The Gang Was All Here

We've enjoyed nine relaxing days in Sestri Levante so far, together with my mom, Vola, Jason, and Dylan. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Matt early this morning, but I'm thinking that he'll find some way to entertain himself in Denver for another week or so without us.

It was Alice's first time meeting her cousin Dylan, and it was definitely love at first sight (for her; he, on the other hand, seems appropriately wary of her toddler-strength pats and squeezes).

My mom has been kind enough to offer her babysitting services for both children whenever we adults want to get out.  She reports that one night, after Vola, Jason, Matt, and I closed the door behind us and hurried off to drinks, Alice leaned over to Dylan on his playmat and said, "Don't worry, Dylan, your mommy will be back soon."

I die!


If this trip is any indication, Alice is going to be a great big sister.  Besides a few moments of jealousy while Matt and I were cooing over Dylan, she's been nothing but thrilled over the little guy.
And how could you not love this little face?

He's charmed all of us.

Besides giving lots of kisses to Baby D, Alice has been living the dream.

Ordering coffee perched on Nonna's hip.

Blowing bubbles by the sea.

Negotiating the cobblestones while pushing her stroller and her own Baby Dylan (no, I suppose we're not very inventive with names around here and yes, that's a dishrag blanket he's all snuggled up under).

Eating pastries for breakfast and gelato for snack.

And the beauty is that we have 8 more days!

Getting Her Hair Did

Before her big birthday party, we decided it was time for Alice to get a legit haircut.  My attempts at trimming her bangs were no longer cutting the mustard and things were getting a little ratty. Mostly, I got tired of chasing after Alice while trying to hold on to a rubber band that was halfway around a pigtail, begging her to let me just finish tying her hair back so it wouldn't be in her face all day. I dreamed of the mythical hairdo that you don't have to maintain at all.

At the salon, the car chair proved just exciting enough to allow the hairdresser to do her job.

And although we didn't quite get an absolutely maintenance-free 'do, I don't think this one's too shabby!

 

Better run. Alice has woken up from her nap and I hear her chattering in her room. So far, I've heard "I gotta poop," "Eewie, dat's poopie," and "Mommy change it. It's yucky."

Any takers out there? 

 

The Lost Month

Oh. . .  hey there . . .

This is kind of awkward.

Um. . . how have you been?

I meant to post over the last month and a half.  I really did.  I even opened up Blogger and loaded up a few photos.  

But I've been so tired. And, um, busy.

It's not you, it's me.

Please don't be mad.

Let's start over.  Let me just give you the highlights of what we've been up to since May, and then we can just pick up from there and put this whole thing behind us.

We spent a delightful evening at Sunflower Farm in Longmont.

Alice swang and spun.

And spun.

 

And taunted chickens.

And drove a tractor.

And faced off against a turkey.

And fed sheep.

 

For the Fourth of July, we brought out the red, white, and blue and decorated the trike to the nines.

We strutted proudly in our neighborhood parade.

The weekend before last, we took a last minute trip to Vail to check out the mountains in the summer.

The pedestrian-only village was perfect for Alice to explore.

She loved the fountains and the statues scattered along the streets.

She loved them so much that we spent approximately 20 minutes of every hour engaged in a battle of wills over whether Alice would (1) sit peacefully in the stroller, (2) walk on her own alongside us, (3) ride on Matt's shoulders, (4) meander at her own pace, stopping every minute or so to do some backtracking, take a detour up or down some stairs, squat to check out something on the ground more closely, just stand still for a while, refuse to continue walking when asked nicely, repeatedly (5) have to be carried against her will while screaming as if she were being kidnapped . . . 
 

Or (6) find herself strapped in her stroller, also against her will, again screaming as if she were being kidnapped.

 

We narrowly missed a rainstorm on the way to dinner by hopping in a pedicab to get there faster.

 

Alice was delighted to discover that there are letters all over signs in the mountains too.

This girl loves her some alphabet.

We took the gondola all the way to the top of the mountain and attempted a hike.

The first part of the hike was beautiful.

 It was so peaceful to be up above the world, walking around at the top of the mountain with stunning views all around.

Then Alice woke up and demanded to be let out of the backpack but refused to walk so we had to take turns carrying her in our arms the rest of the way back. It kind of took away from the serenity of the experience, if you can imagine.

In any case, we can't wait to come back when everything is covered in snow.

Finally, just this past weekend, Alice's Grammy, Grampy, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Denny came into town to join in the festivities for Alice's second birthday. I was having such a great time that I barely took any photos, but I'm grateful that Karen ("Grammy" to those in the know) fully documented the party for posterity.

Phew.

That was a lot of photos. And a lot of recap.

Now, let's pretend this little rift never happened.

Friends?