European Flashback (August 2009)

Eurotrip 2009

Here's a look back at our first trip to Europe together in 2009.

Here we are at San Francisco airport getting ready to head out ...

... first stop, London, to visit our friends Heath and Sara who were working at an international school there. They showed us a great time in just four packed days.

Here we are at Wembley Stadium

Then to Ireland to stay with family. Here is my great aunt Maureen, who was up later than us, drank more than us, and was up before us with breakfast made when we awoke. She was a fantastic hostess and is an AMAZING person to talk with. What a great gal.

... and we had some typical Ireland weather

... then spur of the moment, Heath was able to catch a quick RyanAir flight over to pub crawl with us in Dublin

... and then we had to take a tour of the Guinness factory ... best museum/tour EVER

... and then off to the northern coast to see belfast, the giant's causeway and this famous rope bridge "Carrick-a-Rede" bridge.

... and then off to Venice

... here we are girlfriend and boyfriend ...

... and then BAM ... fiances

I skipped over a few amazing parts only because we didn't have great photos. Having uncle Dave show us around the Beamish factory and host us in his mobile near Garretstown was amazing. He was a great host. Also, Rome was eh, we didn't really like it ... so I skipped that part of the trip, lol. All in all, a fantastic trip!

Lily's Second Hospital Visit (Oct. 13th, 2013)

Second Family Meeting

Here is Lily meeting her sister. She liked Chloe's mittens so much she decided she needed one for herself.

... and she loved watching dad put it back on Chloe ... Chloe has quite the nails right now and got in a few early scratches before we took the mittens out of the hospital bag (mom came prepared ... I never would have remembered that!)

 Then we had to physically restrain Lily from giving hugs a little too strongly ...

... but with some help, she was able to give some soft hugs

... and here is dad thinking about the future ... so handsome and pensive ... what a happy guy

... and here is the video we've all been waiting for. Here is Lily meeting Chloe for the second time ...

Family Baby Photos

Here are baby photos of all four of us of us so far ... is there a family resemblance?

Brendan

Lauren

Lily (four days old)

Chloe

Lily Meets Chloe (Oct. 13th, 2013)

Lily Meets Her Little Sister

Lily was very excited to get to the hospital room. Here she is all wound up. We are waiting on the nursery to bring Chloe by.

 Chloe arrives! Now the super, super sad part is that I took a video of Lily meeting Chloe for the first time and Lily just kept hugging her and kissing her and hugging her and signing baby and kissing her and it was the most adorable thing you have ever seen ... and somehow it dissapeared off of Lauren's phone when I imported everything to Iphoto ... so sad! ... anyways, here are the pictures of them meeting

Lily is very excited to see Chloe and could not get close enough, or enough hugs, or enough kisses ...

Here she is trying to hug Chloe ... which is super cute ...

... until she pulls too hard! haha

so cute!

Here she is signing for baby because she wants the baby

... and no matter where she was, she kept wanting to touch her and kiss her ...

I think this is what the future holds ... her big sister looking over her and out for her at all times ...

Awwww

... and here is a video of Lily having a blast in the room while we were waiting for Chloe to be brought to us

Jenna's Story - Lily's Day Out (Oct. 12th, 2013)

Jenna's Story - Lily's Day Out

While things were developing at the hospital down the street, Lily was having quite the day with Jenna. Here is the story as we received it by text ... in Jenna's words ...

First we played. Then We were watching Sesame Street like this 

but then this happened....

For about an hour and a half. Now we are going to have lunch. But she's happy and signing eat

Lunch time fun. She signed banana, eat & water. 

 

Yay!!!!  We are practicing saying sister over here. Sun is shining so we are going out for a walk. 

Hi mama!  I just got home from the park at Hadsall.  This is the face I made when Jenna suggested we go so I can find a rich boyfriend since you will be busy with my sister for awhile. 

I couldn't decide which pair of shoes to wear so I let my magic ball decide. 

When we got there I practiced being cute by riding on the swing. 

Then I practiced my agriculture skills by playing in the dirt. 

Then, hoping some boys were peering out the windows watching me I showed off my balancing skillz.   

My beautiful smile finally brought out ((a student)). He tried to play with me and asked me to sign his form. But I was too shy so I hid in Jenna's legs and she signed it for both of us.  Since I was being shy he left and I went back to being my fun self. 

It was cold so Jenna put my hat on. I wasn't too sure about it so I took some selfies to make sure I was still stylin. 

Here's some pretty clouds. 

Then I showed my nature skillz but playing in the grass.  But Jenna wouldn't let me eat any. 

I tried to make friends with this hedgehog who randomly appeared but this time he was the one who was shy. 

So we came home and now I'm playing with my ball again. I'm in a great mood and have been very good for Jenna.  She says not to worry, we are only going to have a few boys over to drink grandma and daddy's wine.