Daddy's birthday weekend

Daddy turned the big 3-0 on the 3rd of July, and we celebrated by spending the weekend at Lake Oconee at one of Papa's church member's cottages. Papa had a special surprise for us - to celebrate Jake's birthday (but mostly to celebrate Aunt Lizza graduating and getting her first real job), he bought a boat! Lily walked around all weekend saying "Nice boat, Papa!", and two weeks later she is still talking about how Daddy and Papa both skied behind the boat. She also helped Mommy bake a birthday cake for Daddy, and played in the lake until she literally fell asleep in his arms. She still thinks it is Daddy's birthday and tells him "Happy Birthday!" every day. :)

A day in downtown Athens

We had a visit from Auntie Jessica (aka #2) and soon-to-be Uncle Collins the last weekend in June, and we went to downtown Athens for the afternoon on Saturday to mill around the music festival and show everyone where Mommy works. Lily looked very cute in her pigtails, although they didn't last very long, and she wanted to be a big girl and walk with her daddy instead of riding in her stroller.

On the playground with Papa and YaYa

The Mangersons all spent Fathers' Day weekend in Vidalia, but Lily and I left a few days early and came back a few days late so we could spend some extra time with Papa and YaYa. It was soooo nice to have them get some quality playtime in with Lily (here we are swinging and sliding at the church playground), because Mommy is getting very pregnant and I'm not as much fun as I should be right now!

GA aquarium

When our friends Emily and Cory came to visit from San Francisco/Seattle a few weeks ago, we finally made the trip to the Atlanta aquarium that I had been waiting for forever. It's the biggest aquarium in the world, with whale sharks and beluga whales and manta rays and all sorts of other amazing sea creatures, and Aunt Lizza and I had both been dying to go since it opened a few years ago. I wasn't sure if Lily was quite old enough to appreciate it, but I figured we would try it out and see, and I was very excited when she went absolutely nutso over all the fish. She had her face and hands glued to every single display (I gave up on the sanitizer after the first few), and kept shouting out "Mommy, Nemo and Dory!" and "Mommy, shark!" and "Oooh, big one!" and "Hello, Whale!" It was so great to see her reaction to all the animals (she was doing exactly what the rest of us wanted to do even though we were grown-ups and had to wait our turn), and she conveniently started to wear out just as we were running out of things to see.

Girly girl

Necklaces and bracelets and pretty painted toenails make Lily "so 'cited!" (her new favorite expression)

Un week-end à chasser les poules et à promener le chien chez Tata Eliane

Lily finally met Mommy's BFF and her honorary auntie Eliane over Memorial Day weekend, when we drove to visit her in NC while Daddy was in Chicago. She behaved extremely well for Mommy and had a great time, especially because Tata Eliane had some very cool new things to play with. There was a keyboard and a guitar in the guest room, so Lily jammed out every morning when she woke up and after naptime. But we spent most of our time outside, since we were out in the country and there were chickens to visit. Eliane has two roosters, three hens, and five new baby chicks, and Lily was fascinated by them. She helped her Tata collect the eggs every day and feed the babies, and she ran around the whole time screaming "Cock-doodly-dooooo!" after she heard the roosters. She was also obsessed with Eliane's tiny Yorkie Taz, who was just the perfect size for her to walk on his leash. It was a great weekend and we hope we can visit again before too long!

Congratulations Aunt Lizza!

Last weekend Aunt Lizza graduated from Wofford College, so we all took the trip to Spartanburg, SC to celebrate. We also had a visit from Mimi that week, so Lily got to enjoy having double the love and attention from both her Mimi and her YaYa during the ceremony.