7-5 - 7-7 - Walking & Dancing!

5 1/2 months - and beginning to walk! What happened to the crawling stage?!

At Friday's swim lesson, Ellie decided that her daddy's nose tasted oh so good! 

Since the swim lesson had been rescheduled to Friday afternoon because Thursday morning was so COLD (yes, in July!), Ellie got to swim when it was actually warm outside! It was a first. She was like a different baby in the water - instead of concentrating so hard on staying warm, she actually seemed to enjoy the water. Especially when her instructor gave her little toys to hold onto and chew. Nothing could bother her after that! She now knows how to float on her tummy and her back, how to float on top of a floatie and kick, how to jump off the wall (with help!) and get her whole face wet (and not swallow the water!). It's been a lot of fun! Only one week left! Crazy! 

On Saturday, we got together with cousins Bethany and Brian and their children Caleb and Elias at our newly discovered favorite place - Heritage Park! We had wanted to picnic on the island at the park, but after spreading out our blankets, getting all the food out, and laying my sleeping daughter down, we were told that we could not picnic on the island - and we had to move!!! So we collected all of our stuff, walked off the island, and found a nice shady area on the lawn. We once again laid our blankets down, got the food out, and I once again put my sleeping daughter on the sheet to sleep... I had her covered in a small blanket to protect her from the sunlight, and the blanket rested on top of her while she slept, making it hard to spot her! She had her nice private corner to sleep in... :) 

This is how she woke up! So nice and peaceful! And happily playing with the blanket and the grass! 

After lunch, we enjoyed exploring the island together and continued our great conversation 

Ellie enjoyed playing with her new favorite toy, a $20 rubber giraffe from Amazon.com - their top seller! I used to laugh at this item when I first saw it online, but Ellie seemed to love it when she found it in Elias's toys at our last visit together (go figure) - so I couldn't resist getting it for her - and she has loved it ever since it came in the mail on Friday! Suddenly, it seems that all the babies we know have this giraffe! 

We finally got Caleb to pose for some pictures :) 

And Elias and Ellie "posed" too... just love how Ellie seems to be glaring at Elias... yet Elias smiles at her in return :) 

There's something special about daddys holding their babies...

Saturday evening we took Ellie to the Angels Stadium for her first baseball game! My father had gotten her a Baltimore Orioles onesie when he was on a business trip in Baltimore a couple of months ago. Since we are originally from Baltimore, my family and I are fans of their team. So we thought it was perfect when we noticed the Angels were playing the Orioles in town during our stay in southern California - and we purchased tickets for my dad for father's day. We had fantastic seats on the club level (they were padded!) and although Ellie sat in her pink Orioles outfit cheering for them, they did wind up losing. :( But yea for the Angels! (We have, after all, been in California for 8 years now!)

This was actually our second time seeing these teams play one another - and last time the Orioles won! So now they are even...

We had a whole crowd of people working hard to get Ellie to look at the camera for this picture! Not an easy thing to do because there was soooooooooooooooooooooo much for her to take in at the Angels Stadium! 

Ellie didn't know quite what to do with all she was seeing and hearing at the ball park! She stayed bug-eyed (like these pictures show) for most of the evening! 

I had a delicious dinner of chicken nachos - and here my mom pretends to eat one... (my mom doesn't eat meat, and she doesn't eat nachos)

Ellie also enjoyed her avocado dinner... :) I just introduced the food to her the other night, and she seems to like it a whole lot! 

And then she fell asleep - and jumped every single time the crowd roared, clapped, or booed.... so not the best nap... but she was so cute to watch! 

Since Ellie has learned to stand, she sometimes looks like she is dancing as she tries to keep her balance... :) My mom had fun watching her dance on the bed this morning...