For Your Viewing Pleasure

This is mostly for your listening pleasure--I'm still working on my improving my video-and-entertain-at-the-same-time skills.

Savannah had been laughing for about 3 minutes straight before I managed to get my phone going. Here's the tail-end of her giggle fest.

Summer Recap Part 3: The Chanhassen Resort and Spa, or The Most Funnest Vacation Ever

For our final hurrah of the summer (and yes, I realize it's almost Halloween), we spent 2 weeks with my family in Chanhassen, MN.

And I have to say, it was one of the best vacations I've had in a really really long time. Who knew Minnesota was such a crazy fun place to live (at least during the summer)?

The Schneibers (and Megan, the almost-Schneiber)

The entire Schneiber clan was assembled in Mom and Dad's house (sans Jacqueline in Sweden); complete with new brother-in-law Russ and Dr. Katie, Erik and his very awesome girlfriend Megan, Grandma Emma from Las Vegas, and Grandparents Ada and Bob from California.

The whole crew--minus babies who had a meltdown and went to bed

Then, Mom managed to order up absolutely perfect weather. We basically had 2 weeks straight of warm, perfectly sunny days, with just one Sunday of misty rain.

Seriously--PERFECT weather

The multitude of family, the beautiful weather, and the Minnesotans love of everything outdoors (at least during the summer), meant that there was a ton to do and plenty of people to do it with (as well as plenty of willing babysitters).

Double shoulder rides!

 We went on beautiful bike rides

MN has miles and miles of AWESOME bike paths

The girls loved the sweet bike stroller we borrowed

 We went boating on the lake

On the boat

It's a rough life, obviously

Captain Lily

Savannah knows that boating is serious business

We ate delicious food

Waiting for our food at Tinfish

Grandma makes waiting VERY exciting

Most of the family

Wahoo! We love Minnesota!

We played golf (Rob even took lessons--it was a MN miracle!!)

I have no pictures of golf--so here is Megan and Erik waterskiing

 We played sand volleyball

Again, no pictures of volleyball--so this is a burger place we went to that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

 We went swimming

Swimming in the chilly lake--Savannah couldn't get enough of it!

Lily did not want to leave the towel b/c she hated the sand

 And at the end of every full day we slept really, really well.  

And we spent a LOT of time with DAD!!!!

And it's probably obvious by now, but we are DEFINITELY planning a return trip to the most funnest place around, the Chanhassen Resort and Spa. (But we'll probably wait until next summer!)   :)

Summer Recap Part 2: A Mexican Cruise or Babies, What Babies?

In the beginning of August we had an Ellis family reunion sans grandkids, so all of the Ellis kids and spouses (except, sadly, Mark and Aup) made our way down to Galveston for a 5-day Mexican cruise.  I was definitely looking forward to the vacation but was a little apprehensive about leaving my babies for that long.  I don't think I'd been away from them for 5 hours, so 5 days was tough to wrap my mind around.

But, I hoodwinked recruited Cami, a good friend home from college for the summer, into watching the girls while we were gone.  She came over, I gave her the lowdown on the routine/schedule, I kissed my girls goodbye and then walked out the door without a diaper bag, snacks, toys, or babies.  It was quite the shock to my system and I may have been a little teary-eyed as we drove away. 

As the following pictures will demonstrate, however, we did have a great time on the cruise.  Games were played, food was eaten, laughs were laughed, and a lot of great memories were made. 

Rob getting artistic with the camera

Our first port of call was Progresso, Mexico.  We decided to take a 2 hour bus ride to see Chichen Itza, an ancient Mayan city. 

The bus ride wasn't bad after we got used to the sweat trickling down our backs when the air conditioning stopped working.  And though it would have been nice to have a guide that spoke English with slightly less of an accent (meaning, his "English" was some mix of Spanish and Mayan, with enough English words thrown in to keep the poor Koreans in our group wondering if they were the only ones not understanding)...

The Mayans were into human sacrifice, so we were pretty worried about this huge snake...

... we still had fun seeing the ruins and interacting with the locals trying to sell us souvenirs.  One of the best techniques we encountered happened when we'd casually ask what some dress/bowl/knife/jewelry/toy cost.  The vendor would shrewdly look us up and down, nod to himself and say, "For you, almost free!" 

All of the locals were pretty little, but this was the smallest woman I've ever seen. 

The second stop on the cruise was Cozumel, Mexico.  Our goals here were to do a little shopping and enjoy some time on the beach. 

Lucky "John" Day, Dusty "Rob" Bottoms, and Ned "Emily"Nederlander

First, though, who could pass up an opportunity to pose as one of the Three Amigos?  Not us (obviously)!

This is very appropriate b/c Rob's nickname is El Guapo, and I'm a dead-ringer for Carmen...

After Rob and I walked all the way into Cozumel (b/c we thought the taxi drivers were trying to bamboozle us when they told us it was 3 miles to town) and did our shopping, we met up with some of our crew and went to the beach. 

What's an Ellis vacation without a few games of Wizard?

The sun was shining, the sand was soft, the water was warm and blue, and we were happy to be there! 

The Girls (Me, Kit, Joy, Natalie)

And we realized we were especially happy to be there after we got home, turned on the TV and saw that a hurricane was scheduled to hit Cozumel in the next week!  

The Manly Men (Kevin, Matt, Rob, Darrell)

By the end of the cruise as my body started to remember what life was like when I could sleep in, didn't have any diapers to change, and wasn't always 'on duty', I kind of started to wonder, "Did I just dream this last year??"  Which was a MAJOR sign that it was time to GET BACK HOME!  :) 

The Nice, Normal Ellises

So even though 5 days felt a little long for this new mama to be gone from her babies, we had a GREAT time and were so glad to be with our wonderful family!

The Really, Really, Ridiculously Good Looking Ellises

Summer Recap Part 1: The Oregon Coast or Death (slowly) by Airplane

This July my Dad's side of the family had a week-long reunion planned on the Oregon Coast.  I hardly ever get to see that side of the family, but Rob couldn't take off work and I definitely wasn't brave enough to fly with 2 babies alone, so I thought we wouldn't be able to go.

The Allan-Schneiber Clan

Then my Mom proposed that she could fly from Minneapolis to Houston, and we could both fly from Houston to Portland.  As sad as I was to miss a week of the lovely Houston summer, I jumped at the chance.

The kiddos got lots of 2 on 2 grandparent time

The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was a really fun, relaxing week.  I hadn't seen most of my cousins in about 5 years and couldn't believe how much everyone has grown up.  They were all (of course) enamored with Savannah and Lily, so I got a lot of baby-free time while the cousins and aunties babysat. 

Grandpa-Great and Grandma-Great Allan

The only hiccups came in the physical getting to Oregon and back.  In short, the flights were a killer.  On the way there the girls only slept for about 30 mins of a 4+ hour flight and screamed for at least twice that.

3 very tired ladies--I think my mom was pretty relieved to kiss us good-bye after taking this picture in Houston! 

On the way home we had a similar experience except that after our 4+ hour flight we had to wait over an hour on the tarmac in Houston because of a thunderstorm.  And then I had to wait another 1.5 hours only to discover they had sent my luggage (and my car seats) to MN with my mother.  

So, rather than wait longer and make a bigger stink, we drove the 25 minutes home using my arms as child restraints.   And with about 5 minutes to go, the girls finally gave in and fell asleep in my arms. 

3 VERY tired ladies...

So, all in all I think it was worth the trip.  But I was definitely glad that the rest of our summer plans did NOT involve any airplanes!!   And, in the future, I'm pretty sure my Mom will think twice (at least) before offering to help us fly anywhere.  ;) 

And the award for Best Picture of the Year goes to...

...Rob Ellis!!! For his video montage of his daughters' first year. Man, these kids are cute!

July 28th: The One-Year Birthday Extravaganza

Oh man, what a year!  On one hand, I can't believe it's gone so fast.  And on the other, I can't believe life has changed so much in just 1 year! 

Friends, Family, Coworkers

So we had a party.  And if there has ever been a reason to celebrate, it was Aug. 2011-July 2012.  It was a little crazy getting ready for everything...but that's very appropriate because it seems like "crazy" has kind of been a theme for us this year...and in the end, it turned out great and was all worth it (another theme).  :)

The kiddos weren't used to having such a large audience when they eat, but before too long they were getting down to business on their delicious chocolate cake (a la Costco). 

Before

During

After

Cake in the eyeballs.  Annnnd we're done. 

At the 1-year mark, I am just totally in love with these little girls.  

Savannah is getting ready to walk.  She LOVES music and immediately starts rocking out whenever she hears any.  She's a total ham and loves to squeal with laughter whenever we chase or tickle her.  She is happiest in any kind of water, is a mama's girl, and has crazy, crazy hair.  Savannah is such a sweet heart.  She's pretty easy-going and independent, and will just crawl away to go exploring around this huge house of ours. 

Baby's first baby...yummm

Lily is walking already and it cracks me up seeing such a little bitty person walking around like she owns the place.  She is so outgoing and will toddle around the house babbling and gesticulating, like she's bossing everyone around.  Many times she looks at you, just waiting for you to look back before breaking into a huge grin.  I love this little fake laugh/cackle she does when she hears other people laughing and just has to be a part of whatever is so funny.  Lily is curious, sweet, and full of spunk. And her dimples.  They kill me.

Lily carried her baby around 24/7 for the rest of the weekend

It's so fun to see Lily and Savannah interact and play.  Their eyes light up whenever they see each other and they definitely share a language all their own.  One of their favorite spots to hang out is on the stairs; climbing up, sliding down, throwing their toys and watching them bounce down, collecting them, rinse, repeat.   And whenever it gets too quiet for too long, my trouble-alarm starts beeping and more often than not they've learned some new trick together that means I need to step up my baby-proofing game.  

Life is really, really good and as much as I was looking forward to being a mom, I never imagined it could be so wonderful.  I'm so grateful for these little people in my life! 

P.S. and I did it: one year of breast feeding!!! Never thought we'd make it, but we did. :).

Ironman Rob

 For the past four or five months Rob has been burning the candle at both ends because he and his good friend, Gavin, decided they needed a big goal in their lives.  (Mid-life, almost-30-years-old crisis?)

We toyed with the idea of biking across the country, but didn't think it would go very well with 2 babies in tow.  Another marathon didn't seem like a big enough goal to Rob.  So, after some discussion and not very much planning, they decided to train for an Ironman triathlon!

Since there aren't very many couch-to-ironman training plans around, they decided they should start with a half-ironman.

Training began.  And thankfully after a few months of 5 days a week of early morning workouts, long Saturdays of training, lots of peanut butter banana protein shakes, and a slightly frazzled wife Rob decided that he would have to postpone the full iron man training until he has a little more free time...maybe it will be his almost-50-mid-life-crisis?

They slept on the floor of a member of our church's house the night before the race.

So they signed up for a half-ironman race in the bustling metropolis of Muncie, IN  on July 7th.  They took off work to drive 18 hours, arrived at the race, and were told that due to a crazy heat wave the race was being shortened and wouldn't be the full 70.3 miles. 

Early Morning pre-race

They were a little bummed. 

But they did the race, got some cool gear, turned around and drove (18 hours) home, and then a few weekends later they set up their own 70.3 mile course in (burning hot) Houston so they could REALLY sport their medals with pride. 

Two Awesome Ironmen!

Rob has now sworn off any and all exercise--especially if it means he has to get up before 6am.  But I'm really proud of both of them and really grateful he's done!  :)