Fun in the sun, sand, n surf...

Two weekend vacations in a row? Lucky Silvestro Family, huh? This weekend we went to Chincoteague, VA. My very good friend Sarah's family has a house there and they let us stay for the weekend! Jodi, Chris, and Shannon came and joined us. It was SO SO much fun. A lot of relaxing, spending time with the kiddo's, and enjoying the quaint town of Chincoteague. No boardwalk, no crazy huge hotels. Just a nice, slow town with plenty to do...but not too much ;)

Below you'll find A LOT of pictures that captured the weekend. I couldn't narrow them down--and these aren't even any ones that the McGee's took! If there are any good ones from them, I'll post again.


Pre-trip preparations: Addie helping me pack.


Not pictured: almost 4 hour drive on Friday evening. Addie was good, then cranky, then finally slept for the last hour of the trip. Put the kiddo's to bed and the adults talked till wayy past midnight. Hey, that's crazy late for new parents!

The next morning the girls woke us up early (actually...the rooster next door did...yes, the next door neighbors have quite a menagerie) and so we all went for a walk around town, looking at the sites, and picking up goodies at the bakery. Here we are having breakfast on the back porch.


Then some after-breakfast "parachute" fun with the beach tent.


For those of you who have followed the blog for awhile, you've seen Shannon grow up as much as you've seen Addie--she's now 11 months old, crawling all over the place, pulling herself up, and curious about everything! She'll crawl into your lap for a quick snuggle, then crawl away in search of another fun toy--such a sweetie!


The girls shared really well...for the most part ;)


Super fun porch swing!


The girls alternated naps all Saturday, which made it hard to figure out when to leave for the beach. When Shannon went down for a nap, Addie got up and vice versa. But we still had fun! One pair would head out to pick up lunch, or hit the farmers market, or get water, while the other pair would stay and watch the awake baby.

Here's some quality Addie time...


And then the switch--quality Shannon time. Baby in the basket fun!



"Okay folks, let's get this show on the road...when are we going to hit the beach?"



They finally were up at the same time, so we quickly got ready and hit the beach! Shannon LOVED the water, crawling towards it and everything-- she was a daredevil!





Addie...didn't like the ocean so much :(



Here let's see if you're happier with mommy....


...nope.



Back on the sand, the girls had fun playing with toys and the sand.



Addie definitely enjoyed the sand better than the surf. She especially loved EATING the sand.






Some momma-daughter pics:
And:


Pensive Addie staring into the water.



Back at the ranch: There's nothing like an outdoor shower!



We had a fun cocktail hour in the evening with Lane family. Then, after the girls went to bed, we adults had quite the feast: Crabs, Shrimp, and Clams. It was light out when we started, and by the time we finished cracking, picking, and pulling...




It was dark out and time for dessert: Watermelon and Tastycakes...deeeelish!


We went to bed early this night: had to get ready for early beach time on Sunday!

Here's Addie on Sunday trying to be as cool as Shannon. She's not crawling yet, but she's getting into position. By the way...she still hated the ocean on Sunday :)


So we kept her far away from it and she was much happier.


Jodi and I both needed beach cover-ups and ended up buying similar ones--they were cute and on sale, and plus, we needed to solidify our twin-ness with matching outfits :)


Sunday was Jodi and Chris' 6 year wedding anniversary! Congrats, guys!


Steve joked about burying Addie in the sand. I'm never quite sure if Steve is kidding or not ;) I made him compromise--he dug her a hole to play in. She loved it!


Group shots:



Family portrait!


After heading back, packing up and stopping for ice cream at the Island Creamery (yum!), we got into our cars and headed back to our respective states. The trip back was much quicker for us than the way there and Addie slept much of the way home--tired out from all the fun, I'm sure!

We had such a fun weekend! Thank you so much to the Lane family for letting us stay at your beautiful house!

Cajun-Style Baby

Last weekend, we went to visit Steve's Grammy, Aunt Robbie, Uncle Jimmy, and cousins Big Doug & Greg in Louisiana. Addie's first big expedition, and what an expedition it was--with four plane rides and over a dozen hours in the air or airports! But not only did she do great, sleeping through almost three entire flights, she had a blast and so did we!

Here's Addie checking out the view from 35,000 feet:



This was Addie's first time meeting Grammy and Aunt Robbie, and she loved them both from the start. As soon as she saw Aunt Robbie at the airport, Addie cracked a giant open-mouthed smile...which continued the rest of the weekend. =)


The four-generation shot on the Picco side:


Addie's first (bigperson) pool experience came this weekend, too. She was a little suspicious at first, but soon splashed away like a chubby little fish!


"Why swim for myself when I can just ride on Daddy's lap?"


Lots of splashing and fun = tired baby (the one wearing the hat).


But never fear--an hour nap and some food in the belly bring Happy Adeline back to play.


Ads and Grammy swapped stories all weekend. Grammy's had to do with growing up in India, meeting Steve's grandfather in World War II, and raising five kids. Addie's were more like: "Babababa damama bah."


Whenever we were with Uncle Jimmy, Big Doug or Greg, we were cooking barbeque, watching soccer, or eating...with the camera tucked away somewhere else. So here's a picture of us all with Grammy, but you can just imagine their faces instead of ours if you like!


Eskimo kisses from Grammy, passed on to the new generation--they're loved by everyone!


We had a great time and want to thank Grammy (and Socks & Sin the cats!) for letting us stay over, and Aunt Robbie for driving us around and taking care of everything. Addie had a blast and is already looking forward to coming down again... =)

Happy Father's Day, Steve!!!

Yesterday was Steve's very first Father's Day! How did we celebrate? Well, we spent almost the entirety traveling, but hey, we were all together!! :) We went to visit his side of the family down in Lafayette, Louisiana and we had the most wonderful time. I'll be posting pictures and stories from the trip in the next day or two, but for now....some "Addie and Mommy get ready for Father's Day" fun that transpired last week:

Fingerpainting!!! I don't know who had more fun, me or Addie!


First I got some non-toxic fabric paint and let Addie at it on a t-shirt

Just a little messy. Oh so happy.

Here's the final product:



I knew the fabric paint was non-toxic, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be to wash it off Addie's body, so we limited the paint time with that stuff, but what fun is that? So I also got some Crayola Non-Toxic Washable finger paint to make a big old mess (er....card) for Steve.


Wheeeeeeeee!!!

Hmmm....what would this taste like?



It's bathtime already??

Oh yes it is :)

Too much fun!!


So the t-shirt was Steve's present from Addie.

This was my present to Steve. Thank you so much for being the best father you can be to Addie. Better than I could ever have imagined. I love you so much.

7 Months. Yes, really!

Addie is now 7 months old. 7 months seems WAY older than 6 months. Like she's almost a toddler or something, right?

What's new in this 7 month old's life? She's been bouncing around on her butt a lot while sitting up---bounce bounce bounce, she moves across the floor. Bounce bounce bounce, it gets her closer to something she wants to put in her mouth. She can bounce so much that she can make a full 360 degree circle, all while sitting up and bouncing.

Addie is no longer the passive little baby smiling at the camera--I took a LOT of pictures of Addie yesterday and most of them were blurry--she's always on the move--she just doesn't stop! A few selection's from this month's shoot that are actually still:





I tried to get all artistikoosh this month.




Oh yeah, and she's still completely obsessed with the camera strap.

We also had a visit from Aunt Vera this week-- Addie had a fun time playing with Aunt Vera and trying to eat her jewelry ;)


We're heading to Louisiana this weekend so that Addie can meet her great-grandmother "Grammy" (Steve's mom's mom) and her Great Aunt Robbie, Great Uncle Jimmy, and Great Cousin's Doug and Greg. Keep an eye out for pictures from the trip and her first plunge into a big-person pool, and hopefully stories of the travel that go something like this:

"Addie was great! She slept the whole time on the plane."

:)

Addie, the happiest baby ever (er...most of the time)! And some "breaking" news...

We hear this often from our loyal blog readers: Addie is always smiling! Wow, she's always so happy!

Yes, Addie has been a smiley baby for most of her life, since the very first smiles that her uncle Dan elicited way back when she was a mere 4 weeks old. Besides a few weeks where her sleep at night was at its worst and she was a total grumpola....she really is quite a happy baby.

But then we heard a few people say: "Wow...she NEVER cries, does she?" Um....well, no not never. Addie is still a baby and babies cry when they want or need something, so she cries every single day. Several times a day. Luckily, when we figure out what she wants (sleep, milk, food, water, to chew on my cell phone) she stops crying. The beauty of a blog is that you get to select the photos that go up and so we tend to either select the super-cute-smiley ones or the funny ones. But here's some proof to our readership that Addie does indeed cry.


And she cracks herself up...



And she's learning to wave...much to the delight of the fellow shoppers at Target/Costco/wherever we may be. They say "aww...look at the baby, she's so cute" and she'll reward their adoration with a big arm flap in return.


And she listens intently...usually without blinking! "Uncle" Orin and his brother Tomer came for a visit...

....here Addie is listening to Orin making his famous trumpet noises and watching his silly faces.


And she really loves the pool. Here she is getting ready for her second pool jaunt...this time in her cool rashguard surfer-girl bathing suit.


Laughing with Daddy in the (HOT) sun.


And this girl not only loves swimming in the water, but she loves drinking it. From a sports bottle to a glass, if we're drinking water, she gets very very intent on having a sip for herself. Here's a video of her chugging it down.



And now for the "breaking news"--yesterday we were giving Addie some water from the glass and we heard a strange sound that we hadn't heard before--a sort of "clinking" noise...could it be? A TOOTH? So we stuck our fingers in her mouth and felt...yes folks, a sharp sharp point breaking through the gum. Those gummy toothless smiles that you love so much will be no longer :)