Little Incredible You

Airport Traveling

Sleeping on the plane!


In and Out Burger with the Owies


Beach Bum


Playing on one of the many beach playgrounds


Saying goodbye to Aunt Katie and Uncle Kevin and the Owies


On the tram to Disneyland.


Beach Babe


Ocean adventure with Aunt Molly


"Mommy, get me outta here!"


Hollywood Hills

Hollywood with Uncle KK


Bike path on one of our many sunset rides.


How we got around.


Santa Monica Pier


Lounging in the world's smallest living room.


Santa Monica with Nonni and Nonna


California Girl


We made it.
We traveled 3000 miles to Venice Beach and 3000 miles back. You were a champ. Not only did you sleep on the airplane you slept through the landing during both flights! You never even appeared bothered by take off. Traveling can be stressful, living in an 800 sq ft beach house with 6 other people and a dog can be stressful but you were absolutely incredible.

Your incredibleness was not just your laid back attitude about sleep schedules, eating times, general lack of structure. The incredible part was your 16 month old self enjoyed all the experiences. You soaked up the warm sand and the salty sea and learned to love the feeling of sand in between your toes and sifting through your fingers. You enjoyed the sunset rides along the beach bike path connecting Venice and Santa Monica. You loved the playgrounds on the beach and there were plenty of them! You enjoyed our Hollywood breakfast and meeting Mickey at Disneyland (you actually kissed him on the nose!). You loved stolling along the boardwalk and greeting each and every dog we met. You lived to feed Owie your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Almost daily someone stranger would declare, "I've never met a baby like her before!" You were so engaging, loving, laughing, and charismatic.

I can't describe how proud I am of you. You were so adaptable and had fun too. How you would laugh and giggle and get everyone involved. All 6 of us squished in the world's smallest living room, you would go from person to person making sure everyone particpated. At the beach you would stomp and splash in the foamy water. It's almost like you fell in love with every experience, every moment, every person you met and soaked up every morsel you could.

The memories I have of you are unforgettable. You such a unique toddler with such a warm, inclusive, compassionate personaility. How you adapt and just go with the flow. Very Californian of you Nora. How you enjoy life and live in the moment. I am so proud of the person you are, the person you are becoming.

Food for the Soul

Laughter is food for the soul. So I surmise, laughter with family must be twice as nutritious. Aunt Kaarn and Uncle Cliff live a few hours away in the mountains of Virginia. We went on a mountain adventure this weekend with them in Alleghany County. Nora, we did so much!

Friday we spent time with Aunt Kaarn helping her get some boxes into her her new, fancy, middle school classroom (complete with a kiln and potter's wheel!). We had lunch in Clifton Forge and bought some toys in the Art Center where Aunt Kaarn taught a summer camp. It was a warm day so we went for a wade at Humpback Bridge in Covington. The water felt awesome and you enjoyed skipping rocks (actually it was more like picking up rocks and moving them to a new location in the river). Uncle Cliff got home from work and we went to dinner at Jack Mason's Tavern. Wow-wee was that good food! Since the tables were full when we first got there, we sat at the bar for 10 minutes or so, you enjoyed perusing the drink choices and finally settled on a fruit punch and a swig of Uncle Cliff's beer!








The next day was even busier and more fun! First we had to stop by the C&O Railroad museum in Clifton Forge (thanks to Aunt Molly for her tip in American Heritage last year). A decision was made to just go for a quick ride on the toy train that circles the museum. Since we were the only visitors at 10am, the train conductor (a volunteer) took you and Daddy and Aunt Kaarn around and around and around. It didn't seem like he was going to stop. Then he slowed down, finally! However, he wanted Uncle Cliff and I to jump on to go around a few more times! Whew! It was quite the experience. To top it off, a real conductor driving a coal train blew his horn for you and waved from his engine! Next, we went to an air show in Bath County. This was really cool! Food, music, cars, games, dogs, planes... who could ask for more?!?! After we grabbed lunch, we found a good spot next to the runway and settled in to watch the planes circle, zig zap, dive and roll in the air. You didn't focus on the planes the entire time, but you did watch with interest for a couple minutes. You clearly recognized the planes and would adamantly point with excitement as the plane tumbled in the air. One would think that the air show would provide enough fun for one day! However, we ended up going down to Roanoke for a delicious Mexican dinner where we discovered you LOVE guacamole. A tidbit for further investigation, after eating copious amounts of guacamole, you became increasingly more hyper-active and it lasted the rest of the evening when we went to the Roanoke Star. The star is huge and overlooks the city with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. You were a ball of energy and giggled and laughed as you ran around in a circle. Uncle Cliff actually captured a very good video of your goofy self. When we were leaving, Aunt Kaarn decided to start teaching you early on the importance of dead heading plants; Grandma Gail would be proud! When thinking back on Saturday, I am realizing I'm leaving important details out like the gourmet donuts from Blue Collar Joe's and our stop at the Goodwill and tour of downtown and the winding road up the mountain to the airport (which was located on the roof of the world where all of us got sunburned even though we lathered on sunscreen... too close to the sun!). We stopped at Falling Spring, but you were asleep in the car, so just Daddy and I went. Don't worry, I took a picture! Ok, a few pictures.

Our last day was the shortest. We got to eat our gourmet donuts and hang out with Aunt Kaarn and Uncle Cliff and the dogs! Oh how you loved Betty, Charlie and Annie. You were obsessed with them and needed to know where they were at every moment, and if they were outside, you wanted to be to. The dogs did exceedingly well with your presence and they even let a tail or two be pulled. All your animal cousins were such gracious hosts. We even got to try out Aunt Kaarn's freshly painted porch glider. What fun! But in the end, our visit was all too short and we had to say goodbye. There was some talks of a trade of you for Charlie... but loyal Charlie wouldn't leave his home, you were ready to stay at a moment's notice.



Never never never under the estimate the power that family has to replenish your soul. Nora we are full of love, laughter and awesome memories. Thank you Aunt Kaarn and Uncle Cliff for nourishing our souls this weekend. It was greatly needed.

Close Encounter

Oh my goodness. We just got back from Sesame Place, a Sesame Street theme park. You and I just went with Ashley and Jessica. Although the mini-vacation started off a little rough with a hot, crowded day on the rides, and a scary jetted tub. However the second day made up for the initial experience and gave us so much more than we could have ever imagined!

I have to say that the adults were more bothered with things on the first day then you and Ashley were. The two of you were troopers in the long lines and loved to watch the rides and people spin around. Long lines and too few attendants were making our experience miserable the first day. We were not looking forward to coming back... until the 7pm parade started. Because of the crowds, we were in the back of the mob and I had to put you on my shoulders to see anything. At first, you were stunned, looking at the action unfolding in front of you. After a few moments, your mind caught up to your eyes. Squealing, excitable bouncing, and pointing ensued. You were so enthralled with the characters, especially Big Bird. It was like you were a groupie in shock of seeing your favorite rock star and you just kept squealing and pointing in disbelief. I'm nervous about what you'll be like when you're 12 and like some type of Justin Bieber clone. Jessica and I knew we had to take to take you and Ashley (who was less loud about her excitement) to an up-close dining encounter with the Sesame characters.

The second day was much more pleasant and less crowded. You and Ashley spent the afternoon and evening romping around with Big Bird and Elmo and Bert and Ernie and Cookie Monster. You met Oscar and Abby Cadabby and played with all of them. You were so thrilled and your excitement was contagious. We spent the rest of the time splashing in the endless pools, singing songs in the parade or Elmo Rocks show. All of us were having such a great experience, we lost track of time and the next thing we hear is an announcement that the park is closing in 15 minutes! We left 2hrs after we said we were going to! You and Ashley fell asleep for the 3hr drive home and now we have a slew of priceless memories of your first encounter with Big Bird and all his Sesame friends.

Sesame Carousel

Come and Play on Sesame Street!

Fancy tub / shower at our hotel

This pic was before the jets came on unexpectedly and caused quite a horrific bathroom scene!

Nice horsey

Meeting Abby Cadabby

Elmo and Big Bird!

Grouchy while meeting Oscar

Honking Bert's nose

Playing in the pool

Here comes the parade! (second day)

Tea Cups from around the world.

Zoe!

Giving Ernie a high five!

Meeting Elmo for the first time

Cookie Monster tickling you!!!


I'm trying to organize our lives to go and visit Aunt Kaarn and Uncle Cliff this weekend (hooray!) and then leave for L.A. one week from today... yikes! The trip was time consuming, hot, obnoxious getting all the little pieces together, but it was worth all the little annoyances to see the joy in your face. How I will treasure these memories and retell them to you when you think Big Bird and Sesame Street is uncool. Hardy har har.