Up North- Simone's First Trip!

A couple of weekends ago we decided to head up North to Tofte and stayed at Bluefin Bay! It was Simone's first road trip, and she did AMAZING. We weren't sure how she would do with the long drive, but she did perfect. We really only had to stop once each way for HER. She had lots of "firsts" that weekend too, and had so much fun! Above- Simone's first hike! We walked along Lake Superior- it was just gorgeous.


SO pretty. The view from our window.


Another view from our window.


Walking along the lake.


Simone loved playing with all the rocks on the shore. And she thought they tasted good.


Mommy and Simone on our hike!


Daddy showing Simone the lake.


We just love it up there. So serene, so gorgeous.


Simone's first swim in a big swimming pool! She LOVED it. I think she could have stayed in there all day, though the water was chilly.


Daddy playing with Simone in the pool.


Daddy and Simone at her first bonfire by the lake!


The bonfire had such a cool atmosphere. They had s'mores out for everyone to make, and there was a guy playing beautiful guitar music at sunset.


The colors of the sunset on the lake.


Simone enjoying her xylophone at Bluefin Bay. :)


Mommy and Simone by the lake! We had to take one last walk before we left.


The "studio" that we stayed in.
What a great weekend. We had SO much fun, and it was so nice to just "get away from it all." And, we feel so lucky to have such a good, easygoing little girl who just went with the flow all weekend and had a blast!

Simone's Baptism!

We had Simone baptized on June 27th- what a beautiful day!! We were so lucky to have so much family there to celebrate with us. Simone was a trooper, too. :) The pic above cracks me up because she looks like a little old-fashioned doll! Nicole's great aunt, who is 94, made Simone her beautiful gown, bonnet and booties before she was even born. Thank goodness they all still fit! It was so special for Simone to be able to wear the gown her great, great aunt Clara made for her.


Greg, Nicole, Simone, and all of the Godparents! Simone is very lucky in that she has FOUR Godparents. Nicole's brother Sean, sis-in-law Brenda, Greg's brother Steve, and Steve's fiancee Krista.


Proud Mommy and Simone.


All of us up front during the baptism. There were 4 other kids being baptized that day! It was so fun!



Simone getting "dunked!" She wanted to climb right in and play in the water!


Mom, Dad, Simone, Steve and Krista after the "dunking." Simone was starting to get a little antsy, hence the nuk. :)


Mom, Dad, Simone, and the pastor.


Simone and Grandpa Rod.


Simone's beautiful cake! Greg's parents were nice enough to have everyone over at their house after the baptism. What a great party! Simone had so much fun seeing everyone- especially Steve and Krista, who were in from Connecticut! They hadn't seen her since she was a month old!


Simone and Godfather/Uncle Sean.


Simone and Godfather/Uncle Steve getting some good cuddle time in.


Simone with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Pat.


Godparents Sean and Brenda


Great, Great Aunt Clara and Grandma Joanie


I love this picture. Simone with Great Aunt Bobbi, Great Uncle Jeff, and cousins Amy and Alex.


Godmother and auntie-to-be Krista with Grandma Wonderful, as she calls herself. :)


Simone and Great, Great Aunt Clara


Grandpa Tom and Daddy


Playing with Uncle Steve's hair. We were joking about how much product she had to have on her hands after that. :)


Great Uncle Tim, Uncle Steve with Simone


Great Grandma, Great Aunt Carole, and Great Aunt Sue.

Again- what a beautiful day. Simmie had so much fun being with her family. Thanks so much for coming, everyone! It was SO special to have you all there. Simone loves you, and so do we!

Ahhhh, June. Summer is here! Simone's first! :)

Well, all I can say is Simone is LOVING being outside. We're outside A LOT...and she's perfectly content out there. Here's a bunch of pics from the month of June...Simone's 7 months old in most of these pics!
As far as Simone-happenings: she is getting to be SUCH a big girl! Not crawling yet, but does "shimmie" on her tummy to get to something. She tries to climb virtually everything if she is standing- it's insane. She can "throw" a ball (sometimes she really winds up and can throw something across the room!). Talks and talks and talks...and "whispers" which I think is the most adorable thing. She absolutely loves different textures and just loves feeling everything. We're teaching her the sign for "all done", and right now she thinks it's hilarious. Greg thinks she actually did it one morning, but who knows. :) Still just a mellow, funny, happy baby. We love her so much!!!


Grandpa Tom showing her his garden.


Playing with friend Krista who came to visit!



Like I said, she loves textures. Here she is feeling the grass. She loves it.


Goofball in her baby poker table. She RUNS laps around and around this thing.


Playing in her Jumperoo outside on Father's Day. Greg had an AWESOME first Father's Day, by the way. He enjoyed his gifts from Simone that she picked out all by herself.


We went to the Back to the Fifties car show at the Fairgrounds- Simone LOVED looking at all of the cars going by! Here she is meeting her Great-Uncle Steve for the first time! She liked him. :) He and Aunt Rose have a car that they show and were there.


Uncle Sean, Cousin Liam (and Grandpa Pat, who I didn't get a pic of) also came with. Liam and Sean went on the Space Needle- that's what they're looking at. He loved it!


I just thought these four cars looked so cool together.


Nut.


Simone is practicing using a sippie cup. It's getting hard to feed her using a bottle- she doesn't want to stop to eat, she wants to keep playing!


Greg's college buddy Kristin came to visit with her sweet little boy (who Greg is holding)! It was so nice meeting him, and what an absolute cutie.


This is our new deck! It was finished a little over a month ago. We absolutely love it. It's so nice to barbecue out there and have Simone play out there. We get to watch the most beautiful sunsets.


View of the deck from the backyard.


And, a mama robin wasted no time building a nest and laying eggs under the deck!


Here are the babies, all hatched!


And, a little older. The next day after I took this pic, all the birdies had flown away and were gone. They grow up so fast. *sniff*

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer!