Ocean!

Eleanor loves the beach. We have gone twice in the past week and today she asked our neighbor Ian to take her to the, "Ocean" but its been storming all afternoon so she had to stay inside. The first time we took her she was a little cautious at first and immediately got knocked down by a wave. It only took her a little while to really warm up to the ocean and she kept dragging me further and further into the water. I needed to take a break from the water so I tried to interest her in building a sand castle. I told her to pat the sand down and after she did she said, "burp...excuse me" which is a line in one of her favorite books. It really made me crack up that she was burping a castle instead of a baby.
Joanna asked to see pictures of my tummy. So here I am at 29 weeks.

Country Girl

Eleanor took to the country life quite well. This was the first time for her to play in the river and she loved it! She tried to swim while PaPa held her. She showed no fear. I am not sure if that is good or bad? She also enjoyed her fair share of wild blackberries...as you can see. I brought her back home today covered in bruises and scrapes, but smiling.

Virginia Vacation

Eleanor and I traveled to Virginia by ourselves to visit my family. John had to finish up his German class so we had to go without him. We had delays so it took us over 12 hours to get to my parents house. Lucily, I had "Eleanor Monkey" to entertain her. We both had a nice time and Eleanor fell in love with Rowdy, the family Jack Russel. Rowdy tolerated Eleanor very well, but I am sure that he is glad to see her go. Eleanor would talk about Rowdy or PaPa from the time she woke up untill the time she went to sleep.

Happy 4th

Eleanor enjoyed herself at the cookout that we attended with some of your friends. She loves watermelon and had more than enough. The July 5th marked the fourth year of my marriage to John. I am 26 weeks along in the pregnancy and all is well. Still no name, but Eleanor points to my tummy and says, "Brother Baby".
John is half way through his first month of German and seems to really like it.