T minus 3 days

The Nobles are embarking on a 10 day family vacation on Thursday!!

Drew's sister, Shaneen, is getting married in Florida this weekend.

We are very excited about the wedding . . . not so excited about the plane ride with a toddler!

After much research, thought and nightmares I will share with you our game plan:

1. Talk up the plane ride like it's Disneyland! (note the excitement in the video below)

2. Bring a boat load of new toys, snacks and a DVD player with Elmo movies.

3. Bribe her with the promise of eatting cake at the wedding!

And our last resort/back-up plan . . . drugs. Valium for the parents or benadryl for the baby. Not sure which yet.

Sweetness

This kid is too much!

Everyday, I keep thinking . . . she can't get any cuter!!

But then she opens her mouth and her sweet little voice just cracks me up!

Her favorite game lately is to walk around the house with her toy cellphone at her ear saying "mmhmm . . . mmhmmm, ok, bye bye!"

A B C Delicious

Ellie has started singing her alphabet.

My favorite letters are

L

Q (which she pronounces "cute")

and Rrrrrrr

Twilight Tour 2009

Let's see what Webster's has to say . . .

• Obsessed: a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling
• Fan: an enthusiastic devotee

Yep, I would say that about covers it!

Yesterday, I advanced to a new level of devotion to Twilight!

Along with my mum and 2 of her neighbors, I traveled 250 miles to visit the town where the books are set.

To make the adventure even more fun I made goody bags, including blood red drinks . . .

'Wolf munch' trail mix snacks and a bumper sticker that only Twi-hards understand! Enjoying sunset at First Beach in La Push with mum and Tess Forks and Port Angeles are making the most of their new found tourism industry. And we made of the most of this trip. Lots of laughter, silliness and good times had by all!

Rainy days and new do's

It has been a very rainy labor day weekend. But Drew and Ellie made the most of it by donning their rain suits and playing in the puddles.

She's such a Northwest girl! She stood directly under the down stout and jumped and splashed. -- MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ALERT -- Ellie just returned from her first hair cut!

It felt bittersweet to say goodbye to her long, whispy baby locks but she looks so darn cute in her big girl bob!

Afterward, we went out to dinner to celebrate.

And, for the first time, ordered her dinner off the kids menu!

She is so completely a toddler now!

Grampa's Boat!

Grampa Jon bought a new toy last week and we have all been VERY excited to see it.

It's a 27 foot Catalina sailboat! Ellie's lifejacket is the cutest thing ever! We told her she couldn't be on the boat without it and luckily she made no fuss about wearing it! Ellie got her sea legs quickly and liked climbing up and down the stairs to the cabin. Hopefully, she will take after her dad and never get sea sick!

There wasn't much wind so we mostly motored around.

That was probably a good thing because when Drew and Jon went out this morning, when the wind was rippin', they said it was an adrenaline rush!

Second Birthdays

Ellie attended her first 'real' birthday party on Saturday. I deemed this her first 'real' party because she was old enough to partake in every part of the event.

She LOVED the bounce house and spent most of the party jumping and bouncing with the birthday girl, Lucy.

Here she is with her friends Lucy and Alister, eating burgers and pink birthday cake.

Lucy's requests for her party were

• a pink cake
• Hello Kitty balloons
• and party hats!

"When is MY birthday, Mommy?