spit it out, lgh, lgh, lgh!” Another favorite was to stand directly under the fuchsia after watering; Alaire’s very own outdoor shower. I loved this day.

My parents have kept some of the shirts I used to wear when I was Alaire’s size (my stuffed panda, BooBah wore them throughout my childhood as well), so now she is able to get some more good out of them.  See any family resemblance?  Poor girl got the curly hair from both sides I’m afraid.

And, happy birthday blog (created as a gift for Daddy’s birthday last year).

For Graham’s big day, we drove up to Big Fork for cherries and lunch at Flathead Lake Brewing Company. Graham opened some fun gifts including an Earl Thomas jersey and a 12th man flag (I thought it would be a fun Sunday morning Vail family tradition to raise the flag before the hawks game…I’m sure our neighbors will agree) and a BBQ pizza stone (the box was Alaire’s “stage” for the remainder of the trip). We love daddoo!

After enjoying the LaRoi’s heated bath-water temp pool, I was a bit concerned how Alaire would take to Little Bitterroot Lake (topping off at about 78 degrees during our trip). Obviously, she loved every minute – can’t wait til she’s jumping off the dock by herself in a few years…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, this post is belated. This weekend (August 24/25) is the FIRST since early June with no major plans or road trip – so I’m catching up. By the way, while I typically write the posts, all photography credits go to Gvail.

As always, Montana gifted us with complete & utter relaxation; Grandpa & Grandma take care of us all…

Who knew Row Row Row Your Boat would be the top-ranking hit of the year. We sing it over and over and over…in fact, one night in Montana, Alaire woke up for a midnight play. You’d think Graham and I would know by now that bringing her into our bed never ends well; meaning one of our patience-meters eventually finds a limit from nose grabbing/picking or jumps on the head. Back to the story. While we did hope to calm our little girl by nestling her in between us, much to my chagrin, she grabbed my hands and started singing, “row row” pushing us both back and forth. 1am, the only words I could muster, “no row row!”

One of our newest words is, “bubbles,” not difficult to understand why; she loves to stand at the backdoor and demand the activity on an almost daily basis. The mystery: once mommy or daddy produce the magical floating balls, other toys, yard hazards, or the dog captivate her attention (leaving mommy or daddy the ones demanding bubbles!!!!).

I think that covers all of the states/territories we explored!

Much to my surprise, the Saturday after Alaire’s surgery we boarded our plane to the East Coast for a family and sight-seeing vacation. Resort LaRoi gave us a MUCH NEEDED few days to catch our breath and float in the pool. Mike & Sheryl’s place is beautiful and their loving hospitable spirits made us all feel right at home.

Along the way, we enjoyed a Maryland crab feed, a trip to the National Air and Space museum in Dulles; Discovery a major highlight of the trip (if Mike could only have found a way to sneak me a tile)! Grandma and Grandpa babysat while Mike, Sheryl, Graham and I traveled on the hot and sticky metro to enjoy a National’s game and see Michelle who works for the team.

The guys and I played golf and then we took the Mike LaRoi Gettysburg tour, another highlight! As you’ll see from photos below, we had THE BEST tour guide who showed us how to load cannons and even played the history CD in the car as we drove through the battlefields. Even more fun, was Art & Mike on walkies discussing points of history along the way.  All got me quite excited for when our kid(s) starts learning about American History in school. We will most certainly plan another big trip and just as certainly, I will assign Alaire and VB2 a history project prior to the trip; I think that sounds like fun!

After our tour of Gettysburg, Mike brought up some Civil War artifacts including a wool blanket, pup tent and pistol carried by his Great Grandfather who fought in the battle of Antietam. Amazing. The only thing I would have enjoyed more would have been seeing Mike in full reenactment costume (he was even in the movie Glory).

After our wonderful stay with the LaRois, we visited an old and dear WaMu friend Ellen who made us a scrumptious crab cake dinner. Can’t believe we didn’t get a photo! We enjoyed a whirl-wind tour of DC, the WWII memorial the most impressive. On our last night we enjoyed an evening with Ken, Alison & Cole who took us out for a wonderful dinner. Thankfully, Alaire behaved beautifully at the fine dining venue, however, we learned later that she was simply storing up her toddler meltdowns for the plane ride home. Oh well!

Thank you to our wonderful hosts and hostesses along the way and to Grandma & Grandpa Vail for helping along the ride.

Well, another sneak peak! This is from the LaRoi’s house in Mt. Airy, MD.

No explanation needed – though you may need to watch it a few times for full effect!