Enjoying one of many meals with Grandma Mari and Grandpa Howie
Shortly after we arrived, the Ruschmans came down to see us. Livia spent a fun day playing with cousins DJ and Andrew, and seeing Aunt Lori and Uncle Darren. Great Aunt Elyse also made the LONG trek from NYC (even longer than usual due to bad traffic and bad directions... sorry!) and we all enjoyed seeing her as well.
Livia and DJ
Livia is wearing a necklace of baltic amber, which is supposed to be a natural pain reliever for teething (we are willing to try anything to combat Livia's teething fussiness, especially after a few tough weeks getting the first molars)
Checking out one of Grandma Mari's new toys with DJ and Andrew
A typical scene from the afternoon
Dan and Lori
Dan and Elyse
Livia loved taking bites from Elyse's apple
The next day we headed out to the Jersey shore. First we went to the aquarium. Livia liked the fish, seals, and sharks, but her favorite thing was wandering around upstairs and doing laps around the benches in the empty "education room". It is hard to predict what will be exciting to a one-year-old.
Look at this seal
Daddy was a seal too
Livia and Grandma Mari waiting for the seals to eat
After the aquarium, we had some lunch and then took a walk on the boardwalk. It was Livia's second time seeing the ocean, but it had been almost a year since her last glimpse. She may be more impressed during the summer when she can play in the sand.
After the beach, we made an unsuccessful venture to an outlet mall (somehow we were 1 minute away but couldn't find them), so we decided to go home for a nap. Unfortunately, Livia did not fall asleep-- she refused to nap until we were in the car on the way to dinner at a nice restaurant. What you don't see is our efforts to entertain a cranky Livia post-nap in the restaurant, which involved lots of grapes and yogurt melts.
The next day we had a fun morning visit from the Feldman Five: Merideth, Scott, Logan, Grant, and Skylar.
Here we have the Feldman/Rosenberg Eight
Logan, Dan, and Skylar
Dan and Merideth
After they left, we had a nap, then we headed to a different set of outlets that we were actually able to locate. They had a stride rite store, and we bought Livia's first pair of sneakers. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten a photo of them yet, but they are pink and pretty cute.
The following day we had a visit from Dan's high school friend Allison, and her kids Eli and Sara. I had a couple of photos on here of Allison and Dan, but I somehow managed to accidentally delete them in the process of posting-- ugh, sorry! You can see a little of her below.
Sara and Livia played intensely side by side.
Eli kept looking for Livia's brother, who we assured him does not exist.
We had a surprise snowstorm the afternoon of New Year's Eve, while we were en route to Wegmans to pick up some sushi. Luckily we made it home safely. We celebrated by having an early sushi dinner at home, complete with plum wine and edamame. Then we all went to bed before midnight. We figured we needed our rest to drive back the next morning.
3 comments:
Grandma Mari Says:
Good memories! I think about Livia every day now picturing her in day care. I'm glad she seems to be getting used to going there. She is a cutie and it was nice having Livia and her Mom and Dad with us for the holiday.
Those pigtails are too cute! I hate that I missed your impromptu playdate with Ben at the museum last week. Maybe we can plan something for a Saturday some time soon.
I'm looking at all these photos and just missing you all so much. I was just lurking on your Facebook sites too, through Michelle's account. So I feel like I know everything going on (including house heating disasters)...but that doesn't help not miss you all, and wanting to hold and kiss Livia. (Figure we're just giving her another few months until she's good and ready to be held by her uncle.)
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